I Am the Night (2019) s01e02 Episode Script
Phenomenon of Interference
1 [GRUNTS.]
It is hard raising a mixed-race child.
PAT: Who's Fauna Hodel, Mama? You.
You're Fauna Hodel.
I'm leaving.
I'm gonna find my real family.
What brings you to Los Angeles? I'm visiting my grandfather.
I've never met him.
Well, that will interesting.
You You're the one that wrote that article - about Dr.
George Hodel? - George Hodel? Yes.
You were right about him.
Got to keep looking.
Your grandfather is a very dangerous man.
Stay away from him.
Pat! There you are! Come on! Girls, your cousin is here! Patta's here! What are you doing here? FAUNA: He asked me to come, Tina.
It's probably just a mix-up is all.
Tina can take you on the bus.
The number 71 will take you up there.
I don't want to go all the way across town.
I got plans tonight.
How you gonna be so mean to your cousin? It's gonna take two hours to get there, Big Momma.
Oh come on, Tina.
Don't be a flake! I'll get lost.
Why you gonna leave her stranded like that? Of course you're gonna take her.
Yes, Big Momma.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
[CAR HORNS HONKING.]
Oh, no, no, no.
Not today, ma'am.
I paid, I paid.
Open this goddamn door.
- No, no.
She does You never pay.
- I have money.
How do you know she don't have any money? - Get off my bus! - I have money! - I'll pay for her.
- Get off my bus! - I said I'll pay for her.
- Unless you gonna pay.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Oh, Jesus Christ.
You should see the other girl.
I kicked her ass.
Not a scratch on her.
So, uh, what are doing here? Eating grapes off the wallpaper? Janice Brewster on the slab.
Plus 400 words.
Better late than never.
But I got something so much better than this garbage, Peter.
It's gonna blow your hair back.
I got an anonymous phone call last night.
You'll never guess who it's about.
Who? Dr.
George Hodel.
Nuts.
- No, it's Dr.
George Hodel.
- Ah shit, Jay, that I am telling you, I got a feeling - You know - something is up.
This call means something.
There's a crack.
Okay Jay, first of all, that trial was 10 lifetimes ago.
And second, you already tried this.
- He walked.
End of story.
- Okay, but what if the What if the phone call has new information? What if she has n-new information? You want me to mess around with a libel case that nearly took down an entire paper? I'd like you to mess around with the truth, Peter.
Because this this it is the truth.
- I know it's the truth.
- Oh, y oh, you know it? Okay, but Hodel's daughter, Tamar Is that her name? She took it back, Jay, in the end.
Am I right? That's what they said.
Then I couldn't find her.
- They shipped her off to a convent.
- Yeah.
Mm.
What if this phone call was Tamar Hodel? And what would she say? We got to find out.
I am not jumping in a bag of snakes with you, Jay.
I am not doing it.
You ain't a kid anymore, Jay.
You know that stunt you pulled? You didn't just screw yourself.
You know that? Decent guys got shit-canned because of that.
Of course of course I know that! Joe Kline drank himself to death.
- God, of course I - Are you friggin' kidding me? You don't think I know that every day? It is so easy for you.
[CHUCKLES.]
It is so easy.
I lost my entire life And th and those guys, yeah, they got they They got screwed, fine, sure.
But I But I was telling the What was right, Peter.
[SCOFFS.]
And then they string me up as a liar and a faker forever? What f what game are we in? If I could just If I could just prove it No.
No.
- Even even a even a - No.
But But even just a part of it.
- No.
No.
- Even just a part of it.
No.
A thousand times no.
You can't prove it.
You already tried.
You can't.
Come on, Jay.
Power never changes.
You run with those dogs again, they'll bury you 10 feet deep.
It's got nothing to do with right or wrong or the truth.
You got to remember who runs this city.
Justice in this town is a protection racket.
You can't fix it because it's already fixed, man.
The fix is in, and it's not gonna change.
George Hodel? Are you kidding me? It was all some far-out stuff, Jay.
I mean, his daughter She came across twitchy, hysterical, like the Salem witch trials.
Right? She accused him of that murder, that crazy murder.
I mean, Hodel might be a lot of things, but he sure as hell isn't the bogeyman.
Go on.
[DOORBELL RINGS.]
Come on, let's go home.
Ain't nobody here.
[DOORBELL RINGS.]
[DOORBELL RINGS.]
Hello? Hello? Dr.
Hodel? [KNOCKING ON DOOR.]
Dr.
Hodel? But he told me to come.
Come on, let's go home.
This is bullshit.
Ain't nobody here.
Come on.
We got someplace else to be.
I don't understand.
Tina, he asked me to come here.
Patta, come on.
Ain't coming back to this one-room shack [INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
The same old light for me I yearn to see Big city lights Big city light Terrence Shye! And when I'm gone don't you cry for me Hello! Hey, hey.
- I am good.
- Good, good.
This is my cousin, Pat.
I mean Fauna.
She in from Nevada for a few days.
She's staying with us.
Hey.
Hey, Fauna.
Hi.
This is Nero.
All right, Fauna.
- Jodie! - You know, I love me a cousin.
Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up.
What you mean by cousin? She my cousin.
How she gon' be your cousin? Her mama is my auntie.
So we cousins.
Yeah, but she ain't She black.
She mixed though.
No she ain't.
There ain't no way.
- With them eyes? - Hey, man, leave her alone.
Ain't no colored girl.
Let me see your hands.
I've got my birth certificate.
$10 to see it.
Shit.
I'll give you more than $10 if you want to give me a kiss.
- Leave her alone.
- Come on, now - No.
- Don't play hard to get.
No.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
MAN: I need it for one room.
Look, he got three jobs and still can't get a room.
- He can't get a job.
- He can't get a job.
Do you have the education? I got the education, miss.
Well, then I don't know what your problem is.
- And you have a job? - Yes.
I'm working.
Oh, we're working too.
- Congratulations.
- And I'm paying my rent.
- Are you? - [SCOFFS.]
I'm trying.
I love your hair.
Thanks.
All that relaxer and hot comb? You don't need it.
"I-I-If any white man in the world says give me liberty or give me death, the entire white world applauds, but a black man says exactly the same thing, th-then he's judged a criminal and treated like one.
" MAN: Now you just stealing that from How you doin'? You gonna act like you don't hear me now? TERRENCE: Hey, come sit by me, sister.
Come on.
Ignore that fool.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Need a drink? No, thank you.
I've seen it change too many people.
Starts in laughter, ends in tears.
Well, what are you doin' here? Flashing your birth certificate around, it seems like hard work.
Well, it's it's a long story.
I'll give you three sentences.
Well, uh I found out I'm adopted.
My white family, or at least my white grandfather, he's here in Los Angeles.
I've come to find my real mother who gave me up.
Or my father.
Well, that's more than three sentences.
[CHUCKLES.]
Yes, it was.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
Told you it was a long story.
So your father is black? Mm-hmm.
[CHUCKLES.]
That's all it takes, huh? Just that one drop will hold you down forever.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
Yeah, maybe I'll find him.
I think you will.
[WOMEN LAUGHING.]
TERRENCE: I think y'all are both having a little bit too much of a good time.
XANDER: She knows I'm a soldier though.
She knows I'm - 'Cause you weren't there.
- You know.
These these are Look.
I walk straight.
I'm not You're not You're not walking straight, man.
You're not walking straight.
This is straight.
This is straight.
What you were doing before was not straight.
- Xander, come on, now.
- [ENGINE IDLING.]
You know you can't walk straight.
- [LAUGHS.]
- He ain't lyin'.
- I love y'all.
- You can't.
- [LAUGHS.]
- You got that right.
TINA: Fauna! Come on! [SINGING INDISTINCTLY TO SELF.]
[BUZZER RINGS.]
Hey, Lilly.
Come on.
Wake up.
- [SIGHS.]
- Hey, doll.
HI.
I was just hoping that we could - Come on.
- You know - Come on.
Come on.
- I was thinkin' - Hi.
Hi.
- There you go.
[ELEVATOR DINGS.]
[GROANS.]
I just wanted to see you.
I know.
Of course you did.
[EXHALES DEEPLY.]
Come on.
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
No.
No, Lilly.
Lilly, no.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
Where are you, Tamar? No, no, no, no.
God.
[GROANS.]
Why, you are all twisted up.
I'm great.
Never better.
Never better.
What happened, Jay? Convent.
Why a convent? We had the world by the balls, didn't we? I thought we did.
[INHALES DEEPLY.]
I thought we did.
Here's the crazy thing, Lilly.
I feel like I could, uh, I feel like I could fix it, - like I could get it back.
- Oh, God.
I was gonna be this big hotshot hot-shit reporter, and then I got tangled up in this George Hodel story, and it man [LAUGHS.]
It just It destroyed everything in its path, like, uh like a biblical plague, like a, uh like a devil's shadow, blackening the grass it falls upon.
I was supposed to be an actress.
I can prove everything if I find that daughter.
So go find the daughter.
But she was hiding secrets.
I'll find her.
And I'll nail the story to the goddamn doors of the Times.
Like Martin Luther, right? "The Redemption and Resurrection of Jay Singletary," by Jay Singletary.
Are you holding, baby? Hey, Lilly, you get around.
You must have some nun friends, don't you? That's your kind of gang, huh? - What are you talking about? - [SIGHS.]
This daughter got sent to a convent Tamar.
Does that name ring a bell? Tamar Hodel? Jesus, she must be 30 by now.
I don't even know if she's still there.
Do nuns move? You're a loser.
Give me five bucks for a cab.
You want cab fare? Huh? Yeah.
I'm gonna call you a cab.
No.
You know what? Just give me the money.
I'll - Here.
- I'll get it.
Yeah.
You want me to stay? Let me call let me j Let me call you a cab.
Screw you, asshole.
Lilly, come on.
I don't want to do this shit.
- I know you're holding.
- I'm not.
I - Screw you, Jay! - What?! What?! - You turned me on.
- I didn't turn you I didn't stick a needle into my arm.
That is your creature-feature, sweetheart.
Yeah, frailty, thy name is woman! You know that one?! [LAUGHS.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
Well, now.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Some night, huh? Yeah.
Y'all have fun? Yeah, it was nice.
Tina still sleeping? Uh, yes, ma'am.
So what you gonna do now, girl? Did Jimmy Lee Did she ever say anything about my my real mama? Jimmy Lee is your real mama.
If all you want to talk about is blood, then, no, I don't know nothin' about your adoption.
But I know that Jimmy Lee loves you.
Yeah, I know.
And I love her.
We just fight so awful.
Well, everybody fights with Jimmy Lee.
She fights the entire world, sugar.
But that's just family.
That's just life.
Yeah, I know.
It's just It's hard not to wonder.
We're just so different.
I'm different.
I'm tired of it, and even when she's telling me that, you know, "you're different than everybody else.
" If I could just find my real mom and dad, then maybe I wouldn't be.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- You know, if could just see 'em.
Baby, you are welcome to stay here till Jimmy Lee comes knocking heads.
[LAUGHS.]
Ooh.
What about that that That that that Terrence Shye? Ain't he something? [LAUGHS.]
He's a good boy.
You know, Nina and Tina have known him for 10 years.
I keep saying one of them should marry that boy.
[TELEPHONE RINGING.]
Hello? Hold on.
It's for you.
Hello? Dr.
Hodel? NERO: Hey, girl.
How you doin'? I bet you ain't know I had this number, huh? Hey, listen.
Why don't you, uh Why don't you come out with me tonight? - I'll take you to a movie or - No thank you, Nero.
Uh Listen, I'm telling you now, don't play hard to get with me.
Is this that Nero? Don't be messing with my girls, Nero.
I'm sorry.
I-I didn't give him your number.
I-I gave it to my grandfather because I didn't have a number.
It's all right.
It's all right.
Honey, I have known Nero for years.
Bad apple, rotten tree.
[LAUGHS.]
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
No.
You said "office.
" I went to King Eddy's.
I didn't know you had an actual, uh No.
Sit.
Sit.
Uh, closet.
It's kind of embarrassing, Peter, honestly.
No.
No.
No.
I really like what you've done with the place.
It's Yeah.
Okay, fantastic.
Bye.
Goodbye.
Okay, I was having a good day, doing good deeds, but you screwed me.
What the hell are you talking about? You messed up, jackass.
No, I didn't.
I gave you a great story.
Mnh-mnh.
Janice Brewster The girl in the morgue? Yeah.
Yeah, she was turning tricks on Hollywood and Vine.
Confirmed by LAPD.
Ah, sh I Shit, Peter.
I mean, I don't know.
Her mother didn't know.
- And I don't know what to tell you.
- Yeah, I'm shocked.
Guess what? You're scooped by the Sun Examiner.
"Bloody Romeo Slays Ingenue.
" So the "Bloody Romeo" - I'm guessing is the - Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
- He's the gentleman who killed Janice.
- Yeah? That's actually good.
Bevo Means coined that.
She's clever.
It's not It's not It's not great.
It's got a real old Hollywood feel to it.
It's just bad.
Now, late last night, this came in.
The fuzz picked up "Brody Stiles" in Watts.
He copped to killed Janice, I guess, after "intensive questioning.
" Right, because no one would admit - to something they didn't do.
- Well, you know, got to be a reason they liked him for it, right? He's an easy collar.
You fix it.
Start with Brody Stiles and do the goddamn work.
- Report something, Jay, okay? - I will.
Show me you ain't like every other goof I got working for me who makes one flippin' phone call and calls it a day, okay? - Find a new angle.
- Did a goof do this? This is talent.
This is th y This is my lens.
Find a new angle - Angry Negro fed up with society, oversexed white girl, I don't care, but it better sing.
You know what? You're competing with the Sun Examiner.
You know what I'm gonna give you? I'm gonna give you a tight, clean 300 about how she was abducted by space aliens.
Do you want to follow drunk starlets like a peeping Tom? - Or do you want to report? Huh? - That's probably better than this.
Hey, I still got the "Sleaze Team" for the rest of the year, I can do what I want on the side.
So take your assignment, say, "Thanks, boss" - Thanks, boss.
- And today, Jay.
Today.
Stupid me.
There's probably something in here - about a two-headed baby.
- [TELEPHONE RINGING.]
- Do you know what? - No, no, no.
There is.
- I'm sure there is.
- Find meaning in it.
- Find meaning in it.
Okay? - I just have a gut - I feel good about this.
- That's your job.
Yeah? [SIGHS.]
What? And you're right, you're right.
You're right.
I'll make it right.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait wait, wait.
- I'll make it right.
- By 6:00 p.
m.
- Something fascinating, amazing, - Pulitzers all around! Pulitzers all around.
I'm gonna take this.
Pulitzers all around! - [DOOR OPENS.]
- What? [DIALING.]
[LINE RINGING.]
Hello? Hello.
Uh, Corinna Hodel? Who's calling, please? Mrs.
Hodel, this is Fauna.
Fauna Hodel? Tamar's daughter.
I-I-I called earlier.
BIG MOMMA: That's Well, not quite right.
Mrs.
Hodel? It's Huntington now.
You called me before? Yeah.
Two nights ago.
I'm afraid you're mistaken, child.
Or at least, you never called me.
Well, I-I I need to talk to you.
What do you want? Well, I was hoping that you could help me to find Tamar.
I need your help.
Please.
I'm very sorry to be the one to tell you that Tamar is deceased.
Dead? Um Uh, Doc Dr.
Hodel, he He didn't mention that.
I'm afraid I'm not feeling well.
Ma'am, I No, I need to talk to you.
I came here from Nevada and If If she's dead, then, um 612 Alameda? I'll be there today.
I If If you must come, come alone.
And don't ring the bell.
Knock three times, then three times more.
I never answer the doorbell.
[DIAL TONE.]
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
[JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING.]
- Horace.
- Shit.
Long time.
Let me buy a round.
All right.
BARTENDER: What's it gonna be? Triple gin with a splash of tonic.
Comin' up.
Man, I just wanted to see you.
Now, I thought you'd be suspicious, but you just ordered three gins.
That's fine.
How much is three gins? Like 5 bucks? You got it.
- Thank you.
- [SCOFFS.]
All right, so, uh, I know you are the most reliable jailhouse snitch in Los Angeles County, which is saying something.
Congratulations.
That's a big deal.
Will you tell me who Brody Stiles is? Brody Stiles? - Shit, man.
- Mm-hmm.
Brody Stiles is a birdie.
What do you mean? I mean he work with LAPD all the time.
He's a pigeon, man.
He dummy up confessions in court, "Yes, Your Honor, he he confessed to me in his cell last night.
He did it.
" Ain't that some shit, man? Now they done got poor Brody for killin' a white girl, and they fixin' to send him up hard.
You know him? Like a white woman gonna get in the car with Brody Stiles.
That Negro arthritis so bad, he can barely hold his damn bottle.
Yeah, I know Brody.
Hello.
A-Are you I'm Fauna.
Come in.
Do you like art? Yeah, it's wonderful.
I'm a collector.
I've collected here and abroad all my life.
Some of the works are by my father.
Tom Huntington? The artist.
He was quite the thing before the war.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
Went mad in the end.
Poor darling.
Uh, I'm sorry.
Th They're real nice.
I suppose I do see the resemblance.
I just hope you don't have her nature.
Yes, ma'am.
What she did to this family, it's a tragedy.
Ma'am, what When did she pass? I was about to have a lemonade.
Would you like some? No, thank you, ma'am.
I'll be just a moment.
Please, have a seat.
Did you know that one can trace my family's history to the beginning of the 17th century in this country? Um, on my mother's side.
They came over on the Mayflower.
Mercy Makepeace.
How's that for a name? [LIQUID POURS.]
Your grandfather's family, on the other hand, they came from the Russian nobility.
They hunted wild boar with the Tsar.
White Russians, lucky to get out.
[FLOORBOARDS CREAKING.]
Don't snoop.
It's rude.
I-I'm sorry.
Never mind.
Let's sit.
M-Ma'am, can you please show me any pictures of Tamar? Or can you at least tell me about her? You must understand, Tamar was not my daughter.
She was nearly 6 when I met her father.
I used to call her "Apate" The goddess of deceit.
She was so caught up in her fantasy worlds and lies.
A doctor called her a "pathological liar.
" It was as if she couldn't tell if she were awake or dreaming.
She'd ask, "Mummy, am I dreaming?" Her father well, she ruined his reputation.
And she destroyed our family.
Her lies ran out of control and out into the wide world.
Ma'am, can can you tell me what she lied about? Enough sad stories.
I am going to show you something wonderful about your family.
[BELL DINGS.]
OHLS: [CHUCKLES.]
"Bloody Romeo.
" You newspaper guys are clever, eh? - It's a stupid name.
- Yeah.
They lose a couple hookers up there every month.
They interviewed one working girl that knew her.
Uh, Wendy Sadowski? Something like that.
I can find it.
Why are you looking at this shit? Who cares? They got a guy.
He confessed.
So Bro So Brody Stiles, you make him for the Bloody Romeo himself? Look, blame whoever came up with "Bloody Romeo.
" A name like that, they got to find somebody.
Yeah.
- More coffee? - Yes, please.
So what's gonna happen to poor old Brody? What's gonna happen? He signed a confession.
They drop cyanide in sulfuric acid and make him breathe it.
- That's what happens.
- Fantastic.
And if he ain't the right guy, then Jay, he's always the guy.
[CLATTERING.]
Sometimes, in the car, I think I'm back at Yudam-ni when the 155's started popping.
Mm.
I thought I was gonna save the world from Nazis.
Then I got shot to shit by Chinks.
[LAUGHS.]
[SIGHS.]
I thought the truth would win, like a sucker.
Joined God's own Marine Corps like a genius.
Okay, I got a question for you.
Shoot.
Say you've got a case that's 10, 15 years old.
Say it's about an illegal abortion clinic, the daughter of the suspect knew everything about it, but now she's vanished into thin air.
Is the wife still with him? No.
Divorced.
Bingo.
If I was working it, that's where I'd go.
Mm.
Cherchez la femme.
[SOAP DISH CLATTERS.]
This is crazy.
JAY: No, she's too young to be Tamar.
Who the hell is she? Shit.
[ENGINE STARTS.]
[TIRES SCREECH.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
Uh, can you tell me something about my family? What about Dr.
Hodel? Why would he invite me here if he wasn't gonna be here? Your grandfather I want you to understand something.
He's a very, very important person.
One of the greatest minds of the century.
He was measured to have an IQ of 187 when he was your age.
A child prodigy on the piano, instructed by Rachmaninoff himself, no less.
[SIGHS.]
[TURN SIGNAL CLICKING.]
[LINE RINGS.]
Detective Ohls, please.
- Yeah, this is Ohls.
- Oh, hey man.
JAY: You ever get that address for those working girls that knew Janice Brewster? A Wendy, uh OHLS: Yeah, yeah.
I got it.
- Uh, Wendy Sadowski.
- Yep.
Last known address is a squat up near Sunset and Vine.
- Uh-huh.
- 1125 Beechwood.
Wear rubber boots.
Thank you.
Hey, hey, did you have any luck with that other thing? That old case? Uh, no.
No.
Just chasing ghosts.
Uh, all right, man.
I got to go.
I got to file by 6:00.
Take care of yourself.
- Yep.
- Yep.
See you later.
[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING.]
George was, um, in charge of Napkin in your lap, dear.
George was in charge of the L.
A.
County Health Department.
He specialized in sexually transmitted diseases.
And he worked extensively for the UN in China and the Philippines.
No, use the smaller fork.
Outside in.
Start on the outside and work in.
And sit up straight.
What if you were dining with the Queen? Ma'am, I-I I would like to meet him.
He told me to come to L.
A.
Yes, well, he's very, very busy, remember? But we are going to do the next best thing I will show you part of his collection that is housed here.
This is art he loves, he influenced.
"Art before all else, art is mankind's noblest endeavor.
" When we've shuffled off this mortal coil, art is all that remains.
Surrealism what do you know about surrealism? George wants to free us from false rationality.
What is dreamt is often more real than what we think of as real.
In fact, the waking state can be considered a phenomenon of interference.
Um, I'm going to show you George's collection.
Please, do wait here.
I'll be back momentarily.
MAN: [WHISPERING.]
Fauna.
[MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY.]
convulsive beauty, the strongest of all, is veiled eroticism, explosive magic, or it simply won't be beauty.
Under the pretense of civilization, we have managed to banish with the mind everything that might rightly or wrongly be termed superstition, forbidding any kind of research into truth.
MAN 2: What about de Sade? Certainly the argument can be made that de Sade was satire.
"Literature is one of the saddest roads that leads to everything.
" Your celebration of error is in my opinion dangerous.
My old friend, remove the bourgeois reckonings.
MAN: Your limited definitions of hallucination and perversion over these boring, contradictory ideas.
10 bucks to talk to Wendy, right? $10 for me, $10 for her.
Well, that's exorbitant.
Sadowski.
Wendy Sadowski, right? Yeah, some Polack name.
That's it.
What happened to your face? Everything.
[LAUGHS.]
[KNOCKS ON DOOR.]
Sit tight.
Wendy? WENDY: What do you want, bitch? You got a customer, jackass.
Oh, man, far out.
Hey, man.
You want to party? No, I don't want to party.
And I'm not a cop.
I just want to talk about your friend Janice Brewster.
You vice? MARY: What am I, an idiot? Besides, he just wants to talk.
I'm not vice.
I barely brush my teeth.
- [GROANS.]
You paid, right? - Yeah.
Of course he did.
What do I look like? Shit, shit.
- Janny? - Mm.
What about Janny, man? Janny's dead.
Yeah, no, I know that, sweetheart.
You ever see her hang out with a guy, black guy, named Brody Stiles? I've got a picture.
Janice wouldn't touch nothin' colored.
She was prejudiced.
Just take a look at the picture.
I'm telling you, man, Janice ain't about that thing.
No Brody Stiles? No this guy? - You haven't seen this guy? - I have no idea who that is.
This guy? It's just so sad 'cause Janny was in such a good mood lately.
[BANGING ON DOOR.]
Oh, shit.
Shit! Lock the door! What's that? Is that the fuzz? Shit no it ain't! Quiet! I told Jimmy he didn't have the muscle to hold this place down.
[BANGING ON DOOR.]
MAN: Open up bitches! Or I'll cut your stupid throats! MAN 2: Open up the goddamn door! Maybe I should just see who that is.
Don't you open that door, man.
- Don't you do it.
- You better come see us! Or he's gonna get it! Open the goddamn door! - [BANGING CONTINUES.]
- Sh This is Jo-Jo's turf, you stupid bitches! [BANGING CONTINUES.]
- Screw you! - [BANGING STOPS.]
Wendy, you said Janice was in a good mood lately.
Why? I don't know.
I don't know nothin'.
She met somebody is all.
She didn't tell me or Jimmy nothin' about it.
She said he was nice.
And smart.
That's all.
I swear to God.
- She didn't tell me anything else.
- [SIGHS.]
Thank you, sweetheart.
MARY: Oh, you're leaving? Don't you want to party? No, I want a doughnut.
[CHUCKLE.]
I think I I got something you want.
Yeah.
I'm good.
Aw! Nothing ever works out for me.
I never made a good decision and today I knew from the minute I woke up, today was gonna be a bad day [GROANS.]
a bad-luck, shit day.
What do you mean? It's my baby's birthday.
What? It's my baby's birthday.
I never even saw him, since the day he was born.
They took him out of my arms.
[SOBS.]
What did you mean they They took him from you? Why? Who? Who? The sisters in the convent.
That's where you go when you've been a bad girl.
They hide you till the baby's born, and then whoosh.
You never see 'em again.
A convent [GROANS.]
If Tamar 49, 50 Oh, shit.
Shit.
Oh, shit, shit, shit.
Why do I revere de Sade? He was free.
He maintained control over his own destiny, his own sovereignty no matter the cost.
When you live as I do true to oneself, unencumbered by the burden of convention That's real freedom, and that is the heartbeat of all art.
But first you must open your eyes and see the chains.
Your dreams are more real, more true, than your reality, but you must remove the veil society puts over all of us after childhood.
Truth is in your veins What you feel and what you desire.
[FOOTSTEPS RECEDING.]
Do you have a favorite? [TIRES SCREECHING.]
Oh, there you are.
It's getting late.
We should go.
Excuse me, sir? You can't drive like that in this area.
[GROANS.]
CORINNA: I'm going to drop you here, and you can catch a bus downtown, or to wherever.
Yes, ma'am.
I hope you understand, it won't be safe for me to drive you home.
Of course, it isn't the place for you either.
That's the way it is.
With all due respect, Mrs.
Hodel, it is the place for me.
I'm mixed-race after all, even though you may not like that.
[LAUGHS.]
You're not black, you boring girl.
What? You're not mixed-race, ninny.
Tamar was always a liar, I told you.
She did prefer the Negroes to her own kind, and of course she hated us, her real family.
Well, who's my father? He was a French ballet dancer.
Very famous on the Continent.
Beautiful.
A genius, really.
He was visiting that summer.
You're a liar.
You're a liar.
Racist old cow.
You can't lie on a birth certificate.
That's a legal document! Stupid [DOOR SLAMS.]
It is hard raising a mixed-race child.
PAT: Who's Fauna Hodel, Mama? You.
You're Fauna Hodel.
I'm leaving.
I'm gonna find my real family.
What brings you to Los Angeles? I'm visiting my grandfather.
I've never met him.
Well, that will interesting.
You You're the one that wrote that article - about Dr.
George Hodel? - George Hodel? Yes.
You were right about him.
Got to keep looking.
Your grandfather is a very dangerous man.
Stay away from him.
Pat! There you are! Come on! Girls, your cousin is here! Patta's here! What are you doing here? FAUNA: He asked me to come, Tina.
It's probably just a mix-up is all.
Tina can take you on the bus.
The number 71 will take you up there.
I don't want to go all the way across town.
I got plans tonight.
How you gonna be so mean to your cousin? It's gonna take two hours to get there, Big Momma.
Oh come on, Tina.
Don't be a flake! I'll get lost.
Why you gonna leave her stranded like that? Of course you're gonna take her.
Yes, Big Momma.
- Thank you.
- Thank you.
[CAR HORNS HONKING.]
Oh, no, no, no.
Not today, ma'am.
I paid, I paid.
Open this goddamn door.
- No, no.
She does You never pay.
- I have money.
How do you know she don't have any money? - Get off my bus! - I have money! - I'll pay for her.
- Get off my bus! - I said I'll pay for her.
- Unless you gonna pay.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Oh, Jesus Christ.
You should see the other girl.
I kicked her ass.
Not a scratch on her.
So, uh, what are doing here? Eating grapes off the wallpaper? Janice Brewster on the slab.
Plus 400 words.
Better late than never.
But I got something so much better than this garbage, Peter.
It's gonna blow your hair back.
I got an anonymous phone call last night.
You'll never guess who it's about.
Who? Dr.
George Hodel.
Nuts.
- No, it's Dr.
George Hodel.
- Ah shit, Jay, that I am telling you, I got a feeling - You know - something is up.
This call means something.
There's a crack.
Okay Jay, first of all, that trial was 10 lifetimes ago.
And second, you already tried this.
- He walked.
End of story.
- Okay, but what if the What if the phone call has new information? What if she has n-new information? You want me to mess around with a libel case that nearly took down an entire paper? I'd like you to mess around with the truth, Peter.
Because this this it is the truth.
- I know it's the truth.
- Oh, y oh, you know it? Okay, but Hodel's daughter, Tamar Is that her name? She took it back, Jay, in the end.
Am I right? That's what they said.
Then I couldn't find her.
- They shipped her off to a convent.
- Yeah.
Mm.
What if this phone call was Tamar Hodel? And what would she say? We got to find out.
I am not jumping in a bag of snakes with you, Jay.
I am not doing it.
You ain't a kid anymore, Jay.
You know that stunt you pulled? You didn't just screw yourself.
You know that? Decent guys got shit-canned because of that.
Of course of course I know that! Joe Kline drank himself to death.
- God, of course I - Are you friggin' kidding me? You don't think I know that every day? It is so easy for you.
[CHUCKLES.]
It is so easy.
I lost my entire life And th and those guys, yeah, they got they They got screwed, fine, sure.
But I But I was telling the What was right, Peter.
[SCOFFS.]
And then they string me up as a liar and a faker forever? What f what game are we in? If I could just If I could just prove it No.
No.
- Even even a even a - No.
But But even just a part of it.
- No.
No.
- Even just a part of it.
No.
A thousand times no.
You can't prove it.
You already tried.
You can't.
Come on, Jay.
Power never changes.
You run with those dogs again, they'll bury you 10 feet deep.
It's got nothing to do with right or wrong or the truth.
You got to remember who runs this city.
Justice in this town is a protection racket.
You can't fix it because it's already fixed, man.
The fix is in, and it's not gonna change.
George Hodel? Are you kidding me? It was all some far-out stuff, Jay.
I mean, his daughter She came across twitchy, hysterical, like the Salem witch trials.
Right? She accused him of that murder, that crazy murder.
I mean, Hodel might be a lot of things, but he sure as hell isn't the bogeyman.
Go on.
[DOORBELL RINGS.]
Come on, let's go home.
Ain't nobody here.
[DOORBELL RINGS.]
[DOORBELL RINGS.]
Hello? Hello? Dr.
Hodel? [KNOCKING ON DOOR.]
Dr.
Hodel? But he told me to come.
Come on, let's go home.
This is bullshit.
Ain't nobody here.
Come on.
We got someplace else to be.
I don't understand.
Tina, he asked me to come here.
Patta, come on.
Ain't coming back to this one-room shack [INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
The same old light for me I yearn to see Big city lights Big city light Terrence Shye! And when I'm gone don't you cry for me Hello! Hey, hey.
- I am good.
- Good, good.
This is my cousin, Pat.
I mean Fauna.
She in from Nevada for a few days.
She's staying with us.
Hey.
Hey, Fauna.
Hi.
This is Nero.
All right, Fauna.
- Jodie! - You know, I love me a cousin.
Hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up, hold up.
What you mean by cousin? She my cousin.
How she gon' be your cousin? Her mama is my auntie.
So we cousins.
Yeah, but she ain't She black.
She mixed though.
No she ain't.
There ain't no way.
- With them eyes? - Hey, man, leave her alone.
Ain't no colored girl.
Let me see your hands.
I've got my birth certificate.
$10 to see it.
Shit.
I'll give you more than $10 if you want to give me a kiss.
- Leave her alone.
- Come on, now - No.
- Don't play hard to get.
No.
[CLEARS THROAT.]
MAN: I need it for one room.
Look, he got three jobs and still can't get a room.
- He can't get a job.
- He can't get a job.
Do you have the education? I got the education, miss.
Well, then I don't know what your problem is.
- And you have a job? - Yes.
I'm working.
Oh, we're working too.
- Congratulations.
- And I'm paying my rent.
- Are you? - [SCOFFS.]
I'm trying.
I love your hair.
Thanks.
All that relaxer and hot comb? You don't need it.
"I-I-If any white man in the world says give me liberty or give me death, the entire white world applauds, but a black man says exactly the same thing, th-then he's judged a criminal and treated like one.
" MAN: Now you just stealing that from How you doin'? You gonna act like you don't hear me now? TERRENCE: Hey, come sit by me, sister.
Come on.
Ignore that fool.
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
Need a drink? No, thank you.
I've seen it change too many people.
Starts in laughter, ends in tears.
Well, what are you doin' here? Flashing your birth certificate around, it seems like hard work.
Well, it's it's a long story.
I'll give you three sentences.
Well, uh I found out I'm adopted.
My white family, or at least my white grandfather, he's here in Los Angeles.
I've come to find my real mother who gave me up.
Or my father.
Well, that's more than three sentences.
[CHUCKLES.]
Yes, it was.
[BOTH LAUGH.]
Told you it was a long story.
So your father is black? Mm-hmm.
[CHUCKLES.]
That's all it takes, huh? Just that one drop will hold you down forever.
[CHUCKLES.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
Yeah, maybe I'll find him.
I think you will.
[WOMEN LAUGHING.]
TERRENCE: I think y'all are both having a little bit too much of a good time.
XANDER: She knows I'm a soldier though.
She knows I'm - 'Cause you weren't there.
- You know.
These these are Look.
I walk straight.
I'm not You're not You're not walking straight, man.
You're not walking straight.
This is straight.
This is straight.
What you were doing before was not straight.
- Xander, come on, now.
- [ENGINE IDLING.]
You know you can't walk straight.
- [LAUGHS.]
- He ain't lyin'.
- I love y'all.
- You can't.
- [LAUGHS.]
- You got that right.
TINA: Fauna! Come on! [SINGING INDISTINCTLY TO SELF.]
[BUZZER RINGS.]
Hey, Lilly.
Come on.
Wake up.
- [SIGHS.]
- Hey, doll.
HI.
I was just hoping that we could - Come on.
- You know - Come on.
Come on.
- I was thinkin' - Hi.
Hi.
- There you go.
[ELEVATOR DINGS.]
[GROANS.]
I just wanted to see you.
I know.
Of course you did.
[EXHALES DEEPLY.]
Come on.
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
No, no, no.
No.
No, Lilly.
Lilly, no.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
Where are you, Tamar? No, no, no, no.
God.
[GROANS.]
Why, you are all twisted up.
I'm great.
Never better.
Never better.
What happened, Jay? Convent.
Why a convent? We had the world by the balls, didn't we? I thought we did.
[INHALES DEEPLY.]
I thought we did.
Here's the crazy thing, Lilly.
I feel like I could, uh, I feel like I could fix it, - like I could get it back.
- Oh, God.
I was gonna be this big hotshot hot-shit reporter, and then I got tangled up in this George Hodel story, and it man [LAUGHS.]
It just It destroyed everything in its path, like, uh like a biblical plague, like a, uh like a devil's shadow, blackening the grass it falls upon.
I was supposed to be an actress.
I can prove everything if I find that daughter.
So go find the daughter.
But she was hiding secrets.
I'll find her.
And I'll nail the story to the goddamn doors of the Times.
Like Martin Luther, right? "The Redemption and Resurrection of Jay Singletary," by Jay Singletary.
Are you holding, baby? Hey, Lilly, you get around.
You must have some nun friends, don't you? That's your kind of gang, huh? - What are you talking about? - [SIGHS.]
This daughter got sent to a convent Tamar.
Does that name ring a bell? Tamar Hodel? Jesus, she must be 30 by now.
I don't even know if she's still there.
Do nuns move? You're a loser.
Give me five bucks for a cab.
You want cab fare? Huh? Yeah.
I'm gonna call you a cab.
No.
You know what? Just give me the money.
I'll - Here.
- I'll get it.
Yeah.
You want me to stay? Let me call let me j Let me call you a cab.
Screw you, asshole.
Lilly, come on.
I don't want to do this shit.
- I know you're holding.
- I'm not.
I - Screw you, Jay! - What?! What?! - You turned me on.
- I didn't turn you I didn't stick a needle into my arm.
That is your creature-feature, sweetheart.
Yeah, frailty, thy name is woman! You know that one?! [LAUGHS.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
Well, now.
Good morning.
Good morning.
Some night, huh? Yeah.
Y'all have fun? Yeah, it was nice.
Tina still sleeping? Uh, yes, ma'am.
So what you gonna do now, girl? Did Jimmy Lee Did she ever say anything about my my real mama? Jimmy Lee is your real mama.
If all you want to talk about is blood, then, no, I don't know nothin' about your adoption.
But I know that Jimmy Lee loves you.
Yeah, I know.
And I love her.
We just fight so awful.
Well, everybody fights with Jimmy Lee.
She fights the entire world, sugar.
But that's just family.
That's just life.
Yeah, I know.
It's just It's hard not to wonder.
We're just so different.
I'm different.
I'm tired of it, and even when she's telling me that, you know, "you're different than everybody else.
" If I could just find my real mom and dad, then maybe I wouldn't be.
- [CHUCKLES.]
- You know, if could just see 'em.
Baby, you are welcome to stay here till Jimmy Lee comes knocking heads.
[LAUGHS.]
Ooh.
What about that that That that that Terrence Shye? Ain't he something? [LAUGHS.]
He's a good boy.
You know, Nina and Tina have known him for 10 years.
I keep saying one of them should marry that boy.
[TELEPHONE RINGING.]
Hello? Hold on.
It's for you.
Hello? Dr.
Hodel? NERO: Hey, girl.
How you doin'? I bet you ain't know I had this number, huh? Hey, listen.
Why don't you, uh Why don't you come out with me tonight? - I'll take you to a movie or - No thank you, Nero.
Uh Listen, I'm telling you now, don't play hard to get with me.
Is this that Nero? Don't be messing with my girls, Nero.
I'm sorry.
I-I didn't give him your number.
I-I gave it to my grandfather because I didn't have a number.
It's all right.
It's all right.
Honey, I have known Nero for years.
Bad apple, rotten tree.
[LAUGHS.]
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
[DOOR OPENS.]
No.
You said "office.
" I went to King Eddy's.
I didn't know you had an actual, uh No.
Sit.
Sit.
Uh, closet.
It's kind of embarrassing, Peter, honestly.
No.
No.
No.
I really like what you've done with the place.
It's Yeah.
Okay, fantastic.
Bye.
Goodbye.
Okay, I was having a good day, doing good deeds, but you screwed me.
What the hell are you talking about? You messed up, jackass.
No, I didn't.
I gave you a great story.
Mnh-mnh.
Janice Brewster The girl in the morgue? Yeah.
Yeah, she was turning tricks on Hollywood and Vine.
Confirmed by LAPD.
Ah, sh I Shit, Peter.
I mean, I don't know.
Her mother didn't know.
- And I don't know what to tell you.
- Yeah, I'm shocked.
Guess what? You're scooped by the Sun Examiner.
"Bloody Romeo Slays Ingenue.
" So the "Bloody Romeo" - I'm guessing is the - Yeah.
Yeah.
Yeah.
- He's the gentleman who killed Janice.
- Yeah? That's actually good.
Bevo Means coined that.
She's clever.
It's not It's not It's not great.
It's got a real old Hollywood feel to it.
It's just bad.
Now, late last night, this came in.
The fuzz picked up "Brody Stiles" in Watts.
He copped to killed Janice, I guess, after "intensive questioning.
" Right, because no one would admit - to something they didn't do.
- Well, you know, got to be a reason they liked him for it, right? He's an easy collar.
You fix it.
Start with Brody Stiles and do the goddamn work.
- Report something, Jay, okay? - I will.
Show me you ain't like every other goof I got working for me who makes one flippin' phone call and calls it a day, okay? - Find a new angle.
- Did a goof do this? This is talent.
This is th y This is my lens.
Find a new angle - Angry Negro fed up with society, oversexed white girl, I don't care, but it better sing.
You know what? You're competing with the Sun Examiner.
You know what I'm gonna give you? I'm gonna give you a tight, clean 300 about how she was abducted by space aliens.
Do you want to follow drunk starlets like a peeping Tom? - Or do you want to report? Huh? - That's probably better than this.
Hey, I still got the "Sleaze Team" for the rest of the year, I can do what I want on the side.
So take your assignment, say, "Thanks, boss" - Thanks, boss.
- And today, Jay.
Today.
Stupid me.
There's probably something in here - about a two-headed baby.
- [TELEPHONE RINGING.]
- Do you know what? - No, no, no.
There is.
- I'm sure there is.
- Find meaning in it.
- Find meaning in it.
Okay? - I just have a gut - I feel good about this.
- That's your job.
Yeah? [SIGHS.]
What? And you're right, you're right.
You're right.
I'll make it right.
Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait wait, wait.
- I'll make it right.
- By 6:00 p.
m.
- Something fascinating, amazing, - Pulitzers all around! Pulitzers all around.
I'm gonna take this.
Pulitzers all around! - [DOOR OPENS.]
- What? [DIALING.]
[LINE RINGING.]
Hello? Hello.
Uh, Corinna Hodel? Who's calling, please? Mrs.
Hodel, this is Fauna.
Fauna Hodel? Tamar's daughter.
I-I-I called earlier.
BIG MOMMA: That's Well, not quite right.
Mrs.
Hodel? It's Huntington now.
You called me before? Yeah.
Two nights ago.
I'm afraid you're mistaken, child.
Or at least, you never called me.
Well, I-I I need to talk to you.
What do you want? Well, I was hoping that you could help me to find Tamar.
I need your help.
Please.
I'm very sorry to be the one to tell you that Tamar is deceased.
Dead? Um Uh, Doc Dr.
Hodel, he He didn't mention that.
I'm afraid I'm not feeling well.
Ma'am, I No, I need to talk to you.
I came here from Nevada and If If she's dead, then, um 612 Alameda? I'll be there today.
I If If you must come, come alone.
And don't ring the bell.
Knock three times, then three times more.
I never answer the doorbell.
[DIAL TONE.]
[INDISTINCT CONVERSATIONS.]
[JAZZ MUSIC PLAYING.]
- Horace.
- Shit.
Long time.
Let me buy a round.
All right.
BARTENDER: What's it gonna be? Triple gin with a splash of tonic.
Comin' up.
Man, I just wanted to see you.
Now, I thought you'd be suspicious, but you just ordered three gins.
That's fine.
How much is three gins? Like 5 bucks? You got it.
- Thank you.
- [SCOFFS.]
All right, so, uh, I know you are the most reliable jailhouse snitch in Los Angeles County, which is saying something.
Congratulations.
That's a big deal.
Will you tell me who Brody Stiles is? Brody Stiles? - Shit, man.
- Mm-hmm.
Brody Stiles is a birdie.
What do you mean? I mean he work with LAPD all the time.
He's a pigeon, man.
He dummy up confessions in court, "Yes, Your Honor, he he confessed to me in his cell last night.
He did it.
" Ain't that some shit, man? Now they done got poor Brody for killin' a white girl, and they fixin' to send him up hard.
You know him? Like a white woman gonna get in the car with Brody Stiles.
That Negro arthritis so bad, he can barely hold his damn bottle.
Yeah, I know Brody.
Hello.
A-Are you I'm Fauna.
Come in.
Do you like art? Yeah, it's wonderful.
I'm a collector.
I've collected here and abroad all my life.
Some of the works are by my father.
Tom Huntington? The artist.
He was quite the thing before the war.
[EXHALES SHARPLY.]
Went mad in the end.
Poor darling.
Uh, I'm sorry.
Th They're real nice.
I suppose I do see the resemblance.
I just hope you don't have her nature.
Yes, ma'am.
What she did to this family, it's a tragedy.
Ma'am, what When did she pass? I was about to have a lemonade.
Would you like some? No, thank you, ma'am.
I'll be just a moment.
Please, have a seat.
Did you know that one can trace my family's history to the beginning of the 17th century in this country? Um, on my mother's side.
They came over on the Mayflower.
Mercy Makepeace.
How's that for a name? [LIQUID POURS.]
Your grandfather's family, on the other hand, they came from the Russian nobility.
They hunted wild boar with the Tsar.
White Russians, lucky to get out.
[FLOORBOARDS CREAKING.]
Don't snoop.
It's rude.
I-I'm sorry.
Never mind.
Let's sit.
M-Ma'am, can you please show me any pictures of Tamar? Or can you at least tell me about her? You must understand, Tamar was not my daughter.
She was nearly 6 when I met her father.
I used to call her "Apate" The goddess of deceit.
She was so caught up in her fantasy worlds and lies.
A doctor called her a "pathological liar.
" It was as if she couldn't tell if she were awake or dreaming.
She'd ask, "Mummy, am I dreaming?" Her father well, she ruined his reputation.
And she destroyed our family.
Her lies ran out of control and out into the wide world.
Ma'am, can can you tell me what she lied about? Enough sad stories.
I am going to show you something wonderful about your family.
[BELL DINGS.]
OHLS: [CHUCKLES.]
"Bloody Romeo.
" You newspaper guys are clever, eh? - It's a stupid name.
- Yeah.
They lose a couple hookers up there every month.
They interviewed one working girl that knew her.
Uh, Wendy Sadowski? Something like that.
I can find it.
Why are you looking at this shit? Who cares? They got a guy.
He confessed.
So Bro So Brody Stiles, you make him for the Bloody Romeo himself? Look, blame whoever came up with "Bloody Romeo.
" A name like that, they got to find somebody.
Yeah.
- More coffee? - Yes, please.
So what's gonna happen to poor old Brody? What's gonna happen? He signed a confession.
They drop cyanide in sulfuric acid and make him breathe it.
- That's what happens.
- Fantastic.
And if he ain't the right guy, then Jay, he's always the guy.
[CLATTERING.]
Sometimes, in the car, I think I'm back at Yudam-ni when the 155's started popping.
Mm.
I thought I was gonna save the world from Nazis.
Then I got shot to shit by Chinks.
[LAUGHS.]
[SIGHS.]
I thought the truth would win, like a sucker.
Joined God's own Marine Corps like a genius.
Okay, I got a question for you.
Shoot.
Say you've got a case that's 10, 15 years old.
Say it's about an illegal abortion clinic, the daughter of the suspect knew everything about it, but now she's vanished into thin air.
Is the wife still with him? No.
Divorced.
Bingo.
If I was working it, that's where I'd go.
Mm.
Cherchez la femme.
[SOAP DISH CLATTERS.]
This is crazy.
JAY: No, she's too young to be Tamar.
Who the hell is she? Shit.
[ENGINE STARTS.]
[TIRES SCREECH.]
[CLEARS THROAT.]
Uh, can you tell me something about my family? What about Dr.
Hodel? Why would he invite me here if he wasn't gonna be here? Your grandfather I want you to understand something.
He's a very, very important person.
One of the greatest minds of the century.
He was measured to have an IQ of 187 when he was your age.
A child prodigy on the piano, instructed by Rachmaninoff himself, no less.
[SIGHS.]
[TURN SIGNAL CLICKING.]
[LINE RINGS.]
Detective Ohls, please.
- Yeah, this is Ohls.
- Oh, hey man.
JAY: You ever get that address for those working girls that knew Janice Brewster? A Wendy, uh OHLS: Yeah, yeah.
I got it.
- Uh, Wendy Sadowski.
- Yep.
Last known address is a squat up near Sunset and Vine.
- Uh-huh.
- 1125 Beechwood.
Wear rubber boots.
Thank you.
Hey, hey, did you have any luck with that other thing? That old case? Uh, no.
No.
Just chasing ghosts.
Uh, all right, man.
I got to go.
I got to file by 6:00.
Take care of yourself.
- Yep.
- Yep.
See you later.
[PIANO MUSIC PLAYING.]
George was, um, in charge of Napkin in your lap, dear.
George was in charge of the L.
A.
County Health Department.
He specialized in sexually transmitted diseases.
And he worked extensively for the UN in China and the Philippines.
No, use the smaller fork.
Outside in.
Start on the outside and work in.
And sit up straight.
What if you were dining with the Queen? Ma'am, I-I I would like to meet him.
He told me to come to L.
A.
Yes, well, he's very, very busy, remember? But we are going to do the next best thing I will show you part of his collection that is housed here.
This is art he loves, he influenced.
"Art before all else, art is mankind's noblest endeavor.
" When we've shuffled off this mortal coil, art is all that remains.
Surrealism what do you know about surrealism? George wants to free us from false rationality.
What is dreamt is often more real than what we think of as real.
In fact, the waking state can be considered a phenomenon of interference.
Um, I'm going to show you George's collection.
Please, do wait here.
I'll be back momentarily.
MAN: [WHISPERING.]
Fauna.
[MAN SPEAKING INDISTINCTLY.]
convulsive beauty, the strongest of all, is veiled eroticism, explosive magic, or it simply won't be beauty.
Under the pretense of civilization, we have managed to banish with the mind everything that might rightly or wrongly be termed superstition, forbidding any kind of research into truth.
MAN 2: What about de Sade? Certainly the argument can be made that de Sade was satire.
"Literature is one of the saddest roads that leads to everything.
" Your celebration of error is in my opinion dangerous.
My old friend, remove the bourgeois reckonings.
MAN: Your limited definitions of hallucination and perversion over these boring, contradictory ideas.
10 bucks to talk to Wendy, right? $10 for me, $10 for her.
Well, that's exorbitant.
Sadowski.
Wendy Sadowski, right? Yeah, some Polack name.
That's it.
What happened to your face? Everything.
[LAUGHS.]
[KNOCKS ON DOOR.]
Sit tight.
Wendy? WENDY: What do you want, bitch? You got a customer, jackass.
Oh, man, far out.
Hey, man.
You want to party? No, I don't want to party.
And I'm not a cop.
I just want to talk about your friend Janice Brewster.
You vice? MARY: What am I, an idiot? Besides, he just wants to talk.
I'm not vice.
I barely brush my teeth.
- [GROANS.]
You paid, right? - Yeah.
Of course he did.
What do I look like? Shit, shit.
- Janny? - Mm.
What about Janny, man? Janny's dead.
Yeah, no, I know that, sweetheart.
You ever see her hang out with a guy, black guy, named Brody Stiles? I've got a picture.
Janice wouldn't touch nothin' colored.
She was prejudiced.
Just take a look at the picture.
I'm telling you, man, Janice ain't about that thing.
No Brody Stiles? No this guy? - You haven't seen this guy? - I have no idea who that is.
This guy? It's just so sad 'cause Janny was in such a good mood lately.
[BANGING ON DOOR.]
Oh, shit.
Shit! Lock the door! What's that? Is that the fuzz? Shit no it ain't! Quiet! I told Jimmy he didn't have the muscle to hold this place down.
[BANGING ON DOOR.]
MAN: Open up bitches! Or I'll cut your stupid throats! MAN 2: Open up the goddamn door! Maybe I should just see who that is.
Don't you open that door, man.
- Don't you do it.
- You better come see us! Or he's gonna get it! Open the goddamn door! - [BANGING CONTINUES.]
- Sh This is Jo-Jo's turf, you stupid bitches! [BANGING CONTINUES.]
- Screw you! - [BANGING STOPS.]
Wendy, you said Janice was in a good mood lately.
Why? I don't know.
I don't know nothin'.
She met somebody is all.
She didn't tell me or Jimmy nothin' about it.
She said he was nice.
And smart.
That's all.
I swear to God.
- She didn't tell me anything else.
- [SIGHS.]
Thank you, sweetheart.
MARY: Oh, you're leaving? Don't you want to party? No, I want a doughnut.
[CHUCKLE.]
I think I I got something you want.
Yeah.
I'm good.
Aw! Nothing ever works out for me.
I never made a good decision and today I knew from the minute I woke up, today was gonna be a bad day [GROANS.]
a bad-luck, shit day.
What do you mean? It's my baby's birthday.
What? It's my baby's birthday.
I never even saw him, since the day he was born.
They took him out of my arms.
[SOBS.]
What did you mean they They took him from you? Why? Who? Who? The sisters in the convent.
That's where you go when you've been a bad girl.
They hide you till the baby's born, and then whoosh.
You never see 'em again.
A convent [GROANS.]
If Tamar 49, 50 Oh, shit.
Shit.
Oh, shit, shit, shit.
Why do I revere de Sade? He was free.
He maintained control over his own destiny, his own sovereignty no matter the cost.
When you live as I do true to oneself, unencumbered by the burden of convention That's real freedom, and that is the heartbeat of all art.
But first you must open your eyes and see the chains.
Your dreams are more real, more true, than your reality, but you must remove the veil society puts over all of us after childhood.
Truth is in your veins What you feel and what you desire.
[FOOTSTEPS RECEDING.]
Do you have a favorite? [TIRES SCREECHING.]
Oh, there you are.
It's getting late.
We should go.
Excuse me, sir? You can't drive like that in this area.
[GROANS.]
CORINNA: I'm going to drop you here, and you can catch a bus downtown, or to wherever.
Yes, ma'am.
I hope you understand, it won't be safe for me to drive you home.
Of course, it isn't the place for you either.
That's the way it is.
With all due respect, Mrs.
Hodel, it is the place for me.
I'm mixed-race after all, even though you may not like that.
[LAUGHS.]
You're not black, you boring girl.
What? You're not mixed-race, ninny.
Tamar was always a liar, I told you.
She did prefer the Negroes to her own kind, and of course she hated us, her real family.
Well, who's my father? He was a French ballet dancer.
Very famous on the Continent.
Beautiful.
A genius, really.
He was visiting that summer.
You're a liar.
You're a liar.
Racist old cow.
You can't lie on a birth certificate.
That's a legal document! Stupid [DOOR SLAMS.]