Author Topic: lovable subtle details  (Read 476090 times)

Offline jpwagoneer1964

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #260 on: July 09, 2006, 01:47:59 pm »
When Ennis replaces is old GMC truck he got one the same year and model as the red  and white 1966 Ford that Jack drove for the reunion. He likely knew the owner, being in a smaller town and ask to lwt him know when he would sell it. Speaking of the GMC it is interestiing to note that the truck Jack had at Signal was an earlier model GMC also dark color.
« Last Edit: July 10, 2006, 12:42:56 am by jpwagoneer1964 »
Thank you Heath and Jake for showing us Ennis and Jack,  teaching us how much they loved one another.

Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #261 on: July 09, 2006, 08:33:53 pm »
Yeah, the trucks are interesting... Ennis is still one step behind Jack, even when it comes to trucks.  It's cute to think of Ennis pining for Jack as he picks out a new truck.


Anyway, back to the Lightning Flat house for a sec...

All the empty chairs, the almost surreal emptiness of the place combined with the creepy white walls everywhere all make this scene slightly spooky.  I feel like we can almost imagine the "ghost" of Jack inhabiting those chairs, sitting behind Ennis and listening in on this very important conversation.  I think the slight... and I do mean slight... spookiness continues in Jack's room especially with the sound of the crow that comes in once Ennis opens the window.  The most "spooky" moment to me comes with the swaying arm of one of Jack's coats in the closet (it starts swaying after Ennis caresses it) that seems to prod Ennis on to find the shirts.  Something about this eery, continuing presence of Jack just knocks me out.
« Last Edit: July 09, 2006, 10:00:48 pm by atz75 »
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Offline fernly

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #262 on: July 09, 2006, 09:36:40 pm »
Quote
All the empty chairs, the almost surreal emptiness of the place combined with the creepy white walls everywhere all make this scene slight spooky.  I feel like we can almost imagine the "ghost" of Jack inhabiting those chairs, sitting behind Ennis and listening in on this very important conversation.  I think the slight... and I do mean slight... spookiness continues in Jack's room especially with the sound of the crow that comes in once Ennis opens the window.  The most "spooky" moment to me comes with the swaying arm of one of Jack's coats in the closet (it starts swaying after Ennis caresses it) that seems to prod Ennis on to find the shirts.  Something about this eery, continuing presence of Jack just knocks me out.

What also struck me, so hard, was the shadow behind Ennis when he goes in the closet. We had some discussions about this on TOB - that it can been seen as Jack's 'shade' guiding Ennis, and then embracing him when he embraces the shirts.
I don't remember seeing a shadow like that anytime else in the movie, and given the care with the lighting throughout, I wonder if it was intentional.
on the mountain flying in the euphoric, bitter air

Offline nakymaton

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #263 on: July 10, 2006, 08:59:28 am »
I just read something last week that reminded me of all the white in the elder Twists' house -- that in Chinese culture, white is apparently the color of mourning. All those white walls with their chipped paint, and then the little bit of blue that Mrs. Twist is wearing...
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Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #264 on: July 10, 2006, 09:17:20 pm »
Yes!  I love that Mrs. Twist wears blue.  Wonderful.


On a completely different note... um... I don't know whether this belongs here of in the "ain't right" thread...
But, is it possible that the Old Rose whiskey is meant to be a reference to "stemming the rose"?  I almost hate to bring this up.
 :o
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Offline Ellemeno

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #265 on: July 11, 2006, 08:32:19 am »
But, is it possible that the Old Rose whiskey is meant to be a reference to "stemming the rose"?  I almost hate to bring this up.
 :o

That's what I've imagined.  There they still are together, them and their old roses.  Sort of shocking - but Heath sure seems to delibertely hold the bottle so that we can read it.

On a completely different note -
Heath's face-acting right after putting the girls to bed, while Alma's holding him from behind, and whispering sweet nothings about the cheap apartment available.  Amazing.

Offline Mikaela

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #266 on: July 11, 2006, 02:07:17 pm »
Quote
That's what I've imagined.  There they still are together, them and their old roses.  Sort of shocking - but Heath sure seems to delibertely hold the bottle so that we can read it.

That's been my opinion too since I saw the name on the bottle. It refers to the "stemming the rose" quip. I mean, the visible name on the bottle, and the position and angle it's being held in....... Definitely. I don't at all think that can be be a coincidence.

Offline jpwagoneer1964

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #267 on: July 11, 2006, 03:11:57 pm »
At the first campout after the reunion The look Ennis gives Jack when he starts to stroke his ear, like he is heartbroiken that he cannot be with him, and had to tell him "It aint gonna be like......". He wants to so much.

Thank you Heath and Jake for showing us Ennis and Jack,  teaching us how much they loved one another.

Offline Mikaela

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #268 on: July 13, 2006, 05:49:32 am »
**Looks at picture**

*sniff* Poor Ennis. Always seems to me his first instinct there is to pull away from Jack's hand, not wanting to acknowledge his own vulnerability and hurt - but then he lets Jack start stroking his cheek/ear, accepting the comfort and intimacy of it - in contrast to the previous Brokeback bear incident.

And as for Ennis's ears - who hasn't got a thing for Ennis's ear in the motel scene? I know I do!  :-*


On to something else:

The scene at the "lonely old ranch" where Ennis is trying to calm his two squalling daughters: I won't ever admit to how many viewings of the film it took me before I realized that Alma doing the laudry in the kitchen is also visible there, behind Ennis  - she's scrubbing away as seen through the glass panes of the children's room door *and* the kitchen window. I thought that was a great subtle detail and one that might well not have been there (knowing how scenes are always filmed out of sequence and how actors come and go from the set, - they might have filmed the scene with Heath and the children while Michelle was half the world away).

That Alma's also visible there together with Ennis and their daughters really changed and enhanced that scene for me. Instead of being specifically about Ennis as good father caring for the girls, enclosed in a small room, it becomes about Ennis and Alma and their whole little house on the prairie - the four of them as a family - the efforts and co-operation it takes to keep that little family going - their joint struggle as young, poor parents living out in the middle of nowhere. It therefore adds further nuance and depth to Ennis's trying to be a "proper" husband and father, and to the conflict in his mind in the immediately following bedroom scene with Alma. The little detail of Alma seen through the window makes the reality that is "him and Alma" even more *real* to me.


Offline Brown Eyes

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Re: lovable subtle details
« Reply #269 on: July 13, 2006, 10:22:29 pm »
So, here's a question.  What's your favorite subtle detail amongst all the lovable subtle details?  I'm sure this may be an impossible question for some of you... and I thought it would be for me too.  But, the more I think about it the more I realize that the way the wheel on Jack's truck spins out at the very beginning in front of Aguirre's trailer truly is my favorite detail.  I remember loving that detail from my very first theatre viewing of the film.  Who knew that a truck could have personality?!  And they say that pets come to resemble their owners after a good number of years together... well maybe the same is true with old truck.
 ;)
the world was asleep to our latent fuss - bowie