We are always tired of the place where we have been growing up, so we vowed to believe that life is always elsewhere. Life in another place will be infinitely better. Prosperous countries like the United States, which symbolize freedom and democracy, are even more desirable. So it seems that America should be paradise for these two young people from Budapest. But will it be what is expected? The opening scene of the movie speaks for itself. Ava, who got off the plane in the camera, seemed to have just come to a ruin.
Director Jia Muxu, a literary and artistic youth born in a science class who grew up in an era when the Beat generation of ideas was popular, absolutely will not embark on Hollywood movie routines. And this group of Beat generations will not have much good impression of the United States. For them, this paradise is just a stranger.
The expression in the movie is very original. Basically, one shot will go to the end. But it doesn't feel dull at all, but it feels very interesting. Have to admire the originator of American independent film.
Willie, who has lived in the United States, seems to feel that he has integrated into this country, watching American football games, American soap operas, accustomed to American fast food, and even an American friend. Although life is boring and extremely boring, but I am happy to become a part of this great country. He even changed the former Hungarian name to the American name Willie. Therefore, when Ava, a Hungarian from Budapest, wanted to enter his life, he was extremely uncomfortable and unaccustomed, especially when Aunt Lott spoke Hungarian, she was quite repulsive. Communicating in Hungarian depends on his identity and returned to being a Hungarian, so he refused to hear this language. In a life of doing nothing, he can only spend the afternoon playing cards, and he comforts himself that I have always been winning. Willie is obviously rejected by this society, but he seems to comfort himself with spiritual victory like the ah Q in Lu Xun's works. It looks a little funny. In particular, there was a scene where Willie and Eddie were on their way to Cleveland. Willie politely asked the person waiting for the bus the way to Cleveland, and that person ignored them for a long time, and even refused their request on the grounds of going to work. But Willie and Eddie used a kind of irony to comfort themselves by waiting for the pitiful car people to work in the factory. This stranger from heaven doesn't even care about people who go to work in the factory. Willie is a brave person. When he arrived at Aunt Lott’s house, he asked Eddie to drink every soup he ate and drank to show that Aunt Lott’s meal was delicious. Even if he fell asleep in the car, Eddie said he was asleep. Don't admit it either. It's as if he didn't admit that he was a stranger in this heaven.
The only thing in the movie that makes Willie feel the human touch and the fun of life is Ava from Hungary. Even when Willie had money, he went to see her not too far away, and even took her on a trip after seeing him leave. And Ava showed a sense of disgust for this America. I hate American football games, I am puzzled by American fast food, I hate working places, and I hate American dress even more. From the beginning to the end of the movie, Ava wore coats from Hungary. What’s particularly interesting in the movie is that when Ava was about to leave New York, Ava put on that very annoying skirt for Willie, and immediately took off the clothes when she went down the stairs and threw it away. This is why when Willie strongly wanted to send Ava to the airport, Ava refused. Because I fucking hate this dress so much, I want to take it off as soon as possible. The dramatic thing is that Ava finally fell in love with a hat but brought her money. So when she got enough money, she immediately chose to leave this nasty prison-like America. There is also a very interesting place, Ava has always been wearing this Hungarian dress to bring her a lot of things. The first time I brought all kinds of daily necessities in the store, and even Willy's Tvdinner, the second time it was obviously the money. These details are a good irony of Willie, who is completely like an American but has nothing.
Of course, the first half of the style of the whole movie seems that their lives are very dull, and the relationship between Willie and Ava is also dull, but when the three of them traveled, they began to feel a slightly stronger sense of rhythm. Especially the ending part is simply an explosion. When Willie discovered the importance of Ava to his life, he decided even if only 5 minutes after take-off, he bought a ticket and got on the plane to Budapest to find him. I suspected that he deliberately wanted to leave here with Ava and abandon it. This American friend Eddie, abandoned this paradise. But the dramatic thing is that Ava didn't get on the plane. Was she dissatisfied with Willy and Eddie, or was she dissatisfied with the country that gave her money. Only the ghost knows the answer. When I saw the plane flying over Eddie, I finally couldn't help my smile after watching the movie at 12 o'clock in the evening.
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