The Bottom Line
Pros
- Emotionally powerful movie about forbidden love
- Superb screenplay, direction and acting
- Visually engaging and has high production values
Cons
- Twenty-one year time span not handled entirely convincingly
- Movie may be too restrained for some
- DVD extras are on the skimpy side
Description
- DVD containing drama Brokeback Mountain (2005)
- Movie nominated for eight Academy Awards, including Best Picture
- Film won three Oscars: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, Best Original Score
- Movie stars Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal and was directed by Ang Lee
- DVD has four featurettes with total running time of 45 minutes
- MPAA Rating: R for sexuality, nudity, language and some violence
- Feature run time: 2 hours 15 minutes
- DVD release date: April 4, 2006
Guide Review - Brokeback Mountain DVD
Starring Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhaal, this melancholy drama about forbidden love was nominated for eight Academy Awards and won three, including Best Director (Ang Lee). Set in Wyoming and Texas, the story opens in 1963 and spans two decades. Ennis (Ledger) and Jack (Gyllenhaal) are rugged ranch hands who fall hard for each other. Nevertheless, both men take wives and father children. Still, Ennis and Jack get together off and on over the years, and as their marriages sour, they struggle with their feelings.
Brokeback Mountain has one of the best screenplays ever, both on the page and on the screen, and I'm not surprised that Larry McMurtry and Diana Ossana won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay. Their script does Annie Proulx's short story justice.
The standout performance is by Heath Ledger: the naturalism he projected reminded me of Marlon Brando at his best. Jake Gyllenhaal has a less showy role, but he is convincing, and he and Ledger have good acting chemistry together. But the movie features other memorable performances, notably by Michelle Williams, Anne Hathaway and Randy Quaid.
The DVD extras are a bit skimpy, consisting of four featurettes with a total running time of only 45 minutes. The bonus material I liked best was an 11-minute interview with the screenwriters. Other extras include a six-minute featurette on the actors going to cowboy boot camp, as well as a seven-minute look at director Ang Lee.
