Brokeback fails to deliver

Rating: 7/10 (8 March 2006)

I couldn't help but go into this movie with a certain amount of expectation. Had it been robbed? Would all the fuss be worth it? Having said that, I don't remember the last time I watched a Western on the big screen so it was all fresh anyway. What struck me initially was the emptiness on screen. Ang Lee has very much gone for a "beautiful vista" approach with more scenery shots than Lord of the Rings. That's not necessarily a bad thing...although 15 minutes of sheep being herded through various terrain got a little tiresome. There's a lot of unspoken action in this film. Much of the love story has to be assumed by the viewer; the short scenes inherent in bonding tales such as this are all there but there's no real suggestion of l'amour afoot. That is until the first spontaneous "entanglement", which comes across more as an avenue for pent-up sexual frustration. What confuses further is the establishment on both sides of wives and children, setting up the big area of conflict in the respective cowboy's individual lives.
Ang Lee has presented a good film....but is it an Oscar-winning film? Not in my books. There's some good acting here....but it's spate of acting nominations is beyond me. Michelle Williams has little to do and while Heath Ledger's stony faced mumbling is admirably subtle throughout, he was far more powerful as a "Southern Boy" in Monster's Ball - another "relationship taboo" film far more powerful than this.
I have yet to see Crash, but to be brutally honest, it wouldn't take much to top this.