I've seen BBM again on April 4th. I have random comments and questions. Some are impossible questions or old questions, but I’ll go ahead anyway (not in exact order..):
* What would have happened, if Ennis and Jack hadn't been the only ones looking for work at Aguirre's, or what would have happened to Ennis, had Jack not been there? Do you think Ennis would have found out about his true self?
* I realised again how much I like the whole silent opening! From the very first note of Gustavo Santaolallas score to when Ennis and Jack enter Aguirre's trailer.
* Why is Jack carrying some of the sheep? Are they hurt?
* I can’t look at the following scenes: Jack dragging one sheep backwards for ages! POOR sheep!! The scene were Ennis gets beaten on the street and the scene were Jack gets beaten (real or not)
* What’s the thing with the can-opener. We hear Jack say he’s good at it and then obviously he isn’t? Why are we given this information?
* What else is Ennis mumbling besides “Fuck it” when he comes back injured after the bear-incident. He says something, when he passes Jack to sit down next to the fire, doesn't he?
* I’m each time more surprised at Ennis’ reaction after the 1st tent scene. He rides off in anger(?) at first, but then comes back all calm, stands, then crouches next to Jack saying the “this is a one-shot thing we’ve got going” etc “I’m not queer” “Me neither” and so on. I love that moment, but what happened to Ennis, what ‘changed’ his mind. I mentioned this before, but isn’t that at least part of a moment where he realises he’s got some sort of feeling for Jack. Would he have come back otherwise? He could've just left, weren’t it for the salary he would lose. Although he’s obviously in complete denial about it, he could just as easily have never uttered another word to Jack.. Hmm..
* I like fact that we see Ennis washing himself naked except the hat and Jack washing his clothes naked, except the boots..
* I like the scene after the 2nd tent scene, when Ennis and Jack are fooling around and both horses and the mule are watching..
* I like the way Ennis says “very good” after Jack sang like a casserole..
* Did Aguirre invent the ‘worse storm’ to get Ennis and Jack down from BBM early, because he didn’t like what he saw (through his binocular)
* The scene with Ennis and Jack fighting after the “Time to go, Cowboy” (another line I like!) – we all know Ennis gets aggressive, because he doesn’t know how to handle his frustration or express his feelings, so my feeling is, he get's aggressive here because it the moment where he realizes that soon he’s going to see Jack for the very last time (btw, that punch hurts, every time I see it - weird sound).
* I had the impression the ‘clown’ knew instantly what Jack wanted. Did he? Had it happen to him before?
* I’m always intrigued by how quickly Ennis is all ‘dressed-up’ again, after the wild reunion-kiss..
* I saw another furtive glance from Jack at Randall, just when Jack is standing up after he asks LaShawn to dance.
* Did Alma Jr know (she must have overheard her mother’s "Jack Twist? Jack Nasty!" She must have heard, just as everyone else in the house (i.e. Monroe))
* Why is Jack asking Ennis whether he found anyone else to marry? Why would he ask that?
* Lureen on the phone with Ennis – her answer as to how Jack died is so totally ‘learned by heart’ as if it was the ‘official’ answer when people ask about Jack’s death. I think when she tells Ennis that Jack wanted to be buried on BBM and she said she didn’t know why (his favourite place, but probably a pretend-place Jack invented..) and Ennis answers that that’s where he and Jack stayed in the summer of 1963, I think that’s the moment when Lureen understands! The tiny unh! Lureen utters and then the fact that she goes on telling Ennis about visiting Jack’s parents, makes it clear to me.. well, that that’s when she realises that the ‘rumors’ where true.. and that there is no need anymore to get angry, really or to keep pretending. Maybe she wasn’t as ‘cold’ as she seemed to be and by telling Ennis what happened to the rest of the ashes (and that he should visit Jack's parents), was to grant Jack his last wish, because she did indeed love him.. Eh.. is that too far fetched? Anyway, I think it’s beautiful.
* I still hate the fact that Jack's ashes were divided... *shudder*
* It seems that a lot of people ‘knew’ or could have known about Jack and Ennis (Aguirre, the clown, Alma, Monroe, Lureen, her parents, Jack's parents.. etc), that’s why I’m tending more and more towards Jack having been murdered, though I don’t really want to know..
* I like Jack’s mother ‘butting in’ when John Twist keeps talking about things that are obviously hurting Ennis.
* I might have seen wrong, but in the scene where Ennis discovers the shirts, it looks like the blood stains are on the blue shirt, but that can’t be. Right?
* At the very end, I like to see Ennis buttoning up Jack’s blue shirt, sort of to protect him from further harm. Gives me a warm feeling inside.
Praise:
* I just feel like mentioning it again, but I think Michelle Williams is brilliant! I like a lot the scene where you see her in the kitchen (after Ennis and Jack stayed away the night in the motel) with the cup of cold coffee in front of her. She looks so tired, worn out, sad – you can feel the sting of the salty dried up tear in her eye, which she wipes away the moment she hears Ennis entering.
* And I LOVE Roberta Maxwell! Did not know her before, but she's amazing! I love her line 'You come back and visit us again'.. You taste the withold desperation. Very sad.
Random comments:
* I don’t cry in films (don’t ask.. I don’t know why), but there were moments on Tuesday night, where I almost forgot to breathe..
Funny (or weird), I was so immersed in the film, that I was completely taken by surprise to hear everyone speak French, when I left the cinema.
* I like the fact that here, on PT and BBM nobody seems to mix up Jack and Jake (very few times have I seen it happening)
* Jack and Ennis' birth year must have been around 1944, that's in the middle of the 2nd WW.. just an odd comment.
Ultimate question:
* I know it's bee explained a trillion times, but I still don't know what "pup tent on the QT" means… What's a pup tent? And what does QT stand for?.. Sorry..
~ j U d E