“Brokeback Mountain” (S1 E128)
“Brokeback Mountain” is a 2005 American romantic drama film directed by Ang Lee and produced by Diana Ossana and James Schamus. Adapted from the 1997 short story of the same name by Annie Proulx, the screenplay was written by Ossana and Larry McMurtry. The film stars Heath Ledger, Jake Gyllenhaal, Anne Hathaway, and Michelle Williams and depicts the complex emotional and sexual relationship between Ennis Del Mar and Jack Twist in the American West from 1963 to 1983.
The film received critical acclaim, mainly for Lee’s direction and Ledger, Gyllenhaal, and Williams’s performances, and was placed on many film critics’ 2005 top ten lists. It was also commercially successful, grossing $178 million worldwide against its $14 million budget, withstanding issues regarding distribution in a number of countries. The film attained awards for Best Picture and Best Director at the British Academy Film Awards, Golden Globe Awards, Producers Guild of America Awards, Critics’ Choice Movie Awards, and Independent Spirit Awards, among others. It also received eight Academy Award nominations, the most nominations at the 78th Academy Awards, where it won three: Best Director, Best Adapted Screenplay, and Best Original Score.
“Brokeback Mountain” was also a subject of controversies, such as its loss to Crash for the Academy Award for Best Picture in an upset as well as criticism from conservative media outlets. Conversely, while the sexuality of its characters has been heavily discussed, “Brokeback Mountain” has also been regarded as a stepping stone for the advancement of queer cinema into the mainstream. In 2018, the film was selected for preservation in the United States National Film Registry by the Library of Congress.
(Reference: “Brokeback Mountain” (film) c/o Wikipedia)
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