da | On Brokeback Mountain

Yesterday, we drove into Toronto for lunch and a movie.

I was underwhelmed by Brokeback Mountain, after the glowing reviews.

melted_snowball wrote a good review (with spoilers) here. My opinion: I liked the scenery (the Alberta Rockies standing in for Wyoming; two straight men standing in as gay cowboys. All very attractive). But I strongly disliked the plot, which seemed sooo stereotypical for a movie that's a relationship film with two gay men. I had intentionally not read the plot in depth beforehand, which I think was a mistake.

I just did a bit of digging and found the short story Annie Proulx wrote for the New Yorker which the movie's based on. I liked the short story- very spare, lots of showing not telling, depressing and hard but not maudlin. If I'd read it first, I might be more favourable about the film, which shares the same qualities, but it's tougher to take than the short story. I also think the short story handles one ambiguous plot-point near the end better than the film does.

I don't really think it's due all the Oscar nominations everybody's saying it'll get. I preferred The Wedding Banquet, the other Ang Lee movie about gay men that I've seen.