Monday, March 06, 2006

Brokeback Mountain

[+/-] show/hide this post

I've finally gotten down to writing a review for this marvelous film. Actually it's more a personal ranting.Coincidentally, it's also the eve of Oscar award.

Well, what do you think of Brokeback Mountain?

To me, it's a timeless masterpiece that will be akin to "Sound of Music" or "Gone with the Wind" of our era.Will be, because its impact isn't fully manifested yet.

Most great movies are Epic movies, which give you instant gratification. It's like your one-shot tequila pop or your long island cocktail: you feel thrilled when you consumed them, but you forget about them after the hang-over.

Brokeback mountain is a masterpiece. You might not get it in the first viewing I didn't, but for some reason you'll want to watch it again, and again. Somewhere along the road, the vague feelings of loss that you are trying to grasp at will hit you so hard in your guts that you will go into shock I went into a shock of about 5 days, when all I could think about was the movie.. And then you'll want to watch it again to find out what hit you so hard. ;)

Brokeback mountain is like a bottle of 100-yr-old wine which you perhaps come across once in your life-time. You probably won't get too much of a thrill out of it, and it doesn't make good cocktail, but you'll want to have it again and again, and you probably won't have enough. Now, not everybody likes a bottle of 100-yr-old wine. Only the Connoisseur will know how to savour its taste. It'll probably be wasted on common folks.That is understandable. Furthermore, Brokeback might not be your bottle of wine. I hope you will find yours someday down the road, but Brokeback did it for me.

Have I over-rated this movie? Maybe for some, but consider this: I am quite an avid movie-goer. I NEVER gave such a high praise to ANY movie I've seen, including those with gay characters. I have stricter standard with gay-theme movies. I would like to think I've made an objective observation.

I had wanted to write sort of a guide to all the subtlety of the movie, but I soon realized it's a bigger project than I thought. So I am contented to point you to the link if you are interested.

IMDB BBM discussion: An index of Great BBM discussion