Beautiful Ohio (2006) - full transcript
An entire family comes of age during the early 1970s.
Batterzog...
Zerylum ...
Two words that should convey
something but didn't.
The mystery, I guess,
of language.
Two words that might have
brought me closer to my brother
clive, but did otherwise.
There was a time when we were
close, when it seemed anything
was possible.
That was before we were
celebrating clive's genius,
watching him win math
competitions and before he
started speaking his language
that I didn't understand.
Batterzog ...
Zerylum ...
I was shut out.
I thought they were
a lovely couple.
Yes, they are.
Don't tell me.
How many goddamn times?
...the free swimming fish
are the monarchs of
the open waters.
Their success is due to their
mobility, their keen senses and
their relative intelligence.
- What?
It's mind control.
It's nothing more
than mind control.
- Yeah, but...
- Your mother's right.
It is, mind control.
It is.
It's a vast wasteland.
30 minutes to go,
gentlemen.
Keep your concentration.
Come on, honey.
Well, where to
for the celebration, folks?
- What if he didn't win?
What? They haven't
graded anything yet.
- What if the sun didn't rise?
- What if the Indians finished
above .500?
Well, where to,
my geniuses?
- Ne menj messze.
- Pardon, honey?
- Ne menj messze.
Watch that language.
- I know a diner that serves
great pancakes, Mrs. Messerman.
So Sandra,
how've you been?
- You were saying 12 coins,
three weighings
on a balance scale...
- Right.
- William, honey, are you going
to eat your pancakes?
- Yeah, I am.
- And you find the counterfeit,
but you don't know whether
it's heavier or lighter.
- Well, right.
That's what makes it hard.
It'd be trivial if you knew
which one were heavier.
Or lighter, of course.
- Of course.
- William, honey, there are
people in this world who would
give their right arm
for those pancakes.
- For these pancakes?
William.
- All right, little brother?
- Hey... get outta here... what...
No... Elliot!
- And you figured this out
just now in the gym?
Right.
- Well then, it oughta be
easy enough.
- I've been fine, actually,
Mrs. Messerman.
Thank you for asking.
...thank you for the ride home,
Mr. and Mrs. Messerman.
- You're welcome, Sandra.
Anytime.
- Clive, aren't you gonna walk
Sandra to the door?
- Yeah.
- No, that's o.K., I'm fine.
Thank you for the pancakes.
- Shut up!
- I'm not gonna pay!
That's all I'm paying, bitch!
Shut up!
- You can go, she's fine.
O.k.
So, clive, I have
to ask, have you ever tried
transcendental meditation?
- No...
- Well, it's fantastic...
Transcendental, that's
like, uh, that's like, uh...
Transmission.
No, no , truly...
Trans-axle meditation.
- All right, first course!
Oh!
Vegetables!
Oh, look at this!
Such a feast!
What food!
- Wow, that's beautiful.
Thank you.
Oh.
- Here's to having
seats together...
On r-r-rocket ship earth...
And incidentally, everyone,
here's to the new math champion
of William Howard taft
high school.
- Whoo!
- Yes!
- And here's to our neighbors,
the cubanos.
Mmm!
- And to our neighbors,
the messermans.
- Thank you for having us.
- And to our next victory
in the city finals.
You know,
the kids at school are all
pretty impressed with clive.
I overheard some of the juniors
talking and well,
they think he's a genius.
- Yeah, but those are
the vocational kids.
- My two geniuses.
- What did Einstein say?
"Mathematics transforms
the fortuitous concourse
of atoms into the tracery
of the finger of...
God."
Wow!
That's beautiful.
- Herbert turnbull atchley,
not Einstein.
- No, Einstein said don't worry
if you're not good at math,
because neither was he, and I,
for one, will drink to that.
- What he said was, "do not
worry about your difficulties
in mathematics.
I can assure you that mine
are still greater."
- Oh, oh, norm byzantine...
Lieutenantbyzantian served
with me.
Right now, he's living,
poor fellow,
in the napa valley...
- Wow.
- Here's what he has to say:
"A wistful elegy of a zinfandel,
a nearly human longing
in a grape."
No, um...
Clive?
To peace.
To peace.
♪ Hey, it ain't easy
girls, it ain't easy ♪
♪ to get the man you love
satisfied ♪
♪ it ain't easy,
girls, it ain't easy ♪
♪ to keep the one you love
by your side... ♪
- ...that's your card.
- O.k.
That is not my card.
- Grind,
grate, chop, purify, frappe...
Grind, grate, chop, liquefy,
purify, frappe, grind...
- Are you sure
you don't want any?
I can barely eat half.
- Oh no, thank you,
Mrs. Messerman,
i-I'm too nervous to eat.
- Please, call me Judy.
- It's only Cleveland.
And he's got the counties.
It's really just the beginning,
then he's got regionals,
then the states...
It's really a long season.
And sheshevyky'll be
at the states.
- Who's sheshevsky?
- Ariel sheshevsky.
His parents are
both physics professors.
They live in Columbus.
Now, heis a genius.
Well, I guess
that makes two of them then.
- Three of them,
actually, Sandra.
Of course,
Mrs. Messerman, three of them.
- Call me Judy.
Well, I don't think we have much
to worry about.
- Of course not.
Clive has
a rare strength in him.
So Billy de salz
and me are waiting
in the gym parking...
- Billy de salz and I.
Well, o.K.,
you weren't there,
but I see your point.
Billy de salz and Iare waiting
in the gym parking lot
during varsity basketball,
and this girl, jeannine lyons,
who's a total fox but is seeing
Joe Blair and everybody knows
it, is totally p.O.'D at Blair
for something and you know...
- William, would you pass
the salad over this direction?
- Sure.
So jeannine comes out
with Billy and I while Joe...
With Billy and me.
- All right, well, jeannine
and Billy and I are hanging out
at Billy's car.
What kind of car?
Wait, Billy de salz
is driving already?
- Yes, his dad's continental.
- So anyway, jeannine
comes out...
- Carl de salz
has a Lincoln continental?
- Must this always be
about insurance?
- Well, I should be handling
that account.
- Well, anyway, it turns out
that jeannine's not really out
there to cry
on Billy's shoulder.
As a matter of fact,
she's there to talk to me.
You sure about that?
- Yes, as a matter of fact,
I am.
- May I remind everybody here
that someone in the messerman
family still has to make
a living.
Was that a Mark III
or a Mark iv?
- I think it was a Mark iv.
But anyway, so we're standing
out there, you know,
rapping and...
- You're what?
- Rapping, you know, talking.
Did it have those little oval
opera windows in the back?
- Yeah, I think
that it did, dad.
But anyway,
the fact of the matter is that
jeannine plays the piano...
In fact, she's working on
the chopin nocturne,
the same one that
I'm working on.
- I'd say it's definitely
a Mark iv.
- Honey, your son is talking.
- Anyway, needless to say,
jeannine is very impressed.
- Chopin was different
than the other romantics.
He was a pole among parisians.
But he stuck to his convictions.
You know what schumann said when
he heard his first chopin piece?
- That's an 85... $8500 car.
- You gonna eat all of those?
- Hey! Hey!
- He said, "hats off,
gentlemen. A genius."
- "Beauty is another form
of genius...
Higher indeed than genius
as it needs no explanation."
- Oscar wilde?
Oscar wilde.
- "It is of the great facts
in the world like sunlight
or springtime
or in the reflection
in dark water of that silver
shell we call the moon."
- And all the geniuses have
remained mysteriously silent
on the subject...
Of the anchovy.
- It's a Caesar.
- Although anchovies,
if I recall correctly, are $1.60
a tin... thank you, Ohio mutual!
- We could have done perfectly
well without the anchovies.
Right on.
- Insurance is about protecting
the average person, it's about
the problems of the common man.
- Why lie to your family?
- Excuse me?
- You know, dad, you're either
part of the problem or part
of the solution.
- Or dissolved in a solution.
- Yeah, the point is...
We didn't... the point is we did
not do without the anchovies.
- The point is, Simon,
that your son has won the math
championship of the city
of Cleveland.
- Oh Jesus, I forgot to ask
about that.
- And there are people
in the world who would give
their right arm
for this anchovy.
- Well, jeez,
that is wonderful, clive.
Here's to the champion
of the great city of Cleveland.
Damn cough.
- Welcome to Cleveland.
- Shhh, quiet.
What were you doing?
- Nothing, I just didn't really
know what they were.
- No...
I mean, what were you
doing over there?
- Oh, it's my history project.
- Your history project.
- Yeah, it's the pieta,
Michelangelo.
It's Mary holding Jesus but he's
dead, but... it's no big deal.
- Don't tell me you're really
a genius too.
- Not really.
Um, were you watching me?
- A little.
- I didn't do anything weird,
did I?
Nope.
- Sometimes I do.
- Here.
Come here, little brother.
I had to move here.
It was my only choice.
- You sleep here?
- Yeah.
I'll tell you another secret.
I like you, little brother.
You and me, we have
this connection, you know?
You know more
than everybody thinks.
- I do?
- Yeah.
- I could bring you
food, Sandra!
- That'd be cool, you know?
I wish clive was as cool
as you sometimes.
I wish.
- I'm really not that cool.
Yeah, you are.
Question.
Does Elliot ever bug you?
Oh, I dunno,
I mean... not really, but...
Oh, sometimes, I guess.
- Well, he bugs me.
- Yeah?
- Clive is so superior to him.
I mean, clive really is a genius
and Elliot's the farthest
thing from.
- Yeah, I hear you.
- Did he ever tell you
about us?
- Who?
- Clive.
Did he ever tell you
about he and I?
- No.
- He didn't?
- No.
- You're not gonna tell
your parents about me,
are you, William?
- No... no way.
- You're not gonna tell
anybody, not even clive?
- Clive doesn't know?
- Of course, he knows, genius.
It's good practice,
keeping your mouth shut.
I get the feeling you could
use some.
All right, I'll tell ya.
I'm clive's lover.
- Oh... Bonjour.
Thank you.
Why, that's very kind of you.
Michelangelo, his pieta?
He's transformed the fortuitous
concourse of atoms
into the tracery
of the finger of god.
A pole among parisians.
Oui, madame,
I have come to see you again.
- Lover?
Whoa! Come on!
- Get back there!
- Oh!
Get him! Get him!
Oh, he scores.
Good one, honey!
Yeah, the old man's
still got it.
- What?
- I dunno.
- First finger. - Right.
- Thumb on the "a" so that
you can reach gently
into the octave.
This is romantic music.
Chopin died at age 39.
This is the gift of his
suffering to the world.
- So now I suffer?
- The girls adored chopin.
- They did?
- Mm-hmm.
Think of Jeannie lyons,
think of how this would move
her heart.
- It's jeanninelyons, mom.
- Jeannine then.
Think of how this would
move her.
Let me ask you something.
Does your brother ever speak
that language of his at school?
- Sometimes.
- What do the other kids think
of it?
- I don't think
they understand.
- Is there some key to it,
some kind of dictionary?
- Well, if there was,
he wouldn't tell me about it.
- Can you multiply
275 by 5,386?
Can you do that in your head?
Can the other kids do that
in their heads?
- Mom...
I made that stuff up
about jeannine lyons.
- I know that, sweetheart.
- You know?
- Honey, a mother knows her
children from the day
that they're born.
I know you won't understand that
for a while but I've known how
you were gonna turn out
since you were two years old.
- Well?
- A brilliant pianist.
- And clive?
- Comedian.
- No, really.
Do you know about clive?
- What about him?
- I dunno, just... you know,
um, what's going on
with everything?
- Is there something going on
with him?
Oh sweetheart, you're just
as extraordinary
as your brother.
- Mom, please.
- You don't have to be
the same, you're different.
He does things that you're not
going to do.
- What kinds of things?
- Just things that have to do
with who he is.
Your brother is gifted.
But with that gift comes
its own weight.
Do you understand that?
William, your brother will need
you for his whole life.
That's what it's like to be
a brother to a boy like that.
And for the rest of your lives,
you will have more in common
with each other than you have
with anyone else in this world.
- Except that he happens
to be a genius.
Maybe,
but you talk to the girls
in English.
Remember that.
- Hey...
What's happening?
You know, what gives?
Yeah, I hear you.
- Hold it in.
- I hear you.
- There are people in
the world who'd give
their right arm for that dope.
So, you know this language
you guys talk?
Did you make it up or...
- Nem.
- What does that mean?
- Sheyteni.
- Do you have, like, a
dictionary or something for it?
- Hogyne.
- You know, if you ever want
someone to talk to, you know,
just get something off
your chest, you can talk to me.
You know, I know more than
everybody thinks, you know.
I'm your brother.
- Good to meet you.
You know I beat you
last time.
You make things up.
- Service.
- What is that?
- What do you think
of clive, dad?
- What do you mean,
what do I think of clive?
- He's been acting a little
weird lately, don't you think?
- Is that supposed to be
a newsflash?
- Just thought I'd ask.
- So now, what do you
think of Elliot?
- Elliot is a fine kid, why?
- Nothing, I'm just talking,
that's all.
What about Sandra?
- What about her?
- Well, what do you
think about her?
- She's his belle, if that's
what you mean, but he will
get over her.
Come on.
- I'm not sure he will.
I think she's actually kind
of pretty.
Pretty...
William...
Maybe she is, but it's
the cheap kind of pretty.
It's not the kind of pretty that
lasts... I guarantee it, sailor.
Now, service.
Sorry!
Service.
- What are you sorry about?
- This was the gift of
his suffering to the world.
...hey, Sandra.
It's me, William.
Sandra?
- Hey.
I was expecting you.
You brought me oranges.
- Yeah, William of oranges.
Er, they're tangerines,
actually.
- William of tangerines.
So, William of tangerines...
- Look, I'm really sorry
about what my dad said.
I just thought it would
come out funny.
- Well, it didn't.
- Yeah.
- That's o.K. 'Cause clive
and I have the kind of love that
your father will never
understand, that's all.
So tell me, William...
- There's a whole bag of
tangerines upstairs.
I don't think anyone's
gonna miss 'em.
- That's not what
I was thinking of.
- Yeah, I didn't think so.
- I know what you want
to tell me.
I'm just waiting for you.
I'm clairvoyant, you know.
- Clive's gonna win
the counties.
- No, not what I was
thinking of either.
- What do you want me to say?
- Is it true that you
think I'm beautiful?
- ♪ ...come out, come out ♪
- ♪ oh, you better believe me ♪
- ♪ come out, come out... ♪
What do you think
about this music, sailor?
- It's all right.
- Your brother's quite
enamored of it.
- Dad, my... my report
card came.
- Yeah, I know.
I got a call from
Mr.. Farmer's office.
- It was just
one bad semester...
- Don't sweat it, sailor.
At ease.
All this business with clive...
You know, just things he does...
The music and his language...
I want you to know that
he's just trying to understand
his life, that's all.
You understand what I'm saying?
- Yeah.
- I, I'm not saying what
he does is wrong and if you want
to try some of those things
some day... that's fine.
- It is?
- Yeah.
My generation has a lot
to learn from your generation.
Yup.
A grown man with
a purple tie.
Look at me...
Your father.
- Look at me, dad, your son.
- "What a noble creature
is man."
Your old man sells insurance...
Will you ever forgive him?
- Yeah, I forgive you, dad.
I just want you to know that
grades don't mean anything.
I want you to know that.
Why, I'm proud you don't
care about them.
- You are?
- Yeah, they're an external
symbol of approval for something
you ought to be doing for
its own sake, anyway.
Affirmative, sailor?
- Affirmative, captain.
- In 100 years, no one
will know about the puny trials
of our days.
"Sweet mercy, how my very heart
has bled to see thee.
Poor old man...
With thy gray hairs
grow white in the snowy blasts."
- It's not that bad, dad.
- Samuel Taylor coleridge,
William.
That's what important,
not your report card.
- So, that's how
we'll settle it.
Chet will leave clive alone
and won't come anywhere
near him at school.
Agreed?
- Yeah.
- Chet.
- Yes, Mrs. Messerman.
- And, clive, you won't
do anything to provoke
Chet here, agreed?
Clive?
...what is it about this new
america that hates intelligence?
What is it about this country?
When I was a girl, we called
our teachers "professor."
We revered them.
We all wanted to be like them.
I mean, there was no greater
achievement for us
than learning.
Now, in america,
we spit on that.
We attack it, the great
pillars of our culture:
Learning, art, beauty.
They... they might
as well be vices!
You know what mao
is doing in China?
Breaking up all the violins into
pieces, smashing them all up.
Maybe that's what's next here.
Maybe that's what
this is leading to.
So...
What's happening?
- We're Buddhist monks.
It's clive's idea.
Ohm...
Clive,
William, dinner!
- Just a minute!
Clive, William, dinner!
It's not polite to keep
our guests waiting!
- The potatoes kind of
taste funny.
- You know, what does it
mean exactly, Mrs. Messerman,
"twice baked"?
- That's a good question.
Mom?
Well, I spoon
the potato back into the skin
and bake it again.
- What a great idea.
- Seems awful cruel and unusual
for the potato, does it not?
Thank you, Sandra.
And you're welcome to come by
anytime, by the way.
- Thank you.
So lucky to have such
a good cook for a mother.
- It's not that big a deal.
- It's not?
- W... no.
I mean, the potato's not
that big a deal.
You're a great mother.
It's really great having
a good cook as a mother.
- Is your mother
a good cook, Sandra?
- She doesn't do much cooking,
actually, Mr. Messerman.
Thanks.
- Thanks for what?
- Oh, thanks for asking, dad.
- Oh.
You're welcome, I guess.
- It's just not
really her thing.
- Oh, I can understand it.
- So can I.
I think we all can understand.
- I think so too.
- The square root of 56,389.
Clive?
- 237 point... about four-six.
- Oh, that truly
is extraordinary.
Where do you get that from?
- From the back of
the sock drawer.
What about primes
between 900 and 950?
- You know, sheshevsky
is going to be at the states.
You think sheshevsky's
at home reading magazines?
- Why do you
call him "sheshevsky"?
You call me "messerman"?
He's just a guy.
His name is Ariel.
And the prime?
- 907, 911, 919, 929,
937, 941, 947.
- Got it.
- Look out, sheshevsky.
- You think something
funny's going on?
- Funny?
- You know...
- Oh...
That?
Dad'll never do anything.
He won't?
- He's trapped in a cage.
- Yeah, dad's in a cage.
- That's right.
- What kind of cage?
- A cage of his own devising.
Cool.
I don't think that's loud
enough, clive.
Do you think you can play
any louder, clive?
- I didn't know you understood
electronics to that degree.
- I'm trying to do
some homework.
You know, some of us
have homework to do.
You know, study, books... see?
Hi, Sandra.
- Hello, William.
Gyanus.
Hogyne.
- What does that mean?
I think it means
"once more, with feeling."
- Where'd you find that?
- Where'd you leave it?
- Give it here.
- What is it?
- It's nothing!
- Then why you
freaking out about it?
- Fuck it!
William, give it here!
- No, stop it.
Stop it, get off.
- Hey, hey, hey,
quit being a brat.
- All right!
All right.
- Fuck you, William!
- It's the dictionary.
- What?
- Good job, William.
We figured you'd be
looking for it.
- I wasn't looking for it.
- Yeah, right.
- I wasn't looking for it.
- It's not exactly
a dictionary.
It's more like a...
Rosetta stone.
- I used to have one of those.
- You did?
- Look, how 'bout
giving it here.
- No.
- Let him keep it if he wants.
It won't do anybody any good.
- Fine, I'll just keep it then.
- What do you mean,
it won't do anybody any good?
- He only found half of it.
He only found the words.
- You didn't think that
we'd keep the meanings in
the same place...
Did you, little brother?
William!
- Um, I'm coming!
- I got one.
- Oh, come on.
- Yeah.
...so handsome.
Everybody ready?
Here we go...
Here we go, here we go,
here we go.
Catch... this.
♪ Oh! ♪
♪ A-ha! ♪
Mmm... wow!
It's not bad.
Uh, it's, um... it's innovative.
It's really, um...
You crack
me up, Mr.. Cubano.
- No, it's not bad at all.
It's, uh, it's not what
I call danceable but it
is original, right?
I'll give you that.
- Oh, no, no.
No, no, no.
I could dance to this.
Play it again.
I know
you can, honey.
Honey?
- Come on.
- Come on back, sweetheart.
Let Simon have the stage,
all right?
Play another one for us.
Play another one, all right?
You sit and you behave.
Yeah, o.K.
Here we go.
- Catch this.
- ♪ Teachers, parents
and politicians,
they ridicule the wild... ♪
- Well?
- O.k., I like
the second one better.
I like that one.
- Oh, no, no, no...
- It was good... no, it was!
- The first is sexy.
- Sexy...
Mom, I mean, what do you
think about it?
- I have values and taste.
- Ez nem tetseek.
- Pardon?
- Honey, this stuff
is everywhere.
It's the future.
We may as well learn about it.
- Simon, you can listen
to whatever you wish,
but there are certain things
I will never accept.
What would chopin think?
What would mendelssohn think?
- Oh, come on.
We're not gonna talk
about chopin.
- The world's changing, honey.
We're all gonna have
to change with it.
- And what did you say,
young man?
- Nem saameet.
Pardon?
- Holvon o veytsey, kayrem.
- Clive, your mother
asked you a question.
- Why don't you tell us
how you solved that problem,
the one with the, um, coins
and the scale, clive?
I still don't understand it
at all.
- He doesn't have to talk
if he doesn't want to, dear.
- Yes, he does.
Clive...
Clive, please.
- Answer Mrs. Cubano's
question.
Vee-sont-laa-taash-roh.
Man, I...
Now...
It's great what kids
do these days.
They reinvent everything.
Clive's invented a new language.
What a nice surprise.
Dr. Livingston, I presume?
I just came down here to bring
Sandra some food, you guys.
- Feeding the monster?
- Bite me.
Where?
My ass.
You wish.
- Thank you, William.
That was sweet.
William of grapefruits.
So... since when
has he known about this place?
- Hey, don't worry, man.
I didn't tell anybody, o.K.?
Uh, who's worried?
Hazudozo.
Gyonyoru.
- Yeah, you know, um, dad says
that his generation's got
a lot to learn from ours.
I mean, he told me.
- And, um, what else did
he tell you?
- Well, he said that, you know,
you're just trying to understand
your life.
I hear ya.
It's true, you know.
He's right.
We have to lead them
through this stuff.
No, we don't.
We don't have to lead
anybody anywhere.
We have
to educate them.
Hold it in.
- We don't have
to educate anybody.
Hold it in.
You been studying
the rosetta stone?
- A little.
Hazudozo.
- Have you found
the meanings yet?
- No, I haven't been looking.
- Of course you have.
By the way, little brother,
you are dressed kind of nice.
You going somewhere?
This is why I wanted
to bring a map.
- I used to find our way in the
east China sea among Japanese
subs in mined archipelagos.
- Yeah, with a map.
- The test started
15 minutes ago.
- Well, that leaves us
an hour and 45 minutes.
Ah-ha.
- Look, he's welcome to do what
he can in the time that's left.
- The others have been at it
for 45 minutes already.
That's just officious,
is what it is.
- It's not fair to the others.
- Look, it was my fault,
not my son's.
I forgot to bring a map.
- Well, maybe next time,
you'll bring one then.
- There won't be a next time
is what we're telling you.
- Clive, what do you think?
- Sounds fine.
- O.k., quick.
- Just let me get
a drink of water.
- Good luck.
- You guys, I can smell that
that all the way downstairs!
- Hey, William.
I've been looking
at the rafters.
Have you ever noticed them?
They're made of all these...
Intricate pieces.
- Clive and Elliot have...
Told me some of their words.
Servoos.
- Servoos.
- Ablak...
Bayosh...
Birkahoosh...
- Szer...
- Szer...eto.
- Did they tell you
what they mean?
- No, not yet.
- Little brother,
the old man here has just
tried his first doob.
- Yeah, I don't know what
this marijuana's supposed
to do, William.
- You tried it, dad?
- Yeah, I did, sailor.
And watch out, sheshevsky.
- Here.
Take it.
- Dad?
That's interesting.
Didn't anybody ever teach
you how to smoke a cigarette?
You didn't inhale.
- Yes, I did.
- He never has.
- Do you know, your brother
won the cuyahoga county
finals this morning?
- Dad, I was there, remember?
- Oh...
Yeah.
- Congratulations, clive.
- Thank you.
- By the way... I dried
the lunch dishes for you.
Takes me days
to plan a meal.
It's really
great, mom.
- Thank you.
- Now, I'm telling
you, he's a criminal.
He sent his henchmen into that
hotel and all those clowns in
his cabinet were complicit.
He's gonna be impeached,
you Mark my word.
- Thank you for this lovely
meal, Judy, it's so good.
William?
- Hmm?
- Can you open up that
window for me, please?
- Uh, sure.
- Simon, it's 40 degrees out.
We could use some
cool air in here, could we not?
- Very nice, Simon.
William, would you close
the window now, please?
- Sure.
Now, let us try
the red wine.
"That is why I have come
to California, for soil
the color of a dark sea.
Too many years on ships and
you forget the taste of women...
And wine.
In the earth we shall find...
Mmm, a hidden source."
- Here's to the champion
of cuyahoga county.
- Here, here.
- Here, here.
- Cheers.
And here's to the hidden sauce.
- Source.
- Yup.
My wife is... right.
And I only have one son left.
- What is that supposed
to mean, Simon?
- Well, I don't know.
I'm surprised myself.
- You're drunk.
- Indeed I am.
But that's not all.
- So, clive...
Tell us what the math
finals were like.
- Math is just concentration,
Mrs. Cubano.
Math is... simple steps,
one after the next.
Each step is irrefutable...
Unassailable... rising higher
and higher into the sky, each
stone no more than what it is.
But with such simple stones,
in time, you have built
a cathedral.
That is what math is.
It's a cathedral, and when you
have finished, you enter it in
awe and you sit beneath the arch
and you feel what human beings
have always longed to feel.
- That was lovely, clive.
- It's me, captain.
- Yeah, sailor.
Is that bach?
No, no, Mozart?
Or could it be... haydn, is it?
- It's albinoni.
- Dad, what would you say
if I had gotten myself
into some trouble?
- What kind of trouble?
- Serious trouble.
- You won't.
- How do you know?
- How do I know?
I just do.
Character is fate.
Heraclitus said that about
two thousand years ago.
- What if I could change
my character?
You won't.
That's my point.
You can't resist being
who you are.
No one can.
Expensive tastes, a raccoon
that likes anchovies.
- Thank you, Ohio mutual.
- Dad, what were you like
in high school?
- What was I like?
- Yeah, I mean,
did you get good grades?
Were you a good student?
- Oh, we were
at war then, William.
Pass me my drink.
You know, in geometry, they
taught us bomb trajectories.
Uh, yes, I cared about my grades
and then I went to war.
- Well, you know, grades
are just an external symbol
of something that you ought
to be doing for yourself
in the first place.
- You're a quick study,
aren't you, William?
Well...
You should know
something then...
That what I said about
your grades was dead wrong.
Your grades are about as
important as anything gets.
Grades are all an employer
will have to judge you by.
You know that's right,
right, William?
I mean, you know,
don't you, that these...
These crazy times
are gonna pass.
...why don't you two find
something to do for a while?
This could take some time.
- Oh, there you are.
- Math was never my subject.
- Grades aren't important.
- Cool.
- They're just an external
symbol of something that
you ought to be doing for
yourself in the first place.
What do you think of that?
- I think you're funny.
Think of clive in there,
doing this stuff.
- One of these equations
is wrong.
- What?
- It is, the calculations
are incorrect.
- Come on.
- They are.
- Now, don't tell me
you understand this stuff too?
- Well...
It's really not that difficult
if you understand the equations.
My two geniuses.
Liar.
Genius.
Where'd you go?
Look, I... I mean,
I just found one small mistake
in the equation.
It's nothing.
It's probably just,
like, a typo.
Try and find me.
Do you really think
I'm beautiful?
- Yes.
- How beautiful?
- Very.
Your beauty is like sunlight or
springtime or... the reflection
in dark water of that silver
shell that we call the moon.
- Wow.
Did you just make that up?
- It's not a big deal.
- But you can't even see me.
- Yes, I can.
- No, you can't.
- It doesn't matter.
- You didn't really
understand that math, William.
- Yes, I did.
O.k., you're right, I didn't.
I pretended to.
I just don't really
like thinking about
that kind of stuff.
- What stuff?
- Equations, the kind of
stuff that clive thinks about.
- Did you lie about
anything else?
- Oh, like that
I think you're pretty?
- Yeah.
- No.
I could never lie about that.
How am I doing?
- You're getting warmer.
Nope... colder, genius.
Good, warmer.
What do you like to think about?
- I like thinking about you.
- ♪ Diamond girl ♪
♪ you sure do shine ♪
♪ glad I found you ♪
♪ glad you're mine ♪
So how come
you're not worried about it?
How come you're not
worried about walking
to school in the morning?
- Well, because I know
I can do it.
- Exactly.
- Put, put more arc into it...
Like that.
- Math is just
different for me.
I know I can do anything
in math, that's all.
- Well, that's amazing.
- Do that again.
That's amazing to me.
- Yeah, but there's,
like, five kids on the block
that can do that.
You know, what you do
is just so different.
- But the thing is
is that it's not.
There's nothing
amazing about it.
It is just something
that I can do.
Like mom... you play an e flat
instead of an e and she can hear
that from across the street.
But is that amazing?
Is it amazing that a dog can
smell you in your footprints?
- Oh, maybe not,
but every dog can do it.
- Well, I guess you
got me there.
- Sheshevsky doesn't worry you?
- Easy, tiger.
- How long have you been there?
- Not long.
I was watching you.
- Was I snoring?
- You sleep like an angel.
William...
Have you told
your parents about me?
- No way.
- Are you sure?
- Positive.
- I told you I was clairvoyant.
- About what?
- About this.
I knew this would happen.
Did you ever find the rest
of their dictionary?
- No.
I'm still looking, though.
I don't give up.
- I've noticed.
Tell me that thing
you said again.
- That thing?
- That thing you said.
- Oh, you mean, like, um...
That you're the reflection in
dark water of the silver shell
that we call the moon?
- Huh.
Really...
That was sweet.
Oh... William, don't.
Don't ruin it now.
- ♪ Hold on, freedom ♪
♪ freedom's only thing
you have ♪
♪ hold on, justice ♪
♪ justice is your only land ♪
♪ I saw the meaning,
the meaning in the sun, sky ♪
♪ he said, "lay, lay,
you better just let it slide" ♪
♪ my life is for living
and living is for fun
so you better ch-change
your mind ♪
♪ change your mind ♪
♪ why, I've got one ♪
♪ hold on, freedom ♪
♪ freedom's only
thing you have ♪
♪ hold on to justice ♪
♪ justice is your biggest land ♪
♪ when they look for something,
and something looks for them ♪
♪ just like a jungle,
a jungle where
you never been... ♪
- Here...
One for you, too.
- ♪ And each new change means
a new day for me ♪
♪ so you better hold on ♪
♪ hold on, you can see ♪
♪ help me, now ♪
♪ ooh... yeah ♪
- Come on, little brother.
Elliot baked them.
Hey,
they were good, man.
Kituno gomba.
Sapien.
- Hey, I want to thank you
guys for inviting me.
- Oh, no problem,
little brother.
- Servoos!
- Servoos!
- Bayosh.
You baked 'em too long.
Servoos.
- Servoos.
- How do you feel,
little brother?
- I feel great.
- Found out what
the words mean, didn't you?
- I haven't been looking.
- Vajon visszatersz, eh?
- I'm really hungry.
- I waited for you.
- Well, I guess you did.
- Tell me something.
What are you gonna think of me
in 10 years?
What are you gonna think of me
when your family comes apart?
- What?
- Shh...
♪ She is the day
that gives me time ♪
♪ to live and linger love,
my life ♪
♪ till night comes on with
sundown in scythe
to end the puzzle pantomime ♪
♪ she's a day of love. ♪
10 minutes.
10 minutes to go,
ladies and gentlemen.
♪ Drifting with the
current down a moonlit stream ♪
♪ while above the heavens
in their glory gleam ♪
♪ beautiful Ohio,
in dreams again I see ♪
♪ visions of what used to be ♪
♪ o-hi-o... ♪
- Thank you.
As the superintendent of the
Cincinnati public schools, it is
my pleasure to award this year's
state medal in mathematics.
Hmm, this is remarkable.
I guess it's true what
they say about great minds.
Ladies and gentlemen,
it's my privilege to bestow this
year's championship medal on...
Ariel sh... sheshevsky.
And... clive messerman.
Boys, could you,
uh, please rise?
- It's just a math competition.
He didn't even win.
...mom, Sandra lives
in the basement.
- Boys will be boys.
- She's been living
there all year.
She doesn't go home, mom.
Her mom doesn't know where
she is and she doesn't care.
She lives behind the furnace.
- Poor girl.
- She lives behind our furnace.
- Sweetheart...
Do you think I don't know
about Sandra?
- You know about her?
- Of course.
I think it's kind of romantic.
- Dad knows too?
- No, he doesn't and I don't
think you should tell him.
Your father isn't always as...
Forward-thinking as he seems.
I want to ask you something.
She's his girlfriend, right?
- You mean, are they exclusive
or something?
- Yeah.
That's what I mean.
- I don't exactly know.
- Well, it's fine
if she lives in our basement.
- Ping pong, captain?
Dinner's ready!
It's on the table!
- Shh.
- Oh...
- Um...
It's you.
Serve.
What?
Boys?
Dinner's ready.
- Batorsag.
- Szerelem.
Oh, my god, Simon.
Oh...
- Unless we speak, how can we let
someone know how we feel?
A gesture, a look,
perhaps, but are they enough?
I never spoke about that day.
I wanted to, but I never did.
That's why, I guess, nothing
changed, yet everything did.
I obsessed about it for years,
but never really had the guts
to do it... to atone.
And then, suddenly,
it was too late.
...funny.
Servoos,ladies.
- Servoos.
- Did he say "servoos"?
Excuse me, ladies?
Ladies.
Excuse me, ladies?
I'm sorry.
Uh, did, did you say "servoos"?
- Servoos.
- Uh... where did you
learn "servoos"?
- Where do I learn it?
In Budapest.
Where do you learn it?
- In kalocsa.
- Are you Hungarian too, yes?
- Hungarian?
No, I'm not Hungarian...
You were speaking Hungarian?
Yes, indeed.
Servoos is Hungarian.
- Yes.
Uh...
Can I speak with you
for just a minute?
- Yes.
- Is that o.K.?
- Sure.
- I'll be back, hon.
- O.k.
How 'bout here?
- He was very smart.
He didn't want anyone
to understand him.
It's, um...
It's difficult to explain.
I want to show you something.
This was their dictionary.
These were their words.
- What?
- This not a dictionary.
- What is it?
- Is a poem.
- Can you, uh,
can you translate it?
- Yes... "Courage and love.
The quiet I keep on
the thin path to the Meadow
is the hardest.
The sound of your talk below..."
"The quiet I keep
on the thin path to the Meadow
is the hardest.
The sound of your talk below and
wind in the trees is an oracle,
our future now.
I'm caught beneath the tilt
of maples and cry of difference
between ten thousand things...
Leaf and stone, wind and grass,
me, you.
How could I live without you,
my love, even for an afternoon?
When the sun comes up, I open
ten thousand eyes to you.
When it sets,
I open ten thousand more.
I'm remembering and watching
you at the same time.
Do not miss me when I'm gone,
my true and only friend.
Do not even think of me.
I could not bear to know."
Zerylum ...
Two words that should convey
something but didn't.
The mystery, I guess,
of language.
Two words that might have
brought me closer to my brother
clive, but did otherwise.
There was a time when we were
close, when it seemed anything
was possible.
That was before we were
celebrating clive's genius,
watching him win math
competitions and before he
started speaking his language
that I didn't understand.
Batterzog ...
Zerylum ...
I was shut out.
I thought they were
a lovely couple.
Yes, they are.
Don't tell me.
How many goddamn times?
...the free swimming fish
are the monarchs of
the open waters.
Their success is due to their
mobility, their keen senses and
their relative intelligence.
- What?
It's mind control.
It's nothing more
than mind control.
- Yeah, but...
- Your mother's right.
It is, mind control.
It is.
It's a vast wasteland.
30 minutes to go,
gentlemen.
Keep your concentration.
Come on, honey.
Well, where to
for the celebration, folks?
- What if he didn't win?
What? They haven't
graded anything yet.
- What if the sun didn't rise?
- What if the Indians finished
above .500?
Well, where to,
my geniuses?
- Ne menj messze.
- Pardon, honey?
- Ne menj messze.
Watch that language.
- I know a diner that serves
great pancakes, Mrs. Messerman.
So Sandra,
how've you been?
- You were saying 12 coins,
three weighings
on a balance scale...
- Right.
- William, honey, are you going
to eat your pancakes?
- Yeah, I am.
- And you find the counterfeit,
but you don't know whether
it's heavier or lighter.
- Well, right.
That's what makes it hard.
It'd be trivial if you knew
which one were heavier.
Or lighter, of course.
- Of course.
- William, honey, there are
people in this world who would
give their right arm
for those pancakes.
- For these pancakes?
William.
- All right, little brother?
- Hey... get outta here... what...
No... Elliot!
- And you figured this out
just now in the gym?
Right.
- Well then, it oughta be
easy enough.
- I've been fine, actually,
Mrs. Messerman.
Thank you for asking.
...thank you for the ride home,
Mr. and Mrs. Messerman.
- You're welcome, Sandra.
Anytime.
- Clive, aren't you gonna walk
Sandra to the door?
- Yeah.
- No, that's o.K., I'm fine.
Thank you for the pancakes.
- Shut up!
- I'm not gonna pay!
That's all I'm paying, bitch!
Shut up!
- You can go, she's fine.
O.k.
So, clive, I have
to ask, have you ever tried
transcendental meditation?
- No...
- Well, it's fantastic...
Transcendental, that's
like, uh, that's like, uh...
Transmission.
No, no , truly...
Trans-axle meditation.
- All right, first course!
Oh!
Vegetables!
Oh, look at this!
Such a feast!
What food!
- Wow, that's beautiful.
Thank you.
Oh.
- Here's to having
seats together...
On r-r-rocket ship earth...
And incidentally, everyone,
here's to the new math champion
of William Howard taft
high school.
- Whoo!
- Yes!
- And here's to our neighbors,
the cubanos.
Mmm!
- And to our neighbors,
the messermans.
- Thank you for having us.
- And to our next victory
in the city finals.
You know,
the kids at school are all
pretty impressed with clive.
I overheard some of the juniors
talking and well,
they think he's a genius.
- Yeah, but those are
the vocational kids.
- My two geniuses.
- What did Einstein say?
"Mathematics transforms
the fortuitous concourse
of atoms into the tracery
of the finger of...
God."
Wow!
That's beautiful.
- Herbert turnbull atchley,
not Einstein.
- No, Einstein said don't worry
if you're not good at math,
because neither was he, and I,
for one, will drink to that.
- What he said was, "do not
worry about your difficulties
in mathematics.
I can assure you that mine
are still greater."
- Oh, oh, norm byzantine...
Lieutenantbyzantian served
with me.
Right now, he's living,
poor fellow,
in the napa valley...
- Wow.
- Here's what he has to say:
"A wistful elegy of a zinfandel,
a nearly human longing
in a grape."
No, um...
Clive?
To peace.
To peace.
♪ Hey, it ain't easy
girls, it ain't easy ♪
♪ to get the man you love
satisfied ♪
♪ it ain't easy,
girls, it ain't easy ♪
♪ to keep the one you love
by your side... ♪
- ...that's your card.
- O.k.
That is not my card.
- Grind,
grate, chop, purify, frappe...
Grind, grate, chop, liquefy,
purify, frappe, grind...
- Are you sure
you don't want any?
I can barely eat half.
- Oh no, thank you,
Mrs. Messerman,
i-I'm too nervous to eat.
- Please, call me Judy.
- It's only Cleveland.
And he's got the counties.
It's really just the beginning,
then he's got regionals,
then the states...
It's really a long season.
And sheshevyky'll be
at the states.
- Who's sheshevsky?
- Ariel sheshevsky.
His parents are
both physics professors.
They live in Columbus.
Now, heis a genius.
Well, I guess
that makes two of them then.
- Three of them,
actually, Sandra.
Of course,
Mrs. Messerman, three of them.
- Call me Judy.
Well, I don't think we have much
to worry about.
- Of course not.
Clive has
a rare strength in him.
So Billy de salz
and me are waiting
in the gym parking...
- Billy de salz and I.
Well, o.K.,
you weren't there,
but I see your point.
Billy de salz and Iare waiting
in the gym parking lot
during varsity basketball,
and this girl, jeannine lyons,
who's a total fox but is seeing
Joe Blair and everybody knows
it, is totally p.O.'D at Blair
for something and you know...
- William, would you pass
the salad over this direction?
- Sure.
So jeannine comes out
with Billy and I while Joe...
With Billy and me.
- All right, well, jeannine
and Billy and I are hanging out
at Billy's car.
What kind of car?
Wait, Billy de salz
is driving already?
- Yes, his dad's continental.
- So anyway, jeannine
comes out...
- Carl de salz
has a Lincoln continental?
- Must this always be
about insurance?
- Well, I should be handling
that account.
- Well, anyway, it turns out
that jeannine's not really out
there to cry
on Billy's shoulder.
As a matter of fact,
she's there to talk to me.
You sure about that?
- Yes, as a matter of fact,
I am.
- May I remind everybody here
that someone in the messerman
family still has to make
a living.
Was that a Mark III
or a Mark iv?
- I think it was a Mark iv.
But anyway, so we're standing
out there, you know,
rapping and...
- You're what?
- Rapping, you know, talking.
Did it have those little oval
opera windows in the back?
- Yeah, I think
that it did, dad.
But anyway,
the fact of the matter is that
jeannine plays the piano...
In fact, she's working on
the chopin nocturne,
the same one that
I'm working on.
- I'd say it's definitely
a Mark iv.
- Honey, your son is talking.
- Anyway, needless to say,
jeannine is very impressed.
- Chopin was different
than the other romantics.
He was a pole among parisians.
But he stuck to his convictions.
You know what schumann said when
he heard his first chopin piece?
- That's an 85... $8500 car.
- You gonna eat all of those?
- Hey! Hey!
- He said, "hats off,
gentlemen. A genius."
- "Beauty is another form
of genius...
Higher indeed than genius
as it needs no explanation."
- Oscar wilde?
Oscar wilde.
- "It is of the great facts
in the world like sunlight
or springtime
or in the reflection
in dark water of that silver
shell we call the moon."
- And all the geniuses have
remained mysteriously silent
on the subject...
Of the anchovy.
- It's a Caesar.
- Although anchovies,
if I recall correctly, are $1.60
a tin... thank you, Ohio mutual!
- We could have done perfectly
well without the anchovies.
Right on.
- Insurance is about protecting
the average person, it's about
the problems of the common man.
- Why lie to your family?
- Excuse me?
- You know, dad, you're either
part of the problem or part
of the solution.
- Or dissolved in a solution.
- Yeah, the point is...
We didn't... the point is we did
not do without the anchovies.
- The point is, Simon,
that your son has won the math
championship of the city
of Cleveland.
- Oh Jesus, I forgot to ask
about that.
- And there are people
in the world who would give
their right arm
for this anchovy.
- Well, jeez,
that is wonderful, clive.
Here's to the champion
of the great city of Cleveland.
Damn cough.
- Welcome to Cleveland.
- Shhh, quiet.
What were you doing?
- Nothing, I just didn't really
know what they were.
- No...
I mean, what were you
doing over there?
- Oh, it's my history project.
- Your history project.
- Yeah, it's the pieta,
Michelangelo.
It's Mary holding Jesus but he's
dead, but... it's no big deal.
- Don't tell me you're really
a genius too.
- Not really.
Um, were you watching me?
- A little.
- I didn't do anything weird,
did I?
Nope.
- Sometimes I do.
- Here.
Come here, little brother.
I had to move here.
It was my only choice.
- You sleep here?
- Yeah.
I'll tell you another secret.
I like you, little brother.
You and me, we have
this connection, you know?
You know more
than everybody thinks.
- I do?
- Yeah.
- I could bring you
food, Sandra!
- That'd be cool, you know?
I wish clive was as cool
as you sometimes.
I wish.
- I'm really not that cool.
Yeah, you are.
Question.
Does Elliot ever bug you?
Oh, I dunno,
I mean... not really, but...
Oh, sometimes, I guess.
- Well, he bugs me.
- Yeah?
- Clive is so superior to him.
I mean, clive really is a genius
and Elliot's the farthest
thing from.
- Yeah, I hear you.
- Did he ever tell you
about us?
- Who?
- Clive.
Did he ever tell you
about he and I?
- No.
- He didn't?
- No.
- You're not gonna tell
your parents about me,
are you, William?
- No... no way.
- You're not gonna tell
anybody, not even clive?
- Clive doesn't know?
- Of course, he knows, genius.
It's good practice,
keeping your mouth shut.
I get the feeling you could
use some.
All right, I'll tell ya.
I'm clive's lover.
- Oh... Bonjour.
Thank you.
Why, that's very kind of you.
Michelangelo, his pieta?
He's transformed the fortuitous
concourse of atoms
into the tracery
of the finger of god.
A pole among parisians.
Oui, madame,
I have come to see you again.
- Lover?
Whoa! Come on!
- Get back there!
- Oh!
Get him! Get him!
Oh, he scores.
Good one, honey!
Yeah, the old man's
still got it.
- What?
- I dunno.
- First finger. - Right.
- Thumb on the "a" so that
you can reach gently
into the octave.
This is romantic music.
Chopin died at age 39.
This is the gift of his
suffering to the world.
- So now I suffer?
- The girls adored chopin.
- They did?
- Mm-hmm.
Think of Jeannie lyons,
think of how this would move
her heart.
- It's jeanninelyons, mom.
- Jeannine then.
Think of how this would
move her.
Let me ask you something.
Does your brother ever speak
that language of his at school?
- Sometimes.
- What do the other kids think
of it?
- I don't think
they understand.
- Is there some key to it,
some kind of dictionary?
- Well, if there was,
he wouldn't tell me about it.
- Can you multiply
275 by 5,386?
Can you do that in your head?
Can the other kids do that
in their heads?
- Mom...
I made that stuff up
about jeannine lyons.
- I know that, sweetheart.
- You know?
- Honey, a mother knows her
children from the day
that they're born.
I know you won't understand that
for a while but I've known how
you were gonna turn out
since you were two years old.
- Well?
- A brilliant pianist.
- And clive?
- Comedian.
- No, really.
Do you know about clive?
- What about him?
- I dunno, just... you know,
um, what's going on
with everything?
- Is there something going on
with him?
Oh sweetheart, you're just
as extraordinary
as your brother.
- Mom, please.
- You don't have to be
the same, you're different.
He does things that you're not
going to do.
- What kinds of things?
- Just things that have to do
with who he is.
Your brother is gifted.
But with that gift comes
its own weight.
Do you understand that?
William, your brother will need
you for his whole life.
That's what it's like to be
a brother to a boy like that.
And for the rest of your lives,
you will have more in common
with each other than you have
with anyone else in this world.
- Except that he happens
to be a genius.
Maybe,
but you talk to the girls
in English.
Remember that.
- Hey...
What's happening?
You know, what gives?
Yeah, I hear you.
- Hold it in.
- I hear you.
- There are people in
the world who'd give
their right arm for that dope.
So, you know this language
you guys talk?
Did you make it up or...
- Nem.
- What does that mean?
- Sheyteni.
- Do you have, like, a
dictionary or something for it?
- Hogyne.
- You know, if you ever want
someone to talk to, you know,
just get something off
your chest, you can talk to me.
You know, I know more than
everybody thinks, you know.
I'm your brother.
- Good to meet you.
You know I beat you
last time.
You make things up.
- Service.
- What is that?
- What do you think
of clive, dad?
- What do you mean,
what do I think of clive?
- He's been acting a little
weird lately, don't you think?
- Is that supposed to be
a newsflash?
- Just thought I'd ask.
- So now, what do you
think of Elliot?
- Elliot is a fine kid, why?
- Nothing, I'm just talking,
that's all.
What about Sandra?
- What about her?
- Well, what do you
think about her?
- She's his belle, if that's
what you mean, but he will
get over her.
Come on.
- I'm not sure he will.
I think she's actually kind
of pretty.
Pretty...
William...
Maybe she is, but it's
the cheap kind of pretty.
It's not the kind of pretty that
lasts... I guarantee it, sailor.
Now, service.
Sorry!
Service.
- What are you sorry about?
- This was the gift of
his suffering to the world.
...hey, Sandra.
It's me, William.
Sandra?
- Hey.
I was expecting you.
You brought me oranges.
- Yeah, William of oranges.
Er, they're tangerines,
actually.
- William of tangerines.
So, William of tangerines...
- Look, I'm really sorry
about what my dad said.
I just thought it would
come out funny.
- Well, it didn't.
- Yeah.
- That's o.K. 'Cause clive
and I have the kind of love that
your father will never
understand, that's all.
So tell me, William...
- There's a whole bag of
tangerines upstairs.
I don't think anyone's
gonna miss 'em.
- That's not what
I was thinking of.
- Yeah, I didn't think so.
- I know what you want
to tell me.
I'm just waiting for you.
I'm clairvoyant, you know.
- Clive's gonna win
the counties.
- No, not what I was
thinking of either.
- What do you want me to say?
- Is it true that you
think I'm beautiful?
- ♪ ...come out, come out ♪
- ♪ oh, you better believe me ♪
- ♪ come out, come out... ♪
What do you think
about this music, sailor?
- It's all right.
- Your brother's quite
enamored of it.
- Dad, my... my report
card came.
- Yeah, I know.
I got a call from
Mr.. Farmer's office.
- It was just
one bad semester...
- Don't sweat it, sailor.
At ease.
All this business with clive...
You know, just things he does...
The music and his language...
I want you to know that
he's just trying to understand
his life, that's all.
You understand what I'm saying?
- Yeah.
- I, I'm not saying what
he does is wrong and if you want
to try some of those things
some day... that's fine.
- It is?
- Yeah.
My generation has a lot
to learn from your generation.
Yup.
A grown man with
a purple tie.
Look at me...
Your father.
- Look at me, dad, your son.
- "What a noble creature
is man."
Your old man sells insurance...
Will you ever forgive him?
- Yeah, I forgive you, dad.
I just want you to know that
grades don't mean anything.
I want you to know that.
Why, I'm proud you don't
care about them.
- You are?
- Yeah, they're an external
symbol of approval for something
you ought to be doing for
its own sake, anyway.
Affirmative, sailor?
- Affirmative, captain.
- In 100 years, no one
will know about the puny trials
of our days.
"Sweet mercy, how my very heart
has bled to see thee.
Poor old man...
With thy gray hairs
grow white in the snowy blasts."
- It's not that bad, dad.
- Samuel Taylor coleridge,
William.
That's what important,
not your report card.
- So, that's how
we'll settle it.
Chet will leave clive alone
and won't come anywhere
near him at school.
Agreed?
- Yeah.
- Chet.
- Yes, Mrs. Messerman.
- And, clive, you won't
do anything to provoke
Chet here, agreed?
Clive?
...what is it about this new
america that hates intelligence?
What is it about this country?
When I was a girl, we called
our teachers "professor."
We revered them.
We all wanted to be like them.
I mean, there was no greater
achievement for us
than learning.
Now, in america,
we spit on that.
We attack it, the great
pillars of our culture:
Learning, art, beauty.
They... they might
as well be vices!
You know what mao
is doing in China?
Breaking up all the violins into
pieces, smashing them all up.
Maybe that's what's next here.
Maybe that's what
this is leading to.
So...
What's happening?
- We're Buddhist monks.
It's clive's idea.
Ohm...
Clive,
William, dinner!
- Just a minute!
Clive, William, dinner!
It's not polite to keep
our guests waiting!
- The potatoes kind of
taste funny.
- You know, what does it
mean exactly, Mrs. Messerman,
"twice baked"?
- That's a good question.
Mom?
Well, I spoon
the potato back into the skin
and bake it again.
- What a great idea.
- Seems awful cruel and unusual
for the potato, does it not?
Thank you, Sandra.
And you're welcome to come by
anytime, by the way.
- Thank you.
So lucky to have such
a good cook for a mother.
- It's not that big a deal.
- It's not?
- W... no.
I mean, the potato's not
that big a deal.
You're a great mother.
It's really great having
a good cook as a mother.
- Is your mother
a good cook, Sandra?
- She doesn't do much cooking,
actually, Mr. Messerman.
Thanks.
- Thanks for what?
- Oh, thanks for asking, dad.
- Oh.
You're welcome, I guess.
- It's just not
really her thing.
- Oh, I can understand it.
- So can I.
I think we all can understand.
- I think so too.
- The square root of 56,389.
Clive?
- 237 point... about four-six.
- Oh, that truly
is extraordinary.
Where do you get that from?
- From the back of
the sock drawer.
What about primes
between 900 and 950?
- You know, sheshevsky
is going to be at the states.
You think sheshevsky's
at home reading magazines?
- Why do you
call him "sheshevsky"?
You call me "messerman"?
He's just a guy.
His name is Ariel.
And the prime?
- 907, 911, 919, 929,
937, 941, 947.
- Got it.
- Look out, sheshevsky.
- You think something
funny's going on?
- Funny?
- You know...
- Oh...
That?
Dad'll never do anything.
He won't?
- He's trapped in a cage.
- Yeah, dad's in a cage.
- That's right.
- What kind of cage?
- A cage of his own devising.
Cool.
I don't think that's loud
enough, clive.
Do you think you can play
any louder, clive?
- I didn't know you understood
electronics to that degree.
- I'm trying to do
some homework.
You know, some of us
have homework to do.
You know, study, books... see?
Hi, Sandra.
- Hello, William.
Gyanus.
Hogyne.
- What does that mean?
I think it means
"once more, with feeling."
- Where'd you find that?
- Where'd you leave it?
- Give it here.
- What is it?
- It's nothing!
- Then why you
freaking out about it?
- Fuck it!
William, give it here!
- No, stop it.
Stop it, get off.
- Hey, hey, hey,
quit being a brat.
- All right!
All right.
- Fuck you, William!
- It's the dictionary.
- What?
- Good job, William.
We figured you'd be
looking for it.
- I wasn't looking for it.
- Yeah, right.
- I wasn't looking for it.
- It's not exactly
a dictionary.
It's more like a...
Rosetta stone.
- I used to have one of those.
- You did?
- Look, how 'bout
giving it here.
- No.
- Let him keep it if he wants.
It won't do anybody any good.
- Fine, I'll just keep it then.
- What do you mean,
it won't do anybody any good?
- He only found half of it.
He only found the words.
- You didn't think that
we'd keep the meanings in
the same place...
Did you, little brother?
William!
- Um, I'm coming!
- I got one.
- Oh, come on.
- Yeah.
...so handsome.
Everybody ready?
Here we go...
Here we go, here we go,
here we go.
Catch... this.
♪ Oh! ♪
♪ A-ha! ♪
Mmm... wow!
It's not bad.
Uh, it's, um... it's innovative.
It's really, um...
You crack
me up, Mr.. Cubano.
- No, it's not bad at all.
It's, uh, it's not what
I call danceable but it
is original, right?
I'll give you that.
- Oh, no, no.
No, no, no.
I could dance to this.
Play it again.
I know
you can, honey.
Honey?
- Come on.
- Come on back, sweetheart.
Let Simon have the stage,
all right?
Play another one for us.
Play another one, all right?
You sit and you behave.
Yeah, o.K.
Here we go.
- Catch this.
- ♪ Teachers, parents
and politicians,
they ridicule the wild... ♪
- Well?
- O.k., I like
the second one better.
I like that one.
- Oh, no, no, no...
- It was good... no, it was!
- The first is sexy.
- Sexy...
Mom, I mean, what do you
think about it?
- I have values and taste.
- Ez nem tetseek.
- Pardon?
- Honey, this stuff
is everywhere.
It's the future.
We may as well learn about it.
- Simon, you can listen
to whatever you wish,
but there are certain things
I will never accept.
What would chopin think?
What would mendelssohn think?
- Oh, come on.
We're not gonna talk
about chopin.
- The world's changing, honey.
We're all gonna have
to change with it.
- And what did you say,
young man?
- Nem saameet.
Pardon?
- Holvon o veytsey, kayrem.
- Clive, your mother
asked you a question.
- Why don't you tell us
how you solved that problem,
the one with the, um, coins
and the scale, clive?
I still don't understand it
at all.
- He doesn't have to talk
if he doesn't want to, dear.
- Yes, he does.
Clive...
Clive, please.
- Answer Mrs. Cubano's
question.
Vee-sont-laa-taash-roh.
Man, I...
Now...
It's great what kids
do these days.
They reinvent everything.
Clive's invented a new language.
What a nice surprise.
Dr. Livingston, I presume?
I just came down here to bring
Sandra some food, you guys.
- Feeding the monster?
- Bite me.
Where?
My ass.
You wish.
- Thank you, William.
That was sweet.
William of grapefruits.
So... since when
has he known about this place?
- Hey, don't worry, man.
I didn't tell anybody, o.K.?
Uh, who's worried?
Hazudozo.
Gyonyoru.
- Yeah, you know, um, dad says
that his generation's got
a lot to learn from ours.
I mean, he told me.
- And, um, what else did
he tell you?
- Well, he said that, you know,
you're just trying to understand
your life.
I hear ya.
It's true, you know.
He's right.
We have to lead them
through this stuff.
No, we don't.
We don't have to lead
anybody anywhere.
We have
to educate them.
Hold it in.
- We don't have
to educate anybody.
Hold it in.
You been studying
the rosetta stone?
- A little.
Hazudozo.
- Have you found
the meanings yet?
- No, I haven't been looking.
- Of course you have.
By the way, little brother,
you are dressed kind of nice.
You going somewhere?
This is why I wanted
to bring a map.
- I used to find our way in the
east China sea among Japanese
subs in mined archipelagos.
- Yeah, with a map.
- The test started
15 minutes ago.
- Well, that leaves us
an hour and 45 minutes.
Ah-ha.
- Look, he's welcome to do what
he can in the time that's left.
- The others have been at it
for 45 minutes already.
That's just officious,
is what it is.
- It's not fair to the others.
- Look, it was my fault,
not my son's.
I forgot to bring a map.
- Well, maybe next time,
you'll bring one then.
- There won't be a next time
is what we're telling you.
- Clive, what do you think?
- Sounds fine.
- O.k., quick.
- Just let me get
a drink of water.
- Good luck.
- You guys, I can smell that
that all the way downstairs!
- Hey, William.
I've been looking
at the rafters.
Have you ever noticed them?
They're made of all these...
Intricate pieces.
- Clive and Elliot have...
Told me some of their words.
Servoos.
- Servoos.
- Ablak...
Bayosh...
Birkahoosh...
- Szer...
- Szer...eto.
- Did they tell you
what they mean?
- No, not yet.
- Little brother,
the old man here has just
tried his first doob.
- Yeah, I don't know what
this marijuana's supposed
to do, William.
- You tried it, dad?
- Yeah, I did, sailor.
And watch out, sheshevsky.
- Here.
Take it.
- Dad?
That's interesting.
Didn't anybody ever teach
you how to smoke a cigarette?
You didn't inhale.
- Yes, I did.
- He never has.
- Do you know, your brother
won the cuyahoga county
finals this morning?
- Dad, I was there, remember?
- Oh...
Yeah.
- Congratulations, clive.
- Thank you.
- By the way... I dried
the lunch dishes for you.
Takes me days
to plan a meal.
It's really
great, mom.
- Thank you.
- Now, I'm telling
you, he's a criminal.
He sent his henchmen into that
hotel and all those clowns in
his cabinet were complicit.
He's gonna be impeached,
you Mark my word.
- Thank you for this lovely
meal, Judy, it's so good.
William?
- Hmm?
- Can you open up that
window for me, please?
- Uh, sure.
- Simon, it's 40 degrees out.
We could use some
cool air in here, could we not?
- Very nice, Simon.
William, would you close
the window now, please?
- Sure.
Now, let us try
the red wine.
"That is why I have come
to California, for soil
the color of a dark sea.
Too many years on ships and
you forget the taste of women...
And wine.
In the earth we shall find...
Mmm, a hidden source."
- Here's to the champion
of cuyahoga county.
- Here, here.
- Here, here.
- Cheers.
And here's to the hidden sauce.
- Source.
- Yup.
My wife is... right.
And I only have one son left.
- What is that supposed
to mean, Simon?
- Well, I don't know.
I'm surprised myself.
- You're drunk.
- Indeed I am.
But that's not all.
- So, clive...
Tell us what the math
finals were like.
- Math is just concentration,
Mrs. Cubano.
Math is... simple steps,
one after the next.
Each step is irrefutable...
Unassailable... rising higher
and higher into the sky, each
stone no more than what it is.
But with such simple stones,
in time, you have built
a cathedral.
That is what math is.
It's a cathedral, and when you
have finished, you enter it in
awe and you sit beneath the arch
and you feel what human beings
have always longed to feel.
- That was lovely, clive.
- It's me, captain.
- Yeah, sailor.
Is that bach?
No, no, Mozart?
Or could it be... haydn, is it?
- It's albinoni.
- Dad, what would you say
if I had gotten myself
into some trouble?
- What kind of trouble?
- Serious trouble.
- You won't.
- How do you know?
- How do I know?
I just do.
Character is fate.
Heraclitus said that about
two thousand years ago.
- What if I could change
my character?
You won't.
That's my point.
You can't resist being
who you are.
No one can.
Expensive tastes, a raccoon
that likes anchovies.
- Thank you, Ohio mutual.
- Dad, what were you like
in high school?
- What was I like?
- Yeah, I mean,
did you get good grades?
Were you a good student?
- Oh, we were
at war then, William.
Pass me my drink.
You know, in geometry, they
taught us bomb trajectories.
Uh, yes, I cared about my grades
and then I went to war.
- Well, you know, grades
are just an external symbol
of something that you ought
to be doing for yourself
in the first place.
- You're a quick study,
aren't you, William?
Well...
You should know
something then...
That what I said about
your grades was dead wrong.
Your grades are about as
important as anything gets.
Grades are all an employer
will have to judge you by.
You know that's right,
right, William?
I mean, you know,
don't you, that these...
These crazy times
are gonna pass.
...why don't you two find
something to do for a while?
This could take some time.
- Oh, there you are.
- Math was never my subject.
- Grades aren't important.
- Cool.
- They're just an external
symbol of something that
you ought to be doing for
yourself in the first place.
What do you think of that?
- I think you're funny.
Think of clive in there,
doing this stuff.
- One of these equations
is wrong.
- What?
- It is, the calculations
are incorrect.
- Come on.
- They are.
- Now, don't tell me
you understand this stuff too?
- Well...
It's really not that difficult
if you understand the equations.
My two geniuses.
Liar.
Genius.
Where'd you go?
Look, I... I mean,
I just found one small mistake
in the equation.
It's nothing.
It's probably just,
like, a typo.
Try and find me.
Do you really think
I'm beautiful?
- Yes.
- How beautiful?
- Very.
Your beauty is like sunlight or
springtime or... the reflection
in dark water of that silver
shell that we call the moon.
- Wow.
Did you just make that up?
- It's not a big deal.
- But you can't even see me.
- Yes, I can.
- No, you can't.
- It doesn't matter.
- You didn't really
understand that math, William.
- Yes, I did.
O.k., you're right, I didn't.
I pretended to.
I just don't really
like thinking about
that kind of stuff.
- What stuff?
- Equations, the kind of
stuff that clive thinks about.
- Did you lie about
anything else?
- Oh, like that
I think you're pretty?
- Yeah.
- No.
I could never lie about that.
How am I doing?
- You're getting warmer.
Nope... colder, genius.
Good, warmer.
What do you like to think about?
- I like thinking about you.
- ♪ Diamond girl ♪
♪ you sure do shine ♪
♪ glad I found you ♪
♪ glad you're mine ♪
So how come
you're not worried about it?
How come you're not
worried about walking
to school in the morning?
- Well, because I know
I can do it.
- Exactly.
- Put, put more arc into it...
Like that.
- Math is just
different for me.
I know I can do anything
in math, that's all.
- Well, that's amazing.
- Do that again.
That's amazing to me.
- Yeah, but there's,
like, five kids on the block
that can do that.
You know, what you do
is just so different.
- But the thing is
is that it's not.
There's nothing
amazing about it.
It is just something
that I can do.
Like mom... you play an e flat
instead of an e and she can hear
that from across the street.
But is that amazing?
Is it amazing that a dog can
smell you in your footprints?
- Oh, maybe not,
but every dog can do it.
- Well, I guess you
got me there.
- Sheshevsky doesn't worry you?
- Easy, tiger.
- How long have you been there?
- Not long.
I was watching you.
- Was I snoring?
- You sleep like an angel.
William...
Have you told
your parents about me?
- No way.
- Are you sure?
- Positive.
- I told you I was clairvoyant.
- About what?
- About this.
I knew this would happen.
Did you ever find the rest
of their dictionary?
- No.
I'm still looking, though.
I don't give up.
- I've noticed.
Tell me that thing
you said again.
- That thing?
- That thing you said.
- Oh, you mean, like, um...
That you're the reflection in
dark water of the silver shell
that we call the moon?
- Huh.
Really...
That was sweet.
Oh... William, don't.
Don't ruin it now.
- ♪ Hold on, freedom ♪
♪ freedom's only thing
you have ♪
♪ hold on, justice ♪
♪ justice is your only land ♪
♪ I saw the meaning,
the meaning in the sun, sky ♪
♪ he said, "lay, lay,
you better just let it slide" ♪
♪ my life is for living
and living is for fun
so you better ch-change
your mind ♪
♪ change your mind ♪
♪ why, I've got one ♪
♪ hold on, freedom ♪
♪ freedom's only
thing you have ♪
♪ hold on to justice ♪
♪ justice is your biggest land ♪
♪ when they look for something,
and something looks for them ♪
♪ just like a jungle,
a jungle where
you never been... ♪
- Here...
One for you, too.
- ♪ And each new change means
a new day for me ♪
♪ so you better hold on ♪
♪ hold on, you can see ♪
♪ help me, now ♪
♪ ooh... yeah ♪
- Come on, little brother.
Elliot baked them.
Hey,
they were good, man.
Kituno gomba.
Sapien.
- Hey, I want to thank you
guys for inviting me.
- Oh, no problem,
little brother.
- Servoos!
- Servoos!
- Bayosh.
You baked 'em too long.
Servoos.
- Servoos.
- How do you feel,
little brother?
- I feel great.
- Found out what
the words mean, didn't you?
- I haven't been looking.
- Vajon visszatersz, eh?
- I'm really hungry.
- I waited for you.
- Well, I guess you did.
- Tell me something.
What are you gonna think of me
in 10 years?
What are you gonna think of me
when your family comes apart?
- What?
- Shh...
♪ She is the day
that gives me time ♪
♪ to live and linger love,
my life ♪
♪ till night comes on with
sundown in scythe
to end the puzzle pantomime ♪
♪ she's a day of love. ♪
10 minutes.
10 minutes to go,
ladies and gentlemen.
♪ Drifting with the
current down a moonlit stream ♪
♪ while above the heavens
in their glory gleam ♪
♪ beautiful Ohio,
in dreams again I see ♪
♪ visions of what used to be ♪
♪ o-hi-o... ♪
- Thank you.
As the superintendent of the
Cincinnati public schools, it is
my pleasure to award this year's
state medal in mathematics.
Hmm, this is remarkable.
I guess it's true what
they say about great minds.
Ladies and gentlemen,
it's my privilege to bestow this
year's championship medal on...
Ariel sh... sheshevsky.
And... clive messerman.
Boys, could you,
uh, please rise?
- It's just a math competition.
He didn't even win.
...mom, Sandra lives
in the basement.
- Boys will be boys.
- She's been living
there all year.
She doesn't go home, mom.
Her mom doesn't know where
she is and she doesn't care.
She lives behind the furnace.
- Poor girl.
- She lives behind our furnace.
- Sweetheart...
Do you think I don't know
about Sandra?
- You know about her?
- Of course.
I think it's kind of romantic.
- Dad knows too?
- No, he doesn't and I don't
think you should tell him.
Your father isn't always as...
Forward-thinking as he seems.
I want to ask you something.
She's his girlfriend, right?
- You mean, are they exclusive
or something?
- Yeah.
That's what I mean.
- I don't exactly know.
- Well, it's fine
if she lives in our basement.
- Ping pong, captain?
Dinner's ready!
It's on the table!
- Shh.
- Oh...
- Um...
It's you.
Serve.
What?
Boys?
Dinner's ready.
- Batorsag.
- Szerelem.
Oh, my god, Simon.
Oh...
- Unless we speak, how can we let
someone know how we feel?
A gesture, a look,
perhaps, but are they enough?
I never spoke about that day.
I wanted to, but I never did.
That's why, I guess, nothing
changed, yet everything did.
I obsessed about it for years,
but never really had the guts
to do it... to atone.
And then, suddenly,
it was too late.
...funny.
Servoos,ladies.
- Servoos.
- Did he say "servoos"?
Excuse me, ladies?
Ladies.
Excuse me, ladies?
I'm sorry.
Uh, did, did you say "servoos"?
- Servoos.
- Uh... where did you
learn "servoos"?
- Where do I learn it?
In Budapest.
Where do you learn it?
- In kalocsa.
- Are you Hungarian too, yes?
- Hungarian?
No, I'm not Hungarian...
You were speaking Hungarian?
Yes, indeed.
Servoos is Hungarian.
- Yes.
Uh...
Can I speak with you
for just a minute?
- Yes.
- Is that o.K.?
- Sure.
- I'll be back, hon.
- O.k.
How 'bout here?
- He was very smart.
He didn't want anyone
to understand him.
It's, um...
It's difficult to explain.
I want to show you something.
This was their dictionary.
These were their words.
- What?
- This not a dictionary.
- What is it?
- Is a poem.
- Can you, uh,
can you translate it?
- Yes... "Courage and love.
The quiet I keep on
the thin path to the Meadow
is the hardest.
The sound of your talk below..."
"The quiet I keep
on the thin path to the Meadow
is the hardest.
The sound of your talk below and
wind in the trees is an oracle,
our future now.
I'm caught beneath the tilt
of maples and cry of difference
between ten thousand things...
Leaf and stone, wind and grass,
me, you.
How could I live without you,
my love, even for an afternoon?
When the sun comes up, I open
ten thousand eyes to you.
When it sets,
I open ten thousand more.
I'm remembering and watching
you at the same time.
Do not miss me when I'm gone,
my true and only friend.
Do not even think of me.
I could not bear to know."