Sins against his own body.

Bruno is vile.

Brandon, I mostly agree with your assessment of the film, but I need to stress that the humor here is consistently mean-spirited. I think that the film does work and it works well. I just can't get behind Bruno.

Cohen doesn’t want conversation. He wants blood.

I admire his tactics to an extent. If there is a culture war going on (and there is, but most are confused about where the lines of battle are drawn), then Cohen is a mighty warrior for what JPII called the Culture of Death.

JPII may as well have been writing about Bruno: we see that mistaken ideas about the individual's moral autonomy continue to inflict wounds on the consciences of many people and on the life of society.

Cohen’s character is homosexual, but Cohen’s not just saying something about homosexuals or “homophobia.” He’s defending a wider sexual license and attacking those who aren’t with the program.

As far as I’m concerned, Ron Paul is the hero of the film. He runs away. There is no rational discourse with Bruno. One must flee from sexual immorality.

I can’t know for sure, but I like to think that Paul would have reacted in the same way if it had been a beautiful woman who had taken off her pants and propositioned him. I love that Ron Paul was more than willing to be interviewed by a freak like Bruno. Paul shows him respect. It’s only when Bruno crosses a line that Paul calls a spade a spade. He’s queer. He dropped his pants. We’re leaving.

In the end, I don’t think it does all that much good to condemn Bruno. I do condemn Bruno, but instead of continuing to harp on that fact and dwell on the bad, I’ll instead praise the good.

Bruno knows nothing of love. He can only teach us death. We need to look elsewhere.

I watched In the Mood for Love back in July. I’m all caught up now with everything that I’ve seen (except for the last week‘s worth), but I’ve never mentioned In the Mood for Love here. I keep putting it off for stupid reasons, but here seems like a perfect place to post my In the Mood for Love memorial list. In the Mood for Love is a perfect evocation of a time and place and, more importantly, a mood. Love is evoked by its absence and by the chaste communion that two betrayed persons have with one another.

In the Mood for Love -
my romantic love top ten -
hesitant explorations toward a dignified sexuality

1) A Woman Under the Influence
2) Samurai Rebellion
3) The New World
4) Mr. and Mrs. Smith
5) Solaris
6) The Fisher King
7) An Occurrence at Owl Creek Bridge
8) Roman Holiday
9) The Hustler
10) Minnie and Moskowitz

It’s not a perfect list, but those are the movies that quickly and easily came to mind. Without defending each choice, I’ll just say that I recommend each of these films for what they have to teach us about love.