The best filmgoing experiences i’ve had came in the guise of a surprise. I like lowering expectations, ignoring hype and going with the flow. Sometimes it’s hard, but sometimes it’s just necessary. Brokeback Mountain had so much hype surrounding it, but the Thin Man and Morvern Callar were films I never heard of until I watched them. All three films, nonetheless, are now at the top of my favorite film list because they knocked me over with feathers, left me smiling from ear to ear, conjure feelings of complete delight and satisfaction. It’s rare that a film, or anything in life really, can do this. When it does, I cherish it.

I was ramped up on the possibility of man on man action. I’d heard about this movie about a year ago and could not believe Jake Gyllenhaal and Heath Ledger, two Hollywood hotties, were going to make this film together. Then again, why not since despite their hotness they are damned good actors. I especially liked Jake’s (yes, I sometimes pretend I know him personally) fab performance in Donnie Darko (sans the crying scene in the shrink’s office) and Heath’s (him too) short but moving performance in Monster’s Ball. It’s hard to believe Ledger’s the same guy in the teenie-bopper film 10 Things I hate About You, huh. Anywho, Ang Lee is Ang Lee and usually never disappoints except for maybe Ride with the Devil (another frontier film) with, of all people, Jewel. All directors deserve to make a bad movie…just to get it out of their systems if nothing else.

Anyway, the beginning was your typical boy meets boy buddy film. Then buddies find themselves sleeping in the same tent on a cold night and well, sparks and sperm fly. Yay! I was surprised and delighted on how much and yet how little Lee decided to show. Not that I wouldn’t want to have seen some full blown male naked loving, the intimate scenes were just enough to wet your appetite (and other parts) while maintaining the air of romance and longing that bubbled underneath and burst to the surface (pun intended).

But in all seriousness, the film seemed both epic and intimate, an achievement only an exceptional director like Lee could accomplish. We get to witness a relationship between two men who despite who they are on the outside and where they are in the world and on history’s timeline, find an unspeakable connection and attraction to each other that spans more than twenty years. The minimal dialogue between all the characters, especially between Ennis and Jack, was perhaps what brought the intimacy to the sweeping Wyoming landscape and the overwhelming situation of two men being in love in Wyoming in 1963.

A delightful surprise was Michelle William’s performance as Alma Del Mar, Ennis’ simple, devoted, yet passionate wife. Actually, it’s not so much of a surprise since she was fabulous in Me Without You and Imaginary Heroes. I’d say Williams is like the Mike Meyers of Dawson’s Creek in that out of all the cast who starred in the popular TV show, Williams, like Meyers, is the only one who has succeeded because…drum roll please…she has talent. Also, a nice surprise was Anne Hathaway’s performance as Laureen Newsome, Jack’s strong-willed, smart but distant wife. You might remember Hathaway as the princess in the Princess Diaries. She’s come a long way. It’s strange however that critics keep noting Hathaway’s exceptional performance, but not Williams’.

Is it because she’s best known for playing a teenage princess, but plays a full-blown all American gal in Brokeback? Or is it because she showed her big boobs (unnecessarily, I think) in a sex scene with Gyllenhal? Gee, I wonder??? Anyway, despite the flashing, her performance was as notable as Williams’.

Brokeback Mountain is a great film. Not because of the hot men going at it or Hathaway’s boobies. It’s a great film because you get to see love bloom between two unlikely characters in an unlikely landscape trying to beat unlikely odds. Ingredients for a great drama, but without the excessive one liners, gratuitous hetero sex scenes, mediocre acting and unrelatable characters. Sure most of us aren’t gay, or cowboys, or living in Wyoming. But, most of us are humans who hope to experience a romance as intense and deep, spanning somewhere in the vicinity of twenty years, defying what is commonly accepted as “acceptable” (whatever-the-hell acceptable means), and that enriches our lives in a way very few words can express.