This small town in Texas has been in decline for some years. The first shot of the opening scene is from right to left, panning past the deserted shops, the empty streets that have lost vitality, the wind and the sand and the yellow leaves in the sky. The last shot at the end is from left to right, the same scene, in a different direction, and then take a look at this city in the depths of the west. It's no different from the beginning, as if nothing happened.
At first thought it was a youth film. The girl smeared his lips in the mirror while the boy stared at the animals outside the window for courtship and mating. Young body dating in the dark movie theater and cramped carriage. The rear-view mirror was hung on the underwear, and the boy's hand was placed on the girl's chest freely. The two seemed to know this well, knowing that the car should not be turned off when the weather is too cold, and the windows can be warmed up by closing the windows. The girl was uncomfortable to undress on her own, but she tried her best to stop it when the boy's hand went deep, only after marriage. In another family, my mother asked Jacy, have you slept with Duane? Jacy's eyes widened in surprise: "Mom! This is a sin!" Under religious belief, you can explore each other's bodies as much as you want, but premarital sex is not allowed.
But the truth is just talking about it. After arbitrarily discussing whether the cow or Jimmie Sue worked better, a few people pooled up three dollars and fifty cents to buy the most silent boy Billy a chance to stop him from being a virgin. Everyone looked through the window of the car, shouting slogans for him to refuel. Billy didn't know how to operate, and was finally pushed out of the car by Jimmie Sue, a brutal woman. (Jimmie Sue is a waiter at a drive inn on the side of the road. Sonny, Duane, and Jacy met the serious mother Jacy there. A guest in another car called her name "Jimmie Sue ".)
Taking advantage of their parents’ vacation, they held a nude swimming party in their swimming pool. Jacy stood on the springboard of the swimming pool and received the attention of everyone. The clothes came off one by one. When only the last line of defense was left, the girl's hand trembling and approached the back button of her underwear. After a pause, she slowly went down to take off her underwear. As soon as he touched the hem of the trousers and turned it back, he unfastened the back button first. The panic and hesitation of taking off the underwear or the underwear first in a little action is exhausted.
Jacy decides not to be a virgin anymore and asks Duane to go to the motel. Duane had no experience and failed. Jacy stopped him from going out, "If you go out now, they know we didn't do it." After waiting enough time, Duane went out with a complicated expression pretending to be enjoyable. Sonny, my good brother, opened the door and greeted him in the car, like waiting for a victorious companion to return. The girls rushed into the room and asked Jacy excitedly what it was like. Jacy is like someone coming over, saying meaningfully: I can't describe it in words.
Slowly watching it, I found that this is not just a youth movie, but the sadness and joy of everyone in the entire town are accommodated.
The most complete story, Sam The Lion, opened a movie theater, a restaurant and a billiard room in the town. In the absence of the children's parents, he played the role of the elder. When Billy was beaten by a fierce woman to bleed his nose, Sam severely criticized the group of boys, "I will not be allowed to enter my movie theater restaurant and billiard room from now on." When Sonny and Duane were about to drive to Mexico overnight, he took out the money and asked them just in case. One time he took Sonny and Billy to go fishing in a pond. He rolled his cigarette and talked about 20 years ago, after his wife and child passed away, he met a woman by the pond who made him crazy. It is still unforgettable. Married, unfortunately married, but not divorced. Sonny asked: Is marriage so painful? Sam answered: Not necessarily, only 80% is so painful.
Therefore, after Sam, who played the role of the elder, suddenly fell ill and passed away, the children's spiritual world suddenly collapsed, even if they didn't realize it. Sam’s several stores are the only places in town where you can entertain, other than staying in a boring home. When Sam left, the billiard room was reserved for Sonny, the restaurant was reserved for Genevieve, the waitress, and the movie theater was reserved for the old lady Mosey who sold tickets. But Mosey did not know how to operate, and TV sets entered more and more families, and no one watched movies anymore. So I had to shut down the theater. This is also the title of the movie, the last movie.
Genevieve, the waiter of the restaurant, is another person who has insight into everything in town besides Sam. "Your father took too much medicine." "She has a bad temperament, and it's not worth your worries about." "The relationship between you and your family is not good, of course I am not qualified to say this, and my relationship with my mother is not good, from young to now." She guessed that it was Duane's idea to make Billy break, "he dare not admit it." He casually ridiculed his financial dilemma: "I have to pay $4,000 for medical bills. I will probably make hamburgers for your grandchildren here." Speaking of her husband Dan, he had a chance to make a fortune, but he missed it; Have an affair with someone in town. The town is too small, and people know each other, know everyone’s name and secrets, but they are not close and do not blend in.
Genevieve: "You sneeze here, and someone will come and hand you paper right away."
Sonny: "What do you mean?"
"Anything that happens, the town will know immediately."
Sonny bowed his head and said nothing.
"Someone is very courageous."
Continued silently. Look at each other and look at each other.
Genevieve said it boldly, referring to Sonny's affair with the team coach's wife. If it can be called cheating, no one in the town knows, including the coach himself. It was embarrassing to steal the first time. Sonny ran into the cabinet when he took off his boots. The trainer's wife's petticoat was too tight, and it took a long time to pull it off. Then I burst into tears on the bed. The coach's wife was as thin as a broken branch in the north wind, and she was so lonely and eye-catching at the Christmas party in the small town. The husband was away from home for a long time, and he didn't even want to drive her to the doctor. Instead, he asked the student to do it for him, namely Sonny. "If you are willing to help me drive her to the doctor, you can skip class." This 40-year-old lady who is so lonely suspecting that she will never be happy again in her life, there is no love in marriage, but there is no word for divorce in her upbringing. ; When I met Sonny, an ignorant high school student, he unexpectedly caught a straw. Even getting along without love can bring a moment of joy.
Jacy's mother seemed stern, and she also endured loneliness in her marriage, and watched TV boredly every night with a glass of wine. She warned her daughter: "If you want to know what monotony is, marry Duane right away." It seemed to be her. So she kept cheating, with her husband's oil well worker, and Genevieve's husband Dan. In the affair, I met the true love in life, but I can only return to the rigid marriage. When she shed tears at Sam's funeral and left early, we already knew that the married woman Sam missed was her. When Sonny talked about it, everything was wrong in this town after Sam died. There were tears in the corners of her eyes again. It might be better if Sonny doesn't directly explain this point later. Her tears have told us the truth.
The old lady Mosey who took over the theater did not write much, but when Duane left the theater, she said an unforgettable sentence: "You are overseas, pay attention to safety." Duane has joined the army and will go to the North Korean battlefield the next day. This night is also the day when the last movie is shown in theaters. A simple sentence of "pay attention to safety" was the careless but prudent care of this neighbour. She could not say this, but watching these children come and go, she also cared for them.
Sending off Duane, Sonny returned to the empty billiard room, and there was a loud noise outside the door. Under the wheel that braked hard, there was Billy who was the most silent. This character without a single line, did not explain his background, and had been taken care of by Sam before, only to see that his intelligence was a bit problematic, but it did not affect his normal life. He is closest to Sonny, always squatting and smiling very intimately. Billy and Duane left on the same day, Sam also passed away, Jacy went to college outside the city, leaving only Sonny in this boring town. He drove the car and wanted to leave, but had nowhere to go, and finally turned around and drove to the door of the coach's wife. Even before that, he had not responded to her greetings for several months. The coach's wife was still haggard as if she had never been moisturized and irrigated. She held back tears and poured coffee for Sonny, but suddenly smashed the coffee pot and cup against the wall. "You don’t care about me if you have a young girl. I’m old and ugly, so you don’t even have to give me an explanation. I don’t even do that to a dog. You only come to look for a dog if your friend is dead. I, I won't sympathize with you." Sonny shook her hand with a dull gaze. This was the only warmth he could ask for at the moment. She shed tears, two people with nowhere to go, unable to solve the problems, can only hold each other's hands. The movie ends like this.
A group of young people who are at a loss and a group of adults who are equally at a loss. Adults do not give young people enough help to guide them into the adult world, because adults themselves are not sufficiently capable to cope with the difficulties of life. Unaccompanied, the young man went on a rampage with no direction. One day they will also turn from overwhelmed young people to overwhelmed adults. There is no so-called plot in the whole film, there is no ups and downs, the heroine Jacy constantly shuttles among the boys, it is just a side line. It's like a real town, in a certain period of time, some fragmented things that happened in reality. Under the monotony that seems to have no plot, there is a huge emotional turbulence. They will grow old day by day, forget their dreams, endure a desperate marriage, and run out of lives in this hopeless town. More than half a century later, what is the difference between us and them now? Life has prepared a problem for everyone, bare-handed, unable to fight back, and may not be able to hold that warm hand.
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