"Brokeback Mountain" gets an A in EW

[melissa errico fan]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 3:24pm

"
Brokeback Mountain is that rare thing, a big Hollywood weeper with a beautiful ache at its center. It's a modern-age Western that turns into a quietly revolutionary love story. In 1963, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal), a couple of dirt-poor ranch hands, take a job guarding a flock of sheep on Brokeback Mountain, a pristine jutting vista nestled in the lush Wyoming wilderness. Ennis, a crusty, taciturn loner with a scowl that might have been carved into his pale face, and Jack, an amateur rodeo rider who has held on to his optimistic boyishness, are youthful anachronisms, relics of the fading days of the Great Plains culture. But they're still cowboys to the core; they've fallen into this life because it feeds something in them.

To keep the coyotes away, Jack is assigned to sleep near the flock, but mostly the two men have hours, days, and weeks on their hands. They jump on horses to guide the sheep across meadows and rivers; they sit around a campfire, heating canned beans and swapping stories and a bottle of whiskey. Then, one night, when it's too cold for either one of them to sleep outside, they do something that the old movie cowboys never did: They wrap their bodies in a rough embrace and, without a hint of seduction, they have sex, an act that's as shocking to them as it is to us.

Because it feels right, they do it again as the days go by. Yet what is it, exactly, they're feeling, this urgent seizure of loneliness and affection and desire? Ennis and Jack, who've been raised in a world where to be 'queer' is not to be a man (and is therefore unthinkable), can't grasp the feeling that's come over them because they literally don't have the words for it. In their very innocence, they are, in an odd way, a bit like the ancient Greeks, who saw homosexuality as an exalted expression of male friendship. Ennis and Jack call each other 'friend,' and they mean it, but their bond evolves into a delicate, suspended romance, and Brokeback Mountain becomes their Eden, the craggy cowboy paradise from which they are destined to fall."

______________________________________________________________

"Jack, a shade more comfortable with his nature, talks of getting a ranch together, but Ennis will have none of it: Stung by childhood memories of a rancher who lived with a man and got bashed for it, he fears — he knows — that exposure could kill them. In the classic Westerns, the cowboys were often men of few words, but Heath Ledger speaks in tones so low and gruff and raspy his words just about scrape ground, and he doesn't string a whole lot of those words together. Ennis' inexpressiveness is truly ...inexpressive, yet ironically eloquent for that very reason, as tiny glimmers of soul escape his rigid facade. Ennis says nothing he doesn't mean; he's incapable of guile, yet he erupts in tantrums — the anger of a man who can't be what he is and doesn't realize the quandary is eating him alive. Ledger, with beady eyes and pursed lips, gives a performance of extraordinary, gnarled tenderness. Gyllenhaal is touching in a different way, his puppy eyes widening with hope, then turning inward and forlorn."


http://www.ew.com/ew/article/review/movie/0,6115,1136099_1_0_,00.html

[BobbyBubby]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 3:26pm

I cannot freaking wait to see this film.

[Mister Matt]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 3:32pm

Ok, when I first read the thread title, I thought it said it got an A in ew, as is yuck or ick. I was almost really upset.

[Fantabulous428]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 3:35pm

I'm getting quite excited for this.

[Borstalboy]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 3:39pm

It's been noted elsewhere, but has anyone noticed that the poster is almost exactly like the one for TITANIC?

I wonder if Jake tosses Heath's spurs overboard at the end...

[munkustrap178]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 3:39pm

I'm almost afraid to see this because I know how much it's going to move me.

[MUNKY]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 4:22pm

Thanks for the post. Now I have to check it out.

[broadway86]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 5:45pm

Cannot wait to see this. It's almost ridiculous how excited I am. I seriously think it's going to win Best Picture and (gasp!) actually deserve it...

[ZONEACE]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 5:57pm

Congratulations to the boys (and girls) of Bbareback Mountian. I cannot wait to she this

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 7:10pm

It's been noted elsewhere, but has anyone noticed that the poster is almost exactly like the one for TITANIC?

Apparently that's intentional, according to an article in Variety (?). The TITANIC poster was used as the model for this one because they're aiming this film towards women (and gay men, but no one in Hollywood openly acknowledges us as a formidable market).

Ang Lee + two hot young actors + gay cowboy romance + suggestive title = My most anticipated movie of the year!

[Chrysanthemum62001]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 7:33pm

I REALLY want to see this movie.

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 12/2/05 at 7:37pm

Heck, I'm excited for this movie. And I don't find it titillating at all. I do love Anne Hathaway.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 12:58pm

I will be very surprised if it doesn't win Best Picture. Granted, it's possible that another film will open and be all the rage, but this film is making it a tough act to follow.

Syriana seems to be getting amazing reviews though.

[EverythingIsRENT]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:01pm

Am I the only one who could not be anticipating this *less*? I mean, the trailer was kind of cringe-worthy ("I wish I knew how to quit you") And, I dunno, i'm usually such a sap but this doesn't appeal to me at all.

I have a feeling if this DOES win Best Picture, it'll be more of a big "F-YOU" to the Red States than anything else *shrug*

[LittleFish8386]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:03pm

I really dont see this winning best picture.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:05pm

No, if it wins the Best Picture award, it will be easily based on its artistic value. Reviewers are calling this film a masterpiece.

The trailer made me cry the first time I saw it.

But, yes, on a political note, I do hope this film's success is a big F U to homophobes and bigots across this nation, regardless of whether they live in a red or blue state.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:08pm

The first review I read here in the UK (we have to wait until Jan 6th, bitches) was a five star all out rave.

The competition for Best Picture are Memoirs Of A Geisha and Munich, right?

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:12pm

I would say the only competition Brokeback Mountain has for the award are

Syriana (if it indeed has picture buzz)
Memoirs of a Geisha (if it is even good)
Munich (if it is even good)
King Kong (it it turns out to be a Titanic)

Other films like Good Night, and Good Luck and Walk the Line may be getting Best Picture nomination buzz, but won't triumph over Brokeback.

[popcultureboy]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:24pm

King Kong (it it turns out to be a Titanic)

Well, it's certainly got the running time of Titanic, at 187 minutes.

[Elphaba]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 1:25pm

saw the trailer for BM yesterday before RENT.....I am really impressed......

[cheezedoodle]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 2:25pm

Roger Ebert gave BM a great review this morning. Add Cinderella Man to the list of Best Film contenders - it was also announced today it is being re-released in theaters in time to remind people for the Oscars.

[jrb_actor]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 2:30pm

CM is in the list of contenders--and could pull through a nomination.

Here is oscarwatch.com's list and the highest is considered most likely to win as of this date. (Note: They don't include a film until it has actually be seen somewhere/reviewed).

Best Picture:
Brokeback Mountain
Memoirs of a Geisha
Walk the Line
Good Night, and Good Luck
Match Point
Cinderella Man
Syriana
The Constant Gardener
Capote
A History of Violence
Crash

[broadway86]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 2:35pm

Add Cinderella Man to the list of Best Film contenders - it was also announced today it is being re-released in theaters in time to remind people for the Oscars.

Ugh.

[ShbrtAlley44]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 2:52pm

I can't to see Brokeback Mountain. AHHHHHHH make it the 9th!!!

[BlueWizard]

Posted: 12/3/05 at 4:36pm

Add Cinderella Man to the list of Best Film contenders - it was also announced today it is being re-released in theaters in time to remind people for the Oscars.

Ugh.

My thoughts exactly.

I think it's guaranteed that BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN will receive an Oscar nomination, which in itself is an accomplishment, considering the last critically acclaimed gay-themed film was shut out of the big award (GODS AND MONSTERS). So at the very least, there will be significant media coverage on "the gay movie that could."

The film to beat will be MUNICH, simply because it's a serious Spielberg movie, and the Academy loves Spielberg. Plus many in the Academy felt his SAVING PRIVATE RYAN was jipped.

But I'm hoping Ang Lee and his army of lovers shine through and pull off a miracle.

Updated On: 12/3/05 at 04:36 PM