Sheep Herding Was Never More Fun!

Finally caught Ang Lee's Brokeback Mountain a few weeks ago.It comes bedecked with a plethora of plaudits and praise gushing out from every known multimedia forum building to a tidal wave of acclaim of tsunami-like proportions ,capped by Lee's Best Director Win at the Oscars recently.I love Ang Lee's movies.Except for the hard-to-obtain "The Ice Storm" I have all his English language movies occupying pride of place in my DVD collection.His ability to immerse you in a culture is so complete it's easy to forget that he's equally foreign to it."Sense & Sensibility"'s exquisite Victorian drama so brought to life the world of Jane Austen you could be forgiven for thinking it was directed by a tweed-wearing,pipe smoking blighter called Nigel.The amazing and much derided "The Hulk" was awash with a comic fan's exuberance for the medium normally demonstrated by the likes of a Sam Raimi or Bryan Singer.But Brokeback Mountain failed to engage me completely and it's definitely not Lee's best movie(I reserve that honour for "Crouching Tiger,Hidden Dragon" his masterful tribute to Wu Xia flicks while deliciously subverting the genre's cliches)Brokeback,like Lee's earlier American Civil War Drama "Ride With The Devil",takes you deep into the American South,circa the 1960s where 2 cowboys ,Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) and Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) meet in the summer of 1963 when both are hired by Joe Aguirre (Randy Quaid) to be sheepherders on Wyoming's Brokeback Mountain. Jack's wordy,Enis is laconic,the days are long and the nights cold and lonely.So what are 2 cowpokes supposed to do to kill the boredom,exacerbated by a 100% woman-free landscape stretching many miles in all directions with nothing between them but sheep,running creeks and tall Wyoming grass??Well,fret not animal lovers,no sheep are violated(save one,for culinary purposes) as our 2 studs proceed to re-define the terms "Male Bonding". That rumbling sound you hear is John Wayne,Charles Bronson and Lee Van Cleef rolling collectively in their graves! Yup! Before you can say Yee-Haw,Enis is up at the crack of Jack,and suddenly the nights ain't lonely no more,you dig?But,it's the 60s,it's the South,so setting up house together and walking hand in hand to the nearest barn dance is not an option so they go their separate ways.Thankfully our 2 studs show no aversion to women as Enis and Jack proceed to marry,bed and impregnate Alma (Michelle Williams) and Lureen (Anne Hathaway),respectively.Jack rekindles the relationship via a postcard to Enis which sets off a twenty year clandestine relationship conducted atop the titular mountain all under the guise of fishing trips.While Lureen remains blisssfully unaware of Jack's occasional switch to the 'other' team,Alma suspects all is not right with her mumbling hubby.Sure,he punches out guys who are rude to her and the kids and brings home the bacon but:1) The numerous "fishing " expeditions with Jack yield nary a fish.2) He loves taking her from the rear and lastly,3) Glimpses her man and Jack snogging each others lips off in the backyard (one of the movie's very rare lapses into artificiality.You'd think 2 gay cowpokes in the 60s would make damn sure they were alone with the doors double pad-locked before trading saliva)And so the movie proceeds,sloooooooooooooooowly as the affair takes them into their middle ages and impacts their lives and relationships with wives,in laws and children.It's not only the languid pace I have a problem with but the understatement that pervades many of the scenes that should have sucker punched me with their dramatic impact.As a result,when the inevitable tragedy occurs,it lacks the emotional resonance to truly pull you in.Still,there's great scenery and brilliant performances overall.And a realistic slice of Southern life.As for me,the sooner Lee gets cracking on the Hulk or Crouching Tiger sequel the better.No matter his slight miss-step here,I ain't quitting Ang Lee anytime soon.