So, Brokeback Mountain... The gay cowboy movie to end all gay cowboy movies? Or just another Ang Lee sleeper that can't live up to our expectations and the hype (à la Hulk)?WARNING: There may be spoilers ahead!
Brokeback is a slow, methodical, character driven piece... not an awful lot happens over the span of 20-odd years. Don't expect any big set pieces or explosions, nor even a lot of drama, there's angst and pondering, maybe some supposition, and that's about it. Mind you it's all beautifully photographed, and the two stars are, as one would expect, just stunning (though Heath's Godfather impression leaves you wondering just when he's going to take the cotton buds out).
It's definitely Ennis' (Heath's) picture, as it is primarily told from his perspective. However, in the same way Ennis represses his sexuality, so to does the movie shy away from it’s role as a truly groundbreaking mainstream gay-themed movie. The director focuses on the unsatisfying lives these characters have settled for, rather than embracing the beauty of the “fishing trips” they spend together. This being a movie about unrequited gay love, I suppose this is the point, but as a gay man I wanted to see more of the pleasure of this relationship juxtaposed with to their chosen painfully dreary realities.
Ultimately my breaking point was Lee’s artistic choice not to fully show us Jack’s (Jake’s) death, but rather have us momentarily glimpse it in flashback, undermines Jack’s significance for the audience, if not as Ennis’ true love, and takes away from the true horror of his murder.I left the movie feeling cheated. I wanted to have bawled my eyes out; instead I shed only a few tears!
(And by the way, I love Jake Gyllenhaal more than ever!!!)
6 comments:
Thank you for the spoiler alert - I have skipped down to the bottom to comment. I really want to see this film but I am trying to temper the hype and remember that America is easily impressed by pretty anything new so this could just be the latest fad in the "Queer is cool" vein of things like makeover shows, boy meets boy etc... For this fag it remains to be seen!
I dunno, Matt. I found it pretty amazing and am still heavy hearted about it. I think it was a human story in the end.
Definitely a turning point for gay people and American cinema.
Another spoiler alert...
Jack's death is left as a mystery. You don't know if the flashback is the truth or Ennis' fears of what really happened. The novella is clear, it's Ennis' fear.
I completely agree. I'm forming a support group for gay men who didn't like Brokeback if you're interested.
Mitch, I never read the novella. My reading was that Jack was gay bashed to death, orchestrated by his own wife - the flashback occurs when she's talking and the particularly sour and nocchalant (sp?) expression she has just suggested to me she was in on the whole thing.
Chad... sign me up!
Matt - that's totally what I got too. To me, the chick from Toy Story, I mean... Anne Hathaway had the best moment of the entire film in her delivery of the story. It was chilling. (Granted everyone around me was boo-hooing... I sat there and thought, damn... Princess Diary is a cold bitch... and I like it.)
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