The Fan, Diego Castro, Hide And Seek and others

"Portrait Of A Boy Falling" (or “The Fan”) 

Time frame: probably late 80s. 

Film starts with documentary shots of a depressing, grey town; fast speed footage of a street getting animated as the day goes by; people going to work early in the morning while others, already half asleep, come back from their night shifts on the bus. Then the music changes to a rock soundtrack: shots of people going to clubs, pubs, concerts. Travelling shot of a queue at a concert venue - stops at a teenager in full rock gear, who is thus established as the center of attention. Shot of another queue, another day, at another venue: same young man, in a different attire. And again, a third time.

"Ewan" (the youngest son in a fatherless family unit) prepares to go to college; as he enters the kitchen for breakfast, he stops, checks himself, takes down a badge or two, hides a scarf inside a pocket. Quick breakfast with his exhausted, grumpy mother. As he leaves, his ruddy grandfather remarks: "And by the way, fancy pants, don't let me catch you wearing a scarf today in the street again or you'll be in fookin' trouble you hear!" "Yeah, yeah..." As soon as he's out of the door, Ewan messes up his hair and changes his attire. Noisy, bleak environment. He switches on his walkman, big breath, and music reigns (some inspirational track: Guided By Voices "Things I Will Keep"). Now he glides along, superbly ignoring the mocking sly looks directed at him along the way to school, the children's jibes, and all-round petty violence. Scene in class room, where, seated at the back, he peeks at some rock magazine (the NME or Uncut). At recess, listening to his walkman (Guided By Voices "Mushroom Art"). Groups of like-minded fans are visible in the background: punks, heavy metal fans, others. Ewan goes back home, sorts out his clothes and hair before coming in, and legs it to his room, but his grandfather wants a word with him. The old man proceeds to tell him how he's been seen in town by his war veteran mates wearing a scarf and so on. Ewan pretends to listen to him for a while, then repairs to his sanctuary (his bedroom). More music blaring (Ten Benson "I don't buy it"): he checks the gigs listings; today is Wednesday, the day the NME comes out and features the forthcoming concerts.

Scenes of him stacking shelves in a supermarket, collecting glasses in a pub, delivering newspapers and so on. Shot of him counting his pocket money. Back at school. Checks the gigs listings: his face lights up, and he circles some tour dates.

Some time later: shot of Ewan with his hair cut differently, dressed differently, outside a venue; then another one; and another one. Alternated with shots of him ecstatic inside during the concerts proper. Then out in the cold night, legging it triumphantly to the station to catch the last train home, avoiding the sarcastic drunks staggering out of pubs along the way. In the station, he bumps into a girl wearing the same t-shirt as him: they eye each other up but don't talk.

The next scene, they meet again, waiting outside a venue for the band manager to come out and distribute passes to the after-gig party. Competing for attention, they still ignore each other; eventually, both get in as the tour manager recognises them. Once inside, after they have managed to corner their rock idols, told them how much they love them, how many times they've seen them live and got them to sign their records, the two youths sort of feel done and wander about, listlessly, feeling out of place. She drinks and smokes a lot; he drinks a little to get into the spirit, but is clearly not enjoying it much. They witness the rock stars' appalling behaviour: scratching themselves, burping, yawning in people's faces, throwing cans out of the window, stubbing cigarettes everywhere, getting an impertinent journalist thrown out, snorting coke, throwing up, making crude passes at waitresses, and so on (genuine anecdotes to be recycled here). Ewan and the girl are swiftly left to themselves in a corner and finally get to chat to each other. Trying to impress her, he tells her how many times he's seen this particular band. In response, she tells him how she's had sex with the whole band -which shuts him up. She then proceeds to list other bands she has slept with. The manager notices them and hands them a pass for the next gig. It's a bit far though, and Ewan doesn't know if he'll be able to make it. The girl, "Sheena", dares him not to turn up.

The next day. Ewan does make the trip (by train) and gets to the gig, feeling smug and cool: jumps the queue outside the venue, flashes his pass at the doormen, gets in. Sheena is already there.

More after-gig party scenes, shedding more light on the band members: videotaped oral sex with dazzled groupies, someone gets beaten up by the security. One of the musicians remarks how bored he is by the actual playing (every performance being the same), the only attraction of touring being the parties afterwards. Rampant egomania during an interview with a local journalist: "So, you're coming home in a way..." -"Eh??" "Well... yes, weren't you  originally from (…), that's not too far from here, isn't it?" "-What is this, a joke? No way will I be associated with (name) -no disrespeck yeah. No no no, see, my parents were -like- radicals on the run, I was raised all around the continent" / "Ah, er... so who's the one writing the songs, how do you contribute? "-Geddout of here, song writing is a communal process, I contribute as much as everyone!" and so on. (Once again, genuine rock interviews could be mined for real anecdotes.) Ewan tries not to take it in, but his view of the band gets seriously eroded. Sheena tells him how so much better and more glamorous things used to be a few years back. She may be bragging, but he gets the feeling that she may have fallen low indeed, and is only hanging on this band for fear of falling even lower. He realises how pathetic she is beneath her make-up, a chain smoker who is not so young anymore and is always drunk (scales fall out of your eyes when you're no longer impressed with someone). At this stage, the bassists wanders up to them and, slurring his words, suggests a threesome, which Sheena accepts. Ewan makes his excuses and leaves.

Back in his hometown, Ewan faces his grandfather's wrath. Slightly disillusioned in his own right, he turns his attention from this band to another, and changes his hair / clothing style. The soundtrack evolves accordingly. (Use of photo of skin-head with Sex Pistols tattoo on his forehead turned Nouveau Romantic?)

Later on. Ewan gets hit by a car and is confined to a hospital room for a while. Bed bound, he worries about his life prospects. His immediate surroundings look dreadful: beige hospital colours, he is surrounded by younger kids with whom he doesn't have much in common (some of them have loving families who visit them). He watches television compulsively: inane daytime chat-shows with D-list so-called celebrities (easy parodies of genuine luvvies chat-shows) and pop programmes in the evening: "if it's six o’clock, it's time for (Top Of The Pops)".

This gives him an idea. Ewan starts writing to one, two, then several bands' fan-clubs, each band his "favourite", asking for autographs and assorted trinkets. In fact, methodically scouring "people" magazines for celebrities' addresses, he starts chain-writing the same requests; his letters get increasingly similar but for the names mentioned at the top of the page. Each answer is a victory, each autograph a trophy he cherishes, something to distinguish him from the others. He even pretends to be a sick / pauper little girl to elicit rock stars' / film stars' / soap operas stars' sympathy; he keeps charts of who's answered and who hasn't. Returns home after a while, wearing a corset for his spine.

Successive shots of his private celebrities shrine growing by the day / week.

After leaving school, he starts to work in a dead-end position: maybe a cashier in a pale pastel coloured, Muzak controlled, supermarket. It clearly is an uninspiring job, only made bearable by the rock dreamland he takes shelter in every night. He can't wait to get home at the end of every day and check his mail. Voluntary recess from the world: Ewan turns autistic, his walkman permanently on, only interested in rock merchandising. At some stage, he crosses a street, where a political demonstration is taking place to his utter indifference. He also comes across football fans rioting. Ewan gets organised, and meticulously sorts out his letters, posters, t-shirts, videos, records in his room.

Then one night, his ageing, bitter mother confronts him in their half-lit flat. On his way to the bathroom, he stumbles upon her, smoking in the dark; she has obviously spent some time pondering things in her head. She tells him she's wasted her life in that kind of glum environment, serving boring food at the school canteen year in year out without any consideration or gratitude, and questions him why on earth he chose the same dead end: "Now don't sneak off again to hide in your bunker; sit down for once, and listen to me. What are you doing to yourself? Why condemn yourself to repeat my life? I would have thought you of all people would go for something a bit more glamorous, a bit more artistic, what with your tastes in music and all... I don't mind them. I may not get them but I don't mind them. And now you just... Are you actually giving up already? I just can't understand how you're not giving yourself a chance..." Rocked, he tries to explain that he would rather keep his uninvolving job so that he can devote more time to his passion but, flustered, his arrested development / emotional block gets the better of him and he blurts out something along the line of "No you don't understand, I don't want to talk about it, it's not like that at all, you don't know what you're talking about, life eh, what is so bloody great about it?" He storms out of the room, and finds himself only faced with the front door; goes out, slams the door, and... realises that he has left his key inside. The light (on a timer) goes out in the block of flats. 

Alone on the tenth floor in the dark in a t-shirt, he considers ringing the bell to get back in. Panning shot (to the tune of Yves Simon's "Cocktail Molotov" piano music): camera drifts across the walls of adjourning bedsits / apartments to reveal the multitude of various loners, of all ages, absorbed in their various TV programmes, each and every one silent, "locked in", similar.

A few days later, his hair cut again, he goes to another gig. Later on, waiting in the car park after the gig, he get to chat with a girl (who may be vaguely reminiscent of Sheena), a younger fellow fan of this particular band, whom he first tries to impress by boasting about all the times he's seen them and all the precious relics of theirs that he already owns ("Oh, you mean that (limited edition)? Yeah, 'got it too..."): the usual materialistic exhibitionism. The girl may at this point (start getting tired of him or) open wide eyes in amazement but  Ewan sighs, suddenly fed up with this carry-on. He takes a second look at her...  (Open ending.)

Comments. Based on autobiographical elements: God knows how many gigs I weaseled my way in, back in my younger years! I certainly have lots of genuine anecdotes to recycle here...That would have been in the early-to-mid nineties. There were a few people that I would regularly bump into (a black London guy, in particular), which in itself is not surprising, since fans of Uncle Nick -that will be Mr. Cave to you- were also likely to love the likes of Sonic Youth, Young Gods, Unsane, Cranes, Gallon Drunk and so on.

A study of rock groupies is long overdue: male or female. Also cf. the "Otaku" syndrom in Japan: maniac fans, "Anoraks", who devote their lives to their private hobby (to the cost of having any social life). Interestingly, "Get a life!" is a commonly used répartie in England, a country where millions of football / rock fans will happily entertain you for hours with anecdotes stretching back decades.

Questions about identity: how teenagers desperately mould themselves into some character or another, looking for a personal style they imagine will be their own after the successive fads of the day. Idea expressed by the mother in the confrontation near the end. Then again, if you don't experiment and make a fool of yourself when you're young, you'll never get the chance later. The hero could change from "Nouveau Romantic" to "skinhead" gradually, as the years pass by and he grows more disillusioned. References to Morrissey and the Pathetic St. Preachers who planned their entire career in their bedrooms as avid teenage rock fans. Art imitates -irritates?- Life imitates Art.

Use of colour tints to paint everyday life grey. Overweight, balding extras. The uninspiring figure of PM John Major.

Fans competitive nature: originally, an oblique reference to J. Peel and those fans who go on about their limited edition possessions, unsharable personal memories of the bands under discussion (the "I knew them before they had signed ....and they were better" syndrome), mummified paraphernalia and so on. The thing is, everyone knows that any competition you enter, any collection you start -there's bound to be someone somewhere who's better at it or who's got more. This never-ending process can only be resolved by accepting humility / relativity / defeat: the end of the film may suggest that the protagonist has matured past the chest beating stage.

Possible bittersweet scenes about coming to a resolution (the best scenes are always those where you don't know whether to laugh or cry, leaving it up to the viewer to decide).

-The first to take place in a record fair where collectibles are traded. Such tradeable items could provide the hero with a source of revenue ...but of course he anally refuses to part with his possessions.

-He is provided with another way out in a second instance (which takes place in a context not as sign-posted): the confrontation scene with his mother. Words along the line of "if at least you were accumulating to sell I would understand, you'd make a few pretty pennies, it'd make sense in this day n age but nooo -you've got too much pride!"

Touching upon that pervasive obsession with so-called "celebrities" (which has been markedly on the rise in the last five years in the UK,  prior to the writing of this story –these words were written in 2002!); plain living so-called “nobodies” living by proxy; political anesthesia; muffling of social aspirations; would-be outrage / scandals carefully orchestrated by a mass-media controlled by the entertainment industry and its spin doctors. Once again, there won't be any shortage of relevant genuine anecdotes: how about a staging of this classic NME (or was it Melody Maker?) mid-eighties interview of (Mengele celebrating) Slayer which ended up with them running away from the no-nonsense journalist!

The ending doesn't have to be depressing. One thing that the Net has repeatedly demonstrated: no matter how obscure / niche one's tastes are, chances are that fellow fans exist. Tone of film: compassionate (cf. "Heavy"). Protagonist: male, but could actually be adapted for a girl lead -in which case, new issues (such as sexual ones linked to after-show rowdy behaviour) would have to be addressed. To prevent the film from moving down a distracting sexual or sexy road, it would be best if the main protagonist were average looking.

The music could include the Buggles's anthemic "Music Killed The Radio Star" or Daft Punk “Give Life Back To Music”; Abba "SOS" (as used in "Together"); Martin Dupont "I Met The Beast"; Oberkampf "Mes amis sont morts". The movie could end with a freeze-frame and Crystal Castles “Child, I Will Hurt You”. Copyright Loïg Allix Thivend, mars 2002.

Abstract. The film chronicles the successive personal reinventions of a provincial teenage rock fan who, after getting too close to his heroes, turns into a maniac paraphernalia collector. Will he ever grow out of it?

“Le Cercle Rouge” 

Story of two characters, let's call them A and B.

A prophecy warns A at the start of film that he will become a killer (and not only that, but he will kill someone he loves) ...and that he will also meet his true love "in a red circle". All of this leaves A pretty upset. No time-frame has been provided, and so he doesn't know when / what first.

Time passes. He gets married; always stays on the look-out for potentially dangerous situations. He becomes cagey, suspicious, over-cautious. His wife gets increasingly disenchanted with his over-cautious ways, which in turn worsens his mental (in)stability. Their marriage flounders, and he withdraws from her. She engages in an affair. “Inevitably” -according to the logic of the plot, that is- he kills her in a moment of rage; runs away abroad to faraway Canada.

Cut to B's story. Narrative choice here: it will either be shown as a separate second part (cf. Godard's "Nouvelle Vague") or will crisscross the first plot, intruding upon its  "flip side" (i.e. A's story) as in "Lovers Of The Arctic Circle".

B is played by same actor. B is gay, and self-confident. He lives abroad (could be in Seattle). For work reasons, he goes to A's town, where he almost bumps into him once or twice: the film inserts clips of scenes from A's story, this time shown from B's point of view (cf. Kieslowski's trilogy, where protagonists almost connect). After a while, he comes back to Seattle where he breaks up with his lover, and moves to Eureka Northern California. As his life goes on and he looks for a new partner, he comes face to face with A in a circular dancefloor surrounded by red spotlights where A has taken refuge.

The idea is: everything A runs away from, B is looking for;  A tries to escape his destiny, and thus finds himself; B wants to make it happen, but gets there (in the fatal red circle) by utter chance. A touch of the Oedipus story chain of events, then.

It would be more interesting to present two versions of the same person as closely as possible, hence the same actor -cf. the Greek foundation myth according to which we were separated at birth from our double, and are condemned to spend our life looking for our other half.

One possibility: maybe A was in denial (about his sexuality) from the start, cue more double / mirror images. This case scenario would make his story more poignant / absurd, as he would realise too late (when on the run) that he had in fact nothing against the poor woman predestined to be his victim.

Other variation: A may fulfill the killing prophecy by killing a man making advances at him as he suddenly realises his true, gay nature and rejects it in a panic. This would fit the pattern too: A fulfils his destiny by trying to run away from it.

Copyright Loïg Thivend 1999.

Abstract: A film about fate, coincidences: do we have any influence over our own life, or can we only submit to a predestined fate? cf. "l'Appartement" or "the Lovers of the Arctic Circle".

"Round And Round" (A matrix for plot to be developed either as a thriller or a comedy.)

Start: a white collar desk jockey has been embezzling money from his company. Wants to frame a foreign new colleague for it. Enter detective who collects statements from everyone. Everybody in the company pursue their own agendas -which plays into the hands of the criminal.

-"Witness A" incriminates the designated suspect who was about to take his place in the hierarchy ...but, by doing so, “A” draws the cop's attention to the hitherto secret forthcoming company's restructuring. Only a couple of directors knew that the company's shares were about to change hands, as part of an insiders dealings plot.

-"Witness B" incriminates the designated suspect because the newcomer had caught the eye of a director that he was courting ...which then draws the cop's attention to everyone's marital situations (this is how, for example, one of the protagonists' recent costly divorce comes to light).

and so on: every lead designed to incriminate the fall guy somehow backfires on his accuser.

The third attempt to incriminate the suspect may include mentioning to the cop that the suspect had a chequered disciplinary / employment record ...which inadvertently reveals hacking of the personnel's files by the boss. Any attempt to shift the focus of the investigation onto the “fall man” actually works the other way.

This could be treated as a comedy (cf. "The Kingdom"'s irascible Swede’s doomed schemings) or as a thriller mind-game (a la "Columbo"). This structural matrix could be easily adapted for different plots. Possible cosmic joke: the character ultimately convicted is neither the fall guy nor the master criminal...but yet another party that every lead could have easily pointed to from another angle!

Self-fulfilling prophecy syndrome: it is my belief that were we to investigate anyone, we would surely end up finding them guilty of one thing or another: no saint anywhere.

Re. rubbishing the character under any angle available in an attempt to incriminate them. The fall guy -or girl- needs to come from a foreign culture with a different sense of honour (Japan, for example), which prevents him / her from losing his / her dignity by answering personal allegations directly.

Choice: the investigating party may either be the bumbling Inspector Clouseau type, charging in all directions and finally getting the right man by utter chance; or may be intelligent, analytical ...and still be ultimately fooled by the villain. Echoes of "Touch Of Evil" here.

Other underpinning logic: what if, for once, the answer was obvious all along, with the characters falling for every red herring / going down every possible cul-de-sac / over-analysing trivial details and missing the forest for the trees? An innocent witness -such as a child- could give the answer right from the start ...but is ignored by the grown-ups.

“Le sanglot long des violons...” / “Sleeper Agent”

First scene: slow travelling shot showing a young woman in a grey, drab urban landscape. Inner voice: "Oh no, not again... wake up! wake UP! Oh god, please...!" More of this oppressive atmosphere until an alarm clock suddenly rings. Cut to credits (with The Fisherman's Blues-the Waterboys as accompanying soundtrack).

Heroine wakes up, full of beans (reminiscent of Irene Jacob, Winona Ryder, Marisa Tomei or Bridget Fonda). Sun is shining; she drives to work: nice office etc. Once there, Valentine catches up with grumpy colleagues whom she effortlessly cheers up with the kind of naturally easy going feeling exhibited by Cameron Diaz in "Something about Mary".

Later. She nervously looks at the clock: soon enough it's time to return home, have her dinner, watch the telly for a while and go to bed (this sequence could be shot in a “Requiem For A Dream” staccato style). She falls into a dream (the rhythm slows down at this juncture) which turns out to depict the pre-credits scene. In her dream-life, she leads a miserable existence. Depending on the angle chosen by the director (poetic, comedy, allegory, science fiction...), it could be a giant assembly line in a Stalinist factory, or she could work in a slaughterhouse. She thankfully wakes up, back in a dramatically more enjoyable real world.

More of the same (gloomy nights / fun days) dichotomy follows. For instance, she goes and visits her sister, who has one or two young children she hardly looks after but mainly moans about during the scene (she may care deeply about them in scenes unseen, but we can only go by what we are shown during the narration); Valentine has a great time playing with them (should be an easy scene to shoot for the actress: just relax and have fun with toddlers) as her worn-out sister is grateful for the break and instead watches TV, and in particular a stupefying, mind-numbing series already featured in "Touch".

A young junkie throwing his / her life away may also be introduced.

Every night, by various means, our heroine tries to stay awake as long as possible. This takes a toll on her health and, in one scene, knackered from staying up, she collapses in the middle of a really good moment (to be determined); in another such episode, she succumbs to sleep on her office desk and takes a hell of a nap (clock seen turning) during which a well-deserved promotion escapes her. Still, she continues fighting off sleep at night. Cut to another scene where she is in bed with a potential new boyfriend ...but she is simply too sleepy to do anything. He goes through amusement to incomprehension to frustration to temptation and finally takes off.

Sadly, I haven't found an acceptable end yet. I'd love it to be ingenious cute and clever, but I'm afraid we might have her get resigned to her fate: she may eventually accept to lead a double life or...

she may make a stand in her dreamlife and manage to lighten up the place thanks to her natural charm.

Comments. I wanted to reverse the usual dream / reality plot which has been done to death. "Reasons to be cheerful": what Valentine taps right into; she has a knack for bringing the best out of people, seeing goodness and bringing hope wherever she goes ...except in her own night-life. She ought to radiate.

The parallel vision of the slaughterhouse in her dream-life symbolises what everyday people don't want to hear about when they tuck into their meals. More revelatory examples of repressed horrors underlining our material comfort may be brought out for the dreamtime sequences (Asian children in clothes assembly lines?). Her nightly trips take her to the undercurrent, other side of our pampered status quo. She could have the same vision every night, or she could experience different versions of hell on Earth such as starving in a desert, suffering from AIDS / tuberculosis in the third world, and so on. Possible oblique influence: "Nightmare On Em St.".

Soundtrack: some great, life-affirming anthems like "don't want to know if you are lonely" Husker Du or "like a prayer" Madonna. 

Copyright Loig Allix Thivend, June 2000.

"The Only Reason Why I Kept You Alive" or "Atomic!"

Timeframe : the mid-eighties.

James, a bumbling, genial, naive air steward is requested to help with parachuting food aid to people caught in a territorial war somewhere in Asia. He is helping out the military deliver parcels to the civilians. The officer in charge on the flight is a strong sassy woman who advises him to wear a parachute, "just in case". Basically, he is the Hugh Grant type: amiable, anything but butch -and she is the tough cookie. The plane gets somehow attacked, and he falls out of the plane. His parachute comes in handy. He floats over what looks like the great wall of China ("whey hey, look at that!"), tries to land on it, but ends up, pushed over by the wind, on top of a tree where he crashes on a giant mysterious nest (...)

Various adventure scenes ensue. The two of them spot tree tops being flattened in succession by something coming their way (cf. "Forbidden Planet"). What could it be, they wonder: it turns out to be elephants going berserk. "Elephants are peaceful creatures" she explains "they would never behave like this normally, there must be something coming after them." So what are they fleeing? They wait, hidden; nothing happens. So they go and explore the trampled trail, more and more confidently. Then they realise: it's a giant colony of fire ants, eating everything in their path! They flee, Tarzan-like, swinging from tree to tree on ivy, and finally jump into a river as they run out of trees. She pulls him up on top of a tree trunk. Rafting down the river, they hear something ("What's that noise? -What noise? Oh yes! Gosh, it seems to be getting louder too...") and escape just in time before crashing down a giant waterfall that lay hidden round the river bend.

They arrive at a hillside ancient city in ruins (Inca style) with temples and pyramids, on the other side of which James makes out American tourists (complete with loud shorts, huge bellies, cameras, baseball caps and so on). He tries to attract their attention and runs after them but, bizarrely, Jane who is usually so athletic falls and twists her ankle. By the time he gets to the other side, the Westerners have disappeared. He is quite angry with her but then, being a man, imagines that (...)

He explains that aviation always was in his blood. His grandfather fought in the RAF during WWII and actually disappeared over this very part of the world, forty years ago. Got shot down, presumably. "-Oh? Really?" He explains that, normally, he just flies over these zones and never visits them, the life of a steward consisting of recuperating in the same antiseptic, generic, modern hotels all over the world for just a mere couple of nights with the same sort of people. He may have flown a dozen times over this country, but has never in fact seen this jungle or these monuments for himself. But Jane changes the subject back to his grandfather's fate; wants to know from a military perspective: what exactly happened? He explains that his body was never found, nobody quite knows what went wrong or what secret mission he was on: "The military eh, they like their little secrets!" Did his family ever investigate? Not really, he admits. She seems disappointed, and doesn't offer him the kiss he was angling for throughout the discussion (comically diverging attitudes here).

They come across a city of crippled kids, all wearing prosthetic limbs: minefields all around. No adults are to be seen anywhere. They are fed by the kids, with whom they try to communicate by sign language. By the time they get up the next morning, the children have already moved away. They also come across an elephants cemetery. Silence; awe. But poachers turn up; James has an idea and diverts them away, blowing into some kind of tusk he finds that imitates the sound of the animals. Our two heroes have a good laugh seeing the poachers drive right off a cliff. Then they meet some natives ...who wear this kind of tusks as penile holders. They adopt a small monkey, which James carries on his shoulder. The monkey providentially leads them to a fruit tree, after they find themselves starving. They do battle with baddies, throwing stone stars like rotating weapons ("Star Wars" so to speak!).

The next day, they come across a strange spot: a long stone pitch surrounded by mirrors. "Is it an air strip" they reckon, and as James steps on the central surface, the mirrors / menhirs rotate to focus on him; everywhere he walks, the stones react to the pressure on the various tiles he presses down on; they follow him around. They reckon this must be some kind of solar temple arrangement. Then James steps onto a hidden trap door, and disappears underground. Not for the first time, Jane goes after him, and follows him down the chute. They land down some kind of apartment situated in a cave where they are welcomed by James's grandfather, played by grumpy Sean Connery in a long wig.

After he introduces himself, they realise he is James's grandfather; Jane either then produces a gun she had somehow carried about her all along or grabs one (I prefer the first option) to place him under arrest for the theft of a treasure belonging to Her Royal Majesty forty years ago. She explains that she had been secretly sent to track him down via his grand-son. (...)

The local conflict spreads to the mountain they are in and they have to flee, via the mandatory swinging vine bridge over a ravine. On their way, the grandfather saves their lives and Jane agrees to let him go in exchange. They reach a UN station, where they are welcomed by a perfect, crusty, moustachioed Oxbridge officer ("Well, I say, what a pleasant surprise, dear chaps! Would you care for a cup of tea?"). 

The last images of the film: a hippo whose his hide is caked with diamonds-incrusted mud; gold coins and pearls braided in birds' nests; gems used as hammer-heads by the natives, and so on (i.e. from the treasure chest which fell down the ravine).

Comments: the first scene came to me in a dream. All I had to do then was write the whole story springing from it. Casting: the female part, ideally Kathleen Turner; or a more muscular, determined Sandra Bullock; or a loud-and-proud black actress always ready to fight. Her character is the opposite of the hapless male anti-hero who, of course, will win her over in the end when she gets more feminine and he slightly more assertive.

 (Copyright Loig Allix Thivend March 2003.)

Set in the eighties so that technological gizmos can't be expected and references to WWII are still credible. Reference to "What A Carve-Up!" General tone reminiscent of Tintin.

Logline: Adventure romantic comedy, à la "Tintin" / Michael Douglas - Kathleen Turner. 

“Hide And Seek” or "A Kiss In The DreamHouse"

Probably needs some spicing up. 1999, before all teenagers had mobile phones. Setting: a big isolated mansion.

A brother and a sister one afternoon on their own. The film starts as the two teenagers watch their parents drive out to town, leaving them in charge of the isolated house where they have brought some precious artefacts (the nature of which to be ascertained during the establishing farewell dialogue –maybe the parents are archeologists, antique dealers or jewellers). The brother (around 14) has a slight fever, and goes to bed. He has been bickering with his older sister (around 17): teasing her about an alleged local boyfriend, "So where exactly is this macho yobbo of yours eh?" / Lina : "I am not listening... Carry on, whatever you say, I can't hear you!" (...)

Later. Jessie gets up and leaves his bedroom at the rear of the house to get something to drink in the kitchen at the front. He has to cross the middle section, which comprises the living room. As he walks through the room, he realises something is missing in the background. Does a double-take, and discovers that some of the artefacts are missing. He grabs a fire poker, and dashes to the next room / the corridor, in case the thief is about. But there is none to be seen, all doors seem locked. Baffled and sweaty, he comes back into the living-room, calls out to his sister. She doesn't answer. Importantly, there is no phone: the family have just moved in.

Lina turns up, explains that she was in the bathroom. He informs her of the apparent robbery: "You're not gonna believe this... but Dad's stuff is gone, I swear!" They go check: yes, some stuff seems to be missing... but Lina explains that she is not sure they had been kept here, maybe the parents took them away with them? She is not convinced by his claims: "Besides, how could anyone have got in? All the windows are closed. You see?" Jessie is not too sure either now that he thinks about it and besides, he has a high fever. "Come on now, stop making up things, and go back to bed, you're burning up. Here... take some Paracetamol and go back to bed, this whole moving thing's getting to your head; next thing you know, you'll tell me you see ghosts!"

He does so and nods off for a while. Time passes. 

Then Jessie hears a noise; he gets up and, more cautiously this time, goes to investigate. By now, day has turned to dusk (around 7 p.m., end of the summer). In the middle section of the house, more stuff seems to be missing. Jessie checks the window; he had previously made sure it was locked; it is indeed locked. Baffled, he goes round the room in a daze, looking for possible exits. He can hear his sister's music from upfront upstairs. He checks the French windows' locks. Baffled, he wonders how can the jewels have disappeared; tries out the various doors. Then he stares at the ceiling where the music comes from: "Hang on... if no-one could get in or go out... Lina!!" he roars, and charges upstairs ("Oh you fuckin' bitch, you're having me on!"). He barges into his sister's room: it's empty; just music blaring out of her CD-player. "Exactly..." he groans. He switches off the music. "Why you clever...". He searches the room vaguely. "I see...You thought you'd get away with it... hmm... well I'm not falling for it." He looks out of the window. "Ha !" Lina is seen walking back to the house through the garden.

He comes back downstairs outside to confront her. (...)

Then, as they speak, Jessie catches a reflection: someone is hiding right behind him, someone that Lina surely must be seeing? Jessie freezes (appropriate music), and pretends not to have noticed. The blurred reflection briefly showed a young, unshaved, man. Lina carries on talking regardless. Jessie infers that this must be her never seen (imaginary?) boyfriend. They must be in it together. He casually manoeuvers himself out of reach from the strange man. (...)

More dramatic music as Jessie somehow (through dialogue?) realises that the man he has distanced himself from is not who he thought he was. He scans the room for possible weapons, and sees that the poker he grabbed before has gone missing too. He suggests they go for an invigorating cup of tea in the kitchen instead. Lina accepts and follows him. Once there, Jessie grabs a knife, to Lina's alarm. He rushes back to the living room and checks the room for possible hiding places. (...)

The silence in the house takes on scary overtones, with every little sound making the teenagers jump. They proceed cautiously through the rooms, searching for the robber, making sure all exits are locked so that he can't escape. They get bolder as they go along. Lots of camera work framing them with their backs against possible hiding places such as cupboards, doors, window sills... "Do you hear anything?" "No, but if only you shut up maybe I could..."

They gradually make their way upstairs, reducing the number of options, until they get to a trunk in the loft. There seems to be something inside, they open it: it contains their dead dog!

Hysterical, they run back downstairs and try to exit the house. But the doors are locked. (...) Then all the lights go out. (...)

Jessie wakes up in a sweat, his mother comes up to check on him. "How are you sweetie, you really are in a bad way... had another nightmare? You really need to rest you know, and stop messing about wandering about without your jacket on. There there, take these, and get some sleep." "Mum Mum, I've had the worst nightmare, you won't believe me, I dreamt that..." But she mops his brow, and announces that she and Dad will pop out to the village for a second, which will allow her to get him some (more) medicine. Jessie: "No no, don' t go, you've got to hear this... don't go, I saw you leave in my dream and..." -but the parents depart.

Setting (photography etc.) similar to the start of the film. His sister passes by with a line we have already heard at the start. Jessie, in a sweat, is too stunned to get his sister's proper attention and instead mumbles "Nooo... don't say that, please don't say these words...", a reply that only brings on another line already heard. She starts playing her music upstairs (the same as before of course), as he struggles to get out of bed and stop the course of events. He only manages to unlock his window by mistake. Too tired, he collapses back in bed, and starts to doze off. Then he senses movement in his room (furtive figure in the ill-lit background). In a haze, he makes out a figure climbing in through his window: the unshaved man, of course. Jessie is too delirious to stop him, and falls asleep again.

Good old Freudian fun (the house, psycho-sexual projections, parents missing, and so on); needs to be developed. 

End August 2003 copyright Loig Allix Thivend (original idea came to me in a dream, fittingly enough). 

A film about space. Trying to find, at each step, some new level in terror. Can be adapted to various local surroundings; I was originally thinking green Oxfordshire. Visual echoes: Pinter's "Accident", "Scream", "The Blair Witch Project"... Additional nod to “la Jetée” whereby the protagonist ends up being the determining agent for what happened.

"Diego Castro Will Die Tonight" 

Start: camera broadcast by an enthusiastic, white teeth, blue-eyed blonde journalist: "Thanks for joining us. I am Megane De La Mare. We're at La Rochiere Cité, where Diego Castro will die tonight. At half-eleven, the 41 year old father of two will be heckled and then assaulted on his way back from work at the town underground network. Mr. Castro will be subjected to slurs which the future murderer, Kevin Pineau, 18, will subsequently deny to be racist in nature. He will then get shoved around and finally hit in the back of the head with a bottle that the young man will pick from the gutter. We're reporting from the Castro residence at the Jaures towerblock, where we will try to get a few words from Mme. Castro -in just a moment. But first, let's take a look at the La Rochiere Cité."

Panorama: bleak HLM neighbourhood; boisterous kids prance about in front of the camera, showing off. "’You here for the murder? ‘You want my interview? Hey, Mister, do you want my opinion about it?" and so on. Back to the journalist:

"We"ve now made it -relatively unmolested- to the eighteenth floor of the Jaures HLM, where the Castro family live. They have been living here for thirty-one years according to our research, ever since M. Castro Senior fled fascist Spain. But let's see if Mme Castro is home". Rings the bell; the reporter winks at the camera. Finally, Mme Castro (played by Emma Suarez) opens the door.

"Mme Castro, Megane De La Mare from InstanNews. We're here to talk about the impending death of your husband tonight. How do you feel about it?"

"Well... how do you expect me to feel? Obviously, I'm devastated by his forthcoming loss. We've been married for, what, 15 years now."

"Yes yes, but can you describe to us how utterly devastated you are by the terrible loss of the life of your lifelong husband?"

"Utterly. I'll be utterly devastated, that’s how. It will be very hard to take, especially with the young one's birthday next week."

"Mme Castro, you're waking up your children for school tomorrow, your husband hasn't returned from work last night, the police rings the door and informs you of his shocking and brutal death -what goes through your mind?"

(…) 

"Let's now talk to Mme Castro, the mother of the future victim. Mme Isabel Castro, you left Spain in the early seventies, is that right?"

"That's right."

"You came to France, la patrie des droits de l'homme, in search of a better future."

"That's correct."

"So you raised three beautiful children -one of them being Diego, the future victim. What we would like to know is, what are your feelings regarding his imminent death? In what sense will you take it: as a sign from God that maybe your -and his- destiny didn't belong in this country? as rotten bad luck? or as a simple argument in favour of reintroducing capital punishment? –Hold that thought though. We first need to hear a few words from our sponsors."

Commercial break ensues.

Back to the kitchen. "Mme Castro, you are the mother of Diego; your son will be senselessly murdered tonight by an uneducated drunken youth –have you got any comment to make? Excluuusively for InstanNews."

"Que dolor! You spend... a whole lifetime raising a child, turning him into a man, he has a family of his own to support and then... one moment of stupidity ends it all. One. What madness, what horror..."

"Yes yes, quite. Can you show use some photos of Diego as a child? Doing his first communion maybe..."

  

Break: at near deafening level, the Cocteau Twins' "Carolyn's Fingers", a gratuitous dance number. "But let's now talk to our Special Crime Correspondent, Marc-Olivier Brigogne; Marc-Olivier, what can you tell us about the forthcoming senseless murder of M. Diego Castro?"

"Well Megane, M. Diego's murder comes in a long line of possibly related incidents involving people of all walks of life meeting their untimely end. Only two months ago, an Algerian labourer was ambushed and stabbed to death in a Parisian alleyway. After a proper inquest, it turned out to be a family quarrel gone badly wrong but even so, the number of deaths by foul play keeps rising and one can only wonder whether this is not a sign of the circumstances."

"Indeed… Thank you Marc-Olivier for this analysis and now let's go back to tonight's main news, M. Castro's unfortunate demise. Right after the break."

 -Interlude-

 "And now let's go talk to the future murderer, Kevin Pineau." The team travel to another squalid flat, where the young man awaits them, flanked by his half-distraught, half-protective mother.PVC napkin, fly-traps hanging. "Kevin, you're about to become a murderer... How do you feel about that?"

"Well it's like, you know... pff... I can't find any work, like... Life's pretty crap right now..."

"I can certainly imagine - And it’s only gonna get much worse in only five hours and a half -But let’s not get ahead of ourselves. You must be feeling pretty cut up about your current predicament..."

"What? (beep)in’ pissed off yeah, too right. See I can't find no work and next thing I know I’m gonna do this guy, it's all going pear-shaped for me, this whole... er, situation."

"I see. And so –I suppose- we could probably say that you are feeling fairly disillusioned with society as a whole at-this-moment-in-time. But tell us Kevin: how does this disillusionment of yours escalate into the manslaughter of M. Castro? Please tell our viewers. Where does M. Castro fit in this picture? Are you coveting his position at the Tube station maybe?"

"Eh? No, no, nothing like that, I haven't even met the bloke! Don't even know what he looks like, he'll just... be in the wrong place at the wrong time I guess. I'll be rat-arsed remember? your man will kick me out of the bar, then your other man will be on his way, I’ll be on mine and we'll just... meet up at some point I guess. Bang, bish, bosh -game over for him."

"Right, right. One thing will lead to another then?"

"You could say so"

"But frankly, Kevin. Frankly. Can you tell us in what way is M. Castro responsible for your current state of unemployment?"

"In what way? Well I don't know me, it's the whole –you know…-  situation, like... the whole world's gone to fuck, you're in a rut and you can't get out, you can't find anything, all the jobs are gone... You're stuck." gesture "Stuck here, with nothing on the horizon. It's like... the whole world couldn’t care less about you, you’re left to rot in your corner. The government, school, Castro… -the whole system, like!"

"I understand your frustration Kevin, I feel for you, but... M. Castro’s part in all this?"

"I s'ppose he's just as much a victim as me. In a funny way, I feel kinda sorry for him, the poor bastard but… -‘specially with what’s coming his way tonight!" (snigger)

“And on this note, we will conclude our interview with M. Pineau. I’m afraid it’s all we have time for. I also understand that our viewers may have been exposed to some unfortunate words during the course of this interview for which we can only apologise. Very sorry about that.”

Crime scene reconstruction: the news-crew films the spot. They notice the lack of bottles lying in the gutter; the sound man goes to buy a soda; empties the bottle. Consulting their note, they discover that the weapon will in fact be a beer bottle. They have a right laugh about it; joke that, for once, he is positively encouraged to down one. He therefore returns to the cornershop to buy a beer bottle; drinks it up (“for he’s a jolly good fellow / down in one” type of chanting).

They also give young Pineau some money to spend at the bar this evening so that he can be appropriately drunk. The crew then shoots a few frames detailing the location, and call it a wrap. They pack their equipment away, preparing to come back after the murder to film the arrest of the youth at night. "Right, it's a matter for the police now. Our work is done, back to the station! Shall we meet up at... shall we say half-eleven? We can make it in, what, twenty minutes, just in time for the arrest."

End: "And so it shall be. Tonight, at around eleven, M. Castro will be beaten about the back of the head by a drunken youth with no particular axe to grind against the victim. Who is to blame? Society? The individual? You judge.

Next, the horrifying case of Sue-Elena 's rape. Another day, another tragedy, as a ten year old girl gets brutally raped. Exclusively tomorrow on InstanNews."

  

Use of video camera. About 40 minutes should be long enough. Echo of "Man Bites Dog". Keeping it tight with no possibility of step-back perspective that would allow for reflection. In fact, the film should feature several subtle instances of the characters’ inability to reflect on their situations (for example the trap of being stuck in temping work). In a world where the media tends to invade every sphere / nook and cranny, there can be no outside, no place left safe from intrusion, no privacy. Also, no explanation of how the future is already known must be given. Ineluctability, people resigned to their fate. Tragedy borne out of boredom; the logic of chance.

"Punchbag" or "Return No Return"

The film starts with a short sequence depicting a brutal rape. Then the film goes backward / the tape rewinds (music : the very end of the Beatles' "One Day In The Life"), indicating that what will take place is a film-long flashback.

Credits / Start of the story. Music: Sugababes-"Shtronger". The female protagonist gets up, goes to work. She works for a town council, setting up exhibitions, working at the municipal library, and so on. It is a grim, poor town, where people don't care much for culture. Yellow lights, grey blocks of anonymous flats. The story follows her during her day, dealing with various problems / members of the public, until she wraps up and sets off to go home. The whole plot is geared towards the final scene in which "Isabelle"(the protagonist) enters the car-park, where we know she will get raped.

Idea: by indicating from the start what will happen and -importantly- what horrible crime will take place, the film conveys an impression of ineluctability / helplessness, and questions the viewer's motives for awaiting / expecting the final crime. It is important to depict the rape graphically (six long minutes / no music on the soundtrack) so as to insist on its violent aspect. A rape is a crime of violence. In this regard, it would be better to cast a moderately attractive actress rather than a natural stunner; the idea being that the offenders will have attacked anyone regardless of their physique. The protagonist should not be an important person either but a put-upon, slightly overworked, underpaid, clerical worker whose daily plight is not recognised by anyone -let alone by her assailants who are as common as she is.

The story's details (throughout the movie) stress the daily acceptance of violence: teenagers spend their time playing videogames and listening to gangsta-rap / heavy metal; there is a cleanly edited ongoing foreign war on the TV news, complete with spectacular shots of so-called guided missiles hitting their targets; everyone goes for the easiest option as a rule of thumb; at the canteen someone sniggers at the vegetarian option; there is a reproduction of "le Massacre des innocents"on a wall and a shot of the "BumFights" video.

Cruel narrative strategy: the protagonist will be faced with successive options (during the day / throughout the story) to change her destiny and not end up in the fatal spot (cf. Camus found dead with a train ticket in his pocket) ...but every time, she turns them down (after a moment's reflection or hesitation, which makes it worse). For instance: she is offered a lift home, gets told to go home early -but she insists on finishing her task first and therefore leaves the building later than she could have. Someone muses about time-travel at some stage, after mentioning "Donnie Darko". Watching the events unfold knowing their outcome is thereby all the more painful for the audience. Basically, "Isabelle" is a lamb to the slaughter the audience have de facto accepted from the opening sequence; her fate is what they expect to see happen by choosing to watch the film.

Suggestion: narrating her attackers' story, in parallel to hers, until their destinies eventually collide. These two men are having a dreadful day, cf. novel by Russell Banks ("Continental Driftt"). Possible technical gimmick: split-screen at the end, with the two halves finally merging as the protagonists eventually “meet” (cf. "The Rules Of Attraction").

It is important to introduce some elements of hope, though. There always must be an alternative, so that the story does not turn into an apocalyptic, all sweeping denunciation; a subplot must, en filligrame, show that altruism exists and that good nature should, in effect, be encouraged. For instance, one of the deprived youngsters she introduces to culture by showing him books, shows interest and curiosity. Copyright Loig Thivend 20 April 2003; vaguely inspired by Noé's "Irreversible"which I haven't seen and whose plot I don't precisely know either.

"Gunshots Were Heard"

Somewhere in generic quiet, sleepy, sunny suburbia. A TV reporter is called up to prepare a special feature on a forthcoming massacre. Slightly troubled by the bizarre phone-call, she travels to her rendez-vous where she meets her contact, the local sheriff. The man explains that a troubled teenager (“Milan”) has posted death threats on his college Internet site, on which he claimed that he will kill all his schoolmates next week. All the police can do is give a warning to the minor (already responsible for numerous misdeeds); it is up to his parents to sort him out.

The reporter goes and meets the parents: father unconcerned (watches basket-ball on TV), mother overworked. She talks to the neighbours who confirm his mounting episodes of vandalism and violence (cf. profiles of genuine serial killers and their escalating pattern, starting with cruelty to animals in their childhood). The kid in question, Milan, is nowhere to be seen.

Next day, an arms dealer confirms that Milan has recently legally bought automatic weapons and ammunition (legal details to be provided here, alongside the NRA line on personal weapons). She visits the video arcade where Milan allegedly spends his time (wargames / metal soundtrack). The next day, she goes back to the house and gets access to Milan's room: the camera shows it in detail, to some mourning minimalist ambient soundtrack (Burial?). During her interviews, she learns that he has no friends; goes to the college which he no longer attends due to the outcry over his latest rantings and threat. All the attention there is focussed on the forthcoming big base-ball match against a rival college (banners in the streets, hype by local radio: this is the kind of smallish, sunny, community a la "Scream").

The school psychologist explains that she herself got once assaulted by Milan: he is no angel nor victim of circumstances; she remarks that should Milan actually go ahead and make good on his threat, he would do it on a day of maximum exposure.

Shots of students: Prom queens, white teeth, blue eyes and so on; nobody is really interested in talking about Milan.

The next day. Milan finally makes his onscreen entrance: an ordinary-looking kid who dresses in black. Everyone taunts him. He is visited by the local Baptist priest who rehashes incomprehensible biblical parables on him. The journalist manages to catch up with him and confronts him in the street. Milan explains at first that he is resigned to his "destiny" (the odds are against him, it was "written", and so on); then gets sarcastic and increasingly provocative as a bunch of Preppies / Jocks driving by abuse him; finally goes on an apocalyptic diatribe in the central shopping mall with everyone watching.

Throughout the couple of days that the story lasts, the journalist either reports back to her office or phones her boyfriend every night (who thereby stands for the audience first as an observer, then as an increasingly concerned commentator of the action). She gets increasingly convinced of the probability of the promised massacre happening (growing feeling of ineluctability, helplessness). The last we see of her: she is trying to phone someone, but no-one answers; she gets irritated and tries again, to no avail.

The next day, i.e. the day of the local sorts derby. Milan gets up (faint, anodyne radio music in the background), gets to the college where he is greeted with a sarcastic remark by the metal detector guard ("so, this is the big day you' gonna kill us all right?"), goes to the machinery room where he picks up a concealed sports bag. After he enters the premises, all the background music stops and the sound fades away to complete silence. He steadies himself (total lack of emotion on his face, robot-like), and proceeds to the gymnasium where the game is to take place (still total silence in the soundtrack); opens the door (lyrics from Peter Gabriel song "and I step into the light"). The End.

Closing credits: police radio messages "gunshots were heard at the gymnasium..."

Comments. One can't possibly show the final shooting, nor should try to re-enact the original Littleton massacre. This being established, this recurring tragedy surely needs  to be addressed and pondered. I started with the assumption that everyone knows from the start what is bound to happen but is unable to stop it, due to the social / political set-up of the USA, which makes it all the more unbearable. (These words were written at the time: It is to departing President Clinton's shame not to have seized on the Columbine massacre as the occasion to strike a blow against gun laws.)

The Milan character mustn't come across as blameless but, at the same time, many bear a part of responsibility. Such shootings happen again and again, for a variety of reasons. Milan himself is hardly the main character in the story (as attested by his relatively short screen-time): his community is. The audience should feel trapped. This could be expressed by a lack of sky / horizon, conversations left unfinished, actors situated off-centre. Milan's actor should be an unknown rather than a teen poster-boy. The journalist herself should be plain-looking rather than gorgeous, prescient, or heroic (cf. the ridiculous Al Pacino part in "The Insider").

Soundtrack: opening sequence and end credits to the sound of "the Ballad of B. Hubbard / What God Wants" Roger Waters. 

Copyright Loïg Thivend 2000.