Brokeback Mountain (DVD)

Someone wake me when it's over. Literally, that was me when trying to digest this film for the second time and it caught me completely off guard. By the time I saw Brokeback Mountain in theaters the word of mouth surrounding the film had reached a feverish pitch, but I still managed to enjoy it even though I didn't think it was as great as everyone said it was. Now, since the Oscars, since Annie Proulx's crying and Randy Quaid's bitching I think I have just grown numb on this film as sitting through it a second time was more than a chore... Most of the time reviewing DVDs is fun and a way for me to wind down at the end of the day, watching this one, however, felt like work. Thank the maker there wasn't an audio commentary on this edition. I guess I have a sure-to-be-announced special edition to thank for that.

Brokeback Mountain, for those of you living in a hole, is a film about two cowboys who find love for one another while watching over some sheep one winter up on Brokeback Mountain. Being cowboys they have a hard time owning up to their love and go off and get married and start families, but their bond is too deep and they are continually drawn back to one another, which is where this movie draws on its emotion. Unfortunately, once you have seen it you have seen it. After all I felt, after my first viewing, that the truly emotional punch comes far too early in the film (when they see each other for the first time since Brokeback) leaving the rest of the film as filler.

As for all the Oscar nominations I was not in favor of most of them. Ang Lee I guess deserved Best Director, but I wouldn't have minded seeing Clooney take that one home for Good Night, and Good Luck, even though I didn't enjoy that film that much either. Michelle Williams didn't deserve all her praise and neither did Heath Ledger if you ask me. That seen with the now famous "I wish I knew how to quit you" speech is a perfect example of a scene in which I wasn't believing Ledger's performance at all.

As far as DVD features go this one is pretty much bare bones, which, as I said before, spells out special edition. All you are getting are a few featurettes and not much more. I am sure there is an Ang Lee commentary coming since he provided commentaries on both Crouching Tiger and Hulk, why would he skip one for his Oscar-winning film?

Overall, while this DVD did great numbers its first week, I see it dying off into the sunset as I see almost all of 2005's supposedly great films. It took me about three naps to watch the whole thing a second time; I couldn't even imagine what it would take to watch it a third. Rent it folks, and then forget it.