So I saw Brokeback Mountain on Sunday.

[Nicholas D Wolfwood]

As most of you know by now, I'm a straight man, so take my comments for what you will in that light.

I thought it was a very good, but not great, movie. I felt it was very well acted, especially by Heath Ledger. Some people had dumped on his performance, but you have to take into account his other roles and this was clearly a different character for him. I think he nailed it (no pun intended, please). I think Jake Gyllenhaal will be a great actor, but I thought it was only a so-so performance by him (though he definitely had some great moments). I did NOT think Ennis' wife (can't remember her name) deserved awards for her role. Not only was it far too limited, it just wasn't all that much better than average.

The cinematography was fantastic. I thought the movie was very well filmed and directed. Great and fitting soundtrack as well.

Which brings up my only real problem with the movie, and one that I feel keeps it from being great - the plot/length. I felt there could've been a lot cut out of this movie. There was just too much inaction for this movie to be as long as it was. You know, I do understand that part of the plodding nature fit the style and setting of this movie, but I still felt like there could've been stuff cut out to keep the movie moving along better. And I don't just say that for the sake of the circulation in my ass - the movie being unnecessarily long certainly has a negative impact on one's emotional experience in the movie. You have too much time to get over each emotional encounter instead of steadily building on the action through the climax and resolution of the movie. This movie could've been an emotional sledgehammer if they had properly edited it, and in that aspect, they fell short. Maybe this seems like nit-picking, but it's one of those things that separates good movies from classics, and this very well could have been a classic.

Still, the movie does well deserve its accolades and awards. It does a great job with a difficult subject. I don't know how anyone could come out of the movie thinking intolerance does anything less than unnecessarily destroy lives, and not just the ones of the people directly affected. We all lose when we can't accept others. I definitely feel this movie is shortchanged when they depict this as a love story. Love stories are usually horribly cliched and have little social significance, and Brokeback does not fit that description in any way.