Brokeback Mountain Review and Response

[stargazer99]

Originally Posted by sparky

Mary I am so glad you saw it and thrilled that you enjoyed it.

The only quibbles I had with the makeup on Heath were in the diner scene and the last scene that the old age makeup is actually kind of flaking off around his crow's feet. That happens with spirit gum after many hours, and with other quickie old age tricks. Also, his sideburns in the scene at the house at the end, and the diner, show a distinct dark line where they are glued on. I thought that was sloppy and not needed - it was a cheap trick with brush on makeup to hide a glue line. If they had used a lighter color and feathered it on with a secondary darker color it would have been invisible. Sorry, I got stellar grades in makeup class when I was an acting student in college.

Also, Anne was amazing. Amazing. I cannot take my eyes off her hands in that phone scene. The red spot on her finger is so Lady Macbeth it just kills me. Yeah, she was biting her nails. And there is tons of speculation that the fact that she has red on her hands is a sign that she knows way more than she is letting on and that she is definitely lying about what went on.

The trigger for me losing it really begins when Jack says, "The truth is, sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it." That of course, leads into the parking lot scene...and the line that knifes me in the guts is "There is never enough time, never enough time." My God - when you love someone is there every really enough time ? Ever ? It just gets worse from there, and by the end of that scene I am a weeping wreck.

Tonight I went to a screening and a Q and A with Heath and Michelle. The movie of course killed me again, even in the 4th viewing. I know I sound like a maniac. I have never seen a movie this many times. Never. 4 paper towels full of snot and tears later, we found out Michelle and the baby were sick and the Q and A is going to be rescheduled - maybe this Wednesday.

Very astute observations you made. I am impressed.

I didn't notice some of what you mentioned, about the sideburns! Yeah, that definitely would have bugged me if I'd noticed it. I did notice the "flaking" of the makeup on Heath late in the movie, but I just chalked it up to his character working outside for so many years and that it was supposed to be sun damage.

That whole scene on the mountain was so incredibly powerful. It was gutwrenching! The emotion was powerful throughout the whole scene. But what really got to me was when Innis(sp?) broke down in Jack's arms. I could feel the absolute agony they were both going through! The pain of loving someone so much, and the fear of losing them for good. It was such a powerful scene! I think that's the first time that I could actually feel my gut clenching while watching a movie.

I agree about the scene with Anne. I kept thinking she was lying about what really happened, and was wondering if it was really something like what happened to Innis' neighbor when he was a kid. I was truly amazed by her performance, and thought that scene was brilliant. I keep thinking of her as the girl from "The Princess Diaries", and was truly surprised at how good she was in this movie.

The shirt, though... that's what absolutely did me in. I started sobbing at that point. It was shortly after that when I heard a lot of sniffling around me as well. And the scene leading up to it... when the Dad was talking about Jack's "plans". You could just feel Innis' regret. I can't even imagine the pain he must have been feeling at that point, and all the "what if's"? How many of us haven't felt regrets about love? But most of us haven't lived through 20+ years of such conflict to get to that point.

It truly was a very powerful film. And the acting and imagery were incredible! Like I said, I haven't seen the performances of any of Heath's competition, to compare his performance to. But he definitely gave an Oscar worthy performance.

Thanks for the compliments! I'm sorry you missed the Q&A, and hope they will reschedule. Do you have any questions you plan on asking?