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In about as minimalist opening to a movie as you can get, Brokeback Mountain begins in 1963 with Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) waiting silently outside a trailer to be assigned isolated ranching work up on the titular mountain.
Twist is the mouthy extrovert; Del Mar is the silent brooder. Despite their differences, the two men find themselves getting along quite well. One night they are forced to share a tent and thus begins a spirited affair that lasts for the duration of their time up at Brokeback.
Parting ways at the end of the summer, both men get married and begin to raise families. But after reconnecting several years later, they begin semi-regular secretive "fishing trips" that last many years, but all throughout they both struggle to come to terms with their feelings for each other and their respective lives.
There's a lot of hype around Brokeback Mountain - and it's all deserved. This is a deeply affecting and serenely beautiful drama with a multitude of excellent performances. Its themes are much broader than talk about the film may suggest, and shouldn't fail to stir even the sternest filmgoers.
For all the supposed controversy surrounding Brokeback Mountain, it succeeds for very traditional reasons - a slow-burning, long form story arc; well drawn characters that get under your skin; understated but lush cinematography; critical supporting characters and deeply felt lead performances.
The film's principal themes revolve around the profound sadness of letting a good thing pass you by; the danger of living a life motivated principally by fear and the simple, devastating power of love. It's powerful stuff.
But it's not a leaden film, and it never hits you over the head with its message or its subject matter. Not by any lack of craft, director Ang Lee simply sits back and lets the story tell itself. As time progresses, layers are gently added, eventually assembling a richly textured tale that is at once immediate and timeless.
Much of the acting kudos for the film cites Ledger, and his excellent performance is one of understated forcefulness. Del Mar's pent-up, conflicted emotions feel like they could gush through his pores at any moment.
But Gyllenhaal does just as good a job - as his character is the more gregarious of the two, there's not as much opportunity to perceive what isn't on the surface, but he brings Twist to life with a comparable amounts of complexity and conviction.
Pretty much every character in the film has a dramatically critical role to play, and rarely has a movie had so many fine supporting performances. In addition to Michelle Williams and Anne Hathaway, who are both fantastic (in vastly different ways) as Del Mar's and Twist's respective wives, we get brief, but beautifully essayed turns from ER's Linda Cardellini (as a later girlfriend of Del Mar's); Kate Mara (as Del Mar's teenage daughter) and Randy Quaid (as the man who hires them at the start).
Plus Anna Faris (Lost In Translation) once again leaves her mark as a shrill friend of Hathway's character, and Roberta Maxwell conveys ten films' worth of characterisation in her one scene as Jack's mother.
The subtly wonderful music in the film cradles the images in the film with the gentle care of a loving mother. Utilised sparingly, the score by Argentian Gustavo Santaolalla often comes across like someone gently strumming away in the corner of an empty room.
Brokeback Mountain is at times a profoundly sad movie, but don't let that put you off - the best ones often are. It will dwell in your mind for some time afterward, and not just because it features two dudes kissing each other.
Highly recommended.
Dominic Corry
Brokeback Mountain opens in cinemas on February 9th.
