Monday, January 30, 2006
Just Seen: Brokeback Mountain
Stars: 4.5/5
I'm sure everyone's heard about Brokeback Mountain. It's the "gay cowboy" movie. The one that's been banded in Utah and places. Well, we went to see it on Friday night.
Even though it was my suggestion to see it, I was a little unsure if I'd enjoy it. I didn't really feel like a "beautiful romantic story", but I felt like risking it more than I felt like seeing Narnia. Fortunately, I made the right choice.
The story is about two guys who meet in 1963 while they're looking after a herd of sheep on and around Brokeback Mountain. The become friends, and then something more. After their work finishes, they both go their separate ways, only to come back together years later. I couldn't see how the story would end without one (or both) of them dying - it just didn't seem to be possible. Without saying what happened in the end, I will say I was very pleased with it.
The movie was directed by Ang Lee, who did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. To me, Lee is a master of pacing and visual presentation, and Brokeback Mountain is just as good as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The landscape shots were amazing, and while the story wasn't fast, it was never boring. I was also really impressed with how all the characters seemed to age thoughout the movie. Very well done.
Probably the best indication of how good it was, the entire car trip home about every second thing we said was "that was a really good movie".
I'm sure everyone's heard about Brokeback Mountain. It's the "gay cowboy" movie. The one that's been banded in Utah and places. Well, we went to see it on Friday night.
Even though it was my suggestion to see it, I was a little unsure if I'd enjoy it. I didn't really feel like a "beautiful romantic story", but I felt like risking it more than I felt like seeing Narnia. Fortunately, I made the right choice.
The story is about two guys who meet in 1963 while they're looking after a herd of sheep on and around Brokeback Mountain. The become friends, and then something more. After their work finishes, they both go their separate ways, only to come back together years later. I couldn't see how the story would end without one (or both) of them dying - it just didn't seem to be possible. Without saying what happened in the end, I will say I was very pleased with it.
The movie was directed by Ang Lee, who did Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. To me, Lee is a master of pacing and visual presentation, and Brokeback Mountain is just as good as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon. The landscape shots were amazing, and while the story wasn't fast, it was never boring. I was also really impressed with how all the characters seemed to age thoughout the movie. Very well done.
Probably the best indication of how good it was, the entire car trip home about every second thing we said was "that was a really good movie".
# posted by Simon Dugard @ 9:12 am 
