brokeback mountain

hmm. so, it's good. is it the most brilliant movie ever, and a shoo-in for the Oscars, and able to live up to all the hype i'd heard? um, nope. good. very good. arguably great, but more on the side of not.

as a love story, it's fairly rote in some respects. a twenty-year affair and its end, essentially. big twist? not really. the distinguishing facts are the gorgeous cinematography, the canadian setting for the "wyoming" countryside and texas, and the fact that it's a love story that takes place in the deeply homophobic south in a time when one wasn't wise to take chances, between a couple sexy cowpokes.

raises some good questions, but it's not all the brilliance that annie proulx would have you believe it is. as a story, crash was infinitely more difficult to write and execute. perhaps that alone is what states it's a worthy film to win an award. plus, you know, there's a larger demographic of coloured folk suffering racism than gay cowboys getting beaten, you know. i'm just saying. statistically speaking and all.