Member review

“Brokeback Mountain” is a brilliantly-crafted film featuring outstanding performances, beautiful visuals and a heart-breaking story. It’s one of the best westerns of the century and it stands alongside “Brief Encounter” as one of the greatest romantic melodramas that I’ve seen. It’s not the sort of film that I’d usually watch, but “Brokeback Mountain” is essential viewing!

With a serious drama of this nature, the cast are arguably the most important element of the production, they have the arduous task of making every character feel real, the relationships seem organic and they have to ensure that the audience cares about them and wants the characters to succeed. Fortunately, everyone in “Brokeback Mountain” is absolutely exceptional.

The late great Heath Ledger is as fantastic as ever, his performance is subtle and quite low-key, but thanks to his nuanced line-delivery and mannerisms, we always understand the character’s inner conflict.

Jake Gyllenhaal is also superb here, he has great onscreen chemistry with Ledger, which helps the complex relationship between the two cowboys feel genuine and believable. At the start of the film, I wasn’t sure if I was going to be invested in the film (as I’m not a fan of romantic movies) but the terrific character writing and the two excellent central performances made me root for the protagonists from start to finish.

When I recently reviewed “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon”, I mentioned how strange the career of Ang Lee is, how a single director can go from making captivating dramas to helming “Hulk.” Despite the fact that he made the Jolly Green Giant fight a big cloud (or whatever happened at the end of that car crash) Lee is a phenomenal director, and “Brokeback Mountain” is arguably his best film (at least of the one’s that I’ve seen.) He directs this film with such a maturity and efficiency, the characters never feel like stereotypes and every sequence in the movie has a purpose within the larger story. To put it simply, Lee did a marvellous job with this film and his Academy Award win for Best Director was very well deserved!

One of my favourite aspects of “Brokeback Mountain” is the eye-widening cinematography. The scenes at the beginning of the movie as the characters travel through stunning vistas and up rocky mountains were filmed so wonderfully; I would have been satisfied with two hours of silent shots of sheep ambling around and rivers running!

Another magnificent element of “Brokeback Mountain” was its wistful, soulful and Oscar-winning score, composed by Gustavo Santaolalla (who also created the astounding music for “The Last of Us” video games.) The score perfectly captures the atmosphere of the locations and the deep emotions between the various characters, whilst never being too overt or bombastic. Just like the performances from the actors, the music is quiet and understated, but still manages to impact the audience greatly.

In conclusion “Brokeback Mountain” is a film worthy of all the hype that surrounds it. It’s a flawlessly crafted movie that’s powerful narrative will stay with you long after the credits roll. It may be an immensely emotional watch, but I’d thoroughly recommend “Brokeback Mountain.”