All three stories take place in the winter of a desolate Midwestern town, with desolation, desolation, and the drama of calm daily life, where people try to find some connection. The first story is the everyday absurd, and is the only one in the film that has some traditional "conflict plot". The third story, bittersweet, is a naked and soft emotional description, but it is not buried by passion. The ending is beautiful and heartbreaking, but it adds some bright colors to the movie, which is discussed by everyone and has drama reviews. Jia said, "If it is taken out alone, it can be said to be the best short film I have seen in recent years."
The second story is somewhat ignored by the comments, and some adjectives are also "chilled" and "thin". This story is also very simple. The characters are summed up as "a woman with a successful career but an unhappy family": her daughter hates her, and her husband cheats. The story is that she was going to build a house in the suburbs with her husband, and went to an acquaintance to buy some stones in his yard. That's it.
This character isn't new: upper-middle class, tall and beautiful blonde, successful in business, demanding of herself, exercising, in excellent shape, tasteful and perfection: build your own house, and don't Picky about materials and want to build a wall with good material taken from an old building. However she was not happy. Silently and secretly smokes when alone. The daughter made it clear that she hated her and only joked with her father. The father told his daughter, you have to be nice to your mother. Her daughter rolled her eyes: why? Dad's answer was because she worked so hard for us. ——Not because of the traditional mother image like "she loves us, she is very good to us", but "she works very hard for us" which means "though she is not likable".
How should I put it, the world has never liked powerful women, and in the setting of this world, they are generally not likable.
When they went to their friends to ask for the stones in the yard, the man was obviously embarrassed - he actually didn't care about these stones, he might think that coming to buy something from an old man who didn't seem to have a clear mind would be an advantage in itself. But as a husband and subordinate, he must cooperate with his wife, and he sits there, almost just judging him. The woman's goal is very clear: small talk politely, talk about buying stones, and repeatedly say "we can pay". The old man didn't like the woman very much, but still agreed to give them the stone. The woman shows great gratitude, thanks. The man said embarrassedly: "You can think about it again, you don't have to sell it to us." The woman glanced at him. The purpose of the trip was achieved, and the woman looked at her watch and began to say goodbye politely. After going out the door, the old man began to talk to himself that the birds chirped like a man, and the woman answered, it was true, and imitated it.
One critic pointed out that the old man only talks to men and ignores women as a way to point out that gender is relevant - which I don't think so in this particular story. I think the character itself is a person who is meticulous, polite, and decent, and who has a sense of distance because of it. She is only here for those stones and doesn't care what the old man is. The old man, because of his old age and illness, was withdrawn and self-willed, to the extent that he didn't need to maintain his superficial politeness, and he could justify whoever he wanted. The woman later learned to speak with birds, and it was her last attempt to establish some kind of connection with the old man, but the purpose was too obvious, and it still failed.
But that didn't stop her from getting those stones.
Some film critics also said that these stones represent her obsession with family: wanting to build a strong family fortress, which she has been missing. But I think here, the stone represents her external success, and she always gets what she wants—because she's firm, clear, can overcome discomfort in a situation, negotiate politely. But in the connection between people, she is missing, and everyone doesn't like her.
Compared to the first story where Laura Dern joked on the phone, "maybe if I were a male lawyer, he would have believed me in the first place", I think the second story is more feminist: a successful Women's failures at things like being a "wife" and being a "mother" and being "lovable" -- but that's not a new story, is it.
Williams' clothes are so pretty...
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