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Brokeback Mountain, finally: caution, some spoilers
Friday night I took a car load of girls over the border to Vancouver, and we saw Brokeback Mountain at The Park theater.
It's hard to know what to say about a movie like this. The photography was stunning, which is something that always mezmerizes me to the point that I forget to pay attention to the story. I remember feeling the same way when I saw Days of Heaven on its first day of release in 1978.
But okay. The thing that stays with me most is a strong sense of sadness. The story is tragic in the sense that pretty much everybody's life is ruined by the main character's flaw. Heath Ledger portrays Ennis as a man so frightened of his own needs that he sacrifices everything in the name of responsibility -- including the happiness of the people he's responsible for, and himself.
I haven't seen Heath Ledger in much else, and what I have seen didn't much impress me, but this performance was letter perfect. He gives you an Ennis who lives buried within himself, unable to reach out and take what he wants. Unable to break out of the path that's been laid out for him. We see that he is capable of openness and emotional connection only in two situations: with Jack Twist, and with his daughters, who he loves simply and absolutely. Heath Ledger captured the man with such clarity that I doubt I'll ever be able to look at him again without thinking of Ennis.
Or maybe not. Because I did see a brief interview with him last week, in black leather, slouched in a chair, hiding behind sunglasses, mumbling. A stoner, as my daughter would call him. But inside the stoner, an actor.
The other performances were excellent across the board. Jake Gyllenhall as the man more self aware, more open about his emotions and needs, less able to sublimate into work. The joyous one, who draws Ennis out of his huddle, and grows more desperate every year when they part after their few days together. The women, whose lives are stunted for reasons they don't realize or fully understand, who funnel their anger into the few channels available to them.
This is not a movie to see if you're feeling low. The final scenes are so poignant that it felt almost wrong to watch them. Ennis hears of Jack's death after the fact, and goes to visit his parents, desperate for some kind of connection. In Jack's old room he finds two shirts hanging on the same hanger -- one his, one Jack's, from the first summer they spent together. Everything about that moment, from Ennis's posture to the way his hands hold the shirt, speaks of unbearable loss.
So yes, this is a movie that is beautifully made, the story told with precision and insight and gentleness. Movie making at its best.
December 18, 2005 12:07 PM
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Comments
Oh, so very glad you posted. I wanted very much to hear thoughts on this movie from people who read (and write) Romance and who believe fervently in the best the genre has to offer. In the days since seeing the movie, I've asked myself: 1) What made it so strong?; and, related, 2) If you were writing a Romance, what could you learn from this movie? I'm still trying to come up with answers within my own mind.
Posted by: sherryfair at December 18, 2005 12:53 PM
sherryfair--
Traditionally (and I don't support this as any kind of litmus test) romances end happily. BBM a love story, but mostly it's a tragedy.
The power of this movie (and the story) is in the cost of denial. Or so it seems to me.
Posted by: Sara Donati at December 18, 2005 01:11 PM
Sorry. Thanks for your view. I guess I'm being a little too ecumenical. I have a strong hankering for love stories, particularly those that emphasize the elements of time & place (which pulls me toward historicals often), so I forget about the border lines drawn by genres sometimes. And they are very real.
Posted by: sherryfair at December 18, 2005 01:56 PM
Sara - how does this compare to The Remains of the Day? It sounds like a similar sort of theme - desire sublimated to duty/responsibility. I thought it was beautifully shot, and loved the performances of Emma Thompson/Anthony Hopkins.
Posted by: Sheena Walsh at December 18, 2005 04:20 PM
sf -- crickey, no need to apologize. we're just talking here.
Sheena -- I'll have to think about that. In terms of tone, the two movies are very different, but otherwise? I'll have to watch Remains of the Day again to see how they compare.
Posted by: Sara Donati at December 18, 2005 04:41 PM
How about a spoiler alert at the beginning of this post? I got more plot info than I wanted here, since I haven't seen the movie yet.
Posted by: Meagan at December 18, 2005 06:32 PM
If you want to see Heath Ledger at his best, try "Two Hands". It was a reasonably low-budget Australian movie with superb acting and I don't know if it was ever released in the States, but it's well worth checking out.
I'm looking forward to Brokeback Mountain, but we have to wait for a while longer down here!
Posted by: Meredith at December 19, 2005 03:09 AM
"Two Hands" was fab. The kind of movie pretty boys are in before they become famous and start making bad choices (the terrible one about the knight HL was in springs to mind).
Posted by: Keziah Hill at December 20, 2005 12:06 PM
Thanks for that review Sara. After all the hype about the movie I checked out Annie Proulx's book of short stories Close Range, Wyoming Stories in which BRokeback Mountain is the last story. Now I am very interested in seeing the movie but will have to wait until Feb when it comes to our grubby little art theatre since currently there are no plans for any of the large theatres to show it here. Unless, of course, it starting making pots of money and then they will abandon their high minded principles immediately.
But, I am glad to see the performances were so outstanding. It will give me something to look forward to in February.
Posted by: Jeanette at December 20, 2005 03:52 PM