So, while still floating on my little cloud of happiness after watching Bros, there was a moment in it that stuck with me for… other reasons. It’s when Bobby talked about gay romance films like Call Me By Your Name, where the appeal is out of things not ending happily because mainstream audiences like seeing Gays be miserable. And while there’s some truth to that (same deal with white audiences and Black cinema; the depressing shit tends to get more pop traction), I feel like it leaves out a weird truth about romantic media: The better stories tend to be the ones that don’t end well. Mulholland Drive, Romeo & Juliet, Her, Phantom Thread, Being John Malkovich, Chasing Amy, Behind The Candelabra; either they end with the main couple not being together, or they are together despite how unhealthy the relationship is for them both.
Okay, I’m going with examples of the stuff I like here, and I could probably make another connection between that and my love for edgy shit… but that leaves out how these kinds of stories are just more interesting than the more idealistic romances. Maybe it speaks to the more toxic ways that affection can manifest in people, maybe it feels more realistic if it doesn’t have a happily-ever-after conclusion, or maybe we just like seeing fucked-up people find love as some perverse pat on the back that there’s still hope for us; whatever the case, there’s a certain pull to these stories. And the latest from Korean auteur Park Chan-wook falls into this same broad category.
