Brokeback Mountain Got Jobbed

I acquired a DVD of Brokeback Mountain in Thailand for an extremely fair price and recently viewed it at home. I also read the story this winter, which was penned by Annie Proulx, one of my favorite writers.

It was a good story. But the movie was fantastic.

This was one of those rare movies that managed to be quiet and dramatic without being cheesy or sentimental. Words were spare but meant something. Looks and line delivery killed. I'll admit that I didn't particularly like watching the scenes when the guys got it on, but I think it's good that I see it and I accept it. I never got bored; I was always riveted. And the scenery of Wyoming was magical on the screen.

It was one of those rare movies that exceeded the hype.

Now I haven't seen Crash, and I heard it was pretty good. But a movie like Brokeback Mountain only comes along once a decade or so. It should have won. Philip Seymour Hoffman is fantastic in everything (especially Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love), but Heath Ledger was better here. (I also acquired Capote in Thailand so it's an informed statement.)

Hollywood may be liberal, but there are clearly enough old conservative guys voting to deep-six a winner. Not that I have much faith in the Oscars--I knew it was a gyp the year Pulp Fiction lost to Forrest Gump, the cheesiest movie ever made--but they are the highest accolades in the storytelling world and the wrong guys won.