It has several nude scenes, including female and male, strong language and some violence. That's good enough for an "R" rating in the US.

and some explicit bareback anal penetration

I keed of course LOL

Well, I think its worthy of an R actually. I've never been one to warrant a rating on the surface of a film, such as nudity or violence alone, but I do think the rating is appropriate to the content. I think there's alot of subtlty, there's alot of ruined lives, and there are the discussions of severe violence of a hate-crime type. Its a very heavy drama, and while I personally don't mind it being pg13, according to most people and standards I know here, its worthy of the R it got. Now, if the entire mpaa system could be bumped down one notch (R to PG13, PG13 to PG, PG to g, etc) then I'd have no problem with it, but I'd still place the real meat and bones of this movie into one of the "older" audiance ratings.

My problems with ratings is that they are more than a "suggestion" in this country. They've become legally upheld at theatres, and parents take the suggestions way too seriously.

I'm still gathering my thoughts on it. I don't think it is necessarily bad in any way just some parts are excellent and some parts just lack "ummmph". My main problem is there is a lack of urgency in the screenplay in the last two acts that the first act has in abundance. There just didn't seem like there was enough of a bond to string them across 20 years of yearning. In fact, after awhile the film becomes bored with the "camping trips" and the time spent away becomes referenced more in conversation than in practice.

Also the film undercuts Jack's story by an astounding amount. Jack's most important scenes are relegated to montages and the only significant scene says less about him and more about Ennis. It makes the ending of the movie hollow and turns Ennis into an even more unlikeable and distant son of a bitch. When you play with characters who are "distant" you sometimes run into problems with certain segments of the audience IMO. Because Jack wasn't fleshed out, the sub-plot about their sexual repression never really became an issue because Jack would have to break down Ennis' walls first, something that never happened. And because Jack's death appears either off camera or is implied or is imagined, it doesn't do anything to drive a point about that issue across.

Ledger is great, of course. He carries the whole of the movie on his back pretty much. I loved the scene between him and Jack's parents... with Jack's dad in the chair and Jack's mom in front of him.

Ang Lee can turn any supporting actress role into a gem, and he does so here with every single female performer. Anne Hathaway and Linda Carderelli (sp?), whom I loathe, turn in a fantastic performance but none captures really the heart of the piece more than Michelle Williams. Every scene with her was awesome and for me, when she "left" the picture, even some unnecessary scenes like the Fourth of July scene which seems like an excuse to inject some testosterone into Ledger's character.

But in the end... Brokeback has no issues, it steers its characters into usually darker personal places where the outside world rarely comes crashing in on them.

I decided to skip your review, andaroo in fear of any spoilers, so can you just say if you thought it was bad, mediocre, decent, good, great or perfect?

It hovered between decent to very good, with Michelle Williams and some of Heath Ledger's stuff occasionally pushing the film over into the "great" or "brilliant" range.

The techs are solid, but there's nothing here (IMO) that is better than something like... Open Range.

Ledger > Phoenix?

Hmmm dunno.

The both played distant loners who were pushed around by the supporting cast members and don't really fuel the story.

Strathairn and Mortensen were better IMO.

BTW, Thank You For Smoking is the best trailer for any new release next year (so far). And I was surprised, seeing the box office numbers how few people were at Brokeback being that a lot of people are out of work today in my area and it's really only playing at one theater on the Eastside of Lake Washington (I saw it in Redmond).

Although, it's not much of a Christmas movie (Narnia and Kong were doing most of the business).

I am actually slightly disappointed in Brokeback.

andaroo, great review. I hope as time passes you see the subtle brilliance of this movie. And I agree about Michelle Williams. She really blew me away, more so than Ledger.

I can see the brilliance, really... Heath's performance is astounding for not ever dipping too far into melodrama. I still think the major, major flaw here is treating Jack as a supporting character. Either the film needed to be a love story and make Jack and Ennis equals (which they were up until Ennis got married) or it needed to ignore some of Jack's background completely.

There was also a little bit of a jump early on in the movie, the first night they have sex. It was within Jack's character to do rash things like this, but not in Ennis', I had a hard time getting a gauge on his character during this section of the film. It might be because Lee didn't focus too much on Ennis' reactions to Jack's subtle advances. It felt a little jarring for the first sex scene, which smoothed out a little bit by the time they got to the second night which was more sensual.

I read Rod's comment that Ennis is not really gay, and there may be truth in that... but I think what it really is that Ennis was in general open to this particular love because of the situation and the time and the experience, Jack on the other hand was more of a "traditional homosexual" who looked for connections from other men in the cowboy bar, Mexico, and at that dinner party. That is what may or may not have gotten him in trouble.

BTW, I think the context is that the flash to Jack getting beat and killed with a tire iron did indeed really happen. I have no doubt that if Jack's relationships were expanded upon a bit, that "other guy" that he has a relationship with probably was found out and led to Jack's outting and killing.

I won't be surprised. Anna Faris had a really big mouth.

Was that Anna Faris?

Yup, LaShawna, the wife of "the other guy."

Beautiful, beautiful film. This film'll probably stick to my mind for a while. Heath Ledger... whoa.

A Best movie of the year so far, I reckon.

My review in a sentence is: "This year's Notebook, only gay!"

It's just an old school weepy with two leading men instead of one. Personally, I liked The Notebook better (it was on my 2004 top ten list), but this movie is pretty darn good, too. Of course, the cowboy thing is sexy, and the rugged natural settings set the mood - the lead acting was good, but not outstanding - though since somebody has to win the best actor Oscar, it might as well be Heath Ledger - his mumbly hick was at least a performance. As for Jake Gyllenhaal, well I just don't think he's ever going to top his early master work in Bubble Boy.

Also, despite the very subdued audience I saw it with, it's not all tragedy - the screenplay is actually very funny in spots!

So in summary, it's good, but not great - if ya wanna dig way back into the past, it's really almost a remake of Same Time, Next Year - but what're ya gonna do? A classic tragic romance is a perennial seller. Come and get it while it's hot!

3 out of 5.

Urg. But what do you know? You liked "Aeon flux"!

I'm looking forward to your review of Brokeback Mountain, after reading all your other comments in this thread...

I´m looking forward to my own review, too... Unfortunately, It doesn´t come out here till January 20th.

Glad to see you liked something.
I'd give it a 4/5 (A- ?) but I can see the reason for a 3/5. Ang Lee's storycrafting is unique to where one either loves it or doesn't understand it.

I agree that the movie started to get repetitive -- oh look another camping trip, and they don't show any action. After a while I began to wonder if Ennis was still acting gay, or if they were just friends who missed each other.

It would be tough for me to say anything bad about Heath Ledger. He's been pretty spotty, but at least he can deliver lines correctly unlike other heartthrobs. *cough*OrliBloom*cough.

btw, I would get in trouble with some girlfriends if I said it to them, so I'll say it here -- I think Gyllenhaal was slightly miscast. He just didn't seem to have the look.

It's just...good. It's just really good.

Heath Ledger is astounding. Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway also deliver quietly powerful performances (in different ways). I didn't like Gyllenhaal that much, though. I think I just don't like him in general.

One of the best of the year. A

Finally have time to write a bit

I think some of the casting choices undermined the film's credibility (Hathaway, Quaid, Faris).

I didn't love the relationship between Jack and Ennis in a way I expected I would (unlike say Big Eden, Crying Game, Get Real, A Beautiful Thing). Ennis just seemed like a drunk, very angry, mildly retarded man with a hard on in need of a wet hole.

Jack was a much more interesting character who was short changed.

Fantastic looking film.

Even though I called it the best film of the year for me right after seeing it, the film continues to grow on me even more. Now I'm scoring it 10 out of 10 and think it's one of the best films I've ever seen. Each image and each scene, everybody's performance, even the secondary performances after the top 4, are all so mesmerizing. How uncontrollably happy Jack and Ennis were when they saw each other for the first time in 4 years, how shocking Michelle Williams was at the discovery, the phone conversation between Ledger and Hathaway about Jack's death, the last scene between Jack and Ennis on their 20 years of regrets, how Jack was yelling at Hathaway's father at the dinner table, the scene where Ennis went back to pick up Jack's cloth at his parents' place. They all left such an indelible mark.

I'm the opposite. I think my opinion of it is decreasing over time.

It hasn't stayed with me at all... Ang Lee delivered an interest character study of Ennis, but the film doesn't earn its emotional ending. There is no urgency.

Always love this argument - "If you didn't love this movie, then you didn't understand it."

Ang Lee has been a very inconsistent "storycrafter", imho - from the heights of Crouching Tiger to the disappointing muddle of The Hulk to the failure of The Ice Storm - all after his stunning early Taiwanese work with Wedding Banquet and Eat, Drink, Man, Woman - this guy is anything but consistent...




Every time Randy Quaid came on screen, I couldn't help but laugh!