movies: brokeback mountain

Since Ma had today off, we decided that today was a good time to finally go and see a movie in Gold Class down at Marion. Originally we'd talked about going to see Memoirs of a Geisha there, but that was on at all the wrong times, so, since Brokeback Mountain isn't screening at the cinema we usually go to, we figured that it sounded like a plan.

I have to say, I'm totally sold on the Gold Class experience... Limited seating... no chance of anyone (other than the person you're with) sitting next to you... having staff personally escort you to your seat... big plush recliner chairs... the ability to have wedges (which we did) or pizza or whatever during the movie... too freakin' cool! Definitely need to that again!

I did fully expected it to be a room full of homos, Ma and me... but there were a lot more women than I thought there would be... and one or two couples that I thought could have been straight... of course one of those (the couple that sat in the next two chairs along from us) turned out to be J's ex (evil little troll that he is) with what I assume was one of his faghags... there were only two actual homo couples, and I think, a lesbian couple... but it was a much more "mixed" crowd than I expected.

I was a little apprehensive about the movie... I had very purposely NOT read or seen anything about it... I didn't want to know what the plot was beyond Heath and Jake falling in love... and to be honest, I'm glad I knew next to nothing about it, it let me just soak in the experience without any expectations. But by the same token, with all the hype going on around the movie, I did wonder if it would actually live up to those expectations.

I'm happy to say that it didn't disappoint.

Both Heath and Jake's performances were incredibly strong... but I can see why all the buzz had been around Heath's portrayal of Ennis... the character doesn't say much, but Heath definitely lets you in to what Ennis is feeling just by his body language and the words he DOESN'T say.

Of the two characters, as with most of these types of stories, I was more drawn to Jake's character, Jack Twist... the one who is more at ease with who he is and who would move heaven and earth to get the things he wants.

I also had to chuckle early in the movie when Jack is doing that thing that gayboys do... "not looking" at someone... where you know you want to look, with every fibre of your being, but you also know you can't look... so you appear to be so focused on whatever it is in front of you, but aren't seeing it at all, rather than looking at what you want to look at. Of course, in Jack's case, that something was naked Ennis, so I can totally understand the desire...

As for the visual look of the movie, I have to say that I'm pretty much loving Ang Lee... or else Rodrigo Prieto, his cinematographer (who also does a cameo as a Mexican prostitute)... or some combination of both. The movie is just so damn lush... from the first half hour of the movie with the beautiful mountain countryside, through to things that you would think wouldn't be an interesting or attractive shot... Michelle Williams sitting at the kitchen table with a coffee cup, waiting for Heath's character to come home sticks in my mind... it's just a beautiful shot. So is the shot of Heath framed with the Fourth of July fireworks behind him.

The other thing that struck me was how quiet and still and peaceful the first half hour or so was... until they come back to "civilisation"... and then how that pattern seemed to repeat every time they were away together.

The love scenes between the two guys are just about perfect... there's a real sense of not only tenderness in some of them, but that these two just NEED each other, and there's a real sweetness and tenderness to some of those scenes...

On the flipside, I probably could have lived without seeing Anne Hathaway's breasts (she's done Disney movies for goodness sake!) and, later on, her godawful blonde wig...

I did shed a tear or two at the end... mostly it was "the shirts" that got me... stoopid shirts...

I don't know that it's necessarily a movie I could watch over and over and over, but it's definitely one that I want to see again, and own... and I also HAVE to read the short story it's based on!

yani's rating: 4 fishing trips out of 5