10/12/2005
The Secret Lives of Cowboys
REVIEW: Brokeback Mountain
Ever since I read it in The New Yorker back in 1997, Annie Proulx's "Brokeback Mountain" has been one of my favorite short stories
It is with that expectation that I went to see the screen version, Ang Lee's adaptation starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, a film I had been writing about for months on this site.
I saw the film in early September. I've declined to write about it till now because I wanted to let it sink in for awhile, wanted to see if a month later I was still feeling the same way about it. And I am.
Lee's adaptation is everything I wanted it to be — stunning visually, emotionally solid, true to the original story — but at its core it expresses a knowledge of the secrecy and the gut-wrenching pain that gays experience when required to abide by society's heterosexual models for fear that their true feelings, if exposed, will engender shame, humiliation, or violence. This film begins in the early 60's but we all know that even today there are men who live entire lives in the closet, never able to allow life its full expression.
So it is in the spare, hard, rugged Wyoming of Brokeback Mountain, a place so determinedly straight that we are shown early on that those thought to be queer run the risk of being beaten into a bloody, ragged corpse and left to die by the side of the road.
But sometimes fate offers an opening, as it does when Ennis del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) are hired to herd sheep together up on Brokeback. Up on that isolated ridge, they find the time and place to consummate the lust inside of them and once that genie is out of the bottle it can never be put back. And once the intense outpouring of first lust has passed, it's almost impossible to recapture, particularly when the rules in the rugged, rural west are that men must marry women and father children.
"A one shot thing we got goin' on here," del Mar says to Twist, in tune with the painful realities.
That is the crux of this movie, an epic, slow-moving, genius film that is not so much a film about the taboo nature of gay sex as it is about the pain that will no doubt prevail when one is forced to hide one's true sexual proclivities behind a veil of secrecy.
"I wish I knew how to quit you," famously uttered by one of the cowboys in the movie's trailer, betrays both a personal conflict and a societal one, and Lee demonstrates that he understands both heartbreakingly well.
Although the American West serves as the foil for this particular gay story, being forced into secrecy is a situation that homosexuals throughout history have accepted out of necessity. That is why this film, though it takes place over a span of nearly two decades, feels thoroughly modern.
And then there's the sex. For the first time, two young A-list actors rising in their careers have taken on roles that require them to not only sell an audience their affection toward one another, but also their overt sexual undertakings.
Consider me sold.
The two actors make out hungrily, wrestle around, intimately embrace naked by the golden light of a campfire, and if you've read the Proulx short story you'll remember this bit:
"Ennis ran full-throttle on all roads whether fence mending or money spending, and he wanted none of it when Jack seized his left hand and brought it to his erect cock. Ennis jerked his hand away as though he'd touched fire, got to his knees, unbuckled his belt, shoved his pants down, hauled Jack onto all fours and, with the help of the clear slick and a little spit, entered him, nothing he'd done before but no instruction manual needed."
Those who come to Brokeback expecting Falcon video's Buckleroos will no doubt be sorely disappointed. But Ang Lee's visual shorthand does Proulx's erotic storytelling justice. There was more than enough sex for me in the context of this story, because the emotional tension makes the small moments count for so much. Those intent on seeing full nudity will see it in a less charged context as well — Twist changing by a lake, del Mar skinnydipping in a river.
What makes Brokeback something that may draw in all audiences and not just gay ones is the fact that it is a love story, a uniquely dramatic tale of forbidden love in a highly familiar cinematic context.
Ledger gives an astonishingly mature performance as the gruff, pent-up, strong and silent Del Mar while Gyllenhaal's rangy and likable Jack Twist fills the tale with a recklessly unfolding hope that lingers long after the movie reaches its dramatic conclusion. Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams give seamless expression to the frustration of Western women — in Williams' case, the simmering fire of knowledge about her husband's secret exposes a world of pain. She's quite brilliant.
The film is gorgeous to look at from its opening scene — a truck winding its way across big sky country; the gray, wooly rivers of sheep the cowboys drive up the side of the mountain; and an impossibly idyllic buttery moon that flickers over those lust-hungry nights on Brokeback Mountain. Gustavo Santaolalla's score is spare and haunting.
Lee has made a film many are calling "old-fashioned" because of its quiet, linear pacing. Be ready for that when you experience it and don't mistake it for anything close to naivete. It's just one of the ways that Lee has honored Proulx's storytelling while at the same time subverting the long-honored American cinematic tradition of the Western that is expected to move at a less than frantic pace.
I've given this film a lot of ink on these pages, and I'm happy to say it was well worth it.
Brokeback Mountain opens in theaters in December.
Related
Brokeback Mountain Trailer Online [tr]
Heath on Brokeback: Fear Conquered [tr]
Thoughts on the Brokeback Mountain trailer [tr]
Love is a Force of Nature [tr]
Heath on Brokeback: Best Script Ever Read [tr]
Jake "Coy" on Brokeback Love Scenes [tr]
The Brokeback Tease Continues... [tr]
Cowboy Ballads [tr]
Brokeback Mountain Teaser Trailer [tr]
Heath and Jake Swap Spit [tr]
Cowboy Love [tr]
Posted 2:40 PM EST by Andy in Film & TV | Permalink
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Very nice review. Thanks for sharing, Andy.
Posted by: arjanwrites | Oct 12, 2005 3:00:20 PM
...dying to see this flic, finally something to look forward to in december.
ang lee is one amazing director, The HULK was quite brilliantly shot... and crouching tiger is now classic.
THANKS for an valuable review.
Posted by: A.J. | Oct 12, 2005 3:01:24 PM
I still remember sobbing as the story concluded. I do remember there was sex in the story, but most of all I remember the love and the loss. I just pray that I won't sob as loudly in the movie theatre.
Posted by: Mike in the Tundra | Oct 12, 2005 3:22:50 PM
I've read all your Brokeback postings and have to admit the idea of a "gay cowwboy movie" made me a little more than nervous. If there's anything gay people don't need, it's a sensational outting in nationwide release. I can only imagine how our puritanical society would react. After seeing the trailer and reading this review I am assured the movie will be everything I had hoped for an nothing I had feared. The trailer alone is heartbreaking. When Heath Ledger is smelling what I assume is Jake G's shirt, it went through me like a hot iron. Everyone can identify with that emotion. I can't wait for the chance to see this movie and I can't wait for the rest of America to see what sounds like an honest and emotional picture of being gay in this society. I hope it opens some minds. Thanks for all the pushing you've done on this one, Andy. You've obviosuly given it a lot of thought.
Posted by: MT | Oct 12, 2005 3:25:51 PM
I cannot wait. Thanks for the review - very well done.
Posted by: Thom | Oct 12, 2005 3:27:22 PM
I, like Thom, can't wait. I am reminded why I have been such a fan of your work since the days when I read Genre. I was happy to follow you to your blog and blessed by your grace here.
Posted by: dan | Oct 12, 2005 4:11:06 PM
Outstanding review Andy. You didn't tell us, did you cry??
I'm so happy all reports have been positive. I'm going to a screening here in NYC in a couple of weeks and I'm more anxious than ever.
Posted by: Ian | Oct 12, 2005 4:53:14 PM
I vividly remember my eyes welling up at the "shirt" scene at the end of the book when I read this years ago. This, more than any other scene, is what I most look forward to seeing.
Posted by: gabe | Oct 12, 2005 4:54:38 PM
Very well written review. I too have seen the film and you have captured it so well. Also, thank you for everything that you do on this blog for the community. You rock!
Posted by: AL | Oct 12, 2005 4:56:53 PM
Yours is the review I trust above all others.
From one who loves the story just as much, thank you.
Posted by: John Beene | Oct 12, 2005 5:40:00 PM
Can't wait to see it now!
Posted by: Senhor Made In Brazil | Oct 12, 2005 5:41:07 PM
What a great review! I'm a newcomer to your blog, but it's now a "favorite" and I'll be here daily!
Posted by: john | Oct 12, 2005 6:07:19 PM
Thanks for writing this review. Just reading it and all the other readers' comments made me tear up. Will be seeing the movie in less than two weeks, so it's very timely.
Posted by: Jacques | Oct 12, 2005 6:18:32 PM
Thanks for sharing that review with us Andy.
I hope the public accepts it for the great work it is.
Posted by: Rob (lrdarystar) | Oct 12, 2005 6:24:47 PM
Ufff!
If you say it so, I BELIEVE!
:)
Posted by: André | Oct 12, 2005 6:30:30 PM
I share John's comment , I too just found this site a short time ago and was an immediate "favorite" look forward to it always. Can not wait to see it thanks for the goose bumps !!
Posted by: Kevin | Oct 12, 2005 7:16:59 PM
once again, thank you for your penetrating insights and poignant observations, encapsulated in scintillating prose.
Posted by: towleroad groupie | Oct 12, 2005 10:04:12 PM
Thanks Andy! You're the BEST!
Posted by: Jordy | Oct 12, 2005 11:13:29 PM
Even if the movie is only a twinge as heartfelt and eloquent as your review - and I'm sure that it's much more - it still definitely needs to be seen. Perhaps a new benchmark for future "gay-themed" cinema? Thanks for sharing a great review, Andy! And an awesome site - one of my faves and an inspiration for my own.
Posted by: Ryan | Oct 12, 2005 11:50:14 PM
ANDY - you have an amazing talent for writing... have you ever done it professionally? There are well-paid critics out there who can't examine a film as eloquently and insightfully as you can. No joke.
Posted by: Bithysith | Oct 13, 2005 12:03:19 AM
Thanks, Andy. I'm not going to write about this film when it opens, except to like to this entry.
Posted by: R J Keefe | Oct 13, 2005 12:09:01 AM
Andy,
You’ve done a wonderful job writing about the short story and the movie. It is a true love story with a sad commentary on our society. I am looking forward to the movie. For a fun alternative version of the guy-meets-guy love story, look for the book “Almost Like Being in Love” by Steve Kluger. In quite a different tone from Proulx's Brokeback Mountain, Kluger writes a bit of a fairy tale (no pun intended) look at romance and love. A high school jock and “musical theater devotee” (among other things) fall in love in 1978, separate and then one seeks out the other 20 years later. What happened to your first love? This book lets you laugh not cry. We need both the stories that make you cry and those that make you smile.
Posted by: Doug | Oct 13, 2005 1:26:28 AM
Andy, thanks for a great review, and thanks the wonderful director Lee for making a powerful and touching movie, looking forward to seeing it.
Posted by: DOCVIC FROM TAIPEI | Oct 13, 2005 1:37:06 AM
Andy,
I read your earlier comments on this story and your hopes for the movie. Glad to see that you weren't dissapointed.
Your review is lucid, illuminating, broad in scope and sparse of language. A precis on a short story done with grace and eloquence. Thank you!
Posted by: Ron | Oct 13, 2005 3:24:12 AM
Andy, your review of Brokeback Mountain is magnificently well crafted which stirs emotion and inspires the reader with delicious anticipation for the opening of this film. The growth and evolution of your talents are indeed wonderful.
Posted by: Johnny Lane | Oct 13, 2005 6:11:28 AM
Brava, Girl! Brava!
Posted by: Beh | Oct 13, 2005 9:25:53 AM
where can I get a copy of the short story?
Posted by: john | Oct 13, 2005 2:05:12 PM
I don't know how to thank you for your review, Andy. It was just wonderful. I've read a lot of reviews and yours is the only one that made me feel. It reinforced the idea that Brokeback Mountain is a major movie and a stunning story. And I've read Annie Proulx's short story again. I can't believe I have to wait until January to see the movie…
John, you can find the story here: http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/0792726499/002-5824503-9996864?v=glance&vi=excerpt
Posted by: Anna | Oct 13, 2005 2:48:16 PM
"Brokeback Mountain" is featured in Annie Proulx's collection of short stories, "At Close Range", available at all good book stores!
Posted by: DARREN | Oct 13, 2005 2:58:26 PM
I love this story, too. It's unbearable watching the character Ennis (his first name means “island” in Irish, his last name, roughly, “in the sea”) keeping the thing that he wants most, that anchors his identity, which completes him really, from ever taking root in his life. It goes badly for you when you do that, whether you’re straight or gay, whether your partner is a man or a woman.
So this story isn’t exactly a gay rights polemic, and nor is it the hoary old homosexual “beautiful death” scenario that some suspect, either; it’s an altogether more sophisticated piece.
Audiences are overwhelmed by the film because they can all identify so closely with its central theme – just look what a wasteland your life becomes when you repress or reject the innermost promptings of your own heart.
Posted by: Cahir | Oct 13, 2005 5:31:09 PM
I didn't read the whole review cuz I'm waiting for the movie, but it's hard to believe Hollywood can make an unsentimental version of this story (& Proulx's story is gritty, oblique, & successfully skirts sentimentality). Because of pressure groups like GLAAD, Hollywood portrayals of gays tend to be bland, either paragons or victims (which I why I loved the over-the-top psycho lesbo 'Charlie' on Passions)
Posted by: jeff | Oct 13, 2005 9:54:44 PM
Has Jeff read the book? 'Hollywood portrayals of gays tend to be victims' - er, and in Brokeback they're not?
I won't give the ending away for anyone who hasn't read the book, but do we really need another cinematic release of a gay themed movie with this sort of ending? Now, I love the short story, and got into Proulx's writing after reaading The Shipping News, but this story would be better off left as a book and not translated onto screen.
I can think of no-one better to bring this story to life than Ang Lee, and from everything I've heard from the critics, Ledger is brilliant and the film magnificently done, but if there is a fundamental 'problem' with the story/screenplay, then no matter how well executed the movie is, it will be pointless.
This clamouring for these kinds of stories with this kind of denouement - by gay people no less - betrays a deep sense of shame and guilt about one's own sexuality which manifests itself as internalised homophobia.
I love the book, I'm sure I will love the film, but it will educate no-one, gay or straight, with many of the audience likely to empathise and sympathise more with the wives and children than the lead characters, and will simply ramify the erroneous belief in many that gay people 'deserve what they get'.
Posted by: Rhys | Oct 14, 2005 4:41:20 PM
hey rhys,
(warning spoiler alert)
When I first heard about and then read the story I thought exactly the same thing. I am SO tired of seeing gay people in the media dying of aids or witty and impotent drag queens or some other portrayal showing us as evil and deserving of bad things or superficial and over the top. For once, I would like to see a gay character as simply a person.
But I have changed my mind about this particular story. I think the key is that BOTH of them do NOT die in the end of this tale. It's a subtle but meaningful distinction from all those gays in traditional Hollywood films.
Because one character survives, it focuses the issue not on him "getting what he deserves" but instead on the cruelness of a society that doesn't allow us to be honest and upfront about who we are without fear of persecution.
In this story, Ennis does NOT commit suicide because he thinks he's a horrible person, he is NOT struck down by the collapse of a burning building, or fall off a cliff, it is NOT an act of god that cuts him down. Instead, and rather pointedly, he is a casualty of man's inhumanity to man.
Upon re-reading the story, it actually reminds me of Romeo and Juliet, a needless end to a beautiful love, brought on by the petty, narrow minds of the people who inhabit their world.
Proulx's story makes it clear that intolerance and bigotry are the villain here, a point driven home by the tender scene of Jake finding the shirts, masterfully placing a white hot point of despair on the pain brought on by a sinister society.
Posted by: rich | Oct 14, 2005 8:32:48 PM
Rich,
so BOTH don't get beaten to death by a tire iron - what an uplifting end and quite a change from the usual Hollywood ending.
Everything you say is quite true - to a degree - but to compare this story to that of Romeo and Juliet is missing the point: of course you often need tragedy to write a good story, and there is much of that in straight romances, but the problem is that that is ALL we get in gay stories.
If Proulx's story was only one aspect of gay storytelling amongst a mix of other less tragic gay stories, we wouldn't be having this discussion as Brokeback Mountain is a beautiful story in itself, but it is the fact there are so few Hollywood adaptations that don't focus on the 'pain' and tragedy of living when being gay that makes one roll one's eyes when one hears about another 'fag ends up dead' film (even if one of the two survives).
When you compare the ratio of gay romance films that end (mostly) happily to those that end in tragedy to the ratio in straight romances it's quite sickening - and, personally, I don't think it will change for a long time.
Hollywood is a very blinkered place (I won't get into the reasons why), and sadly I feel that, largely, the portrayal of women will remain as being young T&A, black people will be consumed with hate, non-americans will be villains, and gay people will end up unhappy or dead.
Perhaps some of my perception on this issue is informed by my age. Being in my early twenties, I am of a generation that has never had any pain or tragedy in my life related to my sexuality. Despite having no positive role models, in the media or otherwise, I always knew I was gay, have always been happy being gay, and despite not growing up in a 'gay-friendly' environment, almost everyone I know has been fine and matter-of-fact about me being gay, and I have never experienced discrimination let alone been queerbashed. Some reading this may be saying 'lucky bastard' right now, but that is not a good reason for wanting tragic gay stories in the media. Of course I have had the usual comments from the ignorant from time to time, but everyone gets these and being called a fag and whatever is no worse than being called fat or ugly or thick etc. In fact, when looking at my straight friends' lifes I think I have it easy being gay as there is a lot of politically correct pro-gay sentiment in the developed world that, if anything, has facilitated my life; economically we are in a better position, and the only real 'pain' I have to deal with is that of the inabilty to have children, which it's possible to get around.
In England, we are constantly bombarded with media representations of being gay from Queer As Folk to characters in the soaps, that, ironically, are mostly written by middle aged gay men (much as the American tosh like Friends and Will and Grace are I believe), that are so coloured by their own generation's experience of being gay, that there is always a large dose of pain and confusion and prejudice written into these characters and their lives, and, sickeningly, these writers abuse their position by using their creative medium as a selfish catharsis as if shouting 'look at what you did to me' (though I'm not saying this is what Proulx has done) instead of writing in a more politically responsible and up-to-date manner, but these experiences these writers portray are not the experiences (at least most of the time) of the younger gay generation. Yes, I know people still sometimes get murdered for being gay, just as they do for being the wrong colour, and I know that the suicide rate for gay teens is something like 3 times that for straight teenagers, and these issues should be addressed in both art and politics, but I am tired of the tragic representations of being gay that we get in media such as Hollywood.
Maybe we shall have to wait until my generation (gay and straight) gets older and becomes the next wave of writers, editors, managers etc, to give a more up-to-date and balanced view of what it is like to be gay.
Proulx's story is wonderfully told but, especially as a film, it will reach many people unsophisticated enough to not comprehend the many layers the story has to offer, and it will only serve to ramify existing beliefs and would have been better left as a book; the film will only please those who don't have the imagination to create the story in their head having read the book and need the luxury of seeing a multi-million pound movie made where everything is done for you, those who are too idle and illiterate to read the book in the first place (which accounts for most people which is sad indictment of our political and education systems and society as a whole), and those who have a sick need to have their own (mostly outdated) experiences overly dramatised and shared with the world.
Posted by: Rhys | Oct 15, 2005 6:56:07 AM
Thanks for sharing that review. If the madly-successful blogging thing ever falls through, along with all the other talents you seem to posess, movie review writing seems to be right up your alley. I guess I need to change my wallpaper back to the movie poster, just as a reminder that it's coming.
Posted by: RockyMtRangr | Oct 15, 2005 10:37:03 AM
Rockmtrangr,
like I said before, its a shame that so many people are illiterate and lazy - if you had any significant grey matter you would have read and understood the previous post quickly enough for your wallpaper to have stayed up and realise its not a movie review, more a rant about non-contemporary prejudice (perpetuated by both gay and straight people alike) that is so noticeable in the mainstream media; and as for the blogging thing - it only took me a few minutes to write the previous post; unlike you, who don't seem to 'posess' [sic] much talent of anything, I have the basic skills to spell, think and type 75 wpm without much effort, and would prefer to spend most of time doing something more constructive and helpful to society than reviewing an art form that is a shallow and empty substitute for lazy people that don't want to be bothered with the effort involved in literature, music, painting etc where you actually have to engage with the artist and not simply be spoon-fed shite and led through an emotional mangle.
Posted by: Rhys | Oct 15, 2005 10:55:33 AM
My my, rhys you certainly do seem to have a bee in your bonnet about this one.
You make some excellent points, but you missed a few of mine. I believe that I made myself clear in my first post that I agree with you in wanting to see more positive representations of gays in media. I will be first in line for the mainstream gay romance that is not a tragedy.
While I am heartened to hear that as an out youth, you've experienced little or no bigotry, I do, however, think your assumption that your entire generation has this experience is a bit of egocentricism.
Perhaps in your microcosm gay's "have it easy", unfortunately it is a fact that for most of planet this is not the case. One only has to look at the struggles of putting together gay straight alliances on U.S. High School campuses to see the tip of this iceberg.
I don't think even Hollywood itself would dispute the fact that they are a money driven industry and most often put out nothing but empty entertainment. But that does not mean that the medium of film itself is only for people to stupid to read. (Perhaps this is one reason indie films have become so popular.) You're overlooking something fundamental if you believe any particular artistic medium can be superficial by nature, the depth is all in how an artist uses it. Don’t throw the baby out with the bath water.
With that, I urge you to take your 75 wpm and all that passion and put it to good use now. Young writers and artists of all media can and do make an impact everyday. It's up to you and those like you to give us those positive gay images. There is no reason to wait for your generation "to become the next wave", by then your "up to date" perspectives will already seem tired to the generation after you. I can assure you that the place and time of every artist's life "colors" their work, this is intrinsic, since one of our key roles is to function as a mirror for society, which is always changing and growing.
BTW: just guessing here, but I think ROCKYMTRANGER was thanking ANDY for his REVIEW, and not commenting on your RANT. Otherwise why would he be putting the poster BACK on his screen if he was agreeing with YOUR point? You might want to read and think before calling people “illiterate and lazy”.
Posted by: Rich | Oct 15, 2005 1:09:59 PM
First of all thanks for the GREAT and very thoughtful review. I have loved this story since I first read it in the New yorker. Secondly, there are generational differences in the Gay Community that are genuine. Coming out in the early 80's is quite different than coming out now. However, experience with the journey of finding real love in this worl validates the emotions in Prouxl's story and the movie (of which I have read the script. This is much bigger than just a gay romance--it is about the true nature of the search, both internal and external fot love.
Posted by: James | Oct 16, 2005 12:37:46 PM
Kudos, Andy, on your review. I think we've all been waiting for it, and are glad you weren't disappointed.
Oh and Rhys, it's just a movie, right? Rich is correct in saying that 'now' is your generation's moment to create other stories. I must say, for someone who has had a fairly easy time coming out, there's a lot of anger there. So, I guess we're in store for the same old bitchy, bitter fag stereotypes that we all dislike. Chill out. Just a thought.
Posted by: Sean | Oct 16, 2005 3:47:19 PM
for those grumpy about non-happy decent endings to flix, go rent LATTER DAYS. ranks as one of my favourite flix of all time.
Posted by: xntrik | Oct 17, 2005 12:53:33 AM
Wow, great review. I'm even more excited to see it now.
Posted by: Robin | Oct 17, 2005 12:36:24 PM
I saw the trailer first, and just read the story. I'm eager to see how the movie turns out.
It seems like the trailer looks better than the story in its entirety--I didn't get the impact of the story until the end. I really like the ending of the story as it reveals the dreams/big plans Jack had.
Judging from the trailer, it seems the movie has expanded quite a bit from the story. I look forward to seeing it in the theater.
Posted by: E | Oct 29, 2005 12:03:06 AM
this movie sucks crap id give it a 1 sorry, all they do is be gay and camp at the mountains.
Posted by: mountain | Nov 21, 2005 9:07:04 PM
Andy, THANK YOU for the most extensive gay-sensitive review of this movie I could find on the Net. After seeing the trailer in the theatre, I ran home and downloaded it, and watch it about every hour. When Ennis hugs Jack's shirt, I just lose it. You see, I myself am a good ole boy from Texas (expatriate in San Francisco for 30 years now). And I too have an old shirt I take out and hug every so often. And when I remember my "Jack" and what might have been, I cry to the bottom of my soul. THAT is what makes this movie universal in it's pathos...it is most certainly not "that gay cowboy movie". Not sure I will make it through seeing this movie. Hit's this ole cowboy purdy close ta' home. Thanks for your brilliant review(s). Rob in SF
Posted by: Rob in SF | Nov 21, 2005 10:22:04 PM
I too have seen this film and when reading your review thought, "he's hit the nail on the head". This is my favorite film of the year for it's subtle yet completely accurate performances and for it's astute story telling. I hadn't read the short story when I saw it, but I ran to my nearest bookstore after going to a screening. The screening of this film was coupled with one of 'Jarhead' and a Q&A with Jake afterwards and between the hours of film and the hour of questions: Jake became my favorite actor of his age group. Go see this film- it's so beautiful.
Posted by: Timm | Nov 27, 2005 11:16:34 PM
I saw this ten days ago at the Denver Film Fest, and LOVED it. Even better than the book, which I didn't think possible.
It was nominated for four Indie Spirit Awards this morning (tied for second): Best Pic, Actor, Director, Supporting Actress.
Nom list: http://www.filmindependent.org/pdf/SA_nomonesheet.pdf
Their press release: http://www.filmindependent.org/pdf/SA_nompressrelease.pdf
Posted by: Dave Cullen | Nov 29, 2005 6:55:05 PM
Peter Travers also gave it an ecstatic four-star review in Rolling Stone, posted last night:
http://www.rollingstone.com/reviews/movie/_/id/6169704?rssfeed=moviereviews&rnd=1133232723170&has-player=true&version=6.0.12.1059
Best passages:
My favorite passages (all the rest is from the Travers review):
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Ang Lee's unmissable and unforgettable Brokeback Mountain hits you like a shot in the heart. It's a landmark film and a triumph for Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, who bring deep reserves of feeling to this defiantly erotic love story about two Wyoming ranch hands and the external and internal forces that drive them from desire to denial. Directed with piercing intelligence and delicacy by Lee, the film of Annie Proulx's 1997 short story -- the unerring script by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana is a model of literary adaptation -- wears its emotions on its sleeve.
That leaves the film vulnerable. The media keep tagging it as the gay cowboy movie, the queer Gone With the Wind, the Western that puts the poke in cowpoke. Coupled with the rise of homophobia as church and state shout down gay marriage, the film is up against it.
Do me a favor: See the movie first and make your judgments later. It's an eye-opener.
...
Lee's filmmaking mastery has never been more evident. Watch the skill with which the Taiwanese director of Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon and Sense and Sensibility walks the volatile ground of this reunion scene. Ennis can't contain his excitement. Running down the steps to greet his friend, he collides with Jack's body, kissing him fiercely and Jack returning the heat. Alma sees it too, from the window, finding reinforcement for something she's always felt. Without dialogue, Lee creates a whole world that can be read eloquently and movingly on the faces of the actors.
And what actors. Though the characters must age twenty years, Lee has cast the film young, a risk that pays major dividends.
...
Ledger's magnificent performance is an acting miracle. He seems to tear it from his insides. Ledger doesn't just know how Ennis moves, speaks and listens; he knows how he breathes. To see him inhale the scent of a shirt hanging in Jack's closet is to take measure of the pain of love lost. As Jack told him once, "That ol' Brokeback got us good." That's the key reason -- besides its daring, its bravery, its dead-on relevance to right now -- that this classic in the making ranks high on the list of the year's best movies. It gets you good.
Posted by: Dave Cullen | Nov 29, 2005 6:57:45 PM
you're kidding right? who the hell wants to see a sappy love story between two men?
this goddamn film sets the movement back
20 years. there is so much wrong with this over-blown jane austen wanna-be it don't know where to begin.
oh by the way i'm a gay man who is NOT politically correct.
Posted by: sam basile | Dec 8, 2005 3:31:32 PM
Does anyone know where I can download a copy of the short story Brokeback Mountain? I read it last week on the New Yorker website, but they have taken it off. Let me know where to find a copy?
Posted by: OP | Dec 22, 2005 12:06:00 PM
I truly can't understand why someone would not be touched by this movie. I guess either it gets to you or it doesn't.
I'm shy to admit that I've seen this three times already. At each viewing the audience refused to immediately get up when the credits started. It seems like people just want to savor it, just can't leave.
Why have I seen it so many times? Well, obviously, I relate to the gay subject matter, but there's much more to it. My dad, who is straight, is very much like Enis, and I'm very much like his daughter. He is just an empty shell of a man, unable to experience more than a fleeting glimpse of joy, unable to let anyone in, living a life that just doesn't move him. Like his daughter, I'm heartbroken by this, trying so hard to pull him out of it.
To think that gay people only enjoy this movie because of the gay romance misses the scope of the film. How we express love, to what extent we allow ourselves to be close to others, is what all of the characters in this movie dealt with, even the grocery store manager. That's what touched me about this movie, why I've seen it so many times.
Andy, I'm new to towleroad, I'm happy I've found you. Your review was thoughtful, reflective of the film itself. Thank you.
Posted by: Adam | Dec 23, 2005 10:11:39 PM
Having seen the film twice to date, each time at respectful, quiet media previews, I've found it heartrendingly, achingly beautiful each time.
In a medium that depends so much on collaboration, and where one weak link can ruin everything, 'Brokeback Mountain' is a rare example of a film where script, acting, cinematography, music and direction all come together to create a considered, subtle and deeply moving film.
Posted by: Richard Watts | Jan 10, 2006 7:02:35 AM
I just saw this movie via DVD it brought me to tears, tears, tears. It is by far one of the BEST love stories evertold, my second would be Monster's Ball. I truly believe to capture the complex nature of love you have to show is in ALL FORMS not just the traditional (boy/girl). I really identified with Jack, alway wanting more, but accepting less for the sake of love. If you open your heart along with your eyes you will see this movie for what it is. LOVE, LOVE and the pain we ALL endure for the sake of LOVE.
Posted by: D.H. Williams | May 20, 2006 10:00:30 PM
I had been looking forward to seeing this movie. By the end of it I was almost in tears having been subjected to the most emotional gut wrenching I had ever experienced from a movie. It felt so relevant to us and so reflective of our plight in society and yet it didn't dwell as the usual gay-themed movies do on persecution of gays by ignorant people. It emphasised the love between two individuals and that transcended it all. I was surprised at the intensity of the love from the initial "tent scene" to the emotional and passionate reunion after 4 years absence (among others).
THe end of the movie engenders a certain depression and hopelessness about being gay in the past and even in today's world though I will never regret seeing it and will think of it for a long time. Brilliant movie, brilliant actors and storyline. No movie will come close to impressing me as this one did
Posted by: Mike | Nov 4, 2006 5:43:19 AM
m91k
Posted by: ro172ck | Jul 3, 2007 9:12:20 AM
m214k
Posted by: ro486ck | Aug 7, 2007 4:50:11 PM