Brokeback Mountain. Dir. Ang Lee, 2006.
Thanks to the kindness of rian219, I have BBM. I watched it and enjoyed it thoroughly. As far as being true to the original text, it was very much so. I didn't feel that some scenes dragged in terms of padding a short story into a full length motion picture as other people have said of this film in the past, it was paced evenly and consistently.
The cinematography was just stunning. The scenes of the country and the mountains were breathtaking. The way the cowboy culture of the late 60's onwards was captured was done very well, in my opinion, for someone who doesn't really know a lot about said culture to say otherwise. The narrative flow was consistent and easy to follow and the emotions conveyed by the two actors as the lovers were very intense. Of the two, I think that Jake Gyllenhal was better - not because of any feeling I have about Heath Ledger one way or the other, but just that I think his acting was a little less than Gyllenhal's in this piece.
There was one thing that did have me scratching my head, because I honestly couldn't remember if this was part of the original novella or an addition by Ang Lee. I don't remember Jack having brought another man home the weekend before he was killed or it being said in the original text that he had sought other companionship because of Ennis' reluctance to take that step and live with Jack and make the relationship more permanent.
Overall, this was a stunning, beautiful and emotive film, though the theme piece of music in the score was getting a bit repetitive. Having said that, I really did love this, and it's a very beautiful and sensitive film representation of a beautiful and tragic love story.
The cinematography was just stunning. The scenes of the country and the mountains were breathtaking. The way the cowboy culture of the late 60's onwards was captured was done very well, in my opinion, for someone who doesn't really know a lot about said culture to say otherwise. The narrative flow was consistent and easy to follow and the emotions conveyed by the two actors as the lovers were very intense. Of the two, I think that Jake Gyllenhal was better - not because of any feeling I have about Heath Ledger one way or the other, but just that I think his acting was a little less than Gyllenhal's in this piece.
There was one thing that did have me scratching my head, because I honestly couldn't remember if this was part of the original novella or an addition by Ang Lee. I don't remember Jack having brought another man home the weekend before he was killed or it being said in the original text that he had sought other companionship because of Ennis' reluctance to take that step and live with Jack and make the relationship more permanent.
Overall, this was a stunning, beautiful and emotive film, though the theme piece of music in the score was getting a bit repetitive. Having said that, I really did love this, and it's a very beautiful and sensitive film representation of a beautiful and tragic love story.