Less is most definitely more

Rating: 10/10 (22 January 2006)

Jake Gyllenhaal nailed it when he was on Leno a few weeks ago - "It's what's NOT said," he told Jay, and this statement is at the heart of what makes Brokeback Mountain more than 'just' a tale of 2 cowboys who have undeniably powerful feelings for each other. It's the supreme restraint and subtlety with which the story is told that resonates with us long after we leave the theatre: rather than having everything spelled out for us six ways from Sunday, we're given the opportunity to fill in the rest ourselves, privately, and in this way, Jack and Ennis' story becomes absorbed by us on an organic level, making it a personal story - this is the 'haunting' effect that so many people have been writing about in their commentaries, and other filmmakers should be learning from this masterfully realized, majestically heartfelt cinematic experience.