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BBM released in Singapore

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cybernaut:
Singapore is a tiny island sandwiched between south of Malaysia Peninsula and Indonesia. Though small, its a very cosmopolitan and at the same time conservative society. Gay sex is illegal but seldom enforced. Singapore used to belong to Malaysia but is now a sovereign country.

What I understand from my friends is that BBM has been passed uncut  :D, given that gay movies in the past have either been banned or severely censored, especially on man-to-man kissing and simulated homo sex scenes, despite given a "restricted Artistic aged 21 only" rating which means only audience aged 21 years and above are permitted. Such movies are only allowed to be shown in the Central Business District.

BBM has started yesterday with an AIDS charity event and will continue with sneaks this weekend. It opens officially next Thursday. It is expected to draw huge crowds given the huge success in Taiwan. One distributor initially signed on with one screen but given the hype and success, 2 more distributors have signed on, greatly increasing the number of screens.

Will let you guys know how it does.

ethan:
Thank you for posting this, cybernaut. Please do keep us updated.  :)

cybernaut:
9 screens will be showing BBM sneaks this weekend.

A gay Asian portal website, Fridae.com hosted a charity event for Action For AIDS in Singapore on Wednesday, Feb 9th.
This is their report:

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Brokeback Mountain charity screening raises S$25,000 for AfA
By News Editor
 
More than 700 people were the first in Singapore to watch acclaimed Taiwanese director Ang Lee’s tale of two cowboys who fell in love in the mountains of Wyoming. 
   
Organised by Fridae, the Brokeback Mountain charity screeningheld on Wednesday night raised S$25,000 (US$15,300) for Action For AIDS. The film was named best film and bagged three other awards at the 63rd Annual Golden Globe Awards held in Beverly Hills in January.

The 17-year-old non-governmental organisation provides S$60,000 a year to help patients access anti-retroviral therapy. The monies raised will go towards its Medical Subsidies Fund and supporting the education and MSM Counseling program.

Assoc Prof Roy Chan, President of AfA, said: “Action for AIDS is very grateful for the generous and spontaneous support from private individuals and organisations in the battle against AIDS and against stigma and discrimination. Tonight's full house at the gala premiere of Brokeback Mountain is hopefully an indication that community spirit and interest in confronting difficult issues is alive and well.”

Asia’s largest gay and lesbian network, Fridae is “proud to support the pioneering work that Action for AIDS does in keeping HIV infection rates in Singapore one of the lowest in Asia," says its CEO, Dr Stuart Koe.

"Brokeback Mountain is an extremely important movie in how it succeeds at breaking down stereotypes and portrays a love that defies social conventions. That it has been both a critical and commercial success means that society is ready to address such themes."

The movie, which has been banned in China and decided against being shown in Malaysia by its distributor, was passed uncut and rated R21 in Singapore. Until recently, the Singapore Media Development Authority has been more strict against gay content, banning films such as Forever 17 and censoring gay and lesbian sex scenes in films. Lan Yu, which was banned four years ago, had its ban reversed late last year when a distributor re-submitted it and was screened with an R21 rating, uncut.

Fridae thanks all attendees and sponsors for their generous support of the event. 
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An interesting sidenote: Fridae.com used to host several "gay parties" in Singapore, contradicting a "conservative" image that Singapore projects. It was until last year the Singapore government rejected the applications linking the increased number of seroconversion cases with the parties.

Action for AIDS was also criticized for not doing enough and giving out free condoms at gay parties as inducement for casual sex, DESPITE not getting any cent from the government.

An attendance of 700 at that theatre is almost considered full-house, given the tickets are priced SGD $30 (USD $18.18) for circle seats and SGD $60 (USD $36.36) for premium seats. The average price per seat on a normal day would be around SGD $9 (USD $5.45).

ethan:
Wonderful news. Thanks, cybernaut.

cybernaut:
Fridae.com's "competitor", sgboy.com, a popular forum frequent by adolescent teenagers questioning their sexuality, wrote this review. While I tried to "correct" them about the love between two guys, not overt glorified celebrity gay sex, I was slammed down. For me, I never thought the movie is made for kids anyway!  :)

But both camps have been in competition with each other taking swipes and even banning the word, so I am a little surprised that they would belittle the film, despite the heavy advertisements on the website. I offered to give a small review but rejected and posted a small "what would Ennis write to Jack" reply, and again I get hammered by angry bitchin queens!  :-[

Oh well!! ;)

From the other side of the Pacific Ocean.

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Rodeo Romeos
 
Cowpoke Tan 

SGBOY catches the much hyped Brokeback Mountain as it rides into town for an exclusive charity premiere.
 
Not since the days of Lone Ranger and his faithful “partner" Tonto has the world of classic Westerns seen a more homoerotic depiction of the cowboy archetype than the pairing of Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall in Ang Lee’s evocative Brokeback Mountain.

Set in 1963, this Oscar favourite tells the tale of two Malboro Men - Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) - who are hired by local rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) to herd sheep up at Brokeback Mountain and who end up falling head-over-stetsons in love with each other.

Out in the desolate Wyoming wilderness, the love story on horseback unfolds languidly as Ennis and Jack play house together with the former staying at base camp to do domestic chores (read: prepare barely edible meals) and the latter keeping a watchful eye over the grazing sheep (read: use bemused coyotes as target practice).

With stunning vistas of open skies and majestic mountains as backdrop and a restrained elegiac music score as accompaniment, Brokeback Mountain traces the growing attraction of the two cowboys as they engage in heart-to-heart talks, exchange yearning looks and bathe in the nude.

One freezing night, Jack invites Ennis to share his tent and some awkward unbuckling of belts later, Brokeback Mountain puts the poke in cowpoke and the two cowboys partake in what could be the first onscreen simulation of doggy-style penetration (which Heath and Jake were made to repeat 13 times by director Ang Lee according to an Entertainment Weekly report).

Despite the fact that Ennis and Jack trade dialogue lifted from the gay man’s most dreaded post-coital conversations (Ennis says: “I ain’t no queer" and Jake replies: “Me neither!" Ennis mumbles: “This is a one-shot thing we got goin' on here" etc.), the attachment between them grows and Brokeback becomes a haven of private happiness for the two men, an Eden free from societal judgment.

Unfortunately, once Ennis and Jack get off Brokeback, they choose to go their separate ways: Ennis marries Alma (a mournful Michelle Williams) and engages in re-enactments of more doggy-style sex while Jack moves to Texas and marries rodeo princess Lureen (Anne Hathaway who finally sheds her Disney Princess image by exposing her left breast).

When Jack finally contacts Ennis four years later, the first thing they do when they meet is to lock lips and grope each other with wild abandon - much to the shock of Alma who happened to chance upon the scene. Following their reunion, Ennis and Jack continue to get together for private “fishing trips"(read: illicit trysts) as they attempt to recreate and recapture that incandescent period of time up at Brokeback.

In one of their stolen moments together, Jack proposes that they purchase a ranch, settle down and spend their lives together. Unfortunately, Ennis, scarred by how his father once showed him the corpse of a gay cowboy who was dragged by his penis until it was torn from his body, turns him down and warns: “This thing gets hold of us at the wrong time and wrong place and we're dead."

In a world where the feelings they have for each other cannot be articulated, acknowledged or accepted, there can be no riding-off-into-the-sunset type of happy ending for Ennis and Jack. And as the years pass, they continue to live double lives as their marriages and personal lives disintegrate around them - that is, until Jack’s predictable death-at-the-hands-of-redneck-homophobes.

The quiet closing scenes of Brokeback Mountain when Ennis visits Jack’s parents and learns of Jack’s plans and when he inhales the scent of the shirt Jack wore at Brokeback are heart-wrenching because they depict Ennis' pain of love lost and convey his realization - which comes too late - that his last chance at happiness has already passed him by.

With moving performances by its cast, Brokeback Mountain does more than leave a lump in the throat and an empty ache in the heart of its audience - it also nudges the audience to consider if a society which impinges its rules on personal choice and sexual preference and forces its inhabitants to deny who they are and what they feel is one that is worth living in.
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