Competent but over-hyped

Rating: 6/10 (1 May 2006)

Well I missed it in theatres, but bought the DVD last week and watched it last night. But I seem to have missed it again. I'm really really sorry, but I found this "masterpiece" hugely disappointing. The acting is good in parts, particularly that of Anne Hathaway and Michelle Williams as the bereft wives. Jake Gyllenhaal was a little disappointing after a magnificent turn in Donnie Darko, and although Heath Ledger is capable of excellent work I found it difficult to tell if it was just his character's emotions that were stilted, or if it were his acting as well (a tittle unkind, but how do you portray a stilted character without appearing stilted - one moment of emotional breakdown thumping a brick wall isn't enough.) Ang Lee is a very fine and exceptionally versatile director, and E. Annie Proulx a wonderful author, but nonetheless this film fell very far short of the adulation heaped on it by friends and reviewers. In fact it was ever so slightly boring, and my wife (who had also been looking forward to this) actually fell asleep towards the end.
I think what it comes down to is this: it's a story about star-crossed lovers, but it's hardly Romeo and Juliet (they had feuding families and an inescapable situation to contend with.) The twist in this story is that (shock, horror) the lovers are of the same sex (I hope that doesn't count as a plot spoiler) but it's their own perversity and inability to communicate openly as much as the social mores of the time that keeps them apart and causes them to lead somewhat barren and futile lives. Their perversity and lack of ability to communicate exists just as much in their married relationships as it does in the relationship between the two - they're not fully formed men, and neither of the characters are somebody you'd want to spend your life with.
And after that, so what! The story is somewhat sad but entirely predictable. SPOILERS AHEAD. I thought that the flashback treatment of the killing of Jack Twist was inept, and robbed the climax of the emotional power it could and should have had, although Ennis' discovery of the event, and the deceiving phone conversation he has with Lureen Newsome (which was interwoven with the flashbacks) was exceptional. I found the last 10 minutes and the final scenes with "the shirt" and Ennis' long-suffering daughter moving and uplifting - but the rest of it - Titanically pappy.
Most people's reaction to the film seems to be that, gosh, it was a relationship between men that dare not speak it's name, but that's hardly a new concept, and this story doesn't have the depth and complexity of love, betrayal, and tragedy of Oscar Wilde and Lord Alfred Douglas. Get over it people, this is 2006, and although same sex relationships may cause volcanic eruptions in middle America this was a small tragedy not a great drama.