[Warning - spoilers ahead]

The first thing I was worried about when I watched this was how on Earth Heath Ledger's gonna make a convincing Casanova in his next movie release. Because in Brokeback, as Ennis Del Mar (what a strange name for a cowboy -- doesn't Del Mar mean of the sea?), his expressions ran the gamut of 1. DA FROWN, 2. the it's-weird-to-love-Jack-no-it's-wrong conflicting expression, and 3. the repressed grimace, which's essentially a mixture of 1. and 2.

On the other hand, Jack Twist, played by Jake Gyllenhaal, doesn't seem to have the same problem. He's all for the "let's ride off into the sunset" theory, which the reticent Ennis rejects time and again. It often seems as if Ennis is the one who truly understands that they cannot be together, even though he, himself, doesn't realise the extent of his love until the end of the story, after Jack's death.

An adaptation of the short story written by Annie Proulx, I'd say Brokeback does justice and a little more to the original. Granted, I admit I wasn't very impressed by the original short story (Short - it was fifteen pages long), so it didn't take much for me to go, "Whoa." at the film. It wasn't condensed like so many fiction to film translations, which showed in the way Ang Lee lingered on some scenes, such as the one where Jack and Ennis first met. This created a dignified, even lazy pacing to the film, though some disjointedness remained, left over from the short story. After all, the story of Brokeback spans over twenty years.

The filming was beautifully executed -- it featured dominant bright greens, blues, yellows, displaying the countryside in all its beauty.I liked how the motif of the tire iron wasn't neglected in the filming process, because it's really the root of Ennis's insecurities with regard to being with Jack. Explanation -- when Ennis was eight, his father showed him and his brother the brutally mutilated body of one of the ranchhands, a suspected homosexual. In the end, Jack died changing a tire which exploded -- the tire iron whacked him unconscious onto his back, and he drowned in his own blood. (Sounds pretty gory)

Although I applaud Gyllenhaal's emotive performance, there were bursts of excitement from him that, to me, frankly didn't make much sense. There was one instance when Ennis shot an elk -- Jack went, "WOOT!!" and pushed him over. In that scene, serious, Ledger looked more annoyed and scowly than fond of him.

My favourite scene in this movie was the one mentioned within the story as Jack's most enduring memory of the relationship, when Ennis comes up to him while he's half asleep, and embraces him from the back, rocking slowly, in perfect comfort. Not only does it represent their relationship, in which they will never be comfortable face to face, it's also symbolic of the routine they fell into at Brokeback, and how it's all so dream-like, as if you've just woken up and don't quite know what to do. This was pretty much ruined in the movie by cutting to mustachio'ed Gyllenhaal, though. (Presented in flashback)

Perhaps the most ironic thing is that, I feel at least, Brokeback wouldn't have gotten an R rating, were it not for the heterosexual scenes, which were far more well-lit and contained more nudity than the homosexual ones, which were pretty much 30% opacity all the way. Perhaps they felt like they had to over compensate..but though I felt the one with Ennis and his wife was necessary, (can't remember the actress's name) I didn't think the other (which featured Anne Hathaway) was the same, unless it was to prove Jack could have sex with women -- but hell, he has a child with his wife, isn't that obvious?

All in all though, Brokeback was a pretty interesting film that helps the viewer to gain insight into relationships between two guys -- the dynamics of which are subtly different from that between men and women. Although Jack and Ennis both try with their respective wives, they come back time and again to each other, even though it's just "a few high-altitude f**ks a year", because of the quiet acceptance and understanding between them (male bonding at its best?) and the roughhousing sessions.

That's it, I'll never understand men.

hahaha...i found jake's, i mean jack's, sudden outbursts qt wth as well. i thought it was done for some artsy dramatic effect or sth. i like the way you described it. WOOT!!!!

Lol, yeah, heh, I'd be surprised if that wasn't in the script. Imagine:

Scene X -- Shooting a deer
ENNIS DEL MAR READIES THE RIFLE, AIMS, AND SHOOTS AT A DEER.

THE DEER STUMBLES.

JACK WOOTS AND PUSHES ENNIS OVER FOR ART HOUSE DRAMATIC EFFECT.

ENNIS SCOWLS.

In all caps like screenplays are supposed to be...(or maybe I just haven't seen a real one, lol.)

haven't seen it yet. i didn't read the spoiler in case i do watch it.

is it good?

Some people thought it was fantastic, others didn't think so. Um..okay, that was a bad answer. XD I don't know! I've said all I wanted to about it in my review. But you're right, it does have spoilers - though you might want to try reading the last paragraph to get the jist of it.