Well, this ever-so ‘umble critic is putting his reputation on the line – Brokeback Mountain (2005) really isn’t quite as good as everyone else seems to believe. There, I’ve said it. Accusations of hard-heartedness may follow, but that doesn’t change the fact that Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000) director Ang Lee‘s simplistic, overindulgent work is little more than a competently made ode to nature and male-bonding.
Clearly, though, it was a perfect opportunity for America to get back in touch with its feminine side while its troops were still busy ‘saving’ villages in foreign lands.
The year is 1963: cowboys Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (the late Heath Ledger) are hired and sent together to Brokeback Mountain to herd sheep for the summer. The work is arduous, the terrain and conditions unforgiving, but a friendship quickly grows between the two men, who are dependent on each other for survival in the wilderness.
Things go deeper, however, when Jack takes Ennis into his tent one cold night, and the companionship goes a step further. In the macho world they must inhabit, theirs is the love that dare not speak its name, so the men reluctantly go their separate ways once summer is over, finding wives (Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway, both excellent) and raising families. But they revisit their deep, complex love during the following 20 years, and it becomes clear that accepting their feelings might drive them apart forever.
Sounds moving, doesn’t it? In parts, it is; Ledger takes acting honours for his struggle, etched painfully on his features and his life, to suppress his emotions for Twist. Gyllenhaal, on the other hand, while seemingly more willing to make a life with his soul-mate, ultimately lacks the courage to do anything about it.
But the film disappoints – perhaps its Ang Lee’s obsession with breathtaking natural cinematography, or maybe there simply isn’t enough story to fill the running time, but boredom set in for this reviewer after the first 90 minutes.
Sure, you’d have to have a heart of stone not to be moved by the men’s plight, but the agony is piled on to such an extent that the result is bludgeoning, not enlightening.
Here, I list some classic lines of Oscar during the past few years:
“Can’t you see I have you Chump? Get me some viskey!” from “The Great Ziegfeld,” 1936
“Sometimes you’re so beautiful it just gags me” from “You Can’t Take It with You,” 1938
“Frankly, my dear, I don’t give a damn!” from “Gone with the Wind,” 1939
“I’ll get you, my pretty, and your little dog, too!” from “The Wizard of Oz,” 1939
“I’m asking you to marry me, you little fool” from “Rebecca,” 1940
“Rosebud” from “Citizen Kane,” 1941
“Here’s looking at you, kid” from “Casablanca,” 1943
“No, a golf course is nothing but a pool room moved outdoors” from “Going My Way,” 1944
“One’s too many an’a hundred’s not enough!” from “The Lost Weekend,” 1945
“I’ve seen nothing. I should have stayed at home and found out what was really going on” from “The Best Years of Our Lives,” 1946
“You don’t want much. You just want the moon. ¡with parsley!” from “Gentleman’s Agreement,” 1947
“Frailty, thy name is woman!” from “Hamlet,” 1948
“You throw money around like it was money” from “All the King’s Men,” 1949
“All right, Mr. DeMille, I’m ready for my closeup” from “Sunset Blvd.,”1950
“STELLA!” from “A Streetcar Named Desire,” 1951
“Well, what am I? I’m a private no-class dogface. The way most civilians look at that, that’s two steps up from nothin’” from “From Here to Eternity,” 1953
“I coulda had class. I coulda been a contender. I coulda been somebody, instead of a bum, which is what I am” from “On the Waterfront,” 1954
“An Englishman never jokes about a wager, sir” from “Around the World in 80 Days,” 1956
“All work and no play make Jack a dull boy” from “The Bridge on the River Kwai,” 1957
“Such stupidity is without equal in the entire history of human relations” from “Gigi,” 1958
“You can break a man’s skull. You can arrest him. You can throw him into a dungeon. But how do you control what’s up here? How do you fight an idea?” from “Ben-Hur,” 1959
“When you’re in love with a married man, you shouldn’t wear mascara” from “The Apartment,” 1960
“Come in, come in! We won’t bite you–till we know you better” from “West Side Story,” 1961
“No prisoners! No prisoners!” from “Lawrence of Arabia,” 1962
“It is widely held that too much wine will dull a man’s desire. Indeed it will, in a dull man” from “Tom Jones,” 1963
“Gentlemen, you can’t fight in here. This is the War Room” from “Dr. Strangelove,” 1964
“The Von Trapp children don’t play. They march” from “The Sound of Music,” 1965
“Hope that was an empty bottle George! You can’t afford to waste good liquor, not on your salary!” from “Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?” 1966
“They call me MISTER Tibbs!” from “In the Heat of the Night,” 1967
“What we’ve got here is failure to communicate” from “Cool Hand Luke,” 1967
“Open the pod bay doors, HAL” from “2001: A Space Odyssey,” 1968
“Think you used enough dynamite there, Butch?” from “Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid,” 1969
“I’m walking here! I’m walking here!” from “Midnight Cowboy,” 1969
“We’re going to kick the hell out of him all the time and we’re going to go through him like crap through a goose!” from “Patton,” 1970
“This is Doyle. I’m sittin’ on Frog One” from “The French Connection,” 1971
“I’m gonna make him an offer he can’t refuse” from “The Godfather,” 1972
“I love it when guys peel out” from “American Graffiti,” 1973″
Well, to tell ya the truth, I lied a little” from “Chinatown, 1974
“Hit me, Chief! I got the moves!” from “One Flew over the Cuckoo’s Nest,” 1975 “Attica! Attica!” from “Dog Day Afternoon,” 1975
“I’m as mad as hell and I’m not going to take this anymore!” from “Network,” 1976 “Follow the money” from “All the President¡¯s Men,” 1976
“The Force is strong with this one!” from “Star Wars,” 1977
“Stanley, ya see this? This is this. This ain’t something else. This is this. From now on, you’re on your own” from “The Deer Hunter,” 1978
“The horror. The horror” from “Apocalypse Now,” 1979
“I am not an animal. I am a human being. I am a man” from “The Elephant Man,” 1980
“Wanna dance? Or would you rather just suck face?” from “On Golden Pond,” 1981
“E.T. phone home,” from “E.T. The Extra-Terrestrial,” 1982
“Who was the best pilot I ever saw? Well, uh, you’re lookin’ at ‘im” from “The Right Stuff,” 1983
“Wind in the hair! Lead in the pencil!” from “Terms of Endearment,” 1983
“Do I ice ‘er? Do I marry ‘er?” from “Prizzi’s Honor,” 1985
“Shut up! Shut up and take the pain! Take the pain!” from “Platoon,” 1986
“Snap out of it!” from “Moonstruck,” 1987
“Greed is good” from “Wall Street,” 1987
“Ten minutes to Wapner” from “Rain Man,” 1988
“If you build it, he will come” from “Field of Dreams,” 1989
“In case I forget to tell you later, I had a really good time tonight” from “Pretty Woman,” 1990
“Good evening, Clarice” from “The Silence of the Lambs,” 1991
“You can’t handle the truth!” from “A Few Good Men,” 1992
“The truth, Helen, is always the right answer” from “Schindler’s List,” 1993
“My Momma always said ‘Life was like a box of chocolates. You never know what you’re gonna get” from “Forrest Gump,” 1994
“Show me the money!” from “Jerry Maguire,” 1996
“You had me at hello” from “Jerry Maguire,” 1996
“I’m the king of the world!” from “Titanic,” 1997
“You make me want to be a better man” from “As Good As It Gets,” 1997
“Off the record, on the QT, and very Hush-Hush” from “L.A. Confidential,” 1997
“I am a dead man and buggered to boot” from “Shakespeare in Love,” 1998
B(N x i0R.U”Remember those posters that said ¡®Today is the first day of the rest of your life? Well, that’s true of every day except one–the day you die” from “American Beauty,” 1999
“My name is Gladiator” from “Gladiator”, 2000
“Frodo!” from “The Lord of the Rings: The Fellowship of the Ring,” 2001
“Give ‘em the old razzle dazzle” from “Chicago,” 2002
“You don’t throw a whole life away just ’cause it’s banged up a little” from “Seabiscuit,” 2003
“Don’t jive me, man” from “Ray,” 2004
“No, if anyone orders Merlot, I’m leaving” from “Sideways,” 2004
“I wish I knew how to quit you” from “Brokeback Mountain,” 2005
