Siam

Script for Siam

By Matthew Weinstein

Siam
2008
14 minute 3-d animation with dialogue and music
composer and voice: Balkan Beat Box
The animated film, 'Siam 2008,' plus related paintings and sculptures.

CAST:

FISH 1: A SIAMESE FIGHTING FISH
FISH 2: A SIAMESE FIGHTING FISH
KOI: A SINGING KOI
THE SINGING SKELETONS (2)

SETTING:

THE SEA AND THE SKY. AS THE DIALOGUE BEGINS, THE CAMERA MOVES UNDER THE WATER TO FIND FISH 1. HE FINDS THE CAMERA, PAUSES, LOOKS INTO IT, AND RESUMES TALKING.

Fish 1
There is a game show in which the answer to every question is, 'the four horsemen of the apocalypse.'

CAMERA PULLS BACK AS FISH 2 SWIMS UP TO FISH 1, LOOKS AT HIM AND CIRCLES AROUND HIM. HE LISTENS, QUIZZICALLY.

Fish 1 (contd):
The question could be, 'what is the capital of Ohio?' You've got to answer, 'the four horsemen of the apocalypse.' Their galloping is like the presence of ethics. No coordinates, yet there…

FISH 1 NOTICES FISH 2. HE ADDRESSES HIM DIRECTLY

Fish 1:
Cowboy, how long have we known each other?

Fish 2:
Maybe three seconds.

Fish 1:
And in all of that time, have you ever known me to be cruel.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2:
No

Fish 1:
Any register of mendacity?

Fish 2:
No.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1:
There is an old movie in which two beautiful cowboys fall into a tragic and violent love. This love leads to fistfights and punched walls. Emotional car wrecks pile up behind them. Loneliness and death are the children of this love.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 1 
Do you have an opinion about this?

Fish 2:
I heard that there was a time in which anything could happen.

Fish 1:
But now…

2 SHOT

Fish 2:
But now, now we are controlled by forces that we cannot sense. These forces are benevolent. They have no opinions about how we should act or what we should feel. They are completely uninterested in controlling the outcomes of our actions. Our prayers irritate them.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2 
"What can we do about it?" they say to each other. They won't admit it, but they are happy for our successes only because when we are satisfied we tend not to pray.

Fish1:
Is that why nothing happens anymore?

Fish 2
I believe it is.

INTRO MUSIC TO 'THE FUCKIT SONG' BEGINS TO PLAY.

CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL KOI 2 ENTERING FROM REAR STAGE LEFT. A FOLLOW SPOT FOLLOWS HER.

FISH 1 AND FISH 2 TURN TO FACE HER SO THEIR BACKS ARE TO THE CAMERA.

A SIGN DESCENDS. 'THE FUCKIT SONG'

A SET PIECE DESCENDS, CHERRY BLOSSOMS AND BLUEBIRDS DESCEND FROM ABOVE, A FLOWER IN THE FOREGROUND POPS UP FROM BELOW

Koi 2:
THE FUCKIT SONG:

Your big foot
Is stuck in a tar pit.
I blaze ahead.
The future is calling me, not you.
Fuck it.
Sometimes you've just got to say,
'Fuck it!'

ANGLE ON KOI 2. CLOSE UP.

Fuck it, baby.
You're left behind,
Is as cute as your right behind.
And right behind me,
There you are.
Smaller and smaller 
As I fly away.
You little dot,
You tiny little dot.
Fuck it, say I
As I fly away.

KOI 2 HAS A BRIEF DANCE INTERLUDE. 
ANGLE ON KOI 2
REVERSE ANGLE ON FISH 1 AND FISH 2 WATCHING HER.
REVERSE AGAIN OF KOI 2 WITH THE BACKS OF FISH 1 AND FISH 2 IN THE FOREGROUND, TAILS SWAYING TO THE MUSIC. 
THE CAMERA MOVES IN ON KOI 2 UNTIL WE ARE CLOSE IN ON HER.

Remember when 
You grabbed my hand,
And my hand came off in your hand,
And I grew another hand
And smacked you with it.
Nice memories sure but…
You got it…
Fuck it!

BRIEF INTERLUDE.

CAMERA PULLS BACK AS SHE DANCES AROUND HER MIC A FEW TIMES AND SETTLES INTO POSITION FOR THE END OF THE SONG. THE CAMERA MOVES IN ON HER FOR THE LAST REFRAIN.

Everyone burn your bridges.
Everyone empty your attics.
Everyone load your dumpsters.
Love ages like mayonnaise.
Toxic.
Fuck it!
I'm growing new parts.
I'm making new plans.
While you're howling
At a falling sky.

END OF THE FUCKIT SONG

AS THE CAMERA MOVES BACK, THE SET PIECES GO BACK TO WHERE THEY CAME FROM.

KOI 2 EXITS, DARTS BACK IN, WINKS AT THE CAMERA AND SWIMS SLOWLY OFF STAGE.

FISH 1 AND FISH 2 TURN AROUND AND FACE THE CAMERA. THEY ARE FRAMED IN A 2 SHOT

SET PIECE: THE CARDBOARD CLOUDS DESCEND AND SETTLE OVER THE FISH

Fish 1:
How long have we known each other?

Fish 2:
I can't remember. There are flashes. Guilt and shame. Broad landscapes. Horses and tents. A campfire. And I'm so sad. 

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Why am I so sad? Days that are perfect with pleasure fly by while vast deserts of lonely time stretch out into infinity

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1:
Cheer up, cowboy.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2:
Thank you.

Fish 1:
There is nothing more important than a cheerful attitude. There is nothing duller then other people's problems. If you don't understand this, if you really don't see this, then what's the possibility of your seeing or knowing about things much less obvious but so much more important? 

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
Everyday things like the recognition of evil in a child's smile, the fact that forty percent of so-called homeless people are part of a club eccentric billionaires, that the only explanation for the ability of a giant ship to float lies in the realm of witchcraft, things like that; things that are so basic, so fundamental to our understanding of reality, that to not see them is to exist without any gravity at all. To walk down the street, clinging to parking meters and shop facads, trying not to float off into space. 

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2:
I see now.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1:
See what?

Fish 2:
I see that there is nothing more important then a cheerful attitude.

Fish 1:
So let's see one.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

FISH 2 FORCES A BIG FAKE SMILE

THE 'KEEP ON SMILING SONG' MUSIC BEGINS.

FISH 2 LOOKS TO HIS RIGHT IN SHOCK AND DARTS LEFT.

THE CAMERA PULLS BACK TO REVEAL THE 2 SKELETONS ARRIVING ON A TOY SCHOONER FROM STAGE RIGHT, AS FISH 1 IS DARTING AWAY TO AVOID IT. THE CARDBOARD CLOUDS STAY IN PLACE.

A SIGN DESCENDS. 'THE KEEP ON SMILING SONG'

THE SINGING SKELETONS SING THE KEEP ON SMILING SONG

THE FISH ASSUME THEIR SPECTATOR POSSITION WITH THEIR TAILS SWAYING IN THE CAMERA AS THE CAMERA MOVES BETWEEN THEM, IN ON THE SKELETONS. 

THE KEEP ON SMILING DUET

Skeleton 1
Keep on smiling.

Skeleton 2
I'll keep smiling!

TOGETHER
The sun shines on everyone. 
The sun shines on everyone.

ANGLE ON SKELETON 2

Skeleton 2
Even me?

ANGLE ON SKELETON 1

Skeleton 1
Even you!
So smile!

2 SHOT

TOGETHER
Time has ended and we're still here.
Hey! We won the war!
Free re-fills on soda!

SKELETON 1 TURNS TO SKELETON 2

Skeleton 1
Ma'am, you've been upgraded to business class.

SKELETON 2 TURNS TO SKELETON 1

Skeleton 2
Wow! Thanks!
Can I carry on my giant bag of money?

Skeleton 1
Certainly ma'am! 

ANGLE ON SKELETON 2. SHE TALKS INOT THE CAMERA.

Skeleton 2
No need to stalk me,
I already love you.

2 SHOT. DANCE. HIP HOPISH.

Skeleton 1
Let's not talk,
let's just stare into each other's eyes.
In your eyes I'll see my eyes.
And in my eyes you'll see your eyes.
What nice eyes we both have.
Dark moon/mirrors.
We are each almost as beautiful
as each other.

ANGLE ON SKELETON 2

Skeletion 2
When we walk through the dark forest
of flashing cameras,
Flashes like butterfly kisses
warm our skin to an amber
toasted marshmallow perfection.

2 SHOT
Skeleton 1 and 2
The world wants you,
and you are mine.

ANGLE ON SKELETON 2

Skeleton 2
Know what?

ANGLE ON SKELETON 1

Skeleton 1
What?

ANGLE ON SKELETON 2

Skeleton 2
You don't have to give up on anything
To get everything.

ANGLE ON SKELETON 1

Skeleton 1
You're kidding, that's great!

Skeleton 2
And what's more, the pleasures
You think you are experiencing now
Are nothing in comparison
To the pleasures that the future 
Has in store for you.

Skeleton 1
Wow! I can't wait to feel them!

ANGLE ON SKELETON 2

Skeleton 2
You're gonna flip out.
YEE HAAAA!

ANGLE ON SKELETON 1

Skeleton 1
YEE HAAAA!

2 SHOT

TOGETHER
YEEEE HAAA! YEEEE HAAAAA! YEEEE HAAA!

Skeleton 1
So smile, because…

Skeleton 2
Because the sun shines on me.

THE SKELETONS DO A LITTLE DANCE WHICH ENDS WITH THEM REMOVING THEIR CRANIUMS, AS IF THEY WERE HATS. ONE SKELETON'S HEAD IF FILLED WITH COINS AND THE OTHER'S HEAD IS FILLED WITH CANDY

ANGLE ON FISH 1 AND FISH 2 WATCHING THE DANCE.

ANGLE, FISH 1 AND 2 POV OF THE SKELETONS WITH THEIR BACK FINS IN THE FOREGROUND. THE CAMERA MOVES IN ON THE SKELETONS UNTIL IT IS A 2 SHOT ON THEM.

CANDY SKELETON TOSSES A PIECE INTO COIN SKELETON'S HEAD AND VICE VERSA. THEY DIVE TO CATCH IT, LIKE SOCCER PLAYES HEAD BUTTING SOCCER BALLS.

TOGETHER
Wow! He's poor!
Glad he's not me.
Gee she's sad!
We're happy and free.
Woah! He's fat!
We eat cookies in bed.
She's really getting old!
We're already dead.


END OF THE KEEP ON SMILING SONG.

THE CAMERA MOVES BACK AS THE SINGING SKELETONS JUMP BACK ON THEIR SCHOONER AND SAIL AWAY, AS THE MUSIC FADES.

SET PIECE: THE FAKE WAVES DROP DOWN JUST BELOW THE FISH. THE CARDBOARD WAVES ROCK BACK AND FORTH

2 SHOT ON THE FISH

Fish 1
Why are we always arguing?

Fish 2
We don't, we're not…

Fish 1:
See, there we go again. How long have we known each other?

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2:
It seems that I have forgotten everything except things that have not yet occurred.

Fish 1
This is serious.

Fish 2
No. Really. It's better for me to know what you will do than what you have done. Your future actions are always in my present. My past actions are always in your present.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 2
This is called compatibility.

Fish 1
And what do you see?

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2:
Great violence. Destruction. Suffering. What else?

Fish 1
I have a question.

Fish 2
Ask away.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
What is the meaning of your ass?

ANFLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
My ass has no meaning. That is the great beauty of my ass.

Fish 1
Let me see it.

CAMERA PULLS BACK TO A 2 SHOT AS FISH 2 SHOWS FISH 1 HIS ASS.

Fish 1
You're right. Your ass means absolutely nothing to me.

Fish 2
Thank you.

Fish 1
There is an old movie in which two beautiful cowboys fall into a tragic and violent love.

Fish 2
I don't believe it. Nothing like that could ever happen.

Fish 1
Why?

Fish 2
I don't know. 

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Next you're going to tell me that this love leads to fistfights and punched walls. Emotional car wrecks pile up behind these cowboys. Loneliness and death are the children of this love.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
How did you know?

Fish 2
I told you that I have forgotten everything except for things that have not yet occurred.

Fish 1
But I told you that this movie MAY have already occurred.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Apparently not or…

Fish 1
What?

Fish 2
So many things are about to occur that have already occurred.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
Like sequels?

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Like hollow sounds and vacant stares.

2 SHOT

Fish 1
How long have we known each other?

Fish 2
It seems a lifetime.

Fish 1
I like talking with you.

THE CAMERA MOVES CLOSE IN ON FISH 2 AS FISH 1 SLOWLY RECITES THIS. FISH 2 IS WHISTFUL, SAD.

Fish 1
I like that fact that you cook and guard the campsite while I guard the sheep. Your old flannel shirt smells like campfire smoke and long-ago detergent. 

Fish 1
Why do you always look like you're about to cry when you look at me?

Fish 2
I have no idea. 

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 2
All that I know is that your emotional unavailability reminds me of my father.

Fish 1
You had a father?

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
I have no idea, but you remind me of him.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
That makes no sense. Why are you always saying things that makes no sense?

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Why are you always wacking off next to me when you think that I'm sleeping.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
I don't.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
You do.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
I don't!

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
You do!

ANGLE ON FISH 1, FURIOUS, HE CHARGES
ANGLE ON FISH 2, FURIOUS, HE CHARGES. A BIT MORE RELUCTANTLY.

2 SHOT. THEY FIGHT

THEY EXHAUST EACHOTHER, THEY BREAK APART

Fish 1
Hey man, are you OK?

Fish 2
Sure, sure, I'm OK.

Fish 1
I don't know why we…

Fish 2
It's OK, it's OK. Can't you love me without kicking my ass?

Fish 1
Apparently not.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
So you love me?

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
I… I…

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
You admitted it. After all this time…

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
I didn't.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
You did!

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
I didn't!

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
DID!

ANGLE ON FISH 1, FURIOUS, HE CHARGES
ANGLE ON FISH 2, FURIOUS, HE CHARGES

2 SHOT. THEY FIGHT

THEY EXHAUST EACHOTHER, THEY BREAK APART

Fish 1
Apparently I do.

Fish 2
After all these years!

Fish 1
Has it been that long? Have you been waiting that long?

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Acres of scrubby, desolate and parched time. Or perhaps a moment. I really have no idea. But does the duration of desire make it's fulfillment more satisfying? Always? Is this some kind of rule?

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 2
The fact that I have no sense of duration yet I am experiencing euphoria seems to contradict this rule.

Fish 1
Yes. 

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Unless…

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
What?

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Unless I could be happier than I am now. This fills me with fear.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
(sympathetic)
You're missing out on something.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
I believe I am.

Fish 1
There is no filling inside your chocolate bunny.

Fish 2
My chocolate bunny is as hollow as a balloon.

THE CAMERA PULLS BACK AS 'THE HOLLOW SONG' MUSIC BEGINS.

THE WAVE SET PIECES RISE UP AND DISAPPEAR

A SINGN DESCENDS, 'THE HOLLOW SONG'

SET PIIECE: THE TWO CHINESE VASES DESCEND AND SETTLE AS THE SONG BEGINS

2 SHOT

FISH 1 AND FISH 2 SING THE HOLLOW SON

THE HOLLOW SONG

TOGETHER
We float on the surface 
Of each other's dreams.

Fish 1
My old friend.

Fish 2
My good old friend.
What is inside the candy bunny?

Fish 1
Chocolate scented air.
Nothing.
It is hollow inside.

TOGETHER
Dig a hole and lie in it
And watch the stars.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
The stars are a bunch of assholes.

Fish 2
'You can't count us, we're too many,'
The stars say.

Fish 1
'You can't reach us, we're too far,'
The stars say.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
'You can't comprehend us, you're too stupid,'
The stars say.

TOGETHER
The stars will make you feel like shit.

Fish 1
That's what they do all night.


Fish 2
They make you feel like shit!

2 SHOT

TOGETHER
We float on the surface
Of each other's dreams.
All you can eat,
I give you all that you can eat.
But still, you're hungry.
The salad bar I give you
Stretches on into infinity.
The salad bar I give you
Has as many ingredients
As there are stars in the sky.
The salad bar I give you
Is as complex as the mind of God.
But still, you're hungry.
Can nothing fill the hole?
Can nothing fill
Your hungry, hungry hole?

We float on the surface
Of each other's dreams.

The money I give you.
All that's left of the coins
Is the smell of tin cans
On your sweaty palms.
The musky soft bills I give you
Slip through you like tape worms.
The sound of a single penny
Dropped into the vastness of
A porcelean pig.
You porcelean pig.
You are hollow inside.

END OF 'THE HOLLOW SONG.'

THE CHINESE VASES ARE LIFTED UP AND AWAY.

EMPTINESS

Fish 2
Look at the little lines around your eyes. You used to be younger.

Fish 1
How do you know so much about me? How long have we known each other?

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
I don't know?

Fish 2
Can you guess?

Fish 1
No. All I know is…

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Yes?

Fish 1
When I was young, I was taught to kneel before the enormity of all that I would never know. I was taught to only approach the exterior of the bubble of the infinite, not to probe its center; not to pop it.

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
I was taught that this bubble is an infinite sphere, whose center is everywhere and whose circumfrance is nowhere. This sphere fills me and vacates me. It moves through me, and leaves; clean, cleaner. I clean it all. And I am so clean. There is nothing; a dripping faucet, an open window letting in a breeze that dries away the last drop of all if it. And you.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 2
Yes?

ANGLE ON FISH 1

Fish 1
My old friend. You are fading right now. I can hardly remember.

ANGLE ON FISH 2

Fish 1
I can hardly remember what I never knew.

2 SHOT

Fish 2
Cowboy?

Fish 1
Cowboy? Yes. My toy cowboy.

Fish 2
My fading toy cowboy. You are…

Fish 2
I am…

Fish 1
Gone.

FADE TO BLACK AS FISH 2 SWIMS AWAY AND FISH 1 TURNS AND FACES THE CAMERA.

THE END