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movie reviews
DISCLAIMER: IMO
It's all a matter of
personal taste, and these reviews are,
of course, entirely IMO. Enjoy!
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Brokeback
Mountain
A
powerful love story, both
groundbreaking and heartbreaking.
The 'gay
cowboy' movie that isn't
“Gay
cowboy movie” is a flippant description that easily identifies Brokeback
Mountain,
but anyone who’s seen the movie
knows
the label isn’t entirely
accurate:
the two main characters aren’t, technically, either
gay or cowboys. One is a rodeo rider,
the other an itinerant ranch hand; they work herding sheep, not cows;
and both
date, marry, and pursue women, before and after they hook up with each
other.
Picky,
picky.....
OK,
now that
we’ve
cleared up what this movie is not, here’s what it is:
This
is a love story
A love story about two people -- male
people -- who meet on a summer job, teaming to guard sheep as they
graze the high pastures on
a Wyoming mountain. They’re
isolated, doing a rough job in beautiful yet rugged surroundings.
An
evening of
boozy campfire chat and a sudden rainstorm combine to
push the
two guys together, and pent-up feelings explode in a rough and urgent
coupling.
This
isn’t any hearts-and-flowers seduction -- the guys
tussle and romp like young wildcats, but there’s no question that it’s
mutual.
The
morning after, both men assert that neither is 'queer.' Once
they've agreed on that point, they continue their romance, promising
that what
happens on the mountain, stays on the mountain.
Easier
said than done. Because this isn’t just a physical
thing -- an experimental fling, to satisfy lustful
curiosity. These
guys are
made for each other.
But it’s the mid-60s, and it’s Wyoming. Heck, three decades later and still
a gay teenage boy in Wyoming
would be tied to a fence post, stoned, and beaten to death. Whatever
the future
holds for these guys, they’re not going to end up hand-in-hand on the
steps of San Francisco’s City Hall,
taking commitment vows with Mayor
Gavin Newsom officiating.
Life goes
on
So the summer ends, and their affair
ends, and their
parting
is painful. Each tries to get on with his normal life, but there’s a
terrible
sense of loss and longing.
Ennis
marries his
fiancée
Alma (Michelle Williams) and
settles down as planned, but something is missing which he denies and
ignores.
He dulls his pain in the daily drudgery of scraping by, trying to
support a
growing family.
 
Jack
also marries,
a saucy rodeo stunt rider (Anne
Hathaway),
and starts working for his father-in-law’s business. He can give up the
precarious rodeo circuit, and life is comfortable.
But
it’s not
enough, and after a few years he
contacts
Ennis, whose excitement in anticipation of their reunion is both
amusing and
painful to witness.They settle into a kind of ‘same time next year’
pattern,
continuing with their normal routine of work and family, while meeting
for
occasional “fishing trips” on Brokeback
Mountain.
Ennis’s
wife, Alma
is baffled and increasingly
resentful --
her experience doesn’t offer any clues on how to deal with an affair
she can’t
understand. All she knows is, her husband never comes home with any
fish.
Jack’s wife,
Lureen, focuses on business, becoming more
distant from the husband she thought loved her, yet who is so often
inexplicably absent.
Emotional gamut
The story
follows Ennis
and Jack over a couple of decades,
and, like any love story about genuine people, emotions
run the gamut -- in no particular
order, there’s passion and remorse, guilt and grief, joy, rage,
exuberance,
tenderness, humor, bickering, camaraderie….and, yes, agony and
ecstasy.
 Glimpses
into the childhoods of both men are brief and
wrenching, showing how their repression and loneliness was instilled
early.
 This movie is both
beautiful and heartbreaking. The stark
beauty of the landscape highlights the isolation of these characters,
both
literally and metaphorically, and their yearning is palpable. Their
world is
wild, lonely, and perilous, which about sums up their relationship.
Young
Talent
The
young cast is
outstanding, and displays a real depth of
talent in subtle and nuanced performances.
Heath
Ledger’s performance
is a revelation to anyone who might only have seen him in such
entertaining but
lightweight fare as Casanova (2005), A Knight’s
Tale
(2001), or as the earnest young hero in the fantasy series Roar
(1997). Ledger’s Ennis
is wound so tight he barely speaks -- he is laconic to the point of
muteness. Yet Ledger conveys volumes in
his silences, a world of hurt in everything unspoken.
[ASIDE: Australian
actors
tend to be real chameleons -- I didn’t even recall that Ledger was
Australian
until I saw a brief interview where he spoke in his natural voice. This busy young actor stars in 5
movies released in 2005, when he also fathered a daughter, with his Brokeback costar Michelle Williams.]
Most of the
awards buzz
centered on Ledger for best actor, but
Jake Gyllenhaal is also exceptional. As
Jack he is the romantic, an easy-going charmer seeking love after a
terribly
lonely childhood. He ignites the passion between the two men, and
continues to
fan the flames of their relationship over the years.
Jack
recognizes
his
feelings before Ennis, and he’s the one who initiates, who takes the
risk of
reaching out. No small risk for anyone, but particularly perilous in
that time and place. Gyllenhaal makes the relationship seem
inevitable and
irreplaceable.
Both
men were in
their early 20s when shooting this film,
yet age credibly over the decades of the story -- years and
experience evoked not with any
(obvious) age makeup, but through a subtle coarsening of the skin and
more weary, beaten-down postures.
Memorable
Scenes
A dangerous kiss.
Jack asleep on his feet
‘like a horse,’ Ennis notes, before taking his leave.
The aching poignancy of two old flannel
shirts.
The stunning vistas of Brokeback Mountain.
Wonder
if....?
After
seeing the film, some questions arise. Many viewers
have wondered:
...was
the
revelation near
the end of the film what really
occurred,
or
what the character
imagines?
[ambiguous, open to
interpretation]
...does
Brokeback Mountain really exist?
[No The Canadian
Rockies stood in for the
eponymous and
fictional Wyoming
mountain.]
...is
it
fair that any man should have such long eyelashes as
Jake Gyllenhaal?
[IMO, no.]
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Credits and Kudos
Ang
Lee is a
director who deliberately explores different film genres in every
project. From Crouching Tiger,
Hidden Dragon to Sense and
Sensibility http://movies.lovetoknow.com/wiki/Sense_And_Sensibility],
The
Hulk to
Brokeback Mountain, Lee’s films
are
widely-diverse in tone and settings,
but
all share elements of meticulous spaciousness and sensitivity to
character.
The
movie is based on the short story by E. Annie
Proulx (Pulitzer prize-winner
for The Shipping News); Larry McMurty (Last
Picture Show, Lonesome Dove) and
Diana
Ossana (Streets of Laredo, Johnson County War) teamed on the screenplay.
 
Awards: Brokeback Mountain was named best film by the New
York Film
Critics Circle and several other critics' groups, and dominated the
nominations for other awards, including 7 Golden Globe nominations and
Screen Actors Guild
nominations,
for best
actor (Ledger), supporting actor (Gyllenhaal),
and best
supporting
actress
(Michelle Williams). Ang Lee won the Oscar for Best
Director.
Who am I to disagree?
My
rating:
5 stars, 4 bells, 3 whistles, 2 thumbs up, a sniffle and a
cheer.
Rated R for brief nudity,
violence, adult
language and situations.
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