Brokeback Mountain
Taught and beautifully made film that could have been a disaster.
An honest film about two men who, by circumstance, time and disillusionment are forced to live the better part of their lives in a lie. Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger play the cowboys who find love in the most unexpected of places, but never quite find a way to live with or without one another.
Heath Ledger, here, gives a performance so nuanced and delightfully forlorn it is a complete transformation. One takes intense pleasure in watching a face so usually painted with a smirk, disappear into the tight-lipped, thousand-mile gaze of a man who can only come to terms with himself and never give his world a chance to do the same.
Brokeback Mountain, based on the short story of E. Annie Proulx, has about as much knowledge of Wyoming as she does, but still manages to be less offensive than the Laramie Project, so that’s a step in the right direction. The film, shot mostly in Canada, bares little physical resemblance to the actual geographic location, but begrudging a film of this caliber for sins of the production department would be nothing short of a sin.
Ang Lee’s vision and complete control over what could have been a train wreck is so vividly apparent in every drop of this film’s seemingly indestructible luster. He needs to be complemented not only as a director of great skill and vision, but also of insurmountable fortitude to bring to screen what cinema is ready for, but also what many, unfortunately in the audience have yet to embrace.
Written by: Kevin Yeoman
Reviewers Rating: 9
Reader's Rating: 9.43
Reader's Votes: 21
Added: 10-Jan-2006
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