BLACK SCREEN -
In french (with English subtitles)
MAN’S VOICEJe pense, donc je suis. (I think,
therefore I am)
INT. BAR - VIP LOUNGE
FADE IN:
A man, HARRY (mid 50’s), awakes from lying on the floor.
HARRY sits up and scans the room.
The room is dark and rich with deep reds and browns, a
Caravaggio brought to life. at least a hundred books are
scattered around the outside of the room, a circle of
literature.
HARRY stands and inspects a couple of different books
CLOSE UP ON HARRY - Expressions of familiarity and
confusion.
HARRY turns and sees a door, the only door in the room.
HARRY approaches, places his hand on the handle -
- A voice calls out -
MAN’S VOICE
STOP!
HARRY lets go of the handle, spins and sees MICHAEL (late
20’s), he’s tall, slender, and is dressed in a sharp fitted
suit.
MICHAEL, TWO CHAIRS and an EMPTY TABLE have appeared in the
center of the room.
HARRY
How did you get there?
MICHAEL
There was never any getting to, or
from; I simply am.
HARRY
Who are you?
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED:
2.
MICHAEL
And your next question will be..
where?
HARRY
It had crossed my mind, yes. Well?
MICHAEL
Ask me if I’m going to answer you.
HARRY
Are you going to answer me?
MICHAEL
No. Now take a seat.
MICHAEL gestures to the chair opposite him.
HARRY
Do you know who I am?
MICHAEL
Harry, please, lets not play games.
HARRY
You know who I am; and you seem
very confident in having me do what
you want. But..
HARRY turns back to the door.
MICHAEL’s expression is washed over with dread and fear.
HARRY turns and catches MICHAEL’s expression.
HARRY
But this door; you don’t have
control over this door.
MICHAEL
You are quick. Maybe a little
incentive will coax you instead.
ANGLE, OTS on HARRY’s left side, the table empty. MICHAEL
extends a hand, gesturing to the empty space on the table.
CAMERA TRACKS RIGHT across HARRY’s shoulder line, shot holds
on right side OTS, there is now a CHESSBOARD in the empty
space.
HARRY is shocked. HARRY’s eye ask a thousand questions, none
of them make sense to him.
MICHAEL laughs, the laugh grows louder filling the room.
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED: 3.
HARRY takes a deep breath and recomposes himself.
HARRY approaches the table. HARRY clenches a fist.
HARRY
Chess, so you do want to play game-
HARRY stops just shy of the table. He is disturbed.
HARRY
How did you get that?
MICHAEL
I imagined you’d ask that sooner,
so fond of questions. It’s not
often I see a chessboard; familiar,
no? -
HARRY’s temper flares.
HARRY
HOW DID YOU GET MY FATHERS BOARD!
MICHAEL
Temper temper; you’re the one who
brought this here.
HARRY RUSHES forward, he FLIPS the table aside, casting the
CHESSBOARD and all the CHESS PIECES to the floor.
HARRY
NO MORE GAMES!
HARRY makes a motion to grab MICHAEL -
INT. BAR - VIP LOUNGE - LATER
HARRY is by the door, his hand is placed on the handle -
- A voice calls out -
MICHAEL
STOP!
HARRY lets go of the handle, he SPINS around. MICHAEL is
stood on his own be the over turned table and scattered
CHESSBOARD and CHESS PIECES.
CUT TO:
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED:
4.
MICHAEL
(CONT.)
Stop playing games you say.
HARRY is visibly shaken, he’s caught by terror. HARRY tries
to utter a sentence.
CLOSE UP on MICHAEL’s face. MICHAEL looking at the scattered
CHESS PIECES, he then turns his head slowly to face HARRY;
whilst doing so we HEAR MICHAEL’s voice (in an ominous
tone), but he isn’t speaking.
MICHAEL
(Voice Over)
I’ll stop playing when you stop
asking the wrong questions, Harry.
You have a truth to find.
MICHAEL slowly approaches HARRY, his movement is slightly
off, in an inhuman manner. MICHAEL snaps his fingers and the
TABLE, CHESSBOARD and CHESS PIECES all reassemble back to
their previous positions.
MICHAEL
(Voice Over)
Time.. space.. life.. death, all as
one; come to me.
MICHAEL extends his hand as he approaches.
HARRY is frozen in fear.
CLOSE UP of HARRY’s hand, with one swift motion HARRY SNAPS
his INDEX FINGER with pressure from his THUMB. HARRY lets
out a YELP. The pain helps HARRY to break out of his terror,
he turns and opens the door.
MICHAEL’s face turns gaunt, he scream unnaturally -
MICHAEL
NOOOOOOO!
HARRY opens the door fully. The door frame is empty and
black, CAMERA TRACKS into darkness, MICHAEL’s screaming
follows us through and FADES OUT.
CUT TO:
INT. DARK TRAIL - FENCE
CAMERA holds on shot of darkness. We HEAR a somber JAPANESE
BUDDHIST CHANT fade in.
CAMERA PANS up, we see a lit trail of TORN PHOTOGRAPHS, we
PAN up and HOLD on a fence, there’s a SMALL OPENING at the
bottom of the fence, it’s too dark to see through (only F.G.
is the photo trail, only B.G. is black)
A BOY (8-10) walks into frame (F.G.) he moves cautiously
towards the fence.
The BOY arrives at the fence.
ANGLE, BOY’s POV EXTREME H/A, the BOY’s feet are close to
the OPENING, surrounded by TORN PHOTOGRAPHS. A GUST of WIND
(more of a large exhalation) BLOWS the PHOTOGRAPHS away.
A voice WHISPERS from the SMALL OPENING -
MAN’S VOICE
Closer. Closer.
The BOY takes a step back, away from the fence. The BUDDHIST
CHANT fades away. The BOY kneels to get a better viewing
angle.
MAN’S VOICE
Closer. Closer.
The BOY slowly crawls closer to the OPENING.
ANGLE, SIDE ANGLE, the BOY is on the far right of the frame
and the OPENING on the left. The BOY edges closer.
ANGLE, OTS of BOY, from the OPENING, 8 human arm sized BLACK
CRUSTACEAN LEGS quickly emerge and VIOLENTLY settle against
the fence.
ANGLE, CU of BOY, recoiling in terror.
The BOY stands, the CRUSTACEAN LEGS PULSATE. A moment passes
and the CRUSTACEAN LEGS retract into the OPENING. The
BUDDHIST CHANT fades in once more.
MAN’S VOICE
Closer. Closer.
The BOY backs off slowly, his eyes fixated on the dark
OPENING. The BOY bumps into something solid behind him.
(CONTINUED)
5.
CONTINUED: 6.
ANGLE, EXTREME LOW ANGLE OTS of the BOY, a minimal amount of
space in bottom right hand corner of the frame is taken up
by the BOY, the remainder is dominated by a board tower of a
man, he’s clad in a LARGE ULSTER, his face covered in
shadows.
The TOWERING MAN leans his head forward, dipping into the
light, he has no face. He extends his hand towards the BOY.
The BOY is frightened, he looks behind him -
- ANGLE, POV of BOY, the door he came through is there. It
starts moving backwards, disappearing into the darkness.
The BOY turns to face the TOWERING MAN, ANGLE, SIDE ANGLE,
the TOWERING MAN’s hand is on the right side of the frame,
the BOY’s on left.
The BOY is about to take hold of the hand, then another hand
from behind grabs the BOY by his collar and drags him OOS -
EXT. SNOWY FIELD - DAY
HARRY falls backwards onto the soft snow.
The field is huge and picturesque, snow blankets the
terrain.
HARRY stands, a soft breeze ruffles his hair. He isn’t cold.
HARRY takes in all of the surroundings, beautiful, HARRY
smiles.
We HEAR the wind gust on by, there’s something else behind
it though, the faintest whisper of a voice. HARRY doesn’t
notice.
After surveying his surroundings HARRY speaks, but no words
can be heard -
HARRY
Am I free?
The voice of the wind becomes a little louder, certain words
are defined.
VOICE OF THE WIND
(elongated)
..notice.. ..see..
HARRY scans the land, he spots a figure in the distance,
seemingly lying on the ground.
CUT TO:
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED:
7.
VOICE OF THE WIND
(elongated)
..go.. ..see..
HARRY makes his way to the figure.
EXT. SNOWY FIELD - BODY RESTING PLACE - LATER
HARRY arrives, the figure is the corpse of a man. The corpse
is lay face down in the snow, his right arm is extended away
from his body, the hand is closed around something.
VOICE OF THE WIND
(enlongated)
..open.. ..see..
HARRY checks if to see if he can see anyone else. There’s
no-one.
VOICE OF THE WIND
(elongated)
..king.. ..king..
HARRY pry’s the hand open, the a single CHESS PIECE, a KING.
HARRY rolls the body over, HARRY recoils in shock. It’s
himself; frozen, with a face of horror.
HARRY looks up, the BOY is standing on the opposite side of
the corpse.
HARRY looks at his hand. ECU of the KING in HARRY’s palm.
CLOSE UP of the BOY smiling.
INT. DARK SPACE
ANGLE, MID of HARRY facing the CAMERA.
HARRY
(happy)
Do you know who the king is?
In SLOW MOTION the fragments of TORN PHOTOGRAPHS fall around
HARRY.
CUT TO:
CUT TO:
INT. DARK SPACE - LATER
ANGLE, BIRD EYE VIEW, many different fragment of a TORN
PHOTOGRAPH move across the floor and reassemble into a
picture.
The picture is of HARRY and the BOY, HARRY’s arm around the
BOY, both are smiling.
Faintly -
Louder -
Louder -
Daniel.
Daniel.
Daniel.
HARRY
HARRY
HARRY
INT. HOUSE - LIVING ROOM - DAY
The room is almost like a study, there are books strewn
across the floor, side tables, the windowsills, but still
there is an air homeliness.
HARRY and the BOY, DANIEL, are sat at opposite ends of a
table playing chess.
HARRY
Daniel, are you listening?
DANIEL
Yeah, yeah.
HARRY
Picking your next move wisely I
see.
HARRY smiles.
DANIEL
Yeah... got it.
DANIEL confidently takes one of HARRY’s pieces. DANIEL
smiles and crosses his arms in confidence about his
decision.
Hum.
HARRY
(CONTINUED)
8.
CUT TO:
CONTINUED: 9.
HARRY, without hesitation, takes the piece DANIEL just
placed. DANIEL’s expression drops. DANIEL reviews the board
quickly.
DANIEL
No fair!
HARRY laughs.
HARRY
My dad, your grandfather used to
always ask me a question when we’d
play.
DANIEL
Grandpa Joe?
HARRY
Yeap.
DANIEL
What was it?
HARRY
Well I said a while ago, but you
were too busy strategizing.
DANIEL gives a cheeky smile.
DANIEL
What was it!?
HARRY
Okay; who is the King?
HARRY points to, and slightly nudges DANIEL’s KING PIECE.
DANIEL
... errr
HARRY
I’ll make it easier for you. Think
of the King as a real person. Oh,
and that’s your King -
(Harry points to Daniels king
again)
- who do think my king is.
DANIEL
DANIEL is trying his hardest to figure it out.
...
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED:
10.
HARRY
Yeah, it’s a tough one. Grandpa Joe
told me, that one day, if I ever
beat him at chess he’d tell.
DANIEL
Did you beat him.
HARRY
I sure did.
DANIEL
And what did he say?
HARRY
Cheeky! You ain’t getting the
answer that easily.
DANIEL laughs.
HARRY
I’ll give you the same chance
kiddo; beat me in a game and I’ll
tell you who my King is.
ANGLE, WIDE of HARRY and DANIEL continuing their game of
chess. CAMERA TRACK in on their hands moving the pieces.
After a couple of moves DANIEL’s hand has changed to the
hand of a grown man.
SET TRANSITION:
INT. BAR - VIP LOUNGE
CAMERA TRACKS out from CLOSE UP of chess game to reveal
we’re now in the VIP LOUNGE. HARRY is playing the same game
he was playing with DANIEL, but sat opposite him now is
MICHAEL. (SEAMLESS TRANSITION)
Both continue to play. The silence holds for a moment.
HARRY
You dragged me out of that room
didn’t you?
MICHAEL
Still with the questions.
MICHAEL smiles as he finds a very adventitious move, he
beings to move -
(CONTINUED)
CONTINUED:
11.
HARRY
I’m dead, aren’t I?
MICHAEL pauses, he looks up from the game at HARRY.
MICHAEL
Yes.
Beat.
MICHAEL places his piece.
HARRY
What will happen to me if I stay?
MICHAEL looks over at the door.
HARRY
I see.
MICHAEL
Checkmate.
MICHAEL takes the King.
MICHAEL
You have to protect the King. A
simple rule.
MICHAEL hold the King stationary above the board in view for
HARRY.
Beat.
MICHAEL
Did you find your truth; are going
to stop asking and starting
answering?
HARRY
Daniel. My son.
MICHAEL
You have a question.
HARRY
When will I see him again?
MICHAEL
Sooner than you can even imagine.
CUT TO:
INT. SEWING SHOP - BACKROOM
ANGLE, WIDE of MICHAEL sit at an empty table opposite an
empty chair holding nothing with an arm extended.
A WOMAN is walking closer to a the only door in the room.
She extends her arm to the handle.
MICHAEL sighs.
STOP!
CUT TO BLACK
END
MICHAEL
12.
No comments:
Post a Comment