New York-raised Willie reluctantly hosts her Hungarian cousin, Ava. Facing a strange cousin who was temporarily staying for ten days, Willie turned a blind eye and still lived on his own. Friend Eddie came to meet and bet on horses, and asked repeatedly, but Willie was unwilling to bring Ava. It wasn't until one day Ava started cleaning Willie and brought in some cigarettes and food that Willie began to accept each other gradually. When Ava left, Willie made a special gift. However, just like Willie hated the music that Ava liked, Ava couldn't accept Willie's choice of clothes, and finally had to discard it on the way to leave. A year later, Willie and Eddie had won a bet on a borrowed car and wanted to see different places. They came to Cleveland, where Ava lived, and found that not only was it cold, but Ava's life was equally unremarkable. To escape the dreary days, a group of three sailed to Florida. They thought there was sunshine, sand and bikini beauties, but after Willie and Eddie lost their money in gambling, everything became a distant dream. At the end of the story, they won back the money, but in the end they could only go their separate ways and return to their original lives.
One, the alienated stranger
The film begins by showing Willie's indifference to his unfamiliar cousin. He deliberately avoided his Hungarian origin, emphasizing the difference between himself and his country girl. Willie, eating frozen fast food alone, said impatiently, "Ava, don't bother me, okay. That's how we eat in America, I've eaten meat, I've eaten potatoes, I've eaten vegetables, I've eaten Had dessert, but I didn't have to do the dishes." Willie put Ava on the sidelines, completely ignoring it. Ava spent most of her ten days in New York staying at home, occasionally walking around the neighborhood alone, watching televised ball games with Willie until dawn. The two get along awkwardly, and even the only communication has an inexplicable estrangement. Until Ava took the initiative to do something for Willie, we thought the relationship between the two sides began to ease, and it turned out that it was time for Ava to leave. On the day of parting, Willie turned off the music player that Ava carried with him. He said he hated this kind of music, and then gave Ava a dress. Ava said, "I think it's ugly, doesn't it?" "When you come here, you should dress like the people here." They express their opinions without any veil, without any malice, but as usual, they have no way to communicate and identify with each other well, after all They were just strangers who had been together for ten days. Willie quietly watched Ava packing her luggage, with a thoughtful expression as if she was about to say something, but in the end he could only say "leave me a few packs of cigarettes".
The director uses several such unsmooth exchanges and silences to highlight the loneliness and alienation between the characters.
For example, in the two conversations between Eddie and Ava in the first half of the film, they could never find a topic. They could only repeat to Ava that the place you are going is a beautiful place. In fact, Eddie knew nothing about Cleveland, where Ava was going.
After Ava left, Eddie told Willie that the new clothes he bought for Ava were beautiful, but he didn't tell him that Ava had left the clothes in the roadside garbage heap. The two drank beer, and were speechless again, falling into a long silence.
Later, they were in the theater with Ava's boyfriend and a group of four. In the kung fu movie, there were various men and women gasping for breath. They were intermingled between Ava and her boyfriend, their expressions were different, and they didn't say a word. This long shot is extremely Ridiculous and embarrassing.
And Willy's deliberately telling joke for Ava, which he repeated several times and failed to tell, and finally said reluctantly, I can't remember it, but it was a good joke. After that, both sides remained silent.
Eventually in Florida, the two left Ava to gamble. Eva was sulking, with a music player that never left her, sitting alone on the open seaside, the sound of the waves in the distance, and the chirping of sporadic seabirds, as if all the beautiful visions were far away from this loneliness. The figure went away and disappeared into the vast sea.
Second, there is no paradise
to play cards, bet on horses, watch TV. That's all about the everyday life of Willie and Eddie in the film. They won money and wanted to go and see a different place. They thought there might be a different paradise out there.
Yet just as Willie hadn't entertained Ava, neither had Ava brought them anything interesting in Cleveland, where their pastime was simply playing cards with Ava's aunt.
In the end they braved the cold wind and snow and went to the famous big lake in the local area, which was empty and snowy, and Eddie dutifully said it was too beautiful, then turned his head and looked away. The three were relatively speechless and fell into a long silence again. The heavy background music sounded, and we seemed to feel helpless, frustrated and hardship with them in this heavy snow. Like Eddie said: When you come to a new place, everything looks the same as before.
Then they decide to go to warm Florida together, and they set off excitedly with longing, but the next shot is the tired faces on the long road, waiting for them in a cheap motel, and then selfishly grabbing the bed. On the first day in Florida, what Willie and Eddie did was to gamble as usual, leaving behind a lonely Ava.
At the end of the story, Ava didn't get on the plane to Europe and returned to the empty motel alone. Eddie didn't wait for Willie and drove back to New York alone. In order to recover Ava, Willie took a plane to a distant place. The destination of the plane was his and Ava's hometown, and he returned to Hungary.
The protagonists have been going elsewhere, but in the end they can only return to their own origin.
It is such a story, just like our life, boring and depressing, getting acquainted with indifferent and estranged partners, searching for a paradise that does not exist together, and ultimately unable to escape the ending of being alone and separated.
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