It’s had good reviews, so ten of us; Trevor, Jon, Paul and I, a couple of other Pauls, a Bryce and a misellaneous couple of others, met up outside the Odeon to watch Brokeback Mountain.

Hmmm.

Considering it was set almost exclusively in the Wyoming Countryside I really do think the actual cinematography was seriously lacking. There were so few wide shots, no rolling panoramas; far too many close-ups, pictures of small stretched of river, or herds of sheep or clearings in trees.

Perhaps that’s because they wanted to concentrate on the characters, the cowboys, and the development of their relationship. It’s a shame, then, that it was so difficult to work out what they were trying to say. The accents, which I guess were probably very true to life, were at times so thick that you couldn’t make out a word. The fact that the story moved on just fine without those bits of speech does rather indicate that they were surplus to requirements, anyway.

In fact, that can be said for a lot of the content of the film. A smidge over two hours long, it should really have been cut by at least 30 minutes. It’s only when you get to the end and the credits start to roll and you see that it was adapted from a short story that you realise why it’s so slow: there simply isn’t enough to fill the space. This should have been a one-hour TV special, which probably explains the muted audience reaction, which only came to life twice: once when they first got together and the volume of the rustling sweet papers increased ten-fold, and then the second time, when two guys walked out, clearly not having a clue what they’d come to see.

So what is there to like about this film? Well, having had a little time to let it sink in, I think there’s a very strong message to be had. It’s not about the forbidden relationship that develops between the two main characters, or even their failing relationships with their wives, but something far more universal: simply that you only live your life once, and that if you don’t take every chance presented to you while it’s available, you may well have regrets when it’s all too late.

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