It Delivers Every Step of the Way

Rating: 9/10 (18 December 2005)

It helps that two handsome young actors are the protagonists in this film. Nonetheless it's a great film with great acting. What can I say that the newspapers and magazines haven't already said a thousand times over? Ledger is a ripe young actor truly flexing his acting muscles for the first time and stunning us with his skill for someone so young. Lee, as usual, teases out genuine emotions and life-like struggles--the fear, longing, and sadness in this tragedy. This is Lee's work at its best. The fine adaptation of Annie Proulx's short story by McMurty and Ossana is highly commendable. They carefully painted a portrait of life in 1960s Signal, Wyoming, setting a very realistic stage for the drama to unfold. All in all, it's impossible for such a formidable group of people not to produce a marvelous work of art. The cast, screen writers, director, and even novelist each rank among the finest in their respective fields. This movie could not have gone wrong and it doesn't; it delivers every step of the way.