Setting the Table Doesn't Have To Be a Chore

There are lots of story lessons in Brokeback Mountain-- many good, and a few not so good. But maybe the best, simplest lesson comes in the form of its opening:

Ennis walks up to the trailer. Leans against the wall to smoke. Tries not to have a whole lot of interaction with anyone or any thing. Keeps to himself. Hangs out to the side of the frame. Just... waits.

Jack rumbles up in a falling-apart truck. Curses. Smiles. Is comfortable in the centre of the frame. Shaves in his truck's rearview mirror, all while stealing curious looks at the guy leaning against the wall.

In a few quiet minutes, we meet our two heroes and understand everything we need to know about these men: what their strengths are, where their comforts lie, and what weaknesses will be their individual downfalls. We also get a sense of the time and the world (the dust, the trailer, the truck) and a sense of the kind of tension this movie will explore: that thick kind, that hangs largely in the silences as Ennis and Jack are together, yet apart.

All this, with no dialogue.

Oh my. Oh, may I one day write an opening so fine.