Would have received very little attention if there were no homosexual elements.

Rating: 4/10 (27 June 2006)

When hearing that Ang Lee was helming a movie about cowboys falling in love, I initially thought that he had the potential to beat his own masterpiece, The Ice Storm. What an incredible set up: a notoriously closed-minded part of society to outsiders combined with a less tolerant era and two men living lies with wives. But he somehow blows it.
Aside from the cinematographic style and some of the acting (Williams role actually has the most gusto to it), this movie is flat. It is a Romeo and Juliet scenario in that the lovers are forbidden to love. We know how old that plot is. But that plot can be still intriguing, thrilling... And unfortunately this version goes no further than just the plot. We just follow Romeo and Juliet around until one has to go.
Sounds like a bad "chick flick" and, in a sense, it is. I was expecting the development and growth that were committed in just one day of storyline for the Ice Storm characters and was left with two stiffs that never grow in thirty years of storyline. What happened to Ang? Why would the gay community be so excited about this over past gay cinema that was much better? Doesn't this go underneath expectations when (if all the fat was cut off) this could very well been a short? So why did it get all the awards attention?
One could argue that Ang was trying to give us the longing that this relationship had over a long period of time, thus the length. I'll buy it but it didn't effect the way I saw the characters. Why didn't other films that handled men dealing with both impulses to sleep with both man and woman get this much attention? Weren't the characters in Six Degrees of Separation far more interesting? What about Hedwig and the Angry Inch? Water Drops on Burning Rocks? All About My Mother?
Watch some Pedro Almodovar from Spain. He is a smart director who is brave enough to make films about gay culture that actually tests us, thrills us, gives us something other than easy tragedy. I guess the point I am trying to make is that if you were "wowed" by this movie then you will explode upon watching any of the above films, because Brokeback falls short.