| SHEEP WE'RE UP AGAINST : Ang Lee's 'Brokeback Mountain' [7/10] |
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 à brebis tondue Dieu mesure le vent (French proverb: "God tempers the wind to the shorn lamb") I may be the first writer in America to have a piece of writing make its way to the screen whole and entire. E.Annie Proulx But you know what scares me the most? When I can't fight it anymore, when it takes over, when I totally lose control... I like it. Bruce Banner, The Hulk (2003) Brokeback Mountain is a sensitively-handled, believable romance between two ranch-hands, spanning 1963 - when they meet in Wyoming and spend a season on the eponymous mountain - to (roughly) 1983. Scenes from a non-marriage, spanning two decades. The screenplay by Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana has a haltingly episodic structure: it - keeps - jumping - forward in time so that with every dissolve you expect to be a year or two further on, and the general feeling is that this is a summary/condensation of a sprawling novel (like, say, McMurtry's Lonesome Dove) rather than what it is, namely an expansion of an 11-page short story (by Annie Proulx, from the collection Close Range). The looooong timespan means the actors have to "age" on screen from roughly 20 to 40: as always in Hollywood movies, this means make-up of more or less convincing effect. Jake Gyllenhaal (as Jack Twist [!], who becomes a rodeo rider in Texas and marries rich-girl played by Anne Hathaway) grows a fake-looking moustache and grey streaks appear in his hair; Heath Ledger (as Ennis Del Mar, who stays 'up north' and weds a long-suffering local lass well-played by Michelle Williams) has his features roughened up with what looks like glue around his eyes; Hathaway, who has the most thankless of the four main roles, must also sport a vile blonde wig. Much fuss has been made about the fact that this is rare mainstream Hollywood film to tackle a 'gay theme': but in 2005, is it really so wildly shocking to see two men kiss on screen? Perhaps it is - Brokeback Mountain has been 'banned' by one cinema-owner in Utah, which can only be a positive sign: it wouldn't have said much for Lee and company's efforts if they were deemed so inoffensive as to pass without comment or censure from the less-enlightened sections of society. As it is, the film-makers seem to have judged things pretty well. This handsomely-mounted (ahem) picture is conventionally made in every respect: score, cinematography, editing, etc. Gustavo Santaolalla's music is especially by-the-numbers: sad guitars fading in at crucial moments to tell us what to think and how to feel. But if Brokeback Mountain had been a "better" film - i.e. more original, challenging or creatively distinctive (like, say, Lee's masterpiece The Ice Storm) - it's unlikely that it would have done so well at the box-office, become such a worldwide cultural talking-point, or be set for what looks like being a gala night at the upcoming Academy Awards. (Not that the latter is any hallmark of quality or longevity: future generations may end up bracketing Brokeback with 1947's 'groundbreaking' Best Picture winner Gentleman's Agreement - a title which, as it happens, fits both pictures). Even if Lee, Proulx, McMurtry, Ossana, Ledger and Gyllenhaal are all "straight" in real life, they deserve credit for making a film which can surely only make a positive contribution towards the acceptance and embrace of what might have been once described as 'unconventional' lifestyles. Because far from being, as early word had it, a 'gay cowboy' tale, Brokeback Mountain is more the story of bisexual sheepherders ('against the flock', and all that.) But Jack and Ennis's romance, though furtive and secret, does bring them genuine (if sporadic) happiness for what seems like well over a decade - not that Ledger's performance gives that much away, as he seems physically incapable of opening his mouth wider than a millimetre or two (about 10% of the dialogue as a whole is lost to accents and mumbling). His tones were similarly strangulated in The Brothers Grimm (where he co-starred with the chattier Matt Damon, who coincidentally also once played a character who dreamed longingly [if in his case sarcastically] of sheep). Anyway - Jack and Ennis are, on the whole, a rather fortunate pair: yes, they have it a bit rough in some ways, but there's barely a happy or contented person on screen from start to finish, which suggests the 'straight' life is hardly a source of reliable joy. Perhaps the fact that this pair don't live together, and spend long periods apart, contributed to longevity of their bond? Things don't end well, of course - the climax involves the death of a major character which is messy in more ways than one. For such a crucial development, this moment is confusingly handled (accident? or something more sinister?) And the ensuing coda is perhaps too ostentatiously low-key and tearjerking, though it is undeniably affecting in an aw-shucks-pardner, kind of way. As Vern might put it, gay love don't got to be soft. Neil Young 9th/14th January, 2005 BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN : [7/10] : USA 2005 : Ang LEE : 134 mins (BBFC timing) seen at The Tyneside Cinema, Newcastle-upon-Tyne (UK), 8th January 2006 - public show ... and God bless the Duke of Argyle |
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