The mysterious "I love you" and other nearly indiscernible moments

[vkm91941]

This reminds me of all the controversy about the Rolling Stones and Beatles Albums in the 60's having secret messages if played in reverse.  When you played it in reverse you got a boat load of jibberish and some people made words out of it and other couldn't hear it at all.  Or like the EVP recordings parapsychologist make in so called haunted houses.

It's the power of the mind trying to make sense of what we're hearing so it fits it into a familiar model and what you hear is based on what you want to hear consciously or unconsciously based on your relationship with the characters.  There is no right or wrong answer as far as I'm concerned unless someone can get Heath and Jake to come on here and tell us what they actually said.

[serious crayons]

This reminds me of all the controversy about the Rolling Stones and Beatles Albums in the 60's having secret messages if played in reverse.

Here's what this reminds me of: In the early '90s, when the Disney cartoon "The Lion King" was still in theaters, some right-wing Christian groups protested that at one point in the movie the word S-E-X appears in letters formed out of dust that flies up when a lion flops onto the ground. I didn't have kids at the time, so I said, Yeah right, and pretty much forgot all about it.

Cut to about 1999. I now have two little kids and the "Lion King" video. One day I was sort of half watching for about the 130th time when I happened to glance at the screen and suddenly there it was:  S-E-X, in big, clear letters, formed out of dust that flies up when a lion flops onto the ground. The word appears for about half a second and then dissipates. I rewound. There it was again. Without a doubt. It flashes by quickly, but the letters are clear and large and you do not have to use your imagination to see them. Once I noticed it, I saw it every time I watched that scene (about 130 more times).

Why, I have no idea. Slow day in the animation room? (I hope this goes without saying, but it didn't bother me -- I was delighted! Even if my kids had been old enough to read, I would have been fine with it.)

(More info for Lion King owners who want to check: It's around the time Simba is talking to Rafiki, just before or after Mufasa's ghost appears in the night sky.)

Sometimes things sound too hokey to be true, like the rumor that you'll hear about Paul McCartney's death if you play Abbey Road backward. I used to think that way about the "I love you," which is why I never even bothered to look for it. But now that I've seen it, it's like the S-E-X. Hard to believe, but it really is there.

(In fairness, I should add that the ILY is much harder to detect. The S-E-X can be seen from the couch.)

[nic]

Sorry, nic, it's not quite that good. Reportedly the extended scene was shown at the Independent Spirit awards, and I guess it lasts much longer and Ennis cries harder. I've never heard of anyone who has actually seen it except rtprod. Here's a link to a long-ago thread in which it's discussed on and off throughout:

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=1016.0

Hold the phone! What a coincidence. I just glanced through the Chez Tremblay board and found this brief discussion, from just a few days ago:

http://bettermost.net/forum/index.php?topic=2324.0

So it's still mysterious. If anyone knows of its whereabouts, please post it immediately and prominently and alert everybody.

The extra footage has now been posted    Check out that second link above and it will give details!!

[SFEnnisSF]

I'm still in the "maybe" camp on this one, but on TOB (I) there was some discussion of Jack's name "spelled out subliminally" as Ennis leaves the Twists' house:

"The right side of the windshield of Ennis's truck makes the 'J'. The roof of the house makes the 'A'. The cloud above the peak makes the 'C'. The large tree to the right of the house makes the 'K', although you have to fill in the bottom right leg of the letter."

Oh yes, it's definitely there!

[welliwont]

How about the subliminal messages that Ang Lee put in to flash up every few seconds: "you will love & adore my film", "you will become utterly obsessed by this story", "you will fall uncontrollably in love with both Jack & Ennis", etc etc 

That's genius!!

[Daphne7661]

I tried listening to the one line of the reunion scene which has confounded me --

What does Ennis say at the end of the kissing during the reunion scene just after the nuzzle and just before he heads back up the stairs to the apartment??!!

It sounds like he says, "Hey, I gotta go...."  Just like he says to Jack in the flashback scene.  It's like one of those mirrored lines throughout the film.

It's a tough line to hear because a rather hearty Gustavo guitar chord is strung right at the same moment as Heath delivers Ennis' line......

Someone may want to check it out and let me know if I'm right....

[serious crayons]

What does Ennis say at the end of the kissing during the reunion scene just after the nuzzle and just before he heads back up the stairs to the apartment??!!

I think he says "hey, c'mere." Someone posted an audio clip of it in which it was more distinct. I'm not at home now, but I will look later to see if I have it saved somewhere. It's still a mirror, because he says "hey, c'mere" to Alma a couple of times.

[wolf]

I tried listening to the one line of the reunion scene which has confounded me --

What does Ennis say at the end of the kissing during the reunion scene just after the nuzzle and just before he heads back up the stairs to the apartment??!!

Someone may want to check it out and let me know if I'm right....

I've always heard "later", followed by "c'mere".   As in 'we'll continue this later, but for now, come upstairs and meet my wife'.  But I hear what I want to hear, so take that with a large grain of salt!

W

[Ellemeno]

Hi Y'all, I am so happy.  In the airport waiting for my plane to go home from the San Francisco BBM adventure, I suddenly had this great idea for how to use the plane time - I paid $9.95 for about half an hour of airport internet access (hey - what's $9.95 after the hundreds I just paid for this trip?), and downloaded various threads that I've been eager to read, but hadn't gotten to yet, like this one, so that I could catch up on them on the plane.  So you all are with me on the plane.  I also have the full screen BBM DVD in my laptop, and have been watching/listening to the scenes you all are talking about here.  Here's my experience:

I just watched the "I love you" scene about 10 times, and definitely see the mouth twitch, twitch, twitch that could be it.  I couldn't hear it though.  I will watch it again in a a quieter place.  I couldn't hear or see the "Oh Jack."

The "fuck me, fuck me" I absolutely heard, clear as a bell.  It goes like this: Ennis spits in his hand, groans as he enters Jack, Jack groans and then says, "fuck me, fuck me."  I have watched this scene a time or two hundred, and never heard it til now, but now I can't NOT hear it.  I still can't see the handholding/reach around/cylinder, my DVD is way too dark.

The wedding ring is easy to see in the motel scene on the full screen version.  In fact, it's why I bought the full screen version, because someone used that as an example of how much more of the edge of scenes you could see in it.

I have always been able to hear the first "c'mere" of the reunion scene, before the kiss (and the subtitles say it).  The apres-kiss "c'mere" and "later," I can kind of hear them, but I don't see Ennis's mouth move.

I just spent an hour and fifteen minutes on this one thread  - and the important videographic research.    Why do we care so much?  Who are we?

[welliwont]

I've always heard "later", followed by "c'mere".   As in 'we'll continue this later, but for now, come upstairs and meet my wife'.  But I hear what I want to hear, so take that with a large grain of salt!

W

naw, no grains of salt needed here, I hear and interpret exactly the same way as you do W!