brokeback mountain review

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Average Ratings

Value for Money	8/10
Reviewer Rating	7.9/10
Overall Rating	8.1/10

75% Recommended6 out of 8 Reviews

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By NewMoonRising on 28th Jan 2006

NewMoonRising's Ratings

Starring Actor/Actress	Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Michelle Williams
Where Did You See It?	Cinema
Value for money	4/10
Overall value	4/10
NewMoonRising's recommendation

Good Points

The acting was very well done, and the movie was well shot.

Bad Points

Plot line - what was happening?
Time gaps

General Comments

Brokeback Mountain, though deemed the 'gay cowboy movie', is more than that. It is a tale between two young men (played by Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal) who find love whilst herding sheep up on Brokeback Mountain.

Due to the time the piece is set in, it is unnatural for men to have relations with each other, and a person found to be pursuing homosexual relations could be killed.

Therefore, it comes as no surprise that the two men call the whole situation off and leave to get married and to raise a family.
Yet neither can forget their time up on the mountain, so they meet up again for a period of 20 years to be a part of 'one of the greatest love stories ever told'.

I have read so many rave reviews about this film that I decided to go and see it with a group of friends. All I can say is that if this film wins Best Picture at the Oscars, I will be sitting there thinking, 'What? How does that work then?'

Sure, the acting is great. Both Ledger and Gyllenhaal carry the 'gay man toying with his ideals on life' angle very well, and Michelle Williams (Heath Ledger's on-screen wife) is fantastic as the wife witnessing her marriage crumble due to her husband's unusual infidelity.

The acting does not however make up for a lacklustre plot line. Yes, the guys fall in love, but aren't together. This hasn't been done before. It starts incredibly slowly, and never gets up to speed. Some of the scenes (the endless showings of the two lovers meeting up) could have easily been avoided and cut the movie down to 2 hours long.

The whole film is made even more confusing by the time shifts. The people in the film are supposed to be ageing all the time. After all, it is a 20 year love affair. How do they show time differences? By dying Anne Hathaway's hair blonde (she plays Gyllenhaal's wife) and giving Jake Gyllenhaal a moustache.

Overall, my feeling is that this could have been the best film I ever watched. It had the controversial issue, the actors, the scenery, the director. But what was shown was a film where someone along the line just thought 'We can sell this film because it has never been done before.'

The problem is, this subject matter will be conquered again, and when it is, it will surely be done better.

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Total Respect: -2