Brokeback Mountain

Yesterday night, I went to a sneak preview screening to watch my most anticipated film of the year, Brokeback Mountain.

I have never been to a sneak preview before because I never felt the need to but Brokeback Mountain is really too great to wait.

I went to watch the movie eagerly not because I am gay. First of all it is by my favourite chinese director, Ang Lee. Secondly, it was a controversial film in the US and I love watching controversial films. I would have went to watch 'Irreversible' at that point of time if I was over 21.

The movie stems from a short story of the same name by E Annie Proulx about the love life of two cowboys over the span of twenty years. To me, this is not just a gay love story but a beautiful love story. It was written as a short story so fortunately for Lee Ang and the rest of the audience, we could enjoy the whole story without losing anything. If it was a novel, then the story would have been adapted like Harry Potter or Lord of the Rings and the director have to select parts of the story to throw away

First of all, I would like to commend Ang Lee on his pacing of the movie. The pacing in Brokeback was much better than his other movies. (sense and sensibility was a killer) In Ang Lee films, the pacing is always very slow. He loves to film everything slowly so that the processes of the films get across thoroughly to the audience. However, in this film, in order to make it more watchable, he quicken up the pace and I felt that he did it to the point where it is just nicely done. Not too slow and not too fast

Ang Lee is very good at directing stories about relationships and family. You can tell from his earlier movies when he is still known as an Asian director such as 'Pushing Hands' 'Wedding Dinner' and 'Eat Man Drink Women' Therefore, he leaves his mark on Brokeback Mountain because this story is essentially about family and relationships between people, mainly the romance between the two main protangonists.

The way in which he directed the movie gives the audience a sense of reality and cultural sensitivity. Set in 60s Wyoming, men always behaved like men even though they are gay. So when it came to emotional sad scenes, there were no loud crying or dramatic howling of men. Women behaved themselves well at that time (even though it was the US) so when they are sad, they wouldnt cry out loud and shout and scream at people (only Singapore girls do that) In that sense, the movie is real because it is accurate in portraying the true process of the emotions of the people of the story. Ang Lee also bring out the esscence of the relationships between the two main characters and other people for the audience to see so I felt he has done very well in this aspect of the direction.

Health Ledger also acted well as the main character. He portrays his loneliness and sense of loss in his world so comfortably that I almost believed that he was that man in the story. Kudos to the actress playing his wife as well because she conveyed her emotions nicely as a wife who knows her husband's gay romance yet couldnt do anything about it.

As in most Ang Lee films, he will not let you cry or break your heart in the movie. He will instill a sense of sadness in you, let you bring it home and let it linger around you for days and even months. And it is true. People dont cry in the cinema, unless you damn drama mama, but when I reach home and even now, I feel a tinge of sadness whenever I think of the Health Ledger's character, his loneliness after his gay partner died, his loss of direction in life as he entered the relationship with Jake Gayllenhal's character.

There is no cure for this sadness It will linger around you, lower you for a few days until you go on to do something else.