Saw it tonight. It was a very amazing film with some absolutely amazing performances.
Heath Ledger in particular was pitch perfect in his role, and Michelle Williams was good in her role as well. Jake Gyllenhaal was good, but the movie belongs to Heath. His ability to say so much without words and just the way he plays the character were brilliant.
Will mainstream audiences eat it up? Depends on the oscar talk. It wasn't really "gay" themed IMHO. I felt like it was more a film about two people who form an emotional bond that was for the most part unexpected to them.
There was a lot of laughter in certain scenes, but I think this was because of the tense audience unsure of what to expect. We'll see what happens when it expands past 5 theatres. People clapped at the end, and the whole row I was in was in tears at the end.
I personally didn't have a problem with the fact that they didn't refer themselves as "gay" in the movie. This is honestly more understandable when you see the film and you understand the characters. I think the uproar with that is a lot of people really upset with the inability to label everything.
Definitely worth seeing. Great film.
There also wasn't nearly as much graphic stuff as I expected, and it didn't feel like it was necessary. I think there was more nudity from the female leads than the men.
Some strong performances, I'll give it that. Particularly Williams and Ledger.
But, I just don't think much of this film. It's an overly long forbidden love story. Corny melodrama at worst, and thin drama at best.
I've seen it a million times, but tighter and better (though, with lesser performances). I'm left wondering why all the hype? I know why, of course...the film is a zeitgeist capturing 'film of the moment'.
A very strong film, directed brilliantly by Ang Lee. Strong performances all throughout, especially from Heath Ledger. It will win the cinematography Academy Award this year.
But...the film didn't connect with me emotionally. I thought the film was sad but it didn't punch me in the gut. I felt the film was very good. I know the film is very good. But, I have a disconnect with this film that I can't fully explain.
It's gonna take a second viewing for me to get a handle on the film I think.
\"Don\'t be too proud of this technological terror you\'ve constructed. The ability to destroy a planet is insignificant next to the power of the Force\"
Loved the film.Very diliberate pace, wonderul performances and some great scenery. These men were trying to fit into a society that wouldnt let them be who they really were and their lives were ruined because of it.
I find it interesting that people will say that it will get Award nominations just because it is the film of the moment and just because they are not compfortable with the subject matter.
Don't disount the film unless you have seen it. then you can rant all you like.
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Will mainstream audiences eat it up? Depends on the oscar talk. It wasn't really "gay" themed IMHO. I felt like it was more a film about two people who form an emotional bond that was for the most part unexpected to them.
I agree. It was a film about a bond. A love that was foreign to them. There's a whole story that unfords about their lives. It's not what most nay sayers would expect. It's not just two guys humping in a tent for 2 hours.
The pace and tone reminded me a lot of Ang Lee's other movie, Ice Storm and it was just as tragic. Other movies that came to mind were A River Run's Through it and a bit of Urban Cowboy.
I liked it very much, and it is a solid Oscar contender, though I guess I admit, it isn't the greatest movie I ever saw. It is very dignified, and the story itself is certainly unusual. The actors are all fine (including David Harbour in a small role, and Roberta Maxwell as Jack/Jake's mother).
The best thing about it is that I didn't feel embarrassed for myself or the actors having to do sex scenes with each other.
One of the reasons Heath is so good, is that he credibly plays his character over 20 years. Heath himself is only 26, and this is very difficult to do; for instance, playing a father of adult children who are actors about the same age as he is.
I was disappointed by the end, but it's the same as the original story.
This film is currently playing only in one theater in Atlanta (on 3-4 screens, though), but I drove into town and was pleasantly surprised by the high number of people in line for the 11 a.m. showing (thankfully there was also an 11:30 a.m. showing that I was able to attend since the line was so long, and the theater only had one ticket window open that I didn't get my ticket until after the 11 a.m. showing commenced). Suffice it to say, the Friday showings were totally sold out, and the 3 showings I peeked in on were all sold out today.
Now with a film that received so much critical praise early in the "best of 2005" season, is it possible to keep an open mind about its touted "greatness"? I tried, limiting myself to the trailer of the film, and eschewing most of the other details about the film.
My initial thoughts on the aspect ratio was one of "why is this 1.85? It just screams 2.35 to me, but I will have to entertain the notion that director Ang Lee wanted to paint a more intimate portrait of the yearning and love between the principal characters, Jack and Ennis, and from that standpoint, 1.85 is a more proper aspect ratio. But the gorgeous scenery from Brokeback mountain would have benefited from a 2.35 aspect ratio.
Surprisingly, for a film with a running time around 135 minutes, the scenes blend in and move without a lot of inconsequential material, the film just quietly pushes through the passage of time at a pace that almost feels natural because as you get older, time does whisk by, with only highpoints from the years to mark its passage.
Set in 1963, buoyed by a summer of shepherding sheep, Jack and Ennis develop a friendship that turns into something deeper for the two of them, but at the same time, it's something with dire consequences and outwardly forbidden. The film hits the right notes in depicting the shackles of societal convention that forbidden love engenders. The pain from living a less-than-truthful life can take its toll, and the quality of the storytelling is worthy of motivating viewers to re-examining their own lives should parallels exists.
The performance of Heath Ledger (Ennis) is very good, just a smidge better than Jake Gyllenhall's (Jack), it was easy to buy the onscreen chemistry between them. Also, Michelle Williams does some good work as Ennis's wife. Ang Lee and the screenwriters do a wonderful job of never losing the viewer, and choose the right angles to present the scenes to sustain the storyline in a confident manner, with nary a mis-step.
Is it worth its hype? All I can say is that it didn't disappoint.
Wonderful film, that last monologue Jack made at the river (ending with "I wish I could quit you") was just heart breaking.
One oddity that detracted from the purity and strength of their relationship though, at least for me, which perhaps the filmmakers could have done without:
Spoiler:
When Ennis visits Jack's parents, Jack's father John Twist utters the words
---"Jack used a say, 'Ennis del Mar,' he used a say, 'I'm goin a bring him up here one a these days and we'll lick this damn ranch into shape.' He had some half-baked idea the two a you was goin a move up here, build a log cabin and help me run this ranch and bring it up. Then, this spring he's got another one's goin a come up here with him and build a place and help run the ranch, some ranch neighbor a his from down in Texas. He's goin a split up with his wife and come back here. So he says. But like most a Jack's ideas it never come to pass."---
This "another one" that he mentions, whether that's meant to be the newlywed husband we met ealier (Anna Faris played the talkative wife), or some other man Jack has had a relationship with, I don't have a problem with, since we know he had a tougher time suppressing his urges. That this line about the "another one" is included, however, shifted the mood, and cast the sanctity of their love in a negative light. That after two decades of attachment, two decades of unfaltering, strong-as-oak, wives-and-children-can't-break-us-apart attachment, Jack would even have "another one" in lieu of Ennis. It just felt odd, the final moments in the film, the discovery of the bloody shirts, during the culmination of Jack and Ennis' story. I really wish this line of dialogue, this unnecessary revelation, could have been excluded from the film adaptation.
Saw the movie yesterday and enjoyed it....thought it was a tragic film and as a gay man, I felt the most sorrow for Ennis' wife. I think to those characters, in that time, being 'gay' was not a concept that was possible / understandable..at least in terms of having a serious relationship. Given a life with no good choice, they chose to marry which inflicted harm on the women and children in their life.
I'm left with some questions/wonderings because a lot in this movie was left unsaid...
Spoiler:
1) Did jack's wife know he was gay? know how he died? She was rather cold about it during the phone call with Ennis...
What do we spose Ennis meant when he said "I swear" at the end?
As for the film's broad appeal.. I really can't see it appealing to most straight men, especially those who do not have any gay friends. Though there is more tit than dick in the show, the first (and only really) sex scene was somewhat shocking even to me... not that I didn't like it. I just can't see my dad stomaching this movie...
I just got back from this expecting not to like it all that much and came away thinking it was one of the year's best movies. Instead of labeling this "the gay cowboy movie", it should really be labeled "the 'Holy Shit, Heath Ledger can actually act!' movie". His performance was truly heartbreaking. Ang Lee finally knocked one out of the park for me.
BTW, there's no way this would ever get a PG-13 rating and it's not at all because of the subject matter. There's nudity (female and male - look closely when Jack and Ennis jump off the cliff to go skinny dipping), fairly rough sex, more than 2 "fucks", and
Just saw it today, very good. The earliest showing at a 20 screen megaplex was a third of the way full, a lot more than King Kong was at the same time a week ago. Based on the money its already made, I think Brokeback is going to make a shit load of money. Its not a coincidence that the more controversial a movie is the more money it makes.
I was surprised to see that it was mostly younger women in the audience, clearly they wanted to see hot men doing hot stuff. That's the reason I was there!
