Love Is A Force Of Nature
By Preston Sinclair
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| Ennis! Quit yer hammerin' and get in here! - Jack Twist |
This is how it all gets started. Baby, it's cold outside, alcohol is involved, one thing leads to another and boom you're in love. I watch Brokeback Mountain every year during the late winter, early spring here in Northern New York. Somehow I can relate to movies which involve cold weather and snow storms. This story always warms the cockles of my heart.
I remember driving an hour with a friend to Syracuse NY to the nearest cinema that would screen this ground breaking movie. As we stood in line I looked around me and saw nervous guys with salt and pepper gautees wearing leather bomber jackets standing next to their girlfriends who flaunted their auburn Jennifer Anniston haircuts and brown lipstick. I thought to myself,'OMG, this is a chick flick."
While it could easily have been watered down into a bromance flick in order to get it made by the studios, the story remains intact as a love story between two men. In Annie Proulx's short story she writes, 'There were only two of them on the mountain flying in the euphoric, bitter air...' Little did they know Joe Aguirre was watching through his binoculars while they were 'stemmin' the rose.' In one pivotal scene after Jack and Ennis have learned that they have to leave the mountain, unable to cope or communicate their feelings, they decide the only thing that they know how to do is wrestle around and beat the crap out of each other. A classic example of the theme man vs man.
Brokeback Mountain is based on the short story from Annie Proulx's anthology Close Range: Wyoming Stories. Larry McMurty and Dianna Ossana pain stakingly and with much love translated every sentence into the finished screenplay which won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 78th Annual Academy Awards.
Director Ang Lee brilliantly marries the gorgeous cinematography of Rodrigo Prieto to the haunting original score by Gustavo Santaolalla to create this classic film. The images by Rodrigo Prieto look like Ansel Adams photographs in color. There's a nice homage to the film The Misfits in the scene where Ennis and Alma are at the drive-in involving Marilyn Monroe character and Montgomery Clift character. The Misfits is a classic film directed by John Huston in black and white about the last days of the cowboys in the early sixties.
Gustavo Santaolalla's soundtrack beautifully supports the theme of loneliness and longing between Jack and Ennis, while at the same time advancing the story. In a key scene, Mary McBride seems to channel Patsy Cline as she croons 'No One Can Love You Like Me,' while Jack Twist and Lureen hook up on the dance floor. Can I just say right now how much I love Patsy Cline.
This movie probably wouldn't have been made without Heath Ledger. His lean 6' 2" cave chested frame fit Annie Proulx's description perfectly. Ang Lee said that he had thought about Heath Ledger as Ennis for several years prior to the producton of the movie. It's Ennis's hoarse choked voice that brings the arc of the story to it's natural conclusion when he whispers,"Jack, I swear."
Today, I'm able to proudly say that Brokeback Mountain is one of my favorite movies of all time. Not everyone has seen it yet, but I'm still hoping to change that.
I remember driving an hour with a friend to Syracuse NY to the nearest cinema that would screen this ground breaking movie. As we stood in line I looked around me and saw nervous guys with salt and pepper gautees wearing leather bomber jackets standing next to their girlfriends who flaunted their auburn Jennifer Anniston haircuts and brown lipstick. I thought to myself,'OMG, this is a chick flick."
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| He was a friend of mine. -Willie Nelson |
Brokeback Mountain is based on the short story from Annie Proulx's anthology Close Range: Wyoming Stories. Larry McMurty and Dianna Ossana pain stakingly and with much love translated every sentence into the finished screenplay which won the Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay at the 78th Annual Academy Awards.
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| (C) Universal |
Gustavo Santaolalla's soundtrack beautifully supports the theme of loneliness and longing between Jack and Ennis, while at the same time advancing the story. In a key scene, Mary McBride seems to channel Patsy Cline as she croons 'No One Can Love You Like Me,' while Jack Twist and Lureen hook up on the dance floor. Can I just say right now how much I love Patsy Cline.
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| RIP buddy |
Today, I'm able to proudly say that Brokeback Mountain is one of my favorite movies of all time. Not everyone has seen it yet, but I'm still hoping to change that.
