By Chlotrudis Independent Film Society
Rating: 4.5 cats
Director: Ang Lee
Starring: Ana Faris | Anne Hathaway | Heath Ledger | Jake Gyllenhaal | Kate Mara | Linda Cardellini | Michelle Williams | Randy Quaid
Country: canada, united_states
Year: 2005
Running time: 134
IMDB: https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0388795/reference
Shannon says: “I don’t really have time to give this review the attention it deserves, but I saw BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN at the closing night of the Denver International Film Festival on Saturday. I woke up Sunday morning with the film still in my head, and it lingers even today. The film is incredibly powerful, thoughtful and restrained. Heath Ledger gives an amazing performance, as does Jake Gyllenhaal and Michelle Williams.
“For those of you not familiar with the film, it is based on a short story by Annie Proulx and directed by Ang Lee. I haven’t read the short story, but am going to try and find it. From what I’ve heard, the adaptation of the work was impeccable. All I knew going into the film was ‘Gay Cowboys.’ Which was perhaps a good thing. Go see this film—this kind of cinematic experience is becoming more and more rare these days.
“After the film, Ang Lee did a Q&A with our local film critic. After having been in sobs for the latter part of the film, I was surprised when he noted surprise at the sniffles in the audience. He noted that he thought the film was restrained (it was) and he wasn’t trying to ‘jerk tears,’ which I suppose is what makes the film so heart-wrenching.
“As a side note, one of the pieces of the experience that was very meaningful to me was to be sitting in Denver’s brand new opera house, surrounded by 1300 in the audience, watching a ‘gay’ film. (For what it’s worth, I think the film is so much more than a gay film, but you get my drift.)”
Michael says: “After all the critical praise (and some bashing) Ang Lee’s much-anticipated BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN received, I almost wish I had followed Beth’s lead and screened this one in Toronto. Instead I made sure to catch it on opening weekend. Without a doubt, Lee has created a masterful film. BROKEBACK has quite the pedigree. Ang Lee has directed such elegant adaptations as THE ICE STORM and SENSE AND SENSIBILITY. The movie was adapted by Larry McMurtry (who also wrote/adapted THE LAST PICTURE SHOW) and Diana Ossana, from a prize-winning short story Annie Proulx. BROKEBACK tells the story of two cowboys who fall in love in the lonely mountains of Wyoming during the 1960’s. At its heart, it is a tragic romance in the vein of LOVE STORY or even ROMEO & JULIET, but Lee very artfully layers so much more into this film, including the iconography of the cowboy (the first few scenes that show the two main characters are filled with iconic poses), the beginning of the death of the traditional Old West, the serious issues of gay bashing (I couldn’t help but think about Matthew Shepard, a young man who was murdered in a gay bashing in Laramie, Wyoming several years ago), and let’s face it, the beauty of the Rocky Mountains.
“Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) are a pair of cowboys who find work tending a flock of sheep in a lonely stretch of mountains over one summer during the 1960’s. Over the course of the season, the two men draw comfort from one another in the form of a physical relationship. When the summer is cut short by the flock owner, the two men part ways, both individually coming to grips with the depth of the love that has emerged for the other. Years pass, Jack moves to Texas, and both men marry, but a chance get together when Jack is briefly back in Wyoming rekindles their relationship. To reveal anymore would spoil the film, but needless to say, the emotional turmoil the characters suffer is powerful and tragic.
“Much has been written about Heath Ledger’s performance, surprising many, myself included, who never saw the actor’s appeal. His close-lipped, emotionally-stunted performance is the heart of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, and he pulls it off masterfully. Jake Gyllenhaal starts off with less weighty material, but by the film’s end he shows his stuff, revealing a character even more complex than his taciturn lover. The ladies in these two cowboys’ lives are wonderfully represented as well. Michelle Williams has the unenviable task of bringing to life the neglected wife who suspects her husband’s unmentionable infidelity, and brings real emotion to her. But it is Anne Hathaway who is the other revelation here, her cool, calculating businessman’s daughter reveals nothing but her bad dye-job until a show-stopping scene near the film’s climax where her struggle to control her emotions proves to be shattering for the viewer.
“I loved BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, but I can’t give it five cats. There was something about Ang Lee’s presentation of the work that kept me at arm’s length. Sure, I got choked up at a few scenes, but this is a movie crybaby we’re talking about, and I should have been sobbing through several emotional scenes where I was instead, appreciating the artistry involved in the writing, directing, acting, art direction, etc., but not losing myself in the emotions. Almost too crafted, I guess, but it only knocks things down half a cat. See this movie before nomination time, it is SURE to be in contention for several categories. 4 ½ cats”
Hilary says: “Either I’m suffering backlash-itis or I’m officially dead inside, but I wasn’t moved by BROKEBACK the way I expected to be.
“Technically, it’s nearly perfect, the cinematography is stunning, and Heath Ledger deserves all the praise he’s getting. However, something big was missing for me.
“I must take some exception to Ann Hathaway for Supporting Actress — I felt that she just didn’t have enough to work with to merit a nom. Her costumer almost deserves a nom more than she does. I’m mulling over Michelle Williams, though, but happy to debate as ever.”
Chadd responds: “I agree 100% here. To me, it’s TITANIC (and we had the movie poster conversation so that comparison is intentional)- it’s a great piece of ‘work’, but the story and execution don’t move me. I’d probably give it more along the lines of 3.5 cats for all of the technical merit.
“If this is the movie that means it’s ‘ok’ for ‘mainstream’ America to start accepting homosexual relationships as ‘normal’ (in the sense that, past the bigotry of others’ views, it’s a RELATIONSHIP…. golly gee wizz Batman… amazing how that works! <Sigh>. End ranting on intolerance.), great. I’m all for it. And this movie is CERTAINLY worth a view. But I agree with Hilary- something big is missing here. To some extent, BECAUSE this isn’t an ‘issues’ movie, I’m left with just a love story…. a fine, well-crafted, expertly acted, directed, and shot love story; but… well… I’ve seen it before. It didn’t present anything new. Neither did TITANIC. ;-)”
Thom responds: “TITANIC was a bloated ‘disaster’ film with a lackluster romance thrown in as something to pass the time. BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is a quiet, understated ‘love story.’ The tragedy of the TITANIC sinking rather undermined the romantic elements of the film. In MOUNTAIN it was an unspoken ‘society’ that thwarted the love of Ennis & Jack. While the photography was first-rate in both films, there was only the lay of the land to evoke the spirit of the two men in MOUNTAIN, while TITANIC really was only interested in special effects. To be perfectly honest, I cry very easily while watching sad films, &, like Michael C. I felt rather distanced from BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN, but I’m fairly certain that this was Lee’s intent. Still, the story was so brilliantly told that I gave it 5 CATS!!”
Barbara says: “I just got back from seeing BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN with a friend. I thought it was great and was moved to tears by Heath Ledger. She thought it was okay and liked Jake Gyllenhaal. I would never compare the love story aspect to TITANIC which I didn’t like at all. I never felt any emotional tug with TITANIC. With BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN so many others were affected by their relationship (wives, children, parents). Seeing the degeneration of their spirit as the movies goes on put this on a much higher level than TITANIC for me.”
Bruce says: “What left is there to say about BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN? Recently I read an article about Michael Haneke (CACHÉ, THE PIANO TEACHER) in which he criticizes America filmmaking for ‘disempowering the spectator.’ In short, the viewer is not required to think. In that context BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN is an anomaly for it has stimulated more thought and opinion than any film in recent memory.
“Is BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN really a gay cowboy movie? What started out as a David Letterman joke has provoked arguments across the country. In my opinion, Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) is probably gay by some reasonable definition of the word, i.e. possessing a sexual preference towards members of one’s own sex. On the other hand, in my eyes Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) is certainly not gay. Ennis is a lonely, extraordinarily introverted guy who ends up finding one person in life with whom he feels comfortable, with whom he can communicate. The fact that that person happens to be the same sex is practically irrelevant in his eyes. He knows that the world outside does not perceive such relationships as irrelevant and he is thoroughly conditioned to behave according to norms. He can act on his feelings only if they are hidden from public view.
“To his credit Ang Lee has done great justice to the spirit of his source material. Usually I do not like adaptations that add to stories which are already beautiful and complete. Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana have embellished Annie Proulx’s short story, originally published in the New Yorker. One of my favorite scenes in the film happens to be one of their additions. Near the end of the film Ennis’ older daughter comes to visit him at his trailer where he lives alone. He has suffered immensely from learning about Jack’s death. His daughter tells him she is getting married. Ennis, drawing from his own experience asks, ‘Does he love you?’ Initially he tells her that he will not be around for the wedding but he readjusts his thinking in a matter of minutes, realizing that he cannot let another important opportunity slip by. For me this scene turns the film into a parable and adds a bittersweet quality to what might have been utter tragedy. By adding this scene the scriptwriters argue against any notion that being gay brings on nothing but disaster or despair. 5 cats”
Peg says: “One thing about BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN that struck me very strongly was the way in which it functions as a sort of modern pastoral, an homage to a way of living that, once experienced, is formative in the most fundamental sense. But, as with pastoral in the classical sense, this way of life is highly romanticized by those who have not lived it first-hand. Once these men left the genesis of that life behind they were only able to recapture it fleetingly, and Ennis, who continues to try to work as a ‘cowboy’ in a more traditional sense than Jack, suffers from a dissonance brought on by his desire to maintain his earlier sense of freedom and connection to nature and his hatred of the poverty this lifestyle engenders. If one wants to get sappily symbolic about it, Ennis’ refusal to ’embrace’ his life (read: gay identity) as fully as Jack leaves him even more shackled than his lover, who chooses the comparatively easy life of sales and suburban comfort.
“I can appreciate the comments some members have made about this film’s lack of depth, but I think its simplicity is its charm. Maybe the story’s breadth and depth are writ in those grand hills, valleys, rivers and flocks at its perimeters, and not in the inarticulate, fumbling relationship at its heart.”
Sarah says: “I really enjoyed BBM, but I have conflicting feelings about it as well.
“I actually thought the distance Lee keeps between the audience and the characters worked very well, I think that is part of what helped me feel unmanipulated by the film, and the unforced quality of my emotional reaction to it was one of the things I liked best about the film.
“However, I think where the film really fell down was in its hesitancy to explore Jack and Ennis’ relationship as a couple as fully as it explores their relationships with the others in their lives (wives, bosses, in-laws, parents, and children). How do they express themselves with each other when they are alone, both verbally and sexually? We don’t know since we see only see the tail end of their meetings when they are arguing about when they’ll meet again. The scene in the tent on the mountain where they are both overcome with each other works with that section of the film, but the overall plot arc is that they were truly in love with each other and I wanted some expression of that in the film. I didn’t feel like the rough housing in the field scenes before they came down from the mountain was enough to make me believe that this was the beginning of a twenty year relationship. As I recall (saw the movie once on opening weekend, please forgive me if my recall isn’t perfect) we get one flashback very late in the film of the two embracing in bed (or in the sleeping bag as the case may be) and the kiss when they meet again after 4 years (which, I thought, expressed more about their relationship than almost anything else in the movie—almost the only time I can remember either character expressing unmitigated joy or enthusiasm in the film) and that’s it. I think the film would have been much better if Lee would have cut 10 minutes (or more) or majestic mountain scenery and we had seen one, possibly two more intimacy and/or sex scenes showing what they gave each other and how that changed (or didn’t change) as time passed.
“To me, the film was about the lack of love, connection and intimacy in nearly all the characters lives, and the tragedy of the fact that when Jack and Ennis find that in each other they can’t be together. If we had been presented with just a few more scenes of how Jack and Ennis experienced that connection when they were together the poignancy of the scenes when they were apart would have been that much more effective. As it was, I found myself most touched by the scene when Ennis goes to Jack’s childhood home and finds, despite Jack’s sunny demeanor, that it was just as barren as his own family’s and the scene between Ennis and his daughter at the end, where Ennis is trying to make some small step towards making a connection with someone else. Not the scenes when Jack and Ennis were actually interacting.
“All that said, I did think Heath Ledger was devastatingly good in his part, with especially good support from Michelle Williams and the woman who played Jack’s mother; she said more with her eyes than half the actresses I’ve seen in major speaking roles. Put me down as one who was crying at the end, and the first song they played during the credits just made me weep even more.”