Vacation Movies, Part III

I saw two movies over the weekend:
"Breakfast on Pluto" -- Cillian Murphy stars as a young transvestite in Ireland whose motivation, aside from bucking the rigid constraints of his Catholic-school life, is finding the mother who left him at the stoop of the priest when he was just a baby. The film is told in 36 short chapters, and it is these slices, rather than a traditional plot line, that drive the story and give it a similarity to a Charles Dickens tale.

I liked this film, and the acting performances are smart and not overplayed. I owuld have liked to have known more about the background to the decades portrayed in the film of the British-Irish conflicts.

"Brokeback Mountain" -- This film had so mych buzz and then hype surrounding it and trivializing it that I hope it gets wider release, so more people can actually see it and participate in the experience that is definitely among the best films I saw this year. Heath Ledger and Jake Gyllenhall play two Wyoming cowboys who must fight their natural feelings and conform to what society expects of them. The most telling quote comes from Ennis (Ledger): "If you can't fix it, you have to stand it."

This film really is more than what most people will call it: "the gay cowboy movie." It is a beautiful love story about two people who must deny their true feelings and remain separated by social structures and geographical distance. That this film includes mainstream actors will get it noticed. It is not sensational. It is not stereotypical. It is an absolute masterpiece of filmmaking and storytelling. It's worth seeing.

2005 was a good film year: As I type this, Ebert and Roeper are recapping their top ten films of the year. Not only have I seen many of their selections, I also enjoyed a lot of creat cinema this year, including the delightful "Millions" and "Junebug." Some of the great examples of just how good this year was are now coming out on DVD, and they are worth a viewing as well.

-- Wenatchee, Wash.