On Heath

Last weekend, the Velvet Channel showed Brokeback Mountain. Coincidence or planned? So close to the timing of Heath Ledger's passing. I didn't quite get that movie the first time it screened in theaters. With so much hype from the critics and the potential Oscar nominations (at that time), expectations were high. I thought the critics saw something that I didn't see. I just shrugged.

But seeing it again on TV last week, I now get it. The lyrical way Director Ang Lee moves the story and draws out emotion with style really got to me. Those close ups of Heath. What a great actor, I told myself. The pain, sorrow and loneliness were so real and then mean something else knowing that we will never get to see anything more from this gifted actor. I hate myself for not seeing and feeling it then when I first watched the movie. Maybe its the idea of watching it alone at home and without inhibition allowing myself to be taken in. I couldn't stop crying just watching Heath.

What happens now The Joker? News reports have it that Heath started having his insomnia when he was shooting Dark Knight and I'm Not There. How deep and personal did he go to get into character? Perhaps a dark life with a truly very dark ending, or just one of cinema's brightest gems. Thanks for those movies. We won't miss you, Heath.