Original subtitles

Los que están convencidos se tiran al principio del túnel.

Los que dudan a la mitad del andén.

Los que están convencidos se tiran al principio del túnel.

Los que dudan a la mitad del andén.

Y los que solo quieren llamar la atención al final cuando el tren ya se

deteniendo.

They say the new intelligent buildings detect and repel a great percentage of

humidity and dust.

Yeah.

They're so intelligent that they're leaving us without a job.

Es aburrido. Uno va de un extremo al otro de las villas.

Es aburrido. Uno va de un extremo al otro de las villas.

La misma rutina todos los días.

Claro, tengo mis prestaciones, vacaciones, aguinaldo, préstamo para

Ya llevo aquí 18 años.

The security is the most important thing.

I've been working here for six years, and thank God I've never had a problem.

Well, maybe the only thing is the young man who fell at the end of the platform,

and who, fortunately, came out alive.

Susan?

Susan?

Are you all right?

Yeah, I just, uh... I think you've just been working too much. You might need to

take it easy.

Okay. If you need anything, let me know. Thanks.

Thank you.

And why don't you marry Rocio?

You're going there with your son, aren't you?

No, how can I believe it?

My wife and my children are waiting for me there on Earth.

El chamaco del arroz le quiere que lo lleve el domingo al Amparo State.

¡Anímate!

Igual invitamos a la Cris.

Ya sabes que la traes de cabeza.

Mira que pagar 20 dólares por ver la ciudad desde arriba.

Hombre, si te animas, los llamas.

Mira.

¿Eh?

Ahí tengo una tarjeta.

¡Muerele!

Bajo tierra nomás cuando esté muerto.

Bueno.

Nos vemos.

There's a running joke here.

That people commit suicide in the subway because it only costs 15 cents a

ticket.

Cheaper than a cigarette.

So far,

I've only found statistics.

The families of the victims refuse to talk, and just a few operators let

themselves be interviewed.

Alfredo seems to be the most direct, the least opinionated.

My daughter doesn't want to party.

She's turning 14 years old.

She'd rather go to a rock concert.

You're getting old, Phil.

The point is, she's growing up so fast.

You know, we go to work every day, go to the market once a week,

go to the movies.

go to church, and suddenly you wake up one day and life has passed you by.

Sorry, can I just... Yeah, thank you. Sorry.

That's Mexico City subway, isn't it?

Um, yeah.

Yeah, are you from Mexico?

Yeah.

I'm doing a documentary about the subway system there.

So you're not afraid of heights?

Oh, no.

You get used to it.

Later on, you end up liking it.

My favorite place to eat in Mexico City is this place called La Alameda.

I've never been there.

Thank you.

Susan, I'm calling from Frankfurt.

And the sun's just coming up now, and all I can see are crystal towers.

If I were to wake up with amnesia one of these days, I wouldn't only know who

I am, but...

I don't know why Dad used to love to come here.

I mean, so far out of the way.

It was so windy, too.

Um, Helen, did you ever meet Rebecca?

No.

I didn't know until we found those photos in that box after Dad died.

I was ten.

You'd have been in the... You'd have been a sophomore.

I was on 78th and 1st.

I saw Dad follow them.

I didn't know what I was doing or where I was going, but I just... Yep,

following him.

And then I saw her.

I was standing right there.

You know, I remember walking one day down here with Dak.

And this wind blew the hat off my head.

And he ran after it.

And I lost it for a moment.

It just came running back.

He had my hat in his hand.

I never knew how he did it, but he was always there.

Always.

You know, it's funny.

We're always trying to keep our heads above water, you and me.

I keep running, you keep hiding.

It's like we always need to have a plan B.

We're living plan B.

He always wanted to believe that he didn't accept Mom's death, but he was

waiting for someone else.

We just don't want to see the truth.

The French say that Americans don't want the truth. They want certainty.

That's why I left.

I can't find what I'm looking for here. It's... It's impossible.

I broke it.

Promise, Crystal Plot?

I remember the one that she kept in the dining room cabinet with a good shine on

it.

Packed with all the things I brought back to the apartment after she died.

I brought those boxes with me. I moved back from Brooklyn to

my apartment on 48th and to my place now.

I woke up one morning, and it was snowing.

And I wanted to stop.

And I knew that I couldn't make it stop.

And I don't know why, but I dug out my own spa, and I put it on the dining room

table, and I kept pushing it further and further toward the edge.

And finally, I let it go.

All I can think was, she can't miss it now.

I kept giving it a chance. I thought I'd...

Even if it falls,

maybe it won't break.

Yeah. Yeah. Yeah.

We're free now.

Free now.

Hi. Hi.

So this is what you do on a Sunday.

Well, I only discovered it last week.

I come here a lot.

It's amazing what they can do.

Yeah. Everybody should try this.

Sometimes.

What's the movie you're making about?

It's a documentary about the Mexico City subway system and how people commit

suicide there.

Are there many?

Actually, there's more than one a day.

The authorities don't tell the public because they don't want to encourage

people to try it.

I never understand it.

Do you think?

Yeah.

The last time I was in Mexico, I went to see the pyramid.

I wish I could go there.

I'm from a place way down south of Mexico.

Is your family here also?

My wife is still in Mexico.

I want to save up money to put business over there.

Both my parents passed away and my sister

lives in France with her husband.

We get used to it.

In the canteen of the 125, we would have been much better.

And besides, here it must be kind of expensive, eh? Yes.

That's what I told you the other day.

How long have you been here?

Eight or nine years?

No, almost ten.

See? In ten years you don't know more than what you got.

As if we only belonged to one place.

We're used to seeing our friends through the back door.

To go unnoticed.

Before, because you didn't have papers, now that you have them, what?

You're so weird, man.

No, it's about being good with people.

Well, people who are like you.

Besides, here it's really expensive, huh?

Well, again.

Well, well, well.

Look, he must also feel quite uncomfortable in that suit and that

Esperando a alguien que a lo mejor ni siquiera existe.

Ay, Ramón, es que no entiende.

Nosotros nos venimos de nuestros padres porque no teníamos nada.

Y llegamos acá y seguimos sin nada.

No, no, no, no, no, no.

Yo en mi tierra no tenía ni dónde caerme muerto. Y aquí tengo mi taller de

soldadura. Mancar, almoni.

Ahorritos poquitos, pero tengo.

Es que es lo mismo.

A donde vayamos es lo mismo. Es como...

Si creyéramos que toda la suerte ya está dada y que le tocó a otros.

Y a nosotros nada más nos tocan las puras migajas y las obras.

Y para decirme eso, ¿me citaste hasta por acá?

Me lo hubieras dicho en el fútbol el domingo.

Eh, güera.

Unos pinot.

¿Ves?

So, do you have to work at home?

Yeah, I just want to download some of this onto my computer at home so I can

work from there.

Sometimes at work it gets distracting.

You

are

what they call workaholics.

Are you going to put the New York subway on your movie?

I was going to originally, but then I realized that the movie wasn't about...

Suicides in the subway around the world. It was...

Anyway.

Well, actually, I realized it was about my father.

He committed suicide over there.

And somebody heard it.

Have you been back to Mexico, Finland?

No, just for this.

I was there two years ago.

It was too hard to re -enter the US.

I have to wait until I have a little more savings.

I don't know, maybe one more year.

It must be hard to be so far from home.

Yeah.

It would be harder not having someone to come back.

True.

True.

Do you want another beer?

No. No, no. Thank you.

This is the first time that a real New Yorker invites me to their home.

Can I?

Oh, yeah.

It's one of my favorites.

The B -side.

The last song is the one.

Oh, that's Sonia, Irina's daughter. Well, she likes to have her name

be Irene. She wants us to call her Irene.

You know, like your friend Rami.

Well, what's his other name again?

Romualdo. Yeah, that's it.

Irina and Sonia came from Russia a few years ago.

Her husband was supposed to join her, but he didn't show up.

And then Irene was diagnosed with cancer this year.

Sonia doesn't have paper, so she can't go to school.

It's very complicated.

So alone and so far from home.

Sad, deserted shore.

Your fickle friends are leaving.

Oh, but then you know it's time for them to go.

But I will still be here.

I have no thought of leaving.

I do not count the time.

Today, Alfredo, the subway operator, spoke to me about removing a person's

remains after a suicide and how service starts again after only 10 minutes.

Thank you.

You too.

Hey, hey.

There were a lot of people.

They were having problems with the cash register.

You're an obsession, Phil.

I really can't find anything.

You don't?

No. It's like night and day.

One thing to make a donut.

That's another thing to make a good cup of coffee, as my wife would say.

All good.

Bill.

Have you been happy?

My cousin Ernie went to the West Coast when he was 17.

No money, no education.

We never knew what happened to him.

Thought he was long gone.

After a while, he showed up with a family and he owned a travel agency.

My brother Jeremy,

He had talent. He had that something special, a spark, as my mother said.

We all put in a lot of effort so that he could get educated, go to college.

He would have been the first in our family to go.

He turned out to be a junkie.

Died at 25.

I'm somewhere in between.

Maybe that's happening.

Chef.

That's what I would have been. A chef.

No. But a famous like on TV and in a magazine.

Junior. Child.

That's good.

When I was younger, my father would take my sister and I

over the bridge.

And when we got tired, he would promise to give us an ice cream if we got to the

other side.

This guy makes me cross it quite often just to avoid taking this all away. Oh.

And without any ice cream as a reward.

I work there cleaning windows.

Oh, there he is. Ah, mira la estatua. Le voy a hacer una foto.

Yeah, that's beautiful.

So you don't like to take the subway, you're afraid of the underground, and

afraid of the heights.

So we just, we'll just stay in the middle.

Conductores del metro, mis hijos, no bueno.

Conductores del metro, mis hijos, no bueno.

No tiene nada de malo, es un trabajo digno, pero me gustaría más que fueran

doctores, abogados.

Ella quiere ser artista, ¿verdad, mija?

What did Rami and Rossi say?

I talked to Rami and he said this hard stuff makes him really nervous.

What about you?

I don't know.

I think I like it.

Well, I've only been on the Museum of Modern Art.

I went two years ago when the cleaning company gave us free tickets.

How was it?

Good.

My wife left enough coffee and food to

last for two days.

She'll be back in four hours.

Working with the Texan.

Up around the 35th floor.

At 6th and 42nd street.

And I remembered that.

This was the building where I first started cleaning windows.

But something was different.

Suddenly the.

Wind started to blow.

I stopped.

And I looked at my reflection in the glass.

Behind my head, all the buildings as if they were floating with me through the

city.

And extraordinary, a couple of seconds.

After that, the Texan said, I passed out.

Doc said it was pressure and a little oxygen level.

But no.

It's something... Something different.

I'm, uh... Gonna be back to work on Monday.

You have any trouble finding the place?

No.

I felt weird as I walked here.

Like I was being watched.

Well, he's not my neighbor.

Aren't there any black people in Mexico?

Yes, on the coast, but very few.

It is weird to bump into one of them.

It's not much different here.

People don't mingle.

Blacks, Jews, Latinas, Polish, Arab.

It would seem that Manhattan was a neutral ground.

Then we all go back to our forts and think about everyone else as the enemy.

So, how's your documentary going?

Oh, stuck.

Aren't you finding what you're looking for? No.

Well, I don't even know what I'm looking for anymore. I mean, I thought I did,

but everything is blending into one now.

Oh. I spend my time traveling the world writing reviews so that people can...

become the best tourists they can afford, right?

And I try to highlight all the particular differences so I can showcase

character, but the truth is that everything, in the food, the hotels, the

airports, and even people's needs are becoming more and more generic.

So Peter's getting remarried, that's why he called, not to get back together.

Everyone has to move on.

Yeah, yeah, I get it, I know.

Everyone has to move on, but why did he get to move on first?

Why did he get the golden ticket?

Because you don't know what you want.

Come on, Susan.

You need to try new things.

I mean, what about this new guy? What's his name?

Roberto? Yeah, this Roberto guy. Have you seen him naked yet?

No, I have not seen him naked. You know, things don't just happen like that

overnight, Beth. Why not?

Because, because there's more involved.

I don't know.

I want... All right, you asked me what I wanted. I want something... I want

something more real.

Okay. You know, a relationship.

Well, fine, but... Come on.

Love is...

It's divorce, cheating.

Yeah, yeah, I mean, but it's out there. I mean,

I don't want to get fucked over, I just... But I want to feel like...

I don't know, I want to feel...

I'm sorry.

I haven't felt...

Anything in years.

And the irony is that I'm finding out all this information about dad and him

killing himself and this affair and did he really love mom and, you know,

did he even love us?

It's a lot. And I still don't feel anything.

I don't even feel scared.

We need a break.

Come on, come to Paris. Spend some time with me.

You need to get out of here.

And I could fall, I could fall, I could fall, fall

again.

I wish we were in Mexico on the beach.

Puerto Estendido is my favorite.

I never seen the ocean until I came here.

Wow.

My father used to take us when my mother was still alive to Coney Island.

That's where they have the roller coasters.

In Spanish?

We call the roller coaster Russian Mountain.

I don't know why.

My neighbor, Irene, you remember Sonia's mom?

Yeah.

She has to go to the hospital.

For some chemo.

Anyway, she asked me to take care of Sonia for a few days.

I'm going to take her to Central Park for the weekend.

It would be great if you wanted to join.

Yes? Thank you.

Fue la primera vez.

Yo tendría cinco o seis meses de haber entrado.

Vi a la mujer en el andén demasiado cerca de la orilla.

Yo sentí escalofríos.

Puso su suéter delante de su cara y se aventó hacia mí sin darme tiempo ni de

reaccionar.

Aún me acuerdo de su última mirada.

They came to clean the remains and they told me to go to the company

psychologist.

I told them I was fine, but they insisted.

I went home, it was too early and my family was not there.

I prepared a coffee and suddenly I felt very sad and

I started crying all afternoon.

Yesterday, I went back to Coyoacan Station where Dad killed himself.

I realize that I've been looking for a way to change the story.

But the reality is that he didn't jump in the middle of the platform. He jumped

in front of the train.

Uh... Susan, this is Roberto.

Sorry for calling you at home, but it's been some time since we've

known anything about you.

We are worried.

I guess you accepted your sister's invitation to go to France.

Call me when you come back.

Let me say hello.

Bye.

Yes, Romy.

Well, I'll find you.

It's Susan.

Hi. Hello.

I'm Roberto.

I'm Helen, Susan's sister.

Please, come on in.

Why don't I leave you two alone?

I'm going to make a phone call, okay?

Can you say hello?

I don't want you to worry about me, Roberto.

I woke up this morning and it was such

a beautiful day.

I want to thank you.

I know I must come back to my country and find the reasons

Put

all the pieces back together So

that I can start again

Right?

You know, you and me are not different.

Life hurts, but together we became stronger.

it has been awarded.

I'm going to quit.

I'm going back to my hometown.

It's been a long time.

I have little something saved up to start all over again.

What do you think?

Have you ever thought of going somewhere else and start over?

I've never been out of New York.