Interesting but too slow.

Rating: 4/10 (18 January 2017)

This film addresses a homosexual affair between two cowboys. Although the press and the gay-friendly publicity tried to sell the idea that it was a true homosexual romance, I was not convinced. Watching the film, I found that the script suggests something different: two lonely men whose unfulfilled emotional needs lead to a homosexual affair, despite their marriages and individual commitments. There is no love in this. The film is essentially about doubts, unfulfilled emotions, moral and emotional conflicts, the breaking of taboos and the consequences that it has afterwards, in the life of the one who did it. In any case, it is undeniably one of the most remarkable films of Heath Ledger's career. The actor deserves applause for his work in this film, where he dominated and stole the limelight from his own colleague Jake Gyllenhaal. This actor, for his part, has always been much more obliterated and the way he interpreted was not so interesting or consistent. Ang Lee did a decent job, but he seemed to be particularly focused on giving the film a good scenery and cinematography, with great success in that. Even so, the result of his work was a lukewarm, slow-paced film, and that makes it annoying, cutting off the connection between the audience and what they're watching.