What would you like Ang to comment on?

[mvansand76]

If we do get a director's commentary on an upcoming special edition version of BBM, what would you like Ang to comment on?

 

[serious crayons]

Who said "sorry" and/or "s'alright" in the tent scene, and whether or not Ennis said "I love you" in the closet scene!

 

Really, those are among the things I'm most avidly curious about.

Also, it would be nice to hear him discuss what went into creating all the symbolism and metaphors and ingenious structural forms that we often try to analyze here: the buckets, signs, clothing colors, numbers, fans, mirrored scenes, echoed gestures and so on. Personally, I believe most of them are very deliberate and carefully planned (some of them, of course, were planned by Annie and are in the original story, but many exist only in the film). One of the most fascinating things about the movie for me is how thorough and complex and subtle these are.

What I'm not particularly interested in is Ang's analysis of the characters' inner lives or motivations: at what point Ennis recognized he was in love, why Jack stuck it out for 20 years, why Alma didn't tell Ennis what she saw, etc. I'd rather he left that for us to decide. Interpreting a work of art is a collaboration involving both creator and audience, and with a movie there are lots of creators. We tend to give the creators absolute authority, even if they don't agree among themselves. So I don't think anyone -- even Ang! even Diana and Larry!  even Heath or Jake! even Annie!-- has the last word.

[nakymaton]

I would like to know how they (Ang, screenwriters, or whoever) decided to film the second tent scene, rather than the various mountain scenes in the earlier drafts of the script. (The earlier drafts had scenes that mostly fleshed out the short descriptions in the story, hints of sex that just sort of happened, playful maybe, but not the sort of Really Important Moment like the second tent scene.) I think that the second tent scene is both an incredibly beautiful love scene and really critical to making the dynamic of the relationship work in the movie, even though I also think that the lack of it in the story makes the ending of the story more devastating. The inclusion of that scene seems like one of the keys to seeing how a movie and a story work differently from one another... and I'm curious how they ever figured out what, exactly, the mountain scenes needed to make the movie effective.

Because the second tent scene was added so late, my gut feeling says that Ang Lee felt it was needed... but I would like to know.

[dly64]

I would like to know about the collaboration between Ang and the writers, the actors and the editor. I know some things … like it was Heath’s idea to switch the shirts around. I also heard that Ang had considered cutting out the reunion kiss altogether, but Diana and Larry lobbied hard to keep that in. I wonder what else was changed or adjusted!

[David In Indy]

Who said "sorry" and/or "s'alright" in the tent scene, and whether or not Ennis said "I love you" in the closet scene!

 

That is the exact same question I would ask too. I KNOW what I heard. But it would be nice to hear Ang Lee say it. There has been a lot of fur flying over this question. 

[Shakesthecoffecan]

I want to know about the water and milk thing.

[serious crayons]

I want to know about the water and milk thing.

Please excuse my ignorance, but what's the water and milk thing?

[mvansand76]

Please excuse my ignorance, but what's the water and milk thing?

In the extras Jake commented on Ang saying:
"You go together like milk and water..."(about Jake and Anne)
And Jake said that he had no idea what that meant...

 

[jpwagoneer1964]

That is the exact same question I would ask too. I KNOW what I heard. But it would be nice to hear Ang Lee say it. There has been a lot of fur flying over this question. 

I wonder if Ang/ Jake or Heath can even remember for sure two years later.

[dly64]

I wonder if Ang/ Jake or Heath can even remember for sure two years later.

Isn't that the cruel irony??