TOTW 05/09: Things that made you go "hunh?"

[Marge_Innavera]

Shirley, ( ) friend Laura won't mind if we talk about bloopers in the story too.

Okay, it makes clear that Alma Jr. was born in September of 1964. That would make her 19 in late 1983. Ennis and Jack were 19 in 1963, so Jack died in 1983 when he was 39 years old. But later in the story, it says that she is 17 in 1983, so you're right about the discrepancy. It's there in the movie as well, since Junior and Ennis had their last filmed conversation quite a while after Jack's death, when Ennis said to AJ: "You're nineteen, you can do what you want."

The timeline is puzzling to me in terms of Cassie and Randall, but if Alma Jr was born in fall of 1964, she would be 19 in the spring of 1984. If Jack died sometime in spring of 1983, and Ennis went up to Lightning Flat sometime in the fall of that year (judging from the look of the vegetation), that would work for setting the final scene in spring of '84. But the timeline does have some discrepancies that I guess you just have to suspend disbelief with. (Referring specifically to the movie here.)

I would have put in some scenes at least showing physical affection    in the second half of the film. When I first saw it, I remember thinking 'what are they still keeping this a secret for?'

[Marge_Innavera]

What has made me go "huh?" is Jack's laundry activities on the day following FNIT. He washes clothes in the nude. Then he rides up to Ennis. But either he had two sets of jeans and there was no need for the nude scene (well, no need as far as the narrative goes - much need when it came to movie audiences. ) Or he had only one set of jeans, in which case they should still have been soaking wet by the time Jack rode mountainwards - the day looks pretty cold, no way they'd have dried that fast.

If you're camping and you have just one change of clothes (i.e., two pairs of jeans and shirts) and are washing them in a creek, you'd do that either naked or in your underwear. That ensures you'll have a dry set to put on afterward -- which can be important in a chilly climate like that.

All the symbolism in that scene that people have mentioned makes sense -- so it's actually symbolism that fits in well with non-symbolic reality.   

[bailey1205]

I had a lot of "hunh's" in the movie for awhile.

It took me the 10th viewing to understand everything Ennis said.

 

[Mandy21]

You think? 

My opinion: Jack's eye contact is pretty major with Jimbo, true.  With Lureen, he's basically acting the whole time.  He gives the Mexican a tired, resigned look and nod, followed by a can-I-trust-you look as they start to walk.  His looks at Randall are evasive – or matter-of-fact, at best.
Jack gives Ennis major gazes when he sees him outside Aguirre's trailer, during the "most you've spoke in 2 weeks" conversation, and (especially tenderly) in the second tent scene. 

You thought his eye contact was more pressing with the others, though?

Hey Laura, hope you're well!  Yes, IMHO, I thought Ang was trying to make a distinct differentiation between lust and love.  First couple times I watched it, before I grasped the importance of the bar speech where Jack reveals he was there the previous year, I presumed Jack was a virgin when he met Ennis.  The more times I watched it, I changed my mind on that one and started presuming that he'd been with both men *and* women before Ennis.  As such, he would begin to know by that time how to speak your intentions with your eyes.  Seems like he never sent out the love vibe to anyone but Ennis.  Even the SNIT scene looked more like a love look than a lust look to me.  I watched it again last night for about the 300th time now, and still feel the same.  Just my opinion, though.  I really wish I was one of those smart folks who can extract exact moments from movies, and put them side-by-side-by-side, but I'm not.  Oh well, great topic to discuss!

[optom3]

I love the topic,   it has tempted me back into this forum.  The thing that really made me go hunh ? was the total havoc that both the film and movie caused in every aspect of my life.  I  thought as I had read the S.S so many times, I was all cried out and the movie would just be another facet. Hmm well that could not have been further from the truth.All this time on and the saga of BBM still jangles nerves and pulls on my heart. I cannot hear the music without experiencing a massive lurch of stomach and heart.
I look back at the photo of those Brokies who came to the get together at my house, and the look of utter shell shock present on the faces of all who had just watched the movie, pretty well sums it all up.
I have ceased questioning my reactions  so much, they are as they are and I will probably never know why. I got to nearly 50 having been an avid reader pretty well all my life and nothing has ever had this effect on me. Sure I have seen some sad films, read some sad books, maybe even shed a few tears and thought about things for a couple of days. Never before have I behaved like this. I would have laughed cynically and with scorn, had anyone suggested I would be feeling all these desperate raw emotions, so far down the road.

So I guess the whole movie is a massive hunh, to me.

[LauraGigs]

I still find it facinating that these "straight men" have such common terminology for all of these "things" and that they are so common (and obviously going on quite a bit) that everyone knows what the terminology is and what they're talking about.  They just can't actually call it what it is.. Seems ok to do it and acknolwedge that it all goes on, and have slang terms for it all, but don't ever talk about it...

Do you mean when they talk about gay sex, or about sex in general?  Because slang terms and vagaries are used all the time about straight sex, too.  (I wonder if it's American puritanism, or if it's also common in other countries.)  Like, it's never "Are you having sex with her?"  It's, "Does she put out?" or "You gettin any?" or some such thing.  (Or in Ennis's case, "It's normal and all?")

[LauraGigs]

Hey Laura, hope you're well!  Yes, IMHO, I thought Ang was trying to make a distinct differentiation between lust and love.  First couple times I watched it, before I grasped the importance of the bar speech where Jack reveals he was there the previous year, I presumed Jack was a virgin when he met Ennis.  The more times I watched it, I changed my mind on that one and started presuming that he'd been with both men *and* women before Ennis.  As such, he would begin to know by that time how to speak your intentions with your eyes.  Seems like he never sent out the love vibe to anyone but Ennis.  Even the SNIT scene looked more like a love look than a lust look to me.  I watched it again last night for about the 300th time now, and still feel the same.  Just my opinion, though.  I really wish I was one of those smart folks who can extract exact moments from movies, and put them side-by-side-by-side, but I'm not.  Oh well, great topic to discuss!

Oh, OK!  I understand much better what you mean, now.  Those are cool observations!

[belbbmfan]

I had a lot of "hunh's" in the movie for awhile.

It took me the 10th viewing to understand everything Ennis said.

 

We were lucky. We had subtitles. (And a lot of confusion later about the infamous 'I'm sorry' during the SNIT)

[bailey1205]

We were lucky. We had subtitles. (And a lot of confusion later about the infamous 'I'm sorry' during the SNIT)

LMAO !

I remember that well.

 

[LauraGigs]

I would have put in some scenes at least showing physical affection    in the second half of the film. When I first saw it, I remember thinking 'what are they still keeping this a secret for?'

You know one thing that bothers me...  After Tent Scene 2, you have:

Tussle scene
Aguirre/pneumonia
Hailstorm
Untangle them sheep/harmonica playing

Then the summer ends.  For a lot of viewers, it's just not going to add up to a significant romantic relationship.  It just seems so brief. 

Obviously, its significance is made clear later by the fact that they agonize over each other the rest of their lives.  And the film is all about missed opportunity, I know — and Ang deliberately starves the viewers of the luxury of lingering romance, to help make the point that J + E were also starved of it.

But when some once-only viewers would post on IMDB saying crap like, "Well, it just didn't seem like that big a deal"    I can kind of understand why they'd think that, even if I don't agree.