hackthis_archive | On Brokeback Mountain

Because I love you all so very very much, I forced myself in my sickened delirious state to go to a screening of Brokeback Mountain yesterday evening. I know you all appreciate my sacrifice.

I shall preface this rather long breakdown with a few items.

+ Nothing is ever going to meet your expectations. I have been waiting for this movie to come out for about two years now. Before casting was announced, but after they announced that it was finally going to be made, I was excited. I talked this over with

ethrosdemon and

kattiya at length. I've written RPS about this movie. And when you build something up so much, even if they show you sex being had in graphic detail and give you little samples of lube at the door, it's still not going to be enough.

++ I am not a critic. I don't criticize films for a living. I don't work on movies for a living. I have friends who do, and all I know is what they tell me. I can talk about cranes and lighting and shit with the best of them, but still, well. I did go to the screening with a screen-writer friend, but Clementine (not her real name) was sobbing during the last ten minutes, so I'm not sure she's so objective.

+++ I have read the short story. I don't think this hurt me, but I'm not sure it helped either. From the beginning, if you've even caught a whiff of the press, you know where the story is going. Having read the story, I know how I'd visualized it, and this comes back to #1, the reality never quite meets your imagination.*

*Here is the story for those who are interested in reading it.

++++ I am writing this for me (and you). I'm not here to dissuade or convince anyone to see this movie. I'm writing this write-up, because I'm confused and conflicted and need to sort out exactly how I feel. If it helps or aids you, then that's so much cream.

Now having said that, on to the movie.

The Good

1. It is a beautiful film. I don't tend to be very into cinematography, because I'm much more of a character person, so when it's really good, I can't help but notice. Not that you would expect anything less from the man who made Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, but this movie is visually stunning. It's the very first thing you notice about it. The true star of 80% of the film is the setting. The blueness of the sky, the whiteness of the clouds, if it's CGI don't tell me, because really, I'm tempted to move to Alberta.

2. Heath Ledger is a revelation. I have no lost love for Heath Ledger. My entire experience with him can be chalked up to Ten Things I Hate About You, which, while a very amusing film, is also teen central, and The Four Feathers, which bored me to tears. Having said that though, he's got acting chops like I ain't never seen.* His scenes with Michelle Williams are absolutely stellar, and their chemistry is undeniable. On his own, he just conveys Ennis' confusion and anger with these tics and subtle facial expressions not in a million years did I think him capable of. You will be amazed; you will die.

*There are two particular scenes, one in alley after Jack leaves, and another, earlier in the snow, that are just priceless. Damn, I may be on a bandwagon and just not know it yet.

3. The women aren't just there. Yes, this is the story of two men in love, and in the short story the women are completely in the background, but here, they are truly supporting characters. And while the wig department should be ashamed of what they do to Anne Hathaway, again Michelle Williams is stunning. The scene when she sees the true nature of Jack and Ennis' relationship will break you. She's good. Who knew?

4. Oh my god, the kissing. The still that launched a thousand asthma attacks and that I wrote about the other day? Words cannot do it justice, it's so hot you will wet yourself. The violence, the need, the physicality, oh my god. I would go see the film again just for that.

5. It is a love story. The Big Gay Cowboy Movie? Not a big movie nor a particularly gay movie. There is no pride flag, no Richard Simmons, no Cher, and the cowboy thing extends to Jack's rodeo belt and the horses, but it's no western. At its heart this is a story about being in love and all the shit that comes with it.

6. That scene with the shirt. If I were a crier, like Clementine, I might've been in trouble.

7. The Jack and Ennis chemistry. At first I was going to put this in the Not-So Good category, but the more I thought about it, the more I realised it was so subtle that even with the yearning and scrapping, and the "I wish I knew how to quit you" that should've been over the top, it wasn't. One of my big issues was not quite feeling the connection between Jack and Ennis in the first half of the film, but it's a true testament to the actors that even when I had my doubts they made it work. There's a scene after Alma and Ennis' divorce when Jack drives across country to see Ennis' because he thinks this is it, and then the disappointment when he realizes it's not to be. Oh, sad, kids, very very fucking sad.

The Not-So Good

8. It's a cold film. It took almost the entire first half of the film for me to warm up to what was happening. At first I thought it was the theatre, because the theater wasn't exactly warm, but then I realised it wasn't the theatre at all. This is a film about detachment and loneliness. The way the shots are set up, the change of seasons, the way you can't quite get a hold of the characters. I don’t think it's meant to suck you in from the beginning -– at least I hope it's not, because if it is, it failed me.

9. The makeup department needs to hire some help. The idea of The Movie is to see Jack and Ennis together through the years. We're supposed to see them age from 19 to 39. Now, because they're ranchers, they're exposed to the elements, so you expect to see them weathered and the like. This is fine, but there's a particular scene towards the end, where Jack and Ennis are fighting after a "fishing trip" and when Jake Gyllenhaal steps into the background, you can actually *see* the applications around his eyes to make them more wrinkled. And when I say you can see them, I mean the patches are a completely different color that his skin tone. Bad make up, no cookie.

10. Yet again, I see why I'm not a Jake Gyllenhaal fan. I know readers of this LJ will be fucking shocked to hear this in light of all the RPS I've kicked out recently, but I'm not a Jake G fan. There's just something about his acting that doesn't quite do it for me. He wants to emote, and yet just looks sort of pained. His emotions all seem to get scrambled on his face, which is hard for me here because I want to believe him. I want to believe in him so badly, and sometimes he does brilliant things, and other times, not so much so. Also he doesn't weather the years as well as Heath does, and I don't mean that he looks bad, I mean it just looks as though he's playing dress up, but that's probably make-up's fault. Again.

The Down-right WTF?

11. New storylines. The Brokeback Mountain short story is 18 pages in Word, so no matter how you look at it, or how many pretty shots you get of Alberta, you still need to fill it in. Ang Lee decided to do this with another love interest for Ennis after his divorce from Alma, and a subplot with Ennis and his daughter Alma Jr. The fact that the actress they use for Alma Jr looks like she was born, in Clem's words, "about five minutes after Heath Ledger" just makes you want to kick someone in the head. And that love interest? Oh, please spare me now.

12. What sex? Over on

ohnotheydidnt there are screencaps of (one of) the love scenes between Jack and Ennis up on Brokeback Mountain, and let me tell you, you better study them real fucking closely, because when they do actually have sex it's so fucking dark you won't see a damn thing.

The Final Thought

I didn't love this movie. I didn't cry, but I'm not a crier anyway, so you can take that as you will. I didn't hate the film either. I don't think it's possible for me to just sum it up that easily. I think that I was so tangled up with expectations that I couldn't actually enjoy it for what it is, but now, having seen it I can appreciate it more for what it's not.

In the press, the actors have been saying over and over again that it's not the gay cowboy movie, and they're right, it's not. It's just a love story, a good, troubled love story, and that's all right by me.