Part of the problem of seeing a film that has been so incredibly well received by critics and then further bolstered by friends who loved and loved it is that it gets incredibly built up to the point where your own viewing is almost doomed to fall short as a result. I didn’t weep profusely as I was promised I would; I didn’t really cry at all except for one or two tears that momentarily threatened to slip down my face. I didn’t omgloveit; however, I think it’s too subtle a film to leave the theatre feeling totally floored in a “BEST MOVIE EVER” kind of way. I definitely did like it a lot, though.
Let’s get it out of the way: the Big Gay Cowboy Sex was waaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaay too overhyped for what it actually was. And I’m glad it was less than it was hyped to be, because then it meant it was about something else other than Big Gay Cowboy Sex — because it’s a love story, not an excuse for gratuitous pseudo-controversial sex. I think their attraction might have been built up just a little more before they actually Did It, but I’m okay with how it came about in general.
Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger were both really excellent. I think I prefer Gyllenhaal’s performance in Jarhead over this one, but I think I have less sympathy for his character than I do for Heath Ledger’s (even though he’s the one who ends up dead with a less than mournful widow). There was something in Heath Ledger’s accent I disliked, but I don’t think it was his performance so much as the vernacular and speech patterns coupled with that accent that took getting used to. I liked his strong, silent type; the violent outbursts were that much more intense because of it. You can’t do anything but pity Michelle Williams’ character, of course.
I got a weird satisfaction out of watching the two of them wrangle sheep, especially Jake Gyllenhaal. That scene where he’s got the sheep slung over his shoulders while crossing the river? Killer. As was the one where he was dragging the sheep around when trying to separate their flock from the other dude’s flock. Muahhaha.
Did anyone else dislike the music? It was just a fraction too “PS This Is Emotional” for me. It sounded like the kind of music they’d play at the end of The Wonder Years when adult!narrator!Kevin would be waxing poetic about whatever life lessons he had learned in that episode. (Not that I don’t love The Wonder Years, of course.)
I had a little trouble adjusting to the idea of Heath Ledger as the father of a nineteen year-old girl. I got a weird feeling that this girl probably fangirled him to death after seeing A Knight’s Tale and so having him play her father was just plain weird. I liked how they aged both Ennis and Jack in relation to each other, but once their children had to interact with them the aging process fell short.
But ultimately it comes down to this: OMGCOWBOYS. I love cowboys. Always have, always will. My friend Nicole gave me a combination colouring book of cowboy songs one year for my birthday and it was awesome. Ugh. The jeans, the shirts, the hats, the BOOTS. OJALK:JSDA:LKJSD. Guh.