Deeply Moving...

Rating: 9/10 (17 October 2005)

This was the best cinematic experience I have had all year. So many movies these days have nothing more than a feature length TV series feel to them, but this movie is as broad and deep as the Wyoming landscape it is set in. It is truly "cinematic" and it's emotional depth is equally magnificent. The fact that the main protagonists are gay just makes the story work a little better, the themes are universal.
Heath Ledger puts in a one of the best studies of masculinity I have ever witnessed recently on screen. Jake Gyllenhaal is also convincing and emotionally engaging. Ang Lee paces the story with the quiet, brooding rhythm of all Annie Proulx's work with the result that the performances and narrative build up to a resolution that is devastatingly moving.
Postscript: It's now a while since I watched Brokeback Mountain and wrote the above review and I feel compelled to add that this movie still haunts me. It has stayed with me and has crept into my subconscious. It has changed something about my perception of the world around me and there's only a handful of movies that I can say have done that!