Brokeback Mountain was the movie I really wanted to see, but couldn't get anyone to go to the theater with me. Even my lesbian buddies turned me down. Sigh.
Fast forward three years, and after Heath Ledger died the premium channels played this for like a week nonstop. My sweetie, remembering that I really wanted to see it and never got to, was kind enough to DV-R it for me.
He, of course, played WoW when I was watching it. Oh well -- it's the thought that counts.
So about a zillion gay cowboy jokes have been told about this movie. Forget that. It's not important that these are two men in love ... it's important that they are two *people* in love.
Because Ledger is heartbreakingly, achingly perfect in this part -- the way he speaks while barely moving his mouth, the slow blossoming as he finds true love, the despair when the magic summer ends, the excited run to meet Jack again. Every thing is just absolutely perfect. It was the performance of a decade.
If things would have been different, he would have been the actor that defined a generation. Maybe he still will be.
Every performance in this movie is good. But Heath was perfect.
You've got to see this. Every frame of this movie lingers with you. The silences are exquisite. You get to dive into these character's hearts. You can't skip this because of a few gay cowboy jokes.
Melancholy and magnificent. This movie will haunt you.
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