Written by Larry McMurtry And Diana Ossana
Directed by Ang Lee
Jack (to Ennis: "Tell you what... the truth is... sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it."
I genuinely cannot believe that this film will be celebrating it's twentieth anniversary and confession time, I've only ever watched this film once and that was shortly after it's initial release. Of course, it was time to revisit this one.
In some ways, this movie really was important. It's one of the most mainstream cinematic depictions of a romance between two men and it was also a career breakthrough for both Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger. Both men are incredible in this movie.
The romance itself stirred an interesting debate. Were both men really gay but unable to come out due to the time they were in? Were they really bisexual as both of them did settle down with women and fathered children? Or was it something more complex than being either gay or bisexual? After watching this film again, I'm none the wiser.
The men in question being ranch hands, Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal). Both were hired by a rancher Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) to heard his sheep during the summer on Brokeback Mountain. The more time that Ennis and Jack spent together, the closer they got. That closeness became physical as they started a sexual relationship.
However both men insisted they weren't gay and at no point was the idea of either of them being bisexual outright said by either of them. Eventually they went on to have much different lives from one another but at the same time, both Ennis and Jack found themselves also drawn back to each other as well. That caused anguish among themselves and the families they had build in their older years.
Ennis's wife, Alma (Michelle Williams) was very much aware of Ennis and Jack's relationship and eventually divorced him. Ennis ended up living a rather solitary life with a strained relationship between older daughter, Alma Jr (Kate Mara) and a failed attempt of another romance with Cassie Cartwright (Linda Cardellini).
Jack's life with Lureen (Anne Hathaway) and their son wasn't much better. Lureen might not have known explicitly about the true extent of Jack's relationship with Ennis but the one interaction she had with him was sort of telling. Jack got an ambiguous death that clearly affected Ennis, especially with that quietly beautiful moment Ennis had with Jack's parents and the final shot of the movie.
- I had forgotten that both Anna Faris and David Harbour appeared as a couple that Jack and Lureen made friends with. It's implied that Jack slept with Harbour's character.
- Fishing trips became a way for both Ennis and Jack to spend time with one another.
- Ennis kept Jack's shirt and then Alma Jr's jacket when the latter forgot it. Alma Jr was engaged to an oil worker named Kurt.
- Heath Ledger and Michelle Williams met on this movie and became a couple afterwards.
- Standout music: The Raven Shadows/Tim Ferguson's Trust In Lies and Gustavo Santaolalla's Angel Went Up In Flames.
- Chronology: Between 1963 to 1983 in Wyoming and Texas.
Seeing as it's been a while since I've seen Brokeback Mountain, I'll admit that my first impression was more mixed but I think I liked more the second time around. Both Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal are superb, even if the pacing's a bit slow at times.
Rating: 8 out of 10
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