Hi all,
Hope there's room for me in the tent! This is my first post, though I have been lurking on the site for about a week now. Despite my moniker I have to say I am slow rather than fast since it took me so friggin' long to find this forum! I have been twisting in the wind (so to speak) for months and months trying to figure out why this movie has got me roped and tied. The truth is, I almost didn't go see it in the theater; it barely registered with me when it came out and I never gave the trailer a second look whenever it came on tv. I had no idea who HL and JG were. I don't know why I changed my mind but I am so glad that I saw in on the big screen (8x) before it left the area. Everything--the cinematography, the music, the direction, the heartbreakingly beautiful performances--just took my breath away. I will never forget the first time I saw the flashback scene with the dozy embrace. I felt like I had been kicked in the gut, and then I completely lost it. And I am not a person who cries in movies. The last time I cried in a movie was when I went to see (don't laugh) Hair. Yes, I had a huge crush on Treat Williams (whose character dies in the movie), plus I was in love with an Italian boy who had similarly long hair. (okay, you can laugh). A few months ago I decided to go cold turkey (this was after countless fulllscreen and widescreen viewings on dvd) because I was getting next to nothing done in my real life. And I was starting to feel like I had ruined the experience for myself; I knew every piece of diaglog (disputed lines notwithstanding) and gesture by heart. I missed the intensity of seeing it on the big screen. But then HBO started airing it and I was hooked again. So, here I am. This place has given me so many more wonderful reasons for going back and watching again (FNIT and SNIT in slo-mo, how delicious!). Thanks to all for such wonderful, insightful, not to mention funny (loved City Girl's quiz in SNIT some months back) posts.