Brokeback Mountain

first up, i (finally!) watched the critically-acclaimed, multiple awards nominee and winner (8 up for oscars & Best Movie in the Golden Globe and The 2005 International Venice Film Award) and the most talk about and controversial movie of last year, 'Brokeback Mountain'.

my brother wants to watch the movie. My friend's conservative mother has shown interest to see it. Ah Beng looking for it at the VCD/DVD stores/vendors. My (current) favourite DVD/VCD shop owner, who happens to look like a Redneck herself, said that the copies they managed to get hold off flew off the shelf like hot cakes. i'm only left with 3 copies. Better decide fast. She said. threats don't work for me, dude. but...

i called my dear fren who had text me earlier to say that she's seen it and that she would pass a *unprintable* for me. hey, you got a copy of BM? Yes, i do and it is quite clear. But the accent is .... so difficult to understand la! This copy hasnt got any subtitle. She lamented. Don't worry. I'll wait for your copy. I told her. promptly after that, i told redneck that i'd give it a pass. she shrugged and, snorted, i think.

every friggin' queer in the queerdom talked about this movie and how much they cried (some balled, mind you) watching it. even the latest season of American Idol mocked a contestant by doing a 15 minute 'trailer' and called it 'Brokenote Mountain'. poor Gareth - the contestant tho that was like, the highlight of the show for that particular episode and so farking funny, too.

so what's the fuss?

ang lee had pulled together a fantastic cast - young and highly talented stars, selected a beautiful script and filmed it so magically that you wish you were herding sheeps on the magnificent and astounding scenic mountains, which Jack (Jake Gyllenhaal) calls it the Brokeback Mountain. i never imagined heath ledger could pull off such emotional and strong character, and i applaud him for suceeding it. he reminds me a lot of my past and i can relate what he and jack had to go through. ultimately, it is him that drove jack away. and it is him that caused the tragic end. he, ledger, is the moving force in the entire movie. he deserves a nod in the oscar. on the question of whether he will win it is still highly questionable because he is competing with the very talented philip seymour of 'Copote'. one problem tho. the american (southern) accent is so thick. ad and i were sitting so close to our tv, any noise would've missed what they say.

i saw 'Crash' about 6 months ago. i love the movie. but, it is undeserving to win Best Picture. im all for 'Brokeback'.

"Brokeback Mountain is not quite the period piece that some would like to imagine. America's squeaky closet doors may have swung open far enough for a gay rodeo circuit to flourish. But let's not kid ourselves. In large segments of American society, especially in sports and the military, those doors remain sealed. The murder of Matthew Shepard, after all, took place in Brokeback territory. Another recent film, Jarhead (in which Mr. Gyllenhaal plays a marine), suggests how any kind of male behavior perceived as soft and feminine within certain closed male environments triggers abuse and violence and how that repression of sexual energy is directly channeled into warfare.

Yet Brokeback Mountain is ultimately not about sex (there is very little of it in the film) but about love: love stumbled into, love thwarted, love held sorrowfully in the heart.

Or, as Ms. Proulx writes, "What Jack remembered and craved in a way he could neither help nor understand was the time that distant summer on Brokeback when Ennis had come up behind him and pulled him close, the silent embrace satisfying some shared and sexless hunger." One tender moment's reprieve from loneliness can illuminate a life.

Stephen Holden, THE NEW YORK TIMES.

more reviews:

"Magnificent!" Glenn Kenny, PREMIERE

"Groundbreaking! Played with great imploded passion by Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger" David Ansen, NEWSWEEK

"A Landmark. Moving and majestic! Heath Ledger magically and mysteriously disappears into the skin of his character. It is a great screen performance as good as the best of Marlon Brando and Sean Penn." Stephen Holden, THE NEW YORK TIMES.

"An instant classic. An epic American love story!" A.M Homes, VANITY FAIR

"Heath Ledger's wrenching performance is the stuff of Hollywood history." Mahnola Dargis, THE NEW YORK TIMES