Brokeback
Okay. Now, I generally don't like dramas, perhaps because I'm just not a very relationship-centric person to begin with, nor am I very dramatic, and most dramas have parts in them where I just don't understand why people don't do the logical thing. Anyway, that's a different rant.
So, seeing this review through that filter - I'm not much of a drama person - here's my hastily slapped-together impressions of Brokeback Mountain.
Okay. I feel like it got awards simply because it covered semi-controversial material, frankly. And that kinda bugs me. I have no issues whatsoever with a movie that has homosexual content, don't get me wrong. I just don't think this movie was done well, nor do I think it deserved the awards it got. As previously stated in speakerwiggin's journal, it seemed really jerky time-wise to me. There were these cuts without any sort of segue that just jolted me out of the movie. They'd skip forward months or years without warning and it really threw me off. And when Jack died, it was offscreen and just.. blah. I dunno. I couldn't really find it in myself to care. It was all very vague and kind of disconnected.
Most of the acting was fine, I thought Jake did a really good job, but Heath's acting bugged me. Maybe because of the accent, I don't know. The accent was really difficult to understand (which is odd, because I'm usually fine at understanding accents). He just MUMBLED throughout the entire damn movie. It was really, really annoying.
As for the characters, I couldn't stand Ennis. He was an utter asshole. He was violent, couldn't do shit with relationships, had NO redeeming qualities to me at all. So.. is that unlike reality? No, I'm sure that's quite realistic. There are tons of people out there like that. But I don't want to watch stories about them, really. I lost any sympathy whatever for him when he drew back his hand to hit his pregnant ex-wife. Also, he was a real dick to her throughout the relationship. Just ick. I'm supposed to care for this character? How? Nobody really seemed well fleshed-out, or perhaps that was just my complete dislike of most of the characters.
Oh yeah. Also? I really find it hard to sympathize with people who are cheating and committing adultery left and right. Mostly I just felt really sorry for their wives.
Hmm, that was actually more negative than I expected, but I can't really look back at the movie and think of anything I like about it. It also didn't really make me think any deep or profound thoughts about philosophy or anything, which is a quality I can forgive movies I dislike for.
So, seeing this review through that filter - I'm not much of a drama person - here's my hastily slapped-together impressions of Brokeback Mountain.
Okay. I feel like it got awards simply because it covered semi-controversial material, frankly. And that kinda bugs me. I have no issues whatsoever with a movie that has homosexual content, don't get me wrong. I just don't think this movie was done well, nor do I think it deserved the awards it got. As previously stated in speakerwiggin's journal, it seemed really jerky time-wise to me. There were these cuts without any sort of segue that just jolted me out of the movie. They'd skip forward months or years without warning and it really threw me off. And when Jack died, it was offscreen and just.. blah. I dunno. I couldn't really find it in myself to care. It was all very vague and kind of disconnected.
Most of the acting was fine, I thought Jake did a really good job, but Heath's acting bugged me. Maybe because of the accent, I don't know. The accent was really difficult to understand (which is odd, because I'm usually fine at understanding accents). He just MUMBLED throughout the entire damn movie. It was really, really annoying.
As for the characters, I couldn't stand Ennis. He was an utter asshole. He was violent, couldn't do shit with relationships, had NO redeeming qualities to me at all. So.. is that unlike reality? No, I'm sure that's quite realistic. There are tons of people out there like that. But I don't want to watch stories about them, really. I lost any sympathy whatever for him when he drew back his hand to hit his pregnant ex-wife. Also, he was a real dick to her throughout the relationship. Just ick. I'm supposed to care for this character? How? Nobody really seemed well fleshed-out, or perhaps that was just my complete dislike of most of the characters.
Oh yeah. Also? I really find it hard to sympathize with people who are cheating and committing adultery left and right. Mostly I just felt really sorry for their wives.
Hmm, that was actually more negative than I expected, but I can't really look back at the movie and think of anything I like about it. It also didn't really make me think any deep or profound thoughts about philosophy or anything, which is a quality I can forgive movies I dislike for.