Definitely not what you'd expect from a "gay cowboy movie".

Rating: Null/10 (31 December 2005)

Last night I saw the movie Brokeback Mountain. I have so much to say about this movie, that I don't even know where to start. It is seriously one of the best movies I've seen in a theater in the past year.
I'll start with the cinematography. It was fitting, and never distracted from the story. The beginning shots are long and drawn out, the pacing is slow. But it makes sense. The movie starts in the 60s in the west. Cowboy life is slow, and so are the shots. The dialog is minimalistic. The scenery is amazing. It is just shot after shot of beautiful mountains, forests, and sunrises. It doesn't distract from the performances though... which, by the way were nothing short of amazing.
While the movie tends to be subtle and slow in the beginning, bluntness takes over. Jack Twist (Jake Gylenhaal) and Ennis Delmar (Heath Ledger) are assigned to herd sheep on Brokeback Mountain and fall in love and furiously attack each other in a tent. Yeah, one strange way to get it on... All of this is sudden. And the audience is taken by surprise ( although everyone knew the plot before watching the film). The people in my showing were very verbal and would laugh when surprised and yell and such.
While watching, you constantly want the two to tell each other they love each other. But it never happens. Their relationship is strictly for Brokeback Mountain, and they insist on keeping it that way. "I ain't queer," Ennis says from the side of his mouth. When the summer ends, they have to go on with their lives. They both know that they have to, they would never be accepted. Ennis even brakes down at one point, and punches a wall.
They both get married and have kids. They decide to go on fishing trips biannually, and although you know it's wrong that they're cheating on their wives, you are relieved once you hear a few strums of a guitar: the leitmotif of their relationship. They are happy together, and often talk of what they want to come of their relationship and reminisce of their first summer at Brokeback Mountain.
I won't reveal the rest of the movie. But I will say that this movie was harsh at points. This is good though, because it strips the movie of any cinematic flourishes. What you are left with is a rough, real story. And in the end it leaves you with a feeling that doesn't leave you for a while.
Happy endings are for fairy tales.