Brokeback Mountain (2005)

Premise: In the summer of 1963, Ennis Del Mar (Heath Ledger) and Jack Twist (Jake Gyllenhaal) work as shepherds up on Brokeback Mountain. They love they find there continues on for twenty years in the brief respites from their married lives with Alma (Michelle Williams) and Lureen (Anne Hathaway), respectively.

Listen - I know I act like it's my job to sit in judgment of each and every film I come across, and I know that I invite you to discuss your judgments in the comments section. But, if you are going to sit in judgment against this film because of its subject matter, read something else today. Each time Gustavo Santaollala's simple, twangy, hear string tugging acoustic soundtrack starts up, I'm overcome with a plethora of emotions that I am at a loss to name, and I don't want you to take that away from me. Not today.

Larry McMurty and Diana Ossana's screenplay, based on E. Annie Proulx' short story, beautifully bare. No wasted words appear on this screen. Strength, sorrow, and passion fill every frame and never need something as useless as exposition to carry them through.

Gyllenhaal - you're great, and you know it. Pass go, collect your supporting actor awards, and truck right along to the great career you have ahead of you. Jack does all the talking in this relationship, and he may even think that he's the one that perpetuates it, but I think we all know better than that. I'm sorry, Gyllenhaal, your performance was passionate and powerful, but I really don't have any words for you. All words have already been used up by two other men.

Despite "A-list" and "bankable" labels those cracked out nutters have applied to you, Ledger, you and I know better. This is something else entirely - the beginning of an amazing, unprecedented comeback. You were the one who set my chin to trembling from the get-go. In your hands and on your shoulders, the movie rested. And you succeeded. You brought maturity, masculinity, vulnerability, and sorrow to the role. You're the reason that, even as I write this, I'm racked with sobs again. Every syllable that came out of Ennis' mouth was fraught with indecision and self-doubt, as though each word that escaped had lost a battle with his soul. This performance is bone crushing.

And so I turn to you, director Ang Lee, for you have given me, and the audience, this gift. It is you, and you alone, that can tell such glorious stories. You take things that I have no connection with, no understanding of, and you tap into each characters' humanity in such a way that you drain the compassion from my marrow. Under your guidance, every frame is packed with detail and emotion to connect with. Your wordless message resounds in ways that I will never be able to describe or forget.

A haunting love story, a heart breaking tragedy, and a bittersweet, lingering film that I've been waiting for all year. Perhaps longer. A+