美国往事是什么意思？
“The American Past” is a movie about three friends who were very close during their childhood. They were inseparable and shared everything with each other – wives， women they slept with， jobs， and criminal activities (the three were part of the same gang). All these experiences formed their characters - one was always the leader， another the brain， and the last was the brawn. One night， while on a job that goes wrong， the brawn gets killed. The brain and the leader are devastated but have to continue living with this tragedy. Time passes by and the two friends are no longer young men but middle aged. Life has taken its course and brought them different kinds of happiness， but also despair and regret. The film shows us the passage of time through photo sequences which show how the world changed around the two friends， whereas they themselves age but very little. As we see more and more photos from the past， we realize just how much they lived and loved together， as well as experienced pain and suffering. And then suddenly we’re back in present where only moments ago they were middleaged men， and now they look like young boys again --- the end.
The ending comes as a complete surprise to me every single time I watch it --- so much so that my reaction is usually along the lines of "What the...？ Did he just wav goodbye and go back in time or something？" But having seen it for what will be far closer to 70 times than to 69（and counting）， there isn't any doubt about it anymore. It's quite simply magical.