Brokeback Mountain

It's pretty rare these days to go into a film without expectations of some kind. I was constantly thinking while watching Brokeback Mountain, yeah, but when is anything going to happen? C'mon now. Where's the big reconciliation speech, the confrontation with the wife, the ultimatum, the broken heart. Well, gosh darn, if I wasn't missing the point. By the end of the film my heart was split in two, and each part belonged to Ennis and Jack equally. But I'm not gay.
Brokeback Mountain to me is a John Ford film. Sure, if John Ford were alive he ain't be making no film about two gays. But in every other respect it's Ford through and through, the gentleness, the humour, the landscapes, the camp-fires, family, loss, regret, remorse, tenderness, sadness.
There were some minor details annoy me some. Heath Ledger's vocal performance took some getting used to. I almost laughed when he first spoke. Jake Gyllenhaal's moustache also took some getting used to (overall, the aging process over twenty years was very well done though, subtle like).
And there are incidentals that bring me quiet pleasure like the simple bluesgrass score, Anne Hathaway, the cinematography, Anne Hathaway. Did I mention Anne Hathaway?
It's quite shocking to see such a simply told movie of a simple tale. And therein lies the genuis. Filmmaker's are often too eager to shove as much as possible down your throat (bang for your buck so to speak). What they fail to realise is that audiences can't possibly process that much information, so what's left is a brain all goobly googly (like the bits of leftover orange after a marathon juicing session). Ang Lee's brilliance (and this follows through many of his film's) is to strip eveything back to it's absolute basics. What's the story? What's the heart of the story? What's the point of it? Where do I want to be by the end of the story? Munich is a great example of a film that tries to do too many things (and ultimately fails at most of them). I thought I would cry during this film. I didn't. By Act 3 of this film I was thinking that if Spielberg had made this film, I probably would be bawling my eyes out right now. Ang Lee never tries to tell us how we should be feeling. There were some sniffles in the cinema - that's cool if that works for you. I'm a manly man so I won't cry. Unless it's ET.
A few people when I asked if they wanted to see this film balked at the subject matter. I still say that they would like it. There are a few moments they might feel uncomfortable with, but this is a film about people - what happens in this film could have happened to anyone. There are things in this film that any living person with a pulse can relate to. To deny the film is to deny yourself.
I still stand by my call that Hulk is one of the most underrated movies of recent years. People complained that the effects were crap. Not enough action. I say it's a damned Ang Lee movie. The most important thing to Ang Lee (and James Schamus, who's acted as producer/writer on nearly all Ang's films) is the people. Go back and watch Hulk again - it might surprise you.