“American peoples, eight kind of fuck. Love fuck, hate fuck, sex-only fuck, break-up fuck, make-up fuck, buddy fuck, drunk fuck, pity fuck.” – Vietnamese refugee in “Downsizing”

So I went to the movies with my aunt and we watched the sci-fi satire “Downsizing.” It’s about a strange futuristic procedure that shrinks people down to miniature sizes. The downsizing procedure is irreversible. Miniature people leave smaller carbon footprints and live in luxury on very little money. Paul and his wife decide to go ahead with the downsizing procedure and move to a sustainable living community. When Paul wakes up from the downsizing procedure, he gets a call from his wife. Turns out she bailed on him! He feels lost and lonely in his miniature luxury apartment. He befriends a Vietnamese house cleaning lady who came here as a political refugee. They fall in love.

I was reflecting on the movie when my aunt interrupted my thoughts. She said “see, those Asians sure know how to seize an opportunity.” I know what she means haha. The refugee fled Vietnam only to clean houses and live in a hovel in miniature America, trapped in the playpen of the damned. When she met a divorced guy with a nice apartment, she seized her “opportunity” for a better life. I totally get it. But I don’t look at it that way. I think she fell in love with him because he is a patient and kind man. He was ok with her many flaws and did his best to understand her.  

On our way out I told her this movie reminded me of a story she told me years ago. A girl was madly in love with a guy, and because they couldn’t be together they entered into a suicide pact. They agreed to drink poison together. The girl drank the poison and died, but the guy got cold feet and didn’t drink it. My aunt said whatever, it’s the same thing, you agree to do something stupid together and they don’t do it. She made me promise never to enter into a suicide pact for love. I promised her.