Has anyone ever seen Spanking the Monkey, David O. Russell’s film about a boy and his love for his mother. His Oedipal love. His “I gotta bang Mommy” love? Creepy, shivery stuff.
But it’s nothing compared to From Beginning to End, a Brazilian film about two brothers who care about each other. Intensely. And with penis. Agh! So wrong. Crazy Brazilians.
I saw Spanking the Monkey years and years ago, when I was at my friend's house and his older sister was watching it with her friends. I had no idea what it was about, but then he had to help his mom in the shower, and then they were in bed, and then he has to escape out the window, and I was left sitting there going "WHAT THE FUCK ARE WE WATCHING BAD TOUCH BAD TOUCH." That was pretty much the only part of the movie I saw, and it's stuck with me all this time.
So. Creepy.
But all that aside, the brother-on-brother thing? Much worse. Much fucking worse. I don't really know why I think that. Are there levels of incest? Is mom-on-child worse or better than sibling-on-sibling? It's not the homosexual thing; it's really no different than if it were brother and sister. It's just creeping me out, though.
Yea, they're attractive boo, but.. Incest is never best. It's like, not even bronze. But that having been said, imagine if there were three brothers and just the two hooked up, would the third be relieved or jealous?
Posted by: Kayanne at May 8, 2009 11:45 AM
So I'm reading your description of the first movie (Spanking), and looking at the pic of the Jo Bros, and at the title, and looking for the segue... and the evil, dust-covered cogs in the depth of the brain start to turn.
And now I have to effectively clean vomit off of my keyboard. Thanks.
Posted by: Patty O'Green at May 8, 2009 11:46 AM
...Is it wrong that I kinda wanna see this now?
Those are some hot brothers. The concept is a little... squicky (okay, a lot), but the visual is pretty fantastic, and as a red-blooded woman... whoo!
Posted by: Jessica at May 8, 2009 11:53 AM
V.C. Andrews for little boys. That's so sweet.
Posted by: slower lower at May 8, 2009 11:54 AM
well, boo, at least someone will be there to cushion my fall.
see, the thing is, they're actors to me, so not really brothers, and i always enjoy a little hot boy-on-boy action, sooooo....
This looks SO hot. Slash weird. But I definitely want to see it.
I think what makes it kind of "okay" for me, despite the incest, is the way they portray it as something the brothers have always felt. We can see their love grow from the time they're little. And somehow to me it doesn't seem as dirty because of that. It's like it's something they can't help.
Posted by: AMT at May 8, 2009 12:15 PM
AMT, you have a point. Maybe that's why I've always (godtopus help me) been drawn to the incest stories. What happens if you fall in love with someone who happens to be related to you? I mean, it's not as if you can choose who you love, right?
I loved Spanking The Monkey - not the incest part - but it was an hysterical movie. And you can't beat the soundtrack, and I can still picture that poor kid trying to jerk off in the bathroom.
Posted by: Cindy at May 8, 2009 1:04 PM
I haven't seen either of these movies and I don't plan on seeing either of these movies. Thank you for the mental image though. Thank you so very much. *shudder*
I've always thought the evolutionary explanation for incest was interesting. Basically, some people have found that their is a formative time period where you become sexually uninterested in whomever you were living with. Thus, long-lost siblings are likely to be uber sexy, but nanny, not so much.
Posted by: "luker" the barbarian at May 8, 2009 2:39 PM
I believe there is a sister & sister version of this theme called Oh Sister, My Sister. I never watched it, but I saw it in a video store years ago, and the idea of it scarred me so much that it's stayed with me all these years. Vomit.
It's just the two hot Brazilian guys (in their underwear..) with no mention of them playing brothers, so you can just enjoy the hotness. Without wondering about going to special hell. But seriously, if that's what you get there, it might not be such a bad place to be..
Posted by: Vanessa at May 8, 2009 5:58 PM
I feel all dirty in the brain area now. I watched that trailer from another link not knowing what it was about until it was too late.
Too late, I say!!!
**sobs uncontrollably**
Posted by: greer at May 8, 2009 6:31 PM
Vanessa, that teaser is half "holy shit those guys are hot," half "EWEWEW BROTHERS," and 5% "why is he clapping his hands like a special needs child?"
As to whether I'll see the movie: Hotel New Hampshire was enough for me, thanks. And that was just the book.
Hmm I don't know how to name it without spoiling it, but there is good lit out there that deals with sibling incest. It somehow makes it beautiful, but it's a book - no visuals.
Posted by: jack at May 8, 2009 7:17 PM
Oh my. Um....That's supposed to be wrong right? It doesn't look wrong. Thank God I'm in front of a fan now.
Hotness does that. It blurs the edges. Should they or shouldn't they? Who cares! They're pretty!
Posted by: Four Eyes at May 8, 2009 7:21 PM
The myspace link which Vanessa provided has been removed, but there's another one on youtube (no audio, tough):
There is no release date for brazilian theaters yet, but some people say it will come out next semester in international film festivals (first in Brazil, and then worldwide).
Posted by: Felipe at May 8, 2009 9:35 PM
Jay, you don't even watch!
Posted by: Cindy at May 8, 2009 10:15 PM
Jay, you don't even watch!
I know! It's wacky! Mainly it's just to see old college friends, but I'll have confusing fun too.
You'll have to join us in Carlson's last recap thread - you might be able to provide valuable outsider insight.
Posted by: Cindy at May 9, 2009 10:16 AM
*crickets*
Posted by: , (the commenter formerly known as bucdaddy) at May 9, 2009 8:23 PM
Men are getting so skeeved out over this and yet if straight men were given the opportunity to have a 3-way with two sisters, they'd jump at chance. So what's REALLY behind these "shudders"?
Posted by: Q at May 9, 2009 9:56 PM
Bloody YouTube 'terms of service.' Not fair.
I guess I'll go put on the 'Supernatural' DVDs.
Posted by: Corvus at May 9, 2009 11:44 PM
So very wrong.
But really, is this any worse than The Blue Lagoon?
Is it really because they both have scrotums that sends people over the edge?
In my book, the mother and son incest is far worse, because there's the whole, Woody Allen, abuse of trust thing going on.
Would it be worse if it was a father and son?
The answer should be no, it's the same amount of fucked up-ness.
You could argue it's worse because the child might not be gay or would not have grown up to be gay. But in the case of opposite sex molestation, you could say that the child might not be straight. In any case, quite often the kid hasn't even shown their sexuality one way or the other.
This is a really interesting social experiment. If we took a group of people who think there is nothing wrong with being gay, will they cringe that little bit more if a boy has sex with a male teacher than if he has sex with a female teacher. We know what society has reacted to with more disgust. If the teacher is a hot, blonde woman, the student sometimes even gets high fives.
It's a reaction that needs a bit of examination.
I have to confess, my own reaction surprised me somewhat. How much of how I feel about this is based on logic and how much on indoctrination.
I'm from an older generation. So my split second reactions to homosexuality will perhaps always be coloured by the fear and horror associated with it during my upbringing. I can tell you, when I went to school, we weren't warned about "child molestation" - we we told to watch out for "poofters" who all wanted to do bad things to us.
Thank God, times have changed. But there are still jokes that only work, and situations like this movie getting this reaction, because they make us uncomfortable. A lot more than if it were "straight" incest or "straight" paedophilia. The fact that we can even understand terms like "homosexual paedophile" is something we should take careful note of.
/weekly rant
Posted by: TooPreachy? at May 10, 2009 12:05 AM
Actually, should that be "they both have scrota"?
Posted by: Bane at May 10, 2009 12:16 AM
This is actually quite hot if you're able to dissociate performance and reality.
I really don't think that's worse than mom-son sex. It's not even in the same league. Seems innocuous to me, actually. Attraction between siblings happens to be fairly common. It occurs whenever the siblings were brought up separately. So long as they don't reproduce I'm fine with it.
Posted by: me at May 15, 2009 2:01 PM
Two hot guys in their underwear, and a romantic love-story... this is slash-girl heaven! Screw the incest(pun intended) i am so there!!
Posted by: Kimmy at May 25, 2009 6:23 PM
O melhor filme de todos os tempos, cujo o tema seja o amr entre dois homens. The best movie of all time that speaks of love between two men!
Posted by: Leo Zanucci at May 25, 2009 6:47 PM
This movie looks awesome, I mean just look at the trailer its so well made, the music, the scenes, I love the theme, the feeling it gives you awwww, I cant wait to watch this shit!!!, Who cares if its between two half-brothers, or men, I care about true love, and this movie its also about hard life and sociaty "Why do you love me? .... Because to understand our love they need to turn their world upside down" wont say anything else
Posted by: Robert at June 13, 2009 1:00 AM
From what I can tell they are not related by blood. In one scene the father says to "your child" and then the mom say's "to our children". And in another scene the father says "He is my son!" when the oldest boy comes to protect the youngest.
Almost as good as the French fraternal twins/lovers.