Author: Yearning
Can you imagine what kind of life you would live if you had made different choices at some important moment in the past? "Stay-at-Home Man" tells exactly such a story.
The protagonist Jack separated from his girlfriend Kate thirteen years ago, took a plane to London, became one of the industry's top business elite, and happened to encounter a convenience store robbery on Christmas night, with a clever mind, Jack had a thrilling resolution of the dispute and instilled his own values in the robber black man.
And the black man in this dialogue has such a line.
"So what do you need, Jack?"
At that time, Jack did not understand the deep meaning contained in it, and his words revealed his superior life.
"I have everything."
For him, living in a guarded house, wearing a fine suit, driving an expensive Ferrari... Will he still be missing something?
But the Negro was quick to tell him the answer.
When he woke up in the morning, a woman lay in her arms, and the little girl entered the house singing a Christmas song, confused and dazed. The Negro appears, explaining that it was an "experience", and Jack argues fruitlessly and has to face reality.
Ferraris turned into dilapidated vans, designer suits into cheap clothes, high-paying jobs into tire salesmen... You even need to change your child's diaper, walk your dog and shovel it, and play bowling that you are not good at.
Even knowing that his wife was a former lover, Kate, Jack could not suppress his inner resistance.
The outbreak is inevitable, the original life is so superior, why bear this kind of life that even a decent suit can not afford, there is no sense of happiness?
But he also ushered in his own transformation in the quarrel, Jack saw from the videotape that he sang love songs for Kate at the birthday party, began to think about his feelings with Kate, and the material dissatisfaction was gradually covered by spiritual enrichment.
In the subsequent conversation with Kate, he bluntly expressed his confusion, but Kate's words made him suddenly wake up.
"But that erases the most important thing, you... And the kids. ”
I suspect Jack thought this afterward: Why can't you have the best of both worlds? While the family is complete, their career can also be well developed.
He won the opportunity to work in New York and communicate with Kate, but the two people with different values could not get the same idea.
Jack struggled and flipped over a plane ticket, which he had taken thirteen years earlier, but was back in New York the next day, for Kate.
His wife, Kate, also agreed to Jack's choice at this time.
"I want us to be together."
“I choose us.”
This is undoubtedly the most wonderful line in the film, and it is also the node where Jack fully realizes what he needs in life.
Jack no longer pursues his career, but ordinary life brings unimaginable happiness.
He was so angry and angry when he saw the black man reappear.
When he woke up, his expression was full of sorrow, and the first thing he wanted to do was to return to the old four-bedroom house, rather than the merger plan that he had been thinking about for a long time.
Seeing Kate again, not as a pro bono lawyer, but as the owner of a branch.
Kate was naturally not the memory of her, and the old items from the past were sorted out in a cardboard box and returned to Jack.
Confused again, Jack gave up the plane to Aspen.
Leather perfumes, yo-yos... The old object made him make up his mind, talked affectionately about his "life" at the airport, and finally had a rare cup of coffee with Kate.
I think:
"So what do you need?"
This line was not only asked to Jack, but also to the audience who watched the film.
We may have become accustomed to our own lives, having fun, being forced to accept, getting by and living... All of them have a common feature, it is difficult for us to make great changes, because this is the result of the constant choices in our lives, and regret cannot save anything.
All I can do is let people understand: "Cherish." ”
After "experiencing", Jack knows that behind his superior life, there is a lack of true love.
When he made the decision to leave New York, he had to bear such an outcome.
But he still has a chance.
Everything Jack does when he wakes up is "cherishing", cherishing the possibility of reuniting with Kate's broken mirror.
Whether it's going to the old house for the first time, or looking for Kate's address.
The same is true of what we should do. In the current life, carefully recall whether you have any remorseful people or things at the beginning, and whether you can make "cherished" measures and grasp them at the moment.
The things that need to be cherished in life often disappear when you are not conscious, but isn't this the reason why we need to think and act in time?