Some personal notes on the fantastic Bay City screening.
As one of the fortunate few who were privileged to be able attend BBM at Bay City last Sunday I thought I would pass on some personal thoughts to those that are interested in the screening. Due to schedule I wasn’t able to participate in any of the weekend events except the movie screening and about 45 minutes of the live musical show prior to the screening.
Some background:I’d only seen BBM in a theater once (gasp!!). In small town Ohio I “came to” BBM late, first seeing it at home after its release on DVD. Like you all I was swept away. I finally saw it on a big(ger) screen near the end of its US theatrical release in late April 2006 at a multiplex theater in San Francisco. Not a memorable experience as the screen was about the size of two-car garage door! So going to Bay City seemed a good way to finally really see it BIG.
The pre-game show:The live musical show that I was able to attend was great and seeing so much of the set and costume memorabilia that I’d followed on eBay was fantastic too. Listening to a live performance of Santaolalla’s music was
truly wonderful. Especially enchanting to me was the great solo performance of “Riding Horses” with its simple, slow, repeating two-note, Ennis/Jack theme. The feeling and artistry here was magnificent.
The screening:Nothing can compare to sitting in a dark room with a hundred other devotees watching this film. Knowing that everyone else in the room knows this film by heart and that they are all intensely waiting for their own favorite line(s) was compelling. The silence was palpable, like a religious experience (except for the quiet sobbing). There were several spontaneous bursts of laughter from the audience, at times expected: Jack’s “The hell they are!” (f**k-ups) and Ennis’s “If I’d got lucky that harmonica woulda’ broke in two”, but also the unexpected (to me anyway), Ennis’s perfunctory “Hey” after coming home to Alma from the Siesta Motel got quite a laugh. These lightened the whole mood of the event to a celebratory level.
Technical:For those expecting to see (or hear) something from the film that you don’t get viewing it on good audiovisual equipment at home I’d have to say don’t worry, you possibly get a better view of the artistry of the film at home. Theaters are by nature compromises in terms of lighting and audio presentation so we didn’t see anything you won’t see at home. (Still no answer to what is said FNIT!!) This film PRINT was interesting, having now watched both Full Frame and Widescreen print versions many times (I’m partial to the full frame mask at home, it makes the central characters bigger) this print seemed to be something of a hybrid. It definitely had mostly Full Frame masking, but it also seemed to have some framing elements of the Widescreen version too. I haven’t had time to explore this with BayCityJohn yet to find out which it was and why. Given the “classic” era of the theater it may be that the Full Frame proportions best matched the screen here.
So there’s my take on the Bay City screening, a fantastic event, kudos to Bay City John for putting such a great party together.
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Oh yeah, what happened at the Oscar’s anyway?
jackster
