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Finally got to see this last night, in the excellent company of the Troodler, who is now an Orange customer and can get the Two for One ticket deal. Hurrah! I see movies in our future :D
So, the movie. It deserves so much more than to be tagged with the label "the gay cowboy movie". It's a love story, pure and simple. The acting is excellent, though I can now see why US types have been feeling sorry for Jake Gyllenhaal, who's been overshadowed by Heath Ledger during this awards season. The guy is being robbed, because of the two leads, I found his performance to be the more honest, the more moving, of the two. Ledger is good, don't get me wrong, but he never quite sold the character to me like Jake did. And I'm convinced ol' Heath had cotton wool in his mouth, or some such thing, to enable him to talk the way he talks. Seriously, look at stills from the movie, look at the corners of his mouth. Doesn't it look like he's got a couple of gumballs tucked away there? Either that or he had his back teeth superglued together.
Anyway, sorry, back to the movie. The cinematography is ASTOUNDING. Granted that Wyoming is, apparently, a jaw droppingly beautiful place, that feeling of vastness, of remoteness, had to be captured and it was, beautifully. If you're planning on seeing this movie, do see it on the big screen, just so you can soak up the gorgeous locations.
But it's not all about the pretty. The screenplay is excellent and somehow carries you briskly through a two hour movie during which there are no big scenes, no car chases, no major peaks or troughs, just people living their lives over a period of 20 years, give or take. The time never dragged, I didn't look at my watch once and was genuinely surprised to realise I'd been sitting there for 2 hours at the movie's end. Credit must be down to Ang Lee, as well, who knows how to pace a movie - "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" did that well, too.
Because I want to keep this spoiler free, I'll say nothing about the ending, beyond that the way a certain incident was handled was kind of surprising, almost off-stage, so to speak. That robbed it of some emotional power, but I can see the reasoning behind it. I was expecting to come out depressed, or angry, or both, but I didn't, I came out moved and entertained (in the sense of having seen a film that engaged my brain, as well as my eyes).
So, overall Mitchy rating - I'm tempted to say 5 stars out of 5, because I don't have a single major gripe at all. But I'll say 4.5 stars, because I save 5's for movies that make me want to simply positively absolutelyhavetorightnowdammit watch them again and again. This one's a keeper and DVD purchase but it just lacks something that makes me bump it up that last star.
Go, see it. Help me stop people calling it "that gay cowboy movie".
Oh and btw, Troo and I were much entertained by the couple that walked out 25 mins into the movie. You shoulda stayed, folks, that scene was as explicit as it got (and it wasn't X-rated, by any means). ( I don't think it's a spoiler to say you don't get 2 hours of hot man on man action :P ) You have to wonder what made this couple go to a movie where tag line is "love is a force of nature" and a picture of two men being confused about what they were going to see.
So, the movie. It deserves so much more than to be tagged with the label "the gay cowboy movie". It's a love story, pure and simple. The acting is excellent, though I can now see why US types have been feeling sorry for Jake Gyllenhaal, who's been overshadowed by Heath Ledger during this awards season. The guy is being robbed, because of the two leads, I found his performance to be the more honest, the more moving, of the two. Ledger is good, don't get me wrong, but he never quite sold the character to me like Jake did. And I'm convinced ol' Heath had cotton wool in his mouth, or some such thing, to enable him to talk the way he talks. Seriously, look at stills from the movie, look at the corners of his mouth. Doesn't it look like he's got a couple of gumballs tucked away there? Either that or he had his back teeth superglued together.
Anyway, sorry, back to the movie. The cinematography is ASTOUNDING. Granted that Wyoming is, apparently, a jaw droppingly beautiful place, that feeling of vastness, of remoteness, had to be captured and it was, beautifully. If you're planning on seeing this movie, do see it on the big screen, just so you can soak up the gorgeous locations.
But it's not all about the pretty. The screenplay is excellent and somehow carries you briskly through a two hour movie during which there are no big scenes, no car chases, no major peaks or troughs, just people living their lives over a period of 20 years, give or take. The time never dragged, I didn't look at my watch once and was genuinely surprised to realise I'd been sitting there for 2 hours at the movie's end. Credit must be down to Ang Lee, as well, who knows how to pace a movie - "Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon" did that well, too.
Because I want to keep this spoiler free, I'll say nothing about the ending, beyond that the way a certain incident was handled was kind of surprising, almost off-stage, so to speak. That robbed it of some emotional power, but I can see the reasoning behind it. I was expecting to come out depressed, or angry, or both, but I didn't, I came out moved and entertained (in the sense of having seen a film that engaged my brain, as well as my eyes).
So, overall Mitchy rating - I'm tempted to say 5 stars out of 5, because I don't have a single major gripe at all. But I'll say 4.5 stars, because I save 5's for movies that make me want to simply positively absolutelyhavetorightnowdammit watch them again and again. This one's a keeper and DVD purchase but it just lacks something that makes me bump it up that last star.
Go, see it. Help me stop people calling it "that gay cowboy movie".
Oh and btw, Troo and I were much entertained by the couple that walked out 25 mins into the movie. You shoulda stayed, folks, that scene was as explicit as it got (and it wasn't X-rated, by any means). ( I don't think it's a spoiler to say you don't get 2 hours of hot man on man action :P ) You have to wonder what made this couple go to a movie where tag line is "love is a force of nature" and a picture of two men being confused about what they were going to see.
thoughtful