Author Topic: Am I Nuts???  (Read 12488 times)

Offline henrypie

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #10 on: April 14, 2006, 10:01:44 am »
I can spoon in bed, but definitely not on the ground.  Uch, everything is harder on the ground.  Of course.

IF Jack's arm is reaching back, it's a bookend to his very first reach-around, isn't it.

Offline Sheyne

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #11 on: April 14, 2006, 10:18:21 am »
I can spoon in bed, but definitely not on the ground.  Uch, everything is harder on the ground.  Of course.

IF Jack's arm is reaching back, it's a bookend to his very first reach-around, isn't it.

That's exactly why I checked the scene out, Sarah..  There's lots of little parallels throughout the movie and the You Tube clip is probably the lightest I've seen either that scene or the 1st tent scene.  It made me wonder though...
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Offline littleguitar

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #12 on: April 14, 2006, 11:10:55 am »
This thread is so interesting to me because I've always had a completley different take on that shot... though it looks like I'm in the minority, LOL!

That shot always seemed incredibly sad to me, even the first time I saw it, before I knew what was coming after it. You guys are all right, they do look very peaceful and incredibly comfortable and intimate with each other, and there is no frown on Ennis's face... so I don't know what it is about it, but it always made me sad, like there was some tension between them in that shot, like they've slept like this before but there is something off about it tonight.  Maybe it's the fact that it comes right after "the truth is, sometimes I miss you so much I can hardly stand it" which is, for me, the saddest line in the film.  Also, we always get that shot of the outside of the tent with that light blinking far off in the distance and I always get uncomfortable when I see that light, like they are being watched. Then we go to them the next day packing the trucks and looking very unhappy.

I know this has been a lot of rambling, but the point of it all is is that that scene had the opposite effect for me, it just made me very very sad, I thought in that scene that you could just feel their time together was drawing to a close.  We know it's their last night together during that specific trip, but we feel that it's their last night together period. Does that make sense to anyone?
‘cause the truth is, I already give him everythin’ I got to give, more than I ever even knew I had; ‘n it all for him, all of it, him who is my brother, my father, my child, my friend, my lover, my heart, my soul; my Ennis.

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Offline amh

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #13 on: April 14, 2006, 11:18:11 am »
Does that make sense to anyone?

Sure it does!  And actually, I think it's sad, too, for the same reasons you mentioned.  That's the thing about this movie - there are very few scenes where the viewer experiences one single emotion, or where there is no conflict of emotions.  Practically even scene evokes feelings that toggle back and forth between love found, love lost, love enjoyed, and love never fully experienced, etc.  The entire movie is complex like that, just like their relationship, and this little itty bitty scene is no exception.  That's probably part of the reason it sticks with us so.
« Last Edit: April 14, 2006, 11:20:20 am by amh625 »
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Offline ednbarby

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #14 on: April 14, 2006, 11:45:22 am »
I concur, Ann Marie - the very complexity of every scene is why it sticks with us.  It doesn't tell us what to think in any of it.  That's the genius of it and ultimately why I love it so much.  There's nothing I hate more in film or television, as I've said many times, than being patronized and/or manipulated.  This film never does either of those things.  And for that reason above all I am eternally grateful to everyone involved, most especially to the master, Ang Lee.
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Offline ednbarby

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #15 on: April 14, 2006, 11:47:14 am »
And Sheyne, I love the idea of Jack's reaching back being a bookend to Ennis' reaching forward.  Isn't that really the thread running through the whole film - Jack always being a few steps ahead of Ennis, but always reaching back to him?  In the end, Ennis finally reaches out to Jack, but it's too late. 

 :'(
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dmmb_Mandy

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #16 on: April 14, 2006, 12:25:36 pm »
Oooh, I LOVE that scene. (David & I will reinact it to the best of our ability in CT's little reinactment  ;))
Sheyne, I agree with most people here, I think that's just the sleeping bag you're seeing, although it would be precious if he really were hugging him back.

Offline isabelle

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #17 on: April 15, 2006, 05:06:15 am »
I was just rewatching the You Tube "4 nights in 20 years" thing...  Just for something different of course..  ;D

Am I crazy, or in that final sleeping hug in the tent before the lake scene fight.... I know Ennis has his arm over Jack, but it really looks to me as though Jack is also hugging Ennis???  I put a screen cap down the bottom..  It just looks to me as though his left arm is reaching back underneath Ennis's to hug him back..  Sorry if this has been said already or debated.. But just wondering if one of you guys with the Open Matte version with more screen could confirm or deny this supposition???  Thanks..
  ;D

Oh Sheyne, just wanted to let you know: after watching this picture very closely yesterday, I had a dream about it last night (and I've just woken up, sort of): I was in the tent with JACK (yes, yes, I was, and I was me, not Ennis!), and HE had his arm around me and although I was butted against him, I had my arm around him. And he was very chatty, whereas I was silent all the time, thinking "wow, I am in the tent with Jack". Awesome dream! So I guess this is thank you!
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Offline serious crayons

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #18 on: April 15, 2006, 05:24:54 pm »
Yes to what everybody said. For me, this scene is primarily reassuring and heartwarming. I see it as a sign that, despite all their problems, they are still close, still very physically affectionate, still happy as long as they're in the shelter of the tent, still sleep snuggled together even though, yes, it can be an uncomfortable way to sleep. It shows that, however ambivalent Ennis is about the relationship itself, he is not ambivalent in his feelings for Jack. I see it as the happiest five seconds of the last half of the movie.

But that said, I also see a subtle undertone of sadness here that I can't quite articulate.

Such a tiny moment, but I'm so glad it's there.



Offline newyearsday

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Re: Am I Nuts???
« Reply #19 on: April 15, 2006, 09:15:03 pm »
My take on this is similar to Mandy I's, (littleguitar), with a little of Katherine's (latjoreme) too. I feel sad when I see that this is all they get for their last night. It's realistic I think (though I know that in the book they are having sex by the campfire and they don't show it in the movie, sadly.) I am glad to see it's Ennis, at last, with his arm around Jack, but there is not peace to me in this scene. And I really differ from some of you in that I think Ennis is frowning, very clearly. So, it's a mixed bag for me. I would love to know about the Jack thing, his arm that is. I still haven't caught that hand holding in the first tent scene!

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