Brokeback Mountain

[huntergrayson]

I know 2 hrs and 15 minutes is not that long compared to 3 hour epics, but the last part was the part that felt overlong and repetitive -- like why so many scenes with Linda Cardellini's character when we already had the excellent HL/Williams subplot? I just thought it dragged and lost track of the core relationship between JG/HL at times, which is a mistake as its their love story.

The first part of the film, actually on Brokeback, is just phenomenonal and I think the strongest because it focuses solely on the guys. Ah, young puppy love between cowboys.

For concerned straight boys -- we saw as much girl nudity as guy parts. Interestingly enough, the former is in sex scenes while the latter is not.WTF, Ang? Good lord, Anne Hathaway is all grown up!

[Neurochick]

I know 2 hrs and 15 minutes is not that long compared to 3 hour epics, but the last part was the part that felt overlong and repetitive -- like why so many scenes with Linda Cardellini's character when we already had the excellent HL/Williams subplot?

Well, I do agree that part could have been left out. I didn't see the whole point of that last scene with her, the waitress, I mean I wanted to see more of Ennis and Jack.

[Deleted]

The films just made AFI's top ten films of year and it just won the Boston Society of Film Critics award for Best Picture and Best Director (It beat out Munich in both categories). The critics really love this film.

[huntergrayson]

nusan -- your wish/prediction came true. BoxOfficeMojo reports that it grossed $545,000, averaging out to a per-theatre-average of just over 100k, the highest ever for a live-action film. The actual number is going to be higher, of course, because it's only 4 here on Sunday and two of those theatres on on the West Coast.

YAY! Go gays and the women who love them.

Interestingly enough, the special is on LOGO right now (I know) and I want to punch Heath Ledger in the face so much -- he not only has stupid, stupid facial hair but is wearing sunglasses for his segments. Who does that?

Jake is dreamy, as always. They put him against a purple background that made his eyes pop like mad. Oh, Toothy, come away with me...

[hillbillylover]

Here's a very astute article about Brokeback from the Star-Telegram.

I agree with one Brokeback groupie at Oscarwatch.com, who says this article articulates why the movie is playing so well in the gay community. For instance, take note of this passage from the article:

Brokeback Mountain, then, is to Philadelphia, what Do the Right Thing (1989) is to Guess Who's Coming to Dinner (1967) -- both a summation of everything that's come before it and a call-to-arms for the future. Philadelphia, with its portrait of a "saintly" gay man (not unlike Sidney Poitier's "Noble Negro" in Guess Who's Coming to Dinner), opened the door for dialogue about gay equality. Brokeback Mountain goes smashing through that door.

And the author of this piece who obviously loves the movie, should nonetheless be commended for having the nerve to gently mock Lee's sometimes too reverent treatment of iconic Western imagery:

In the opening section of the film, Lee risks ridicule with a series of long, almost silent passages in which the two men work side by side on the mountainside -- it's an Abercrombie and Fitch ad with cute boys and sheep.

Hee.

[clementine74]

Saw the movie this afternoon, and I LOVED it. I thought it was Ang's best (although I adore Sense and Sensibility) and thought he captured the time, place and people perfectly. There have only been one or two times that I've completely broke down (sobbing :') in a movie--this was one of those times. I thought Heath Ledger was absolute perfection, but Jakey, while good and cute and all that, had a very tense body and a slouch that annoyed me a bit.
I also think that little Dawson's Creek gal deserves an Oscar nod--she was terrific.

[Neurochick]

link

Yay.

[ladymadonna]

I'm sad that I'll probably have to drive at least two hours to see it on the big screen. I live in a small (30,000) town full of right-wing conservatives and I highly doubt that they'll let it in. We didn't even get Philadelphia.(Although, to be fair, some of us have successfully lobbied for a foreign film night at the local community college, so you never know. Culture happens.

My incredibly racist, homophobic grandmother wants to see it, despite my cautions, so who knows?

Yay for the GG noms.

[Maddiemoo]

I also think that little Dawson's Creek gal deserves an Oscar nod--she was terrific.

I don't know why, but that is the cutest nickname I have ever heard for Michelle Williams! I think from now on I'll just have to call her 'that little Dawson's Creek gal'. ;D

[aiders]

You know, I don't think so. I think Heath just has the better role -- all brooding and internal. Jake is the more typical romantic -- all eager and dreamy-eyed and in luv. Critics love the tortured stuff. I think a lot of it also is that Jake has been getting praise for a while for stuff like Donnie Darko, the Good Girl, Jarhead, etc. so critics expect "good" acting from him, but notsomuch from HL.

Exactly. Heath's role is better written, the story is really form his perspective. Also, while Jake is great and you can't really say anything bad about the performance, Heath's acting is compounded by the fact that you are thinking "wow, Heath Ledger CAN really act!"