Upstream Color (2013) Movie Script
[Silence]
[Slow string music]
Close your eyes.
Close em.
[Light twinkling music]
See how many you gotta go through...
to get a good one?
[Soda can opening]
[Liquid pouring, fizzing]
Are you ready?
No.
[Slow horn music]
[Slight rustling]
[Breathes heavily]
You can see what?
Who's?
Not till Monday.
Whose is it?
I don't know a grip, a gaffer,
somebody's foot, a shadow of it.
I can't, I can't... okay well
if I can see it then they can see it too.
If they can't do it,
I mean how many times are
you going to go around this?
Hire a new team.
What's the problem?
It has been a while.
I'm sorry about that but
your work is just amazing.
When we saw your take on it
everyone instantly knew
we'd gone to the right place.
I just have a few questions for you.
[Footsteps]
[Record drops]:
Taking the yellow soil
[Record continues inaudibly]
This was my daily work
[continues inaudibly]
What is it?
Do you have more?
My friends, though.
[Street Sounds]
[Car horns honking]
[Footsteps]
[Background Conversations]
[Light thunder, rain falling heavily]
[Water whooshing]
[Choking, gasping]
[Crickets chirping, papers rustling]
No, no.
Stay awake.
You feel refreshed?
Is there any food?
All the food is poisoned.
Your throat is parched.
Make a pitcher of ice
water, bring a small glass.
You can leave the tile.
The rest of the floor will
support your weight now.
I have to apologize.
I was born with a disfigurement
where my head is made
of the same material as the sun.
It makes it impossible for
you to look directly at me.
It has always been this way.
[Water pours, ice clinks in glass]
The water before you is somehow special.
When you drink it you feel
revived and full of energy.
It is better than anything
you've ever tasted.
Take a drink now.
There are two approaching
armies, hunger and fatigue,
but a great wall keeps them at bay.
The wall extends to the sky and will stay
up until I say otherwise.
Each drink is better than the last,
leaving you with the
desire to have one more.
Take a drink now.
[Swallowing]
The next drink must be earned
and I'm going to tell you how.
Focus closely on my instructions.
I will ask you to repeat them from memory.
One one thousand, two one thousand,
three one thousand, four one thousand.
The water has lost its appeal.
It doesn't seem as enticing as before.
You have no craving for it.
Kris I just got a call.
It's your mother.
She says she's been taken by several men.
[Softly] Oh no.
She says they won't let
her go unless you pay them.
No...
Oh no. Do you have any money?
No I don't.
I'm sorry.
Can you think of anything?
She sounds brave but I
think they're hurting her.
Mom...
I have the house.
You own the house?
I own part of it.
I could, maybe I could...
What's the equity?
$36,000.
Is that enough?
In coins?
Coins?
[Suspenseful music]
Five thousand.
Forty-five hundred.
Three thousand.
[Suspenseful piano music]
Weather is beautiful.
You feel like walking a bit
so you park a block away.
[Suspenseful piano music]
Did I hand you back your card?
There we are.
Current balance is at the bottom.
Please allow 3-4 business days
for availability of funds.
Is there anything else I can help you with?
No thank you, that's it.
Thank you for stopping in
Ms. Fischer, have a great...
[suspenseful piano music]
Yes ma'am, how may I help you?
Who can I speak to about a
home equity line of credit?
I can help you with that.
My name is Marie, please have a seat.
Oh I love your scarf.
Over...
and under, through and now you're white.
[Music intensifying]
Crown me.
One one thousand, two one thousand,
three one thousand, four one thousand
[Laughing]
[Crunching]
[Laughing]
[Car running]
Kris, the wall has crumbled, fallen down.
[Birds chirping]
[Breathes deeply]
[Silence]
[Sobbing]
[Dishes clanking]
[Gasping]
[Rumbling]
[Birds chirping]
[loud whooshing rumble]
[Crickets chirping,
muffled rumble continues]
It won't come out.
[Loud rumble noise resumes]
[Crying in pain]
[Rumble intensifies]
[Slow string music building]
[Clicking noise, crying]
[Squealing]
[Pigs oinking]
[Running water]
[Wind gusting]
And did you try anybody else?
Because I spoke to Shelly
and she does not remember talking to you.
Yes, it was a voicemail, I left a voicemail.
Where's Roth today?
Why isn't he telling me himself?
He couldn't be here today
and that's now what we're...
I had the flu, okay?
I had a 106 degree temperature.
That's not... that's
not my signature.
I didn't... it's not...
And here's a deposit slip from September.
Yeah, that's my handwriting.
This is different obviously.
[Birds chirping]
[Slow string music]
So we do all their
printing and their literature.
It's just a small school district but,
this is the address right here,
so if you ever need any printing, signage,
just come in or call.
I don't need... I never in a
million years would I ever...
I don't need any signage.
This is you, Kris?
Yeah, that's me.
Okay.
Umm...
I'll call.
I'm not going to call
for signage though, right?
I don't need any signage.
Okay, Kris?
Okay, Jeff.
Uh, hey...
it was good meeting you.
[Subway train clacking]
I called you.
I can't do this every day.
This makes me late for work.
You're four trains after me.
So you're going to have to answer if I call.
I'm going to call. Again.
I picked up an MBA.
That's what the, that's what the firm does.
It has a commercial half, the
other side's personal wealth.
Where is it?
It's, you can actually see it.
It's a high rise.
The Palomar Building, C&L Crowne, that's us.
Why do you take the train?
Why do I take the train?
Yes, it's just everyone
that takes the train is either homeless
or had their license revoked or you know.
Do you want to see my driver's license?
No.
That's a gift for us.
See there's this path forward
where I wait to tell you
and you either use it as an excuse
or maybe you don't but, I don't know.
I was diagnosed about a
year ago and I take these
and I take those and it's fine.
It seems fine.
It seems fine to me.
So there's that, and...
I think I saved us both three to four weeks.
Alright.
Thank you.
I'm going to get the check and we can...
...get out of here.
I'm sorry.
That was stupid.
I don't know what I'm meant to say to that.
What do I say to that?
I don't know.
Why don't I-I'll tell
you something and then you,
you don't care at all do you?
It's not- yeah alright.
Before we pass this trash I'm
going to tell you something.
Um...
I am divorced.
That's not good right?
It's not great.
Yeah.
Where's Michel?
We have clients with ten times this revenue
that don't have near
the tax liability you do.
So we can have another conversation about
how screwed up the code is,
or you can take the charge
against and solve it.
[straw paper rustling]
[Bricks falling echoes]
[Echoes distorting]
[Distortion becomes low frequency waves]
[low frequency sound raises in pitch]
[Brick sound distorting]
[File sound distorting]
[Distortion becomes high frequency noise]
[Plays tune with frequency noises]
[Tune continues]
[Turns engine off, music stops]
[Car door squeaks]
[low humming noise]
[Humming noise becomes a tune]
[Tune continues]
[Water babbling]
[Noises and tunes running together]
[Noises and tunes become hollow and fade]
[Machine whirring loudly]
[Faucet running]
[Water babbling]
[Material scratching]
[Machine whirring]
[Plays tune]
[Tune continues]
[Machine stalls and squeaks]
[Copy machine runs]
[Sewing machine buzzing]
[Tune plays in headphones]
[Box cutter clicks]
[Click, all sounds stop]
[Pigs oinking and squealing]
[Police siren]
Does your wife take any medications?
No.
Does she have any health problems?
Asthma.
[Sirens]
[Heart monitor beeping]
[Pigs snorting, oinking]
Just want to say that I hope today's better.
I made a list of the things
I want to try harder at.
I love you.
Those are just words,
they don't fix anything Jill.
[Clicking]
It's not a short I'm going to
the store to get some more.
Wait a second.
I'm on the way out the door.
I just want to tell you
I hope today is better.
And that I love you.
Damn it Jill those are just,
those are words.
They don't mean anything.
[Door closes]
[Man] Not now Jillian.
[Jill]
I want this to be a good day.
Just leave me alone.
I love you.
I think you were right
about a lot of things.
I love you.
I want today to be peaceful.
Damn it Jill, this is worthless.
[Jill] Ben.
[Ben] Now you want to talk?
I'm way out the door Jill.
I just want to say that...
...I hope today is better.
And that I love you.
I want to believe you.
Hey, while I'm at it
I'll pick up that filter.
Is it alright that I have that there?
You going to fall down
if you don't have it there?
Yeah, maybe.
See this woman here with the knitting?
She's a, she's a former Senator, right?
Like a Nobel winner, but
her category is mittens.
So she, she rides... what?
You lost me.
Just got a little too...
Little?
[Kris Little cute, yeah.
[Jeff] I don't know.
What do you have in mind?
[Kris]
Alright, how about that guy?
[Jeff] Tell me about him.
[Kris] He's divorced.
Yeah, yep.
Because she cheated.
No?
No. Oh, he did.
He cheated.
No. What was it?
Alcoholic.
Some substance of some kind.
The illegal kind.
[Kris]
I would think that there's some marriages
that could survive
something like that maybe.
Maybe, but...
Not yours?
Not ours, no.
From her perspective.
I mean everything just flipped, you know.
The guy she thought she married
turned out to be somebody else,
a junkie, and uh...
all the savings, all
the plans, everything resets.
The lights turn on,
and I'm holed up in some hotel across town.
I have to open the store tomorrow.
Not that early, I bet.
No, I'm lucky to have that job.
The sign store job you're lucky to have it?
It's not my fault when it goes wrong.
Yes it is.
[Pigs squealing]
Why do you live in hotels?
I do the books for a group
that owns a few of them.
So it's sort of... a perk.
Right, but why do you choose...
I am starving...
Are you hungry?
You've got to be right?
[Kris] It always just reminds
me of family vacations.
Maybe because of the smell of chlorine
and bleach in the sheets,
the glasses wrapped in plastic.
Yeah...
We would go to this...
there's this place in Vermont
that we would go when we were kids.
It's like a colonial...
In Vermont?
Yeah.
It was historic and there was museums,
but the thing that stood out for
us was that they...
we would stay at this hotel
with an indoor pool,
and it was just the biggest
deal in the world for us.
Because one, it's indoor...
Two, you can swim... What's
going on with you?
What are you thinking?
Is it good?
No.
[shower running]
You have a message.
Are you going?
To the banquet?
I mean it's going to be work, you know.
It's people from work.
For three hours.
I thought we could go...
...if you want.
You want to?
I'm sorry.
I like you so much.
I do. I like you so much.
I have...
You are kidding right?
I have been really careful
not to lie about something.
And through omission,
I may have given you an impression
that isn't quite real.
I work here.
I work on 29th C&L Crowne.
I'm not an advisor.
I don't broker.
I do interdepartmental reports,
okay, I don't have an office.
I work in common space, I work with interns.
Greg pays me in cash to
keep me off their books
because if there is ever
an audit, I am a liability.
I stole money, Kris.
Shifted it from account to account,
until I could grab it.
Right, because if you...
I lost my broker's license...
and they covered for me.
But if I was anybody else
I would be in prison.
So I am lucky to have this job.
When you walk into that hotel...
you're going to know.
When you walk into that
banquet, you're going to know.
Because everybody there knows.
And they look at me in a certain way,
and they talk to me in a certain way.
In a way that you don't look at me yet.
That was smart.
To wait to tell me.
I'm sorry.
Think you might be using that wrong.
[Kris] Which direction is this?
Is that east?
You can see the whole city from up here.
I think I might be pregnant.
Won't let anyone near them.
They just crowd back in the corner.
Violent.
Oh yes, she's got a litter on the way.
They can get very protective.
Never seen the parents behave so.
Just never had them break my damn fence.
There's a fellow down the
road buys them from me.
Well, if you need another buyer,
I know some petting farms.
They'd love to have some piglets.
Okay, sure, sure, thanks so much.
First off, you're not pregnant.
No, I did a test. I am.
The HCG in your blood tells us you're not.
And that's more definitive.
Okay.
Now, you didn't list it in your
questionnaire, but...
have you had any surgical
procedures in your pelvic area?
Maybe a cyst was removed or a biopsy?
[Music]
I'd say post cancer.
This is where they removed
the tumor, this cavity.
She says no.
No what?
Someone was in there.
Trauma here, and...
How are you supposed to
help someone like that?
By all appearances you're a survivor
of stage three endometrial cancer.
The good news is that there isn't any sign
of any remaining carcinoma.
Lab shows that you're
in no immediate danger.
The trauma it left behind is significant.
Well, I'm saying two things.
It is highly unlikely given
the state of the organs
that you could ever become pregnant.
If by some miracle you were to conceive,
the faculties are too damaged
to carry a baby full term.
[Silence]
Wait, wait, wait.
Pull over here.
Krissy?
Krissy? Krissy!
Where'd you go?
Something happened to me...
I was looking for you!
Something bad happened to me.
I know that, I don't care.
No you don't know!
I don't even know what happened.
I can't see my niece and nephews and...
Kris, why?
Why? What are you talking about?
I have to go there.
Okay, listen to me.
I want to, I want to marry you.
I'm married to you right now.
I need a car.
I'm marrying you, today.
Do you understand?
Yes. We'll get a car.
Today.
[Kris] Do you know this place?
[Jeff] I want to say yes.
For you.
I want to.
[Kris] Is there, is there a
direction that you feel
that you're more drawn to?
[Jeff] I don't know.
Is there one you feel drawn to?
[Kris] I say right.
[Jeff] Left.
[Kris] You sure?
[Jeff] No.
Then let's go right.
I'm going to go wherever you go.
You know that.
[Kris] I feel like you know.
[Music]
We should go on a trip.
Get somewhere.
Where would we go?
Somewhere bright.
[Music]
[Jeff] They could be starlings.
[Kris] They could be starlings.
[Kris] When I was little, my
friend Renny would come over
and I'd get really mad
because every time my
Mom would bake cookies...
[Jeff]
I knew a kid called Renny...
...he'd eat them all.
...this fat kid
He was fat, my neighbor Renny.
I told you this story
Is lunch ready?
Doesn't it look an improvement?
It's much better.
Much better right?
I guess so.
[Jeff] Who said that?
[Kris] Who said that?
[Jeff]
Who said they were Grackles?
[Kris] Grackles.
[Jeff] They could be starlings.
[Kris] They could be starlings.
So I was really excited to go swimming.
Yeah.
And he didn't even have a chance to tell me
that there was bird shit all over the slide,
so I went down anyway.
Wait.
Renny.
Right.
My neighbor.
You're tell- you're
doing it again.
You're doing it again.
The kid almost drowned me.
We should go on a trip.
Get somewhere.
Where would we go?
To Vermont?
That place that you know?
Maybe.
How do you get there?
Renny used to come over and eat
all the chocolate chip cookies
No, no, no I'm talking
about a different one.
Renny is my friend.
With the pool and the slide.
[Kris]
With the pool and tried to drown me, yes,
I tell you a story and then you've taken it
and you've made it your own,
you do this all the time.
How do you get there?
The place where you and your family you'd go
on vacation in Vermont?
You drive Kris.
What road would you take?
I would have to get a map.
You don't remember?
It's just some country road.
I was six.
No I was six.
I told you that story.
No you didn't, no.
Yes, he held me under remember,
he held me under water.
[Arguing, speaking at once]
So I'm not allowed to
talk about my childhood?
Talk all you want,
just don't talk about mine.
You think it's your childhood?
What about the trampoline?
With Mick?
No, that's you, that's yours.
That's me, thank you for that.
- What about Renny?
- No.
Almost drowned me?
Then lied to my mom about it?
No that's mine.
That's you, right, okay
That happened to me!
Kris!
Not only that but you're also
trying to tell me that [whistle]
[Jeff] They could be starlings.
[Kris] They could be starlings.
[Crying]
Ring.
[Phone rings] where are you?
I don't know.
I can't find them anywhere.
Can't find who?
Where are you?
I know they're here.
I can feel them here.
I can't find them.
I've been looking everywhere for them.
- Are there three windows?
- Yeah.
- Two doors?
- Uh huh.
Go in the one on the right.
It's just a room.
No it's a passage.
Go to the other side you're going through.
Now what?
- You in the room
- Yes.
- Is there a chair on the right?
- Yes.
Fire extinguishers yes?
Yeah.
There should be a door in front of you,
a gray door, go through that.
Go past the columns then
look for a door on the left,
the next one, the next one.
Go down two flights of stairs.
Take the elevator.
Come on let's go.
Why were you at my work?
I didn't know I was.
What are we doing?
Where are we going, home?
Kris? Where are we going, home?
Kris, home?
Yeah, home.
[Silence]
"Oh husband," replied his wife.
Do you hear that?
Hear what?
There's like a...
There's this sound coming
from underneath the house.
I don't hear anything.
It's really high pitched.
You're scaring me a little bit.
[High Pitched Whistle]
Kris, it's an old house.
There's nine things in this
house that sound like that.
Can you just, can you just
go in there, just go in there
I'm going to go in.
Thank you.
I haven't slept at all.
I'm sorry. It's really...
You don't believe me.
I'm not lying.
I may have...
I think I...
There's a weird flowing sound.
Right through the main,
whatever this thing is.
The pipe.
But it's not what you're doing.
It's like low.
You know what I'm saying?
It's both, it's both those sounds.
It's both low and high at the same time.
No.
Yeah.
No, you...
Yeah, it's like a low and high.
It's like low and high.
[Under Water Sounds]
[Water babbling]
[Kris speaking inaudibly]
[Footsteps]
Kris?
What are you doing here?
I love to be alone.
You love what?
The sun is but a morning star.
What'd you say?
[Underwater sounds]
The wildest sound ever
heard makes the woods ring far
and wide.
[Water Sounds]
Faint tinkling sounds borne to my ear.
Their roots reaching quite under the house.
Fearing that they
would be light-headed.
For want of food and also sleep.
Light-headed?
Prevailing blue mixed with
yellow of the sand.
Sunshine is the color of the water.
I used to wonder at the halo
of light around my shadow
And fancied myself one of the elect.
Economy.
When I wrote the following pages, or rather,
the bulk of them
I lived alone in the woods, a
mile from any neighbor,
in a house which I had
built myself, on the shore
on the shore of Walden Pond.
And earned my living
by the labor of my hands only.
I lived there for two years and two months.
At present I am a sojourner
of civilized life again.
[Jeff]
He heard a low and distant sound.
But grand, and impressive.
Unlike anything he had ever heard.
Gradually swelling and increasing.
As if it would have a
universal and memorable ending.
Asullen rush and roar.
[Jeff]
The rays which stream through the shutter
will be no longer remembered
when the shutter is wholly removed.
The finest qualities of our nature,
like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved.
A stream flowing out in that direction
through a wooded valley.
But stream there was none.
I am glad to have drunk water so long.
For the same reason that
I prefer the natural sky.
[Underwater Sounds]
[Intense whooshing and rumbling]
[low humming]
[Slow electronic music]
[Music]
[Slow string music]
Close your eyes.
Close em.
[Light twinkling music]
See how many you gotta go through...
to get a good one?
[Soda can opening]
[Liquid pouring, fizzing]
Are you ready?
No.
[Slow horn music]
[Slight rustling]
[Breathes heavily]
You can see what?
Who's?
Not till Monday.
Whose is it?
I don't know a grip, a gaffer,
somebody's foot, a shadow of it.
I can't, I can't... okay well
if I can see it then they can see it too.
If they can't do it,
I mean how many times are
you going to go around this?
Hire a new team.
What's the problem?
It has been a while.
I'm sorry about that but
your work is just amazing.
When we saw your take on it
everyone instantly knew
we'd gone to the right place.
I just have a few questions for you.
[Footsteps]
[Record drops]:
Taking the yellow soil
[Record continues inaudibly]
This was my daily work
[continues inaudibly]
What is it?
Do you have more?
My friends, though.
[Street Sounds]
[Car horns honking]
[Footsteps]
[Background Conversations]
[Light thunder, rain falling heavily]
[Water whooshing]
[Choking, gasping]
[Crickets chirping, papers rustling]
No, no.
Stay awake.
You feel refreshed?
Is there any food?
All the food is poisoned.
Your throat is parched.
Make a pitcher of ice
water, bring a small glass.
You can leave the tile.
The rest of the floor will
support your weight now.
I have to apologize.
I was born with a disfigurement
where my head is made
of the same material as the sun.
It makes it impossible for
you to look directly at me.
It has always been this way.
[Water pours, ice clinks in glass]
The water before you is somehow special.
When you drink it you feel
revived and full of energy.
It is better than anything
you've ever tasted.
Take a drink now.
There are two approaching
armies, hunger and fatigue,
but a great wall keeps them at bay.
The wall extends to the sky and will stay
up until I say otherwise.
Each drink is better than the last,
leaving you with the
desire to have one more.
Take a drink now.
[Swallowing]
The next drink must be earned
and I'm going to tell you how.
Focus closely on my instructions.
I will ask you to repeat them from memory.
One one thousand, two one thousand,
three one thousand, four one thousand.
The water has lost its appeal.
It doesn't seem as enticing as before.
You have no craving for it.
Kris I just got a call.
It's your mother.
She says she's been taken by several men.
[Softly] Oh no.
She says they won't let
her go unless you pay them.
No...
Oh no. Do you have any money?
No I don't.
I'm sorry.
Can you think of anything?
She sounds brave but I
think they're hurting her.
Mom...
I have the house.
You own the house?
I own part of it.
I could, maybe I could...
What's the equity?
$36,000.
Is that enough?
In coins?
Coins?
[Suspenseful music]
Five thousand.
Forty-five hundred.
Three thousand.
[Suspenseful piano music]
Weather is beautiful.
You feel like walking a bit
so you park a block away.
[Suspenseful piano music]
Did I hand you back your card?
There we are.
Current balance is at the bottom.
Please allow 3-4 business days
for availability of funds.
Is there anything else I can help you with?
No thank you, that's it.
Thank you for stopping in
Ms. Fischer, have a great...
[suspenseful piano music]
Yes ma'am, how may I help you?
Who can I speak to about a
home equity line of credit?
I can help you with that.
My name is Marie, please have a seat.
Oh I love your scarf.
Over...
and under, through and now you're white.
[Music intensifying]
Crown me.
One one thousand, two one thousand,
three one thousand, four one thousand
[Laughing]
[Crunching]
[Laughing]
[Car running]
Kris, the wall has crumbled, fallen down.
[Birds chirping]
[Breathes deeply]
[Silence]
[Sobbing]
[Dishes clanking]
[Gasping]
[Rumbling]
[Birds chirping]
[loud whooshing rumble]
[Crickets chirping,
muffled rumble continues]
It won't come out.
[Loud rumble noise resumes]
[Crying in pain]
[Rumble intensifies]
[Slow string music building]
[Clicking noise, crying]
[Squealing]
[Pigs oinking]
[Running water]
[Wind gusting]
And did you try anybody else?
Because I spoke to Shelly
and she does not remember talking to you.
Yes, it was a voicemail, I left a voicemail.
Where's Roth today?
Why isn't he telling me himself?
He couldn't be here today
and that's now what we're...
I had the flu, okay?
I had a 106 degree temperature.
That's not... that's
not my signature.
I didn't... it's not...
And here's a deposit slip from September.
Yeah, that's my handwriting.
This is different obviously.
[Birds chirping]
[Slow string music]
So we do all their
printing and their literature.
It's just a small school district but,
this is the address right here,
so if you ever need any printing, signage,
just come in or call.
I don't need... I never in a
million years would I ever...
I don't need any signage.
This is you, Kris?
Yeah, that's me.
Okay.
Umm...
I'll call.
I'm not going to call
for signage though, right?
I don't need any signage.
Okay, Kris?
Okay, Jeff.
Uh, hey...
it was good meeting you.
[Subway train clacking]
I called you.
I can't do this every day.
This makes me late for work.
You're four trains after me.
So you're going to have to answer if I call.
I'm going to call. Again.
I picked up an MBA.
That's what the, that's what the firm does.
It has a commercial half, the
other side's personal wealth.
Where is it?
It's, you can actually see it.
It's a high rise.
The Palomar Building, C&L Crowne, that's us.
Why do you take the train?
Why do I take the train?
Yes, it's just everyone
that takes the train is either homeless
or had their license revoked or you know.
Do you want to see my driver's license?
No.
That's a gift for us.
See there's this path forward
where I wait to tell you
and you either use it as an excuse
or maybe you don't but, I don't know.
I was diagnosed about a
year ago and I take these
and I take those and it's fine.
It seems fine.
It seems fine to me.
So there's that, and...
I think I saved us both three to four weeks.
Alright.
Thank you.
I'm going to get the check and we can...
...get out of here.
I'm sorry.
That was stupid.
I don't know what I'm meant to say to that.
What do I say to that?
I don't know.
Why don't I-I'll tell
you something and then you,
you don't care at all do you?
It's not- yeah alright.
Before we pass this trash I'm
going to tell you something.
Um...
I am divorced.
That's not good right?
It's not great.
Yeah.
Where's Michel?
We have clients with ten times this revenue
that don't have near
the tax liability you do.
So we can have another conversation about
how screwed up the code is,
or you can take the charge
against and solve it.
[straw paper rustling]
[Bricks falling echoes]
[Echoes distorting]
[Distortion becomes low frequency waves]
[low frequency sound raises in pitch]
[Brick sound distorting]
[File sound distorting]
[Distortion becomes high frequency noise]
[Plays tune with frequency noises]
[Tune continues]
[Turns engine off, music stops]
[Car door squeaks]
[low humming noise]
[Humming noise becomes a tune]
[Tune continues]
[Water babbling]
[Noises and tunes running together]
[Noises and tunes become hollow and fade]
[Machine whirring loudly]
[Faucet running]
[Water babbling]
[Material scratching]
[Machine whirring]
[Plays tune]
[Tune continues]
[Machine stalls and squeaks]
[Copy machine runs]
[Sewing machine buzzing]
[Tune plays in headphones]
[Box cutter clicks]
[Click, all sounds stop]
[Pigs oinking and squealing]
[Police siren]
Does your wife take any medications?
No.
Does she have any health problems?
Asthma.
[Sirens]
[Heart monitor beeping]
[Pigs snorting, oinking]
Just want to say that I hope today's better.
I made a list of the things
I want to try harder at.
I love you.
Those are just words,
they don't fix anything Jill.
[Clicking]
It's not a short I'm going to
the store to get some more.
Wait a second.
I'm on the way out the door.
I just want to tell you
I hope today is better.
And that I love you.
Damn it Jill those are just,
those are words.
They don't mean anything.
[Door closes]
[Man] Not now Jillian.
[Jill]
I want this to be a good day.
Just leave me alone.
I love you.
I think you were right
about a lot of things.
I love you.
I want today to be peaceful.
Damn it Jill, this is worthless.
[Jill] Ben.
[Ben] Now you want to talk?
I'm way out the door Jill.
I just want to say that...
...I hope today is better.
And that I love you.
I want to believe you.
Hey, while I'm at it
I'll pick up that filter.
Is it alright that I have that there?
You going to fall down
if you don't have it there?
Yeah, maybe.
See this woman here with the knitting?
She's a, she's a former Senator, right?
Like a Nobel winner, but
her category is mittens.
So she, she rides... what?
You lost me.
Just got a little too...
Little?
[Kris Little cute, yeah.
[Jeff] I don't know.
What do you have in mind?
[Kris]
Alright, how about that guy?
[Jeff] Tell me about him.
[Kris] He's divorced.
Yeah, yep.
Because she cheated.
No?
No. Oh, he did.
He cheated.
No. What was it?
Alcoholic.
Some substance of some kind.
The illegal kind.
[Kris]
I would think that there's some marriages
that could survive
something like that maybe.
Maybe, but...
Not yours?
Not ours, no.
From her perspective.
I mean everything just flipped, you know.
The guy she thought she married
turned out to be somebody else,
a junkie, and uh...
all the savings, all
the plans, everything resets.
The lights turn on,
and I'm holed up in some hotel across town.
I have to open the store tomorrow.
Not that early, I bet.
No, I'm lucky to have that job.
The sign store job you're lucky to have it?
It's not my fault when it goes wrong.
Yes it is.
[Pigs squealing]
Why do you live in hotels?
I do the books for a group
that owns a few of them.
So it's sort of... a perk.
Right, but why do you choose...
I am starving...
Are you hungry?
You've got to be right?
[Kris] It always just reminds
me of family vacations.
Maybe because of the smell of chlorine
and bleach in the sheets,
the glasses wrapped in plastic.
Yeah...
We would go to this...
there's this place in Vermont
that we would go when we were kids.
It's like a colonial...
In Vermont?
Yeah.
It was historic and there was museums,
but the thing that stood out for
us was that they...
we would stay at this hotel
with an indoor pool,
and it was just the biggest
deal in the world for us.
Because one, it's indoor...
Two, you can swim... What's
going on with you?
What are you thinking?
Is it good?
No.
[shower running]
You have a message.
Are you going?
To the banquet?
I mean it's going to be work, you know.
It's people from work.
For three hours.
I thought we could go...
...if you want.
You want to?
I'm sorry.
I like you so much.
I do. I like you so much.
I have...
You are kidding right?
I have been really careful
not to lie about something.
And through omission,
I may have given you an impression
that isn't quite real.
I work here.
I work on 29th C&L Crowne.
I'm not an advisor.
I don't broker.
I do interdepartmental reports,
okay, I don't have an office.
I work in common space, I work with interns.
Greg pays me in cash to
keep me off their books
because if there is ever
an audit, I am a liability.
I stole money, Kris.
Shifted it from account to account,
until I could grab it.
Right, because if you...
I lost my broker's license...
and they covered for me.
But if I was anybody else
I would be in prison.
So I am lucky to have this job.
When you walk into that hotel...
you're going to know.
When you walk into that
banquet, you're going to know.
Because everybody there knows.
And they look at me in a certain way,
and they talk to me in a certain way.
In a way that you don't look at me yet.
That was smart.
To wait to tell me.
I'm sorry.
Think you might be using that wrong.
[Kris] Which direction is this?
Is that east?
You can see the whole city from up here.
I think I might be pregnant.
Won't let anyone near them.
They just crowd back in the corner.
Violent.
Oh yes, she's got a litter on the way.
They can get very protective.
Never seen the parents behave so.
Just never had them break my damn fence.
There's a fellow down the
road buys them from me.
Well, if you need another buyer,
I know some petting farms.
They'd love to have some piglets.
Okay, sure, sure, thanks so much.
First off, you're not pregnant.
No, I did a test. I am.
The HCG in your blood tells us you're not.
And that's more definitive.
Okay.
Now, you didn't list it in your
questionnaire, but...
have you had any surgical
procedures in your pelvic area?
Maybe a cyst was removed or a biopsy?
[Music]
I'd say post cancer.
This is where they removed
the tumor, this cavity.
She says no.
No what?
Someone was in there.
Trauma here, and...
How are you supposed to
help someone like that?
By all appearances you're a survivor
of stage three endometrial cancer.
The good news is that there isn't any sign
of any remaining carcinoma.
Lab shows that you're
in no immediate danger.
The trauma it left behind is significant.
Well, I'm saying two things.
It is highly unlikely given
the state of the organs
that you could ever become pregnant.
If by some miracle you were to conceive,
the faculties are too damaged
to carry a baby full term.
[Silence]
Wait, wait, wait.
Pull over here.
Krissy?
Krissy? Krissy!
Where'd you go?
Something happened to me...
I was looking for you!
Something bad happened to me.
I know that, I don't care.
No you don't know!
I don't even know what happened.
I can't see my niece and nephews and...
Kris, why?
Why? What are you talking about?
I have to go there.
Okay, listen to me.
I want to, I want to marry you.
I'm married to you right now.
I need a car.
I'm marrying you, today.
Do you understand?
Yes. We'll get a car.
Today.
[Kris] Do you know this place?
[Jeff] I want to say yes.
For you.
I want to.
[Kris] Is there, is there a
direction that you feel
that you're more drawn to?
[Jeff] I don't know.
Is there one you feel drawn to?
[Kris] I say right.
[Jeff] Left.
[Kris] You sure?
[Jeff] No.
Then let's go right.
I'm going to go wherever you go.
You know that.
[Kris] I feel like you know.
[Music]
We should go on a trip.
Get somewhere.
Where would we go?
Somewhere bright.
[Music]
[Jeff] They could be starlings.
[Kris] They could be starlings.
[Kris] When I was little, my
friend Renny would come over
and I'd get really mad
because every time my
Mom would bake cookies...
[Jeff]
I knew a kid called Renny...
...he'd eat them all.
...this fat kid
He was fat, my neighbor Renny.
I told you this story
Is lunch ready?
Doesn't it look an improvement?
It's much better.
Much better right?
I guess so.
[Jeff] Who said that?
[Kris] Who said that?
[Jeff]
Who said they were Grackles?
[Kris] Grackles.
[Jeff] They could be starlings.
[Kris] They could be starlings.
So I was really excited to go swimming.
Yeah.
And he didn't even have a chance to tell me
that there was bird shit all over the slide,
so I went down anyway.
Wait.
Renny.
Right.
My neighbor.
You're tell- you're
doing it again.
You're doing it again.
The kid almost drowned me.
We should go on a trip.
Get somewhere.
Where would we go?
To Vermont?
That place that you know?
Maybe.
How do you get there?
Renny used to come over and eat
all the chocolate chip cookies
No, no, no I'm talking
about a different one.
Renny is my friend.
With the pool and the slide.
[Kris]
With the pool and tried to drown me, yes,
I tell you a story and then you've taken it
and you've made it your own,
you do this all the time.
How do you get there?
The place where you and your family you'd go
on vacation in Vermont?
You drive Kris.
What road would you take?
I would have to get a map.
You don't remember?
It's just some country road.
I was six.
No I was six.
I told you that story.
No you didn't, no.
Yes, he held me under remember,
he held me under water.
[Arguing, speaking at once]
So I'm not allowed to
talk about my childhood?
Talk all you want,
just don't talk about mine.
You think it's your childhood?
What about the trampoline?
With Mick?
No, that's you, that's yours.
That's me, thank you for that.
- What about Renny?
- No.
Almost drowned me?
Then lied to my mom about it?
No that's mine.
That's you, right, okay
That happened to me!
Kris!
Not only that but you're also
trying to tell me that [whistle]
[Jeff] They could be starlings.
[Kris] They could be starlings.
[Crying]
Ring.
[Phone rings] where are you?
I don't know.
I can't find them anywhere.
Can't find who?
Where are you?
I know they're here.
I can feel them here.
I can't find them.
I've been looking everywhere for them.
- Are there three windows?
- Yeah.
- Two doors?
- Uh huh.
Go in the one on the right.
It's just a room.
No it's a passage.
Go to the other side you're going through.
Now what?
- You in the room
- Yes.
- Is there a chair on the right?
- Yes.
Fire extinguishers yes?
Yeah.
There should be a door in front of you,
a gray door, go through that.
Go past the columns then
look for a door on the left,
the next one, the next one.
Go down two flights of stairs.
Take the elevator.
Come on let's go.
Why were you at my work?
I didn't know I was.
What are we doing?
Where are we going, home?
Kris? Where are we going, home?
Kris, home?
Yeah, home.
[Silence]
"Oh husband," replied his wife.
Do you hear that?
Hear what?
There's like a...
There's this sound coming
from underneath the house.
I don't hear anything.
It's really high pitched.
You're scaring me a little bit.
[High Pitched Whistle]
Kris, it's an old house.
There's nine things in this
house that sound like that.
Can you just, can you just
go in there, just go in there
I'm going to go in.
Thank you.
I haven't slept at all.
I'm sorry. It's really...
You don't believe me.
I'm not lying.
I may have...
I think I...
There's a weird flowing sound.
Right through the main,
whatever this thing is.
The pipe.
But it's not what you're doing.
It's like low.
You know what I'm saying?
It's both, it's both those sounds.
It's both low and high at the same time.
No.
Yeah.
No, you...
Yeah, it's like a low and high.
It's like low and high.
[Under Water Sounds]
[Water babbling]
[Kris speaking inaudibly]
[Footsteps]
Kris?
What are you doing here?
I love to be alone.
You love what?
The sun is but a morning star.
What'd you say?
[Underwater sounds]
The wildest sound ever
heard makes the woods ring far
and wide.
[Water Sounds]
Faint tinkling sounds borne to my ear.
Their roots reaching quite under the house.
Fearing that they
would be light-headed.
For want of food and also sleep.
Light-headed?
Prevailing blue mixed with
yellow of the sand.
Sunshine is the color of the water.
I used to wonder at the halo
of light around my shadow
And fancied myself one of the elect.
Economy.
When I wrote the following pages, or rather,
the bulk of them
I lived alone in the woods, a
mile from any neighbor,
in a house which I had
built myself, on the shore
on the shore of Walden Pond.
And earned my living
by the labor of my hands only.
I lived there for two years and two months.
At present I am a sojourner
of civilized life again.
[Jeff]
He heard a low and distant sound.
But grand, and impressive.
Unlike anything he had ever heard.
Gradually swelling and increasing.
As if it would have a
universal and memorable ending.
Asullen rush and roar.
[Jeff]
The rays which stream through the shutter
will be no longer remembered
when the shutter is wholly removed.
The finest qualities of our nature,
like the bloom on fruits, can be preserved.
A stream flowing out in that direction
through a wooded valley.
But stream there was none.
I am glad to have drunk water so long.
For the same reason that
I prefer the natural sky.
[Underwater Sounds]
[Intense whooshing and rumbling]
[low humming]
[Slow electronic music]
[Music]