 |
 |
 |
| BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN 2005 - USA - 134 min. - Feature, Color Director -Ang Lee |
| Genre/Type -Romance, Drama, Romantic Drama, Gay & Lesbian Films, Modern Western Flags -Adult Situations, Sexual Situations, Mild Violence, Not For Children, Nudity, Profanity, Drug Content MPAA Rating -R Keywords -cowboy, family, love, sex, love-affair, ranch-hand, sexual-identity Themes -Forbidden Love, Sexual Awakening, Star-Crossed Lovers, Extramarital Affairs Tones -Intimate, Poignant, Bittersweet, Melancholy, Elegiac, Earthy Moods -In the Mood for Love, In a Minor Key Produced by -Alberta Film Entertainment / This is That Productions Release -Dec 9, 2005 (USA - Limited) / Jan 13, 2006 (USA) Released by -Focus Features / River Road Entertainment Cast Heath Ledger -- Ennis Del Mar Jake Gyllenhaal -- Jack Twist Michelle Williams -- Alma Anne Hathaway -- Lureen Newsome Linda Cardellini -- Cassie Anna Faris -- Lashawn Malone Randy Quaid -- Joe Aguirre Graham Beckel -- L.B. Newsome Scott Michael Campbell -- Monroe David Harbour -- Randall Malone Kate Mara -- Alma Jr., Age 19 Roberta Maxwell -- Jack's Mother Peter McRobbie -- John Twist |
| Plot Synopsis Ang Lee's adaptation of E. Annie Proulx's story Brokeback Mountain stars Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger as young cowboys named Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar. Each of them is hired to corral sheep on the title location and they soon bond very closely. Their platonic relationship explodes into a physical one, but eventually the two are separated when their job comes to an end. Although the two follow different life paths - one becoming a father of two and the other marrying into a successful business - they have a reunion years later. Each is affected profoundly by the rekindling of their old feelings for each other. Those feelings lead each to consider what continuing their hidden relationship would cost them. The screenplay was written by Pulitzer Prize-winning author Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana. - Perry Seibert, AMG Reviews Perry Seibert, All Movie Guide |
| Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain is an effective and affecting psychological study of a man so afraid of revealing emotions that he nearly implodes due to his inability to express himself. Heath Ledger gives a beautifully nuanced performance as Ennis Del Mar, a man of the land who for a number of reasons is unable to share himself in a real way with anyone other than the love of his life - and even then he is unable to open up fully. The fact that his great love is another man provides yet another reason why he feels he must keep his emotions inside himself. Jake Gyllenhaal plays Jack Twist, the more outgoing of the pair. His gregariousness wins over the taciturn Ennis, but it also is the character trait that will eventually cause the two to have their biggest fight. The film smartly observes the men's relationships with their wives. One realizes that Ennis' inability to communicate would have caused trouble in his marriage even without his affair. Jack, being the more outgoing of the two, actually attempts to find ways to satisfy his closeted impulses even though emotionally he is drawn totally to Ennis. The pair are more than ably supported by Michelle Williams playing a simple but very smart woman, Randy Quaid, and Linda Cardellini, who gives Ennis a piece of advice about love that rings remarkably true in a film that seeks nothing more than to show what is inside the heart of a man trapped by inarticulateness. The film's final scene is so small it plays at the time like an anticlimax, but when a viewer takes stock of everything the character has gone through, one realizes how profoundly the character has changed David Thomas, filmcritic.com |
| The first thing you're likely to hear about Brokeback Mountain, the new film from Ang Lee, is that it's about gay cowboys. Truthfully, that's all the novelty it has to offer. Just the thought of screen hunks Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal making out is a point of sale or controversy, depending on your point of view. But once you get past the hook, what emerges is a much more traditional, but no less affecting, tragedy about two people who simply cannot have what they want. Ennis Del Mar (Ledger) and Jack Twist (Gyllenhaal) meet while working for Joe Aguirre (a menacing Randy Quaid), looking after sheep on the eponymous mountain. Their friendship develops over fairly archetypal lines. Ennis is the stoic one, Jack the mischievous one. Lee wisely lets this develop naturally over time. Ultimately, though, in a burst of passion, the two reveal what's been simmering since they first saw each other. Once Jack and Ennis return to their everyday worlds, an aching futility creeps in. They separate and attempt to settle down and live "normal" lives, meeting clandestinely on the mountain that brought them together. But nothing will ever be the same for either man. Lee brings his A-game, combining the romantic texture of Sense and Sensibility and Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon with the awkward realism of The Ice Storm. He doesn't shy away from the graphic lust these two have for each other any more than he does the lush grandeur of the surroundings in which their love blossoms. To the latter end, Rodrigo Prieto, a cinematographer usually known for grittier fare such as 21 Grams, contributes some of the most gorgeous images of Lee's oeuvre. The performances are equally compelling. Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams give career-best turns as the wives of Jack and Ennis respectively, suffering in their own ways through quietly disastrous marriages. Gyllenhaal's contribution admirably overcomes increasingly distracting make-up jobs that resemble a high school play's attempt at aging a character. Ledger gives the film's most complex, engrossing portrayal. Ennis presents himself as a more conventional male stereotype than Jack, so the tension between his John Wayne persona and his sexuality is all the more demanding. Ledger favors nuance in depicting this struggle, with powerful results. The screenplay, adapted from the Annie Proulx short story by Diana Ossana and Lonesome Dove novelist Larry McMurtry, divides into two parts. The first is a nearly self-contained encounter tale. The second follows the characters through decades of betrayal and compromise. Though chronologically disparate, these pieces fit together nicely through the writers' choices, highlighting moments that reveal the growth not only of the love affair, but of the characters themselves. The love story depicted in Brokeback Mountain is as traditional as that depicted in Casablanca, Romeo & Juliet, or Gone with the Wind, but instead of war, family rivalry, or the general bitchiness of one of the characters getting in the way, societal prejudice is the culprit. This is not to say that the film explicitly attempts to make some sort of statement about gay rights or social injustice. If anything, the film's unswerving focus on the relationship, treating it with the same narrative respect reserved for Rhett and Scarlett or Harry and Sally, is a statement in and of itself. That Lee, Ledger, and everyone else involved are in top form elevates this film from mere gimmick to a work of universal substance, earning its heartbreak every step of the way. Awards Best Film (win) - -2005 -Berlin Film Festival Best Picture (win) - -2005 -American Film Institute Best Picture (win) - -2005 -Boston Society of Film Critics Best Director (win) -Ang Lee -2005 -Boston Society of Film Critics 2005 -Broadcast Film Critics Association Best Director (win) -Ang Lee Best Picture (win) Best Supporting Actress (win) -Michelle Williams 2005 -Chicago Film Critics Association Best Cinematography (win) -Rodrigo Prieto Best Original Score (win) -Gustavo Santaolalla 2005 Dallas-Ft. Worth Film Critics Association Best Cinematography (win) -Rodrigo Prieto Best Director (win) -Ang Lee Best Picture (win) 2005 Golden Globe Best Director (win) -Ang Lee Best Original Song (win) -Gustavo Santaolalla /Bernie Taupin Best Picture - Drama (win) Best Screenplay (win) -Diana Ossana/Larry McMurtry 2005 -Iowa Film Critics Association Best Actor (Runner-up) (win) -Heath Ledger 2005 -L.A. Film Critics Association Best Director (win) -Ang Lee Best Picture (win) 2005 -Las Vegas Film Critics Association Best Actor (win) -Heath Ledger Best Director (win) -Ang Lee Best Picture (win) Best Actor (Runner-up) (win) -Heath Ledger -2005 -National Society of Film Critics Best Director (win) -Ang Lee -2005 -National Board of Review Best Supporting Actor (win) -Jake Gyllenhaal -2005 -National Board of Review Best Actor (win) -Heath Ledger -2005 -New York Film Critics Circle Best Director (win) -Ang Lee -2005 -New York Film Critics Circle Best Picture (win) - -2005 -New York Film Critics Circle Best Adapted Screenplay (win) -Diana Ossana/ Larry McMurtry -2005 -Online Film Critics Association Best Score (win) -Gustavo Santaolalla -2005 -Online Film Critics Association 2005 -Phoenix Film Critics Association Best Actor (win) -Heath Ledger Best Adapted Screenplay (win) -Diana Ossana Best Adapted Screenplay (win) -Larry McMurtry Best Cinematography (win) -Rodrigo Prieto Best Supporting Actor (win) -Jake Gyllenhaal Best Supporting Actress (win) -Michelle Williams Top Ten Film of the Year (win) Producer of the Year (win) -Diana Ossana/ -2005 -Producer's Guild 2005 -San Francisco Film Critics Circle Best Actor (win) -Heath Ledger Best Director (win) -Ang Lee Best Picture (win) 2005 -Screen Actors Guild Best Actor (nom) -Heath Ledger Best Ensemble (nom) Best Supporting Actor (nom) -Jake Gyllenhaal Best Supporting Actress (nom) -Michelle Williams 2005 -St. Louis Gateway Film Critics Association Best Actor (win) -Heath Ledger Best Director (win) -Ang Lee Best Picture (win) Best Screenplay (win) -Larry McMurtry Best Screenplay (win) -Diana Ossana Best Adapted Screenplay (win) -Larry McMurtry/Diana Ossana -2005 -Writers Guild of America Best Director (win) -Ang Lee -2005 -Directors Guild of America |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
|
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |