Fine Observation Is An Acquired Taste - So, Then, Is This Film

Rating: 9/10 (26 December 2005)

I read many of the negative comments about this film, and I can understand them. What many see as "boring," however, I tend to admire. I prefer what I call "quiet heartbreak" films to the paint by numbers variety we so often get. I prefer accumulated details and quiet observation to lightning epiphany and voice-over explanation of things I prefer to figure out on my own.
So yes. the movie runs slowly... however the initial scenes build slowly to show the little things that make these two like each other; and if you blink, you'll miss the keen observations that are not accompanied by the swelling score or a close-up of a teardrop on a cheek: Ennis watching Jack with curiosity and interest as the other rides his horse up the mountain (a mere blip in the distance on the screen, yet obviously big in this man's mind); Jack trying hard not to look at Ennis as he bathes; Ennis acting as if the loss of money is the reason he is upset about cutting the summer stint short; Jack deflating when he realizes that a trip to see Ennis at his home was wasted. To me, this was much more beautiful than any heavy sex scenes might have been, more indicative of strong feelings than any screenwriter-imposed proclamations might have been.
I also love that the women in the film got fair coverage; and Linda Cardellini's role, while an add-on to the book, was a nice side note to show that Ennis's interest in Jack was not just a cover-up for lack of marital connection. Her acting actually surprised me; Michelle Williams, heartbreaking as she has been, really anchored that the tragedy of these men's decisions was not just their own to bear. It was really nice to see a movie that showed how this societal urging to hide unpleasant things can have a ripple effect; and it was the women in the film, not the men, who made this truly stand out.
In fact, the film seemed to have an interesting message: While same sex feelings are often viewed as irresponsible and selfish, the fact that these men stayed with wives in unhappy lives had a different sort of tragic selfishness behind it. Not that there were many options open (the comment by the Christian who says that these two would have built a life together had their feelings been true smacks of one who does not comprehend the true life of living in marginalized groups); but the refusal of Ennis to even fully admit his feelings to Jack for most of the film had as horrible effect on others as it did on him, mostly due to his refusal to see how this was bound to happen.
What is beautiful to me is that these subtleties are not vomited all over the screen, as we so often see in Hollywood. Most of the moments are small, can be missed easily. One review I read said that the men's failings were passed over to make the movie more palatable; and yet Jack sleeping with others and his braggart little white lies hardly qualify as saintly, while Ennis's sexist treatment of his wife was often appalling. What made me appreciate them more is that most of them came in hindsight, in whispers and snippets of a thought that came to me as lay in bed, pondering the quiet subtle provocations of the movie,including the elusive last line of the film, both true to Annie Proulx's source novel and completely, justifiably, enigmatic for the rest of us.