Saw Brokeback Mountain today
 

I enjoyed it a great deal. I won't say it is the best film I have ever seen but I do think it is the best film (versus movie..I take them as different things) I have seen so far out of the films that are eligble to awards this year.

Heath Ledger was good but I don't know why Jake Gyllenhaal is getting ignored in the awards as I actually thought he was perhaps the better of the two. I went in a bit skeptical because I have never gotten why a performance is suddenly 'brave' just because a straight actor plays a gay character and why it isn't when a gay actor/actress plays a straight character but I gave it a chance and I am glad I did. It was a tale of great longing and it could have been between a man and a woman for the most part but it just happened that they were two men.

Obviously this movie isn't for everyone. Not so much because it is a 'gay' movie because it is more an art movie than a mainstream movie. I thought to myself that I watch a lot of world cinema that moves at the same pace and similar directions and I guess since it is an Ang Lee production that isn't too suprising. If you didn't like Lost In Translation, I am fairly sure you won't like Brokeback Mountain either. They aren't the same film but they are both fairly slow paced and primarily character and relationship studies.

As far as gay sex goes - there is more or less none of it shown. You see one scene at the start and it you don't actually even see anything there but instead it is mostly left up to your imagination. There are more boobs in this film than male nudity.

My only mild complaint about it is that they jump start the relationship a bit quickly. However,once it is started I buy into it.

Is it worthy os the Oscar? I still have to see Good Night and Good Luck and Walk The Line (both of which haven't been released yet here) so I will reserve judgement until then.

I was just surprised that two establishes young actors would risk doing such role. Usually you would see a totally unknown actor doing nudity and/or gay roles on film, and then it will be their break out movie. Very brave for Ledger and Jake

Yeah you wouldnt see a Will Smith, or Tom Hanks umm nevermind.

My wife and I saw it recently. We both appreciated Ang Lee's ability to create ambience. I walked away with the same "taken far away" impression I got from "Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon." She focused more on the social mindset of the time and how it affected the characters.

The cinematic shots of the Wyoming landscape and wide angle shots really highlighted several points behind the movie: 1) despite the vast expanse and possibilities that American culture affords there are still certain areas where one can feel claustrophobic and severely constrained (in this movie's case, it was about WHO the leads chose to love) 2) Brokeback mountain was not only the place where the two leads first expressed their desire for each other it was also their refuge... their sanctuary. The story was set in the early 60's and in rural Wyoming which was several cultural spacewarps away from San Francisco or New York's Greenwich Village where the Gay Rights movement centered. Indeed, it's remoteness and isolation gave the film a great formula for framing the feeling of frustration, hopelessness, and desperate longing within such an otherwise expansive and limitless landscape.

One particularly interesting scene was where Ennis (Ledger) beat up on two biker assholes who were disrespecting his family. In that one scene, backdropped by exploding Fourth of July fireworks, Ang Lee strongly makes the point that homosexuality has nothing to do with manliness. One can both be gay and still be "manly" (in the traditional sense). And this is the point that makes the film's elements even more troubling to the lead characters. They embody the American ideals of machismo and manliness--Ennis' silent, strong, and protective cowboy image sums this up. Yet they are not free to be who they are or truly choose (in society's eyes) who to love. That is the perfect lead up to the tragedy in the movie.

This is a very tragic story of unfulfilled love, of regret, of being "not man enough" to accept one's self and make the right decisions. Given the homophobia (with often fatal consequences) that informed the era the lead characters lived in, one can't really blame them for making the choices they did.

Here's my rating:

Acting -- Top Notch (except maybe for Ann Hathaway--although she did appear topless :))

Story -- Very troubling, moving, and, ultimately, haunting.

Direction -- Ang Lee did it again. He used "Crouching Tiger" to show that Chinese martial arts flick can be moving, dynamic, and liberating. In "Brokeback" he used the expansive Wyoming landscape both as a foil to the inner tensions of the main characters and as a refuge for socially taboo affection.

Good movie. Definitely requires an open mind to see.

I don't think so ... Philadelphia and Tom Hanks comes to mind...I think this just portraited the homosexuality so much more where Philadelphia had more do with corporate/AIDS, etc...

Hmmm, might go check it out this weekend... :pimp

I'm not sure if I'm gonna see it, but I might!

Maybe i'm wrong, but in regards to the Wyoming landscape...wasn't the movie filmed in Alberta?

I wish i knew how to quit you :1orglaugh

Don't you mean he?
:winkwink:

Normally I'd go see a movie such as this (if for no other reason) than the scenery but I'm going to skip this one. I don't normally appreciate movies that try to "build in a message" under the guise of entertainment.

The last person to get away with that (at least with me) was Michael Landon with Little House On The Prairie - and hey, I was young then and had a thing for Melissa Sue Anderson anyways.

I don't have black friends and I don't have gay friends - I just have friends....

Not sure I'm conveying the message I'm trying to well enough, but to me, there is a difference and I don't need Hollywood to tell me what that difference is.

The thing about this movie is, to me at least, that it's not so much about "gays" as it is about a relationship and how they have to go through alot of crap. :2 cents:

can i sit on your lap in the theatre?

Yes it was.


And as far as it being a "gay" movie..yeah, it was I guess because the two main characters were gay..but to me it was more of a movie about "missed opportunities" and made me think of situations and wonder to myself "what would have happened if I had only..."??

this is a good post about Brokeback Mountain...better than homophobic thread posted earlier...

It was filmed in Alberta instead of Wyoming due to labor cost and infrastructure issues. However, the scenery selection was aimed at replicating as much as possible the Wyoming landscape of the Annie Prouxl original short story that the film was based on.

I must agree... For that, I'd be hitting the moviehouses as soon as possible.