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Good night at The Coolidge Corner Theater. The Boys of Baraka is a documentary in the spirit of 'Hoop Dreams', though it is shorter at 80 minutes, and it is more about education and life than basketball. We get to know 4 kids from 3 families (2 are brothers), and the first third of the movie shows us where these 'at-risk' Baltimore 12 and 13 year olds grew up and how they got selected to be apart of the Baraka School that transplants them from the projects to rural Kenya. It is not superbly shot, and they're are some things left in the movie that seem downright odd (like when Romesh accidently walks into a window, breaking it with his forehead), but the kids are very likably and absolutely intelligent. Devon "Can I get a 'Yeah'" Brown sticks out as the 13 year old who wants to become a minister and lives mostly with his grandma because his mother is in all sorts of trouble. The kids get a lot of personal attention at the Baraka School, and it seems almost all make tremendous improvements, but I kept thinking the program could have been just as successful in rural Kentucky or something. Like 'Hoop Dreams' it cannot have a Hollywood ending, perhaps even less so, but it is true blue documentary -- no voice over, general disregard to the camera crew, and some great editing. Soundtrack is superb by J.J. McGeehan, with all kinds of jazzy congas and bongos. (B+) ---- Brokeback Mountain Question: If you could make a gay love story, starring two of the hottest actors, that even the grizzliest cowboy would cry at, would you do it? Well, Ang Lee has, and it was awesome. I don't know if it was the 'first great gay love story', but I can't think of another. Honestly, Brokeback Mountain immediately enters my mind as one of the best love stories along with 'Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind', 'Amelie', and even 'Casablanca' (which it resembles the most). The movie simply has it all: Jaw dropping scenery; sparse accoustic guitar (good/not great); wonderful, subtle acting; near perfect pacing; and a plot layered in star-crossed love. Heath Ledger is Enis Del Mar, our main character. His Wyoming accent is better (and harder to pull off) than the Texas twang Jake Gyllenhaal has as Jack Twist. (Eliza and I both love E. Annie Proulx's character names.) Ledger surely gets the Oscar nomination, and may even win if the Academy is ready to move past bio-pic impersonations -- read Phillip Seymor Hoffman in 'Capote' or Jaquin Pheonix in 'Walk the Line'. The sex scenes are flamboyant, yet never too long, and there is only one scene that I 'didn't get'. And the final scene is a heart stopper, nothing startling or shocking, just good drama. Ang Lee has made another near masterpiece. (A-)