So tonight I decided to take a trip. I actually decided it two days ago, when I found there were no theaters locally playing the movie Brokeback Mountain any time soon (ie before the 22nd). So I was going to go up to Pleasantville. However, two things stopped me. 1, The rain has been so crazy that a lot of things are flooded. 2, There was no way I was going to make the 7:45 show, and the next one was 10:30, which was too late. So I found the next theater, which was in Connecticut instead, called the Avon Theatre Film Center in Stamford. It was pretty easy to get to, but because of parking, I missed the first 5-10 mins of the movie; this was not a problem because I have read the book also…err short, I mean, really short story. It was 45 pages or so, and smaller then a normal paperback size. I was going to buy the book when I bought Jarhead the book (saw the movie too, both were good), but it was so short I read it in the store instead.

The story itself was OK. Anne Proulx’s writing style is very interesting in that there’s very little words put down on the page. A lot needs to be inferred from the reader. It’s refreshing in a way, but leads to a very short story. The movie version was at least 2 hours, and does go beyond the main story a little. I think Ang Lee did a good job on it when it came to directing - it has a similar style in that there’s a lot of short scenes with hard cuts in it. It works well for it. I’ll probably be buying it on DVD when it comes out.

The content of the story is summarized in that two cowboys, Jack Twist and Ennis Del Mar get a job herding sheep in the summer of ‘63. Over time they develop a relationship - but remember this is 1963, so it’s only on Brokeback Mountain where they can enjoy each other’s company. It shows the struggles that they both have as they attempt to live their lives (over a 20 year period), and is really a touching story with a sad ending. Please read a review, such as Roger Ebert’s for a much better synopsis then I can give hehehe.

If you can find it in a local theater, I’d say to go see it. For that matter, even if you can’t, maybe a short trip is in order? :-)