Brokeback Mountain came and went through my brain twice before I felt I could voice my thoughts about the movie. I even had to look around to other reviews to try and help develop my thoughts on a movie that's bound to win a ridiculous amount of awards. The Towleroad Guide To Brokeback Mountain helped a lot there.
I've never read the original short story by Annie Proulx, and I can't say if I ever will read it. The fact that I hadn't read the story left me not knowing what to expect from the movie. Based on the pictures that I'd seen from the movie (two pictures total, including the poster) and what I'd read and heard about it the movie was about two gay cowboys who fell in love. Two incredibly hot, sex cowboys played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal. Then at some point Heath Ledger marries some redhead chick, which I learned after seeing my one screen capture from the movie: their wedding.
The opening of the movie was a powerful way to introduce the characters and the landscape. The fact that neither spoke until well after they had been assigned to work together was something that felt so familiar to me. The way that Jack (Gyllenhaal) cruised Ennis (Ledger) at the very beginning of the movie is what I consider to be the single most clever thing that Ang Lee could have done while directing the movie. The subtle infusion of typical gay demeanour into macho straight stereotypes is brilliant and something that Lee should be given credit for. It's what won me over.
Both Ledger and Gyllenhaal did amazing jobs at displaying emotions that they may not ever feel in their lives. Ennis was the typical gruff, quiet homo too afraid to say anything for fear of what people might come to discover about him. Gyllenhaal played the quirky, eccentric rodeo cowboy that passed off his actions as rodeo's rambunctious tendencies. It worked fine for the first two decades of their lives. Then they wind up working together up in the vast nothingness that is Wyoming herding sheep. One cold night and a little too much whiskey and they find themselves opening doors to a world of lust that they've kept locked away inside them. That point changed their relationship forever.
Brokeback touches on a number of points in the life of someone dealing with their sexuality in a world that is not only not accepting, but hateful towards their orientation. It's painfully slow moving and accents the internal suffering that goes on in the lives of Ennis and Jack after they leave Brokeback and attempt to fit back into their world where men do women and make babies. Dealing with that and the fact that they just can't quit each other (expect a lot of homos to be heard quoting that line in the next few months). It's powerful and moving, and I would recommend it to anyone who has more than two brain cells.
Nice entry.