A simple approach
Honest
Raw

We
enter
a
glamorous
troubled world

The "look"
high contrast hyper-real
crisp
and
unblinking

Shawn is observer
narrator
performer

We find him in a tiny club on Fairfax
Genghis Cohen
Shawn and band are performing for an audience of unaware and disinterested youth
The place is half-empty or half-full, depending
The "crowd" is immersed in a world of self-indulgent entertainment
We see
laughing, talking, smoking, drinking
But no LISTENING
These are glamorous kids, on the surface
They've mastered the art of pretense and fashion
And are part of a growing legion of entitled youth
We study them in intimate detail, like a National Geographic special
And as it goes, it becomes increasingly apparent,
they're more tortured than lucky

Oddly enough, only the workers notice Shawn
A bartender and a waitress HEAR him
Maybe because their lives are not consumed with mindless distraction right now
They crave something more
Understanding

We focus in on one girl, part of a table of four
She's the girl Shawn's talking about and to
She plays her part well
Very distracted
Unable to even look at the person she's talking to as she scopes the room
Looking for new possibilities
New distractions

NOW
Something odd happens
Time rewinds
Slowly at first
Then in a blur

The girl gets up from the table in reverse
Walks backwards to the door with a girl and guy
The threesome rewind out the door and end up with the Valet
He gives her her keys in reverse
They enter the convertible and back away into the night
WE'VE JUST ENTERED HER PAST LIFE
And after a quick rewind the film plays forwards
We're in the car cruising nighttime Hollywood
The girl and her girl friend
First there's some cell phone action
AND THEN
They meet a carload of boys
There's a quick drive-by discussion and they come to a stoplight
There, one boy climbs out and joins the girls
And they continue toward the club
AND NOW
There is a brief moment of silence as the girl watches the road ahead
And here, in this instance we see evidence of thought
Emptiness
Pain

CUT BACK TO
The Club

Tight on Shawn
PERFORMANCE
Intensely connected with camera
Although his words remain unheard by the crowd
MORE DETAILS
The staff watching
HEARING SHAWN

BACK TO - THE CRUISE
Now the film REWINDS some more
We go back further into the past
Early in the evening
The images zip by in a blurring rewind
Soon they slow and come to a stop
So we see a frozen image of the girl
And now it comes to life
She's at a party
It's crowded and trendy
We follow her around the party, leading the way
She sees some friends huddled around a coffee table
She joins them for some blow

BACK TO SHAWN
More intimate coverage
Close and real
And now we take another look at our featured table
The girl is still in the throws of blissful nothingness
She laughs
We move closer
Her smile fades and she look to stage
CUT TO
The Party
The girl gets up from the couch and goes in search of the toilet
She opens a door and finds
Shawn seated on the floor with guitar
He's playing hippie style to a few seated on the floor
He looks up
She mouths, "sorry" and quickly shuts the door
NOW
She enters the bathroom
Locks the door behind her
And begins to look at herself very carefully in the mirror

CUT TO
SHAWN
Back at Genghis Cohen
More details of him and the band

CUT TO
THE MIRROR
The girl is almost in tears
AND NOW
The film suddenly rewinds
We go back in time
Stopping this time at home near sunset
She's walking out the front door headed for her car
BUT THE FILM STOPS
And rewinds some more
And when it starts up we find her in her room getting dressed for the night

CUT TO SHAWN
More performance
Tight details
Pieces
His mouth
His eyes
His hand
etc.

BACK TO HER ROOM
She's dressing
BUT NOT FOR LONG
The film backs up some more, stops and plays
And we find her sunbathing by the pool
Next to her is a boy
Too perfect
Plastic
Ken doll
They begin to kiss

BACK TO SHAWN
Tighter still
His eye
Watching
Taking it all in

BACK TO THE POOL
Now they're in the water
Fucking
This is obscure
Sometimes underwater, sometimes right at the surface
Very close
The camera inches from their pained faces
Hot breath fogs the lens
CUT TO

SHAWN - "Everything's gonna be all right"
BACK TO THE POOL
The boy is out, drying off
The girl is by the side looking up at him
He leaves waving
bye, bye

BACK TO SHAWN - "Rockabye"

BACK TO THE POOL
She's in the water
Crying

BACK TO SHAWN - "Everything's gonna be all right"

BACK TO THE POOL
She's out now with a towel around her and headed inside

BACK TO SHAWN - "bye bye"

BACK TO HER
She's in her room
Getting ready for the night ahead
NOW THE FILM STOPS DEAD IN ITS TRACKS

fin
(Note: In between it all are sudden portraits of the girl, the kids and Shawn.)

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