Story in Map (screenplay 1st act)

FADE IN:

STORY IN MAY song playing in the background, with the lyrics
dissolving in and out of screen.

The camera is flying "backward" through a REDDISH SKY. Finally,
camera pans down into a quiet playground just as the first half
of the song is fading out, with endling lyrics "and now my love
for her is crushed beneath all the lies in this story in may".

EXT. QUIET PLAYGROUND – EVENING

The camera finally settles on Patrick, in his early twenties,
sitting alone on the monkey bar, jotting down something on this
notebook. At first we only see his back, but as he put his pen to
his lips, we see the bottom half of his face, sufficient to see
that it's expressionless.

PATRICK CHO
(in a whispering singing tone along
with the fading song)
beneath all the lies..in this story..in May..

DISSOLVE TO:

EXT. BERKELEY DOWNTOWN – DAY

A sudden change of mood by the background music to [F C F C
finger-picking]. It's a typical sunny morning in Berkeley.
Patrick is holding some LP records in his arm as he strolls down
Shattuck Ave. He's looking around approvingly, although one wouldn't be able to tell from his expressionless face.

PATRICK CHO
(narrating)
So this is my town, Berkeley, land of the
hyppies. In the 60's, the students couldn't
take the crap from the university any more...

Old images of FREE SPEECH MOVEMENT in Berkeley

PATRICK CHO
(continuing)
so they decided to protest. It started with
one guy, but when he got arrested..

Old image of JACK WEINBERG being arrested

PATRICK CHO
(continuing)
many others joined in. And all they did was
sit..

Old image of students crowd sit-in

PATRICK CHO
(continuing)
talk...

Old image of student leader making speeches in front of Sproul
Hall

PATRICK CHO
(continuing)
and sing.

Old image of students singing with guitar. Then, camera shows
Patrick waiting at a traffic light.

PATRICK CHO
(continuing)
I sometimes wish I was born 40 years earlier.
I think the 60's is a magical time. A time of
stark love and hatred, peace and war. People
actually felt and cared about something.
What's more, they had great theme songs!Pete
seeger, Phil Ochs, Peter, Paul & Mary, Joan
Baez and of course, Bob Dylan.

Patrick finds himself waiting at the traffic light. Beside him
stands a caucasian man in his late 50s. He dons a hippie look and
has a big sign board wrapped around his neck in front of him that
reads "The crimes of Japan against China in WWII". He's also holding a tamborine and beating in his hand. He looks at Patrick
and sings with great enthusiasm.

HIPPIE
(singing)
Hey Mr Tamborine Man write a song for me, I'm
not sleepy and there is no place i'm going
to...
(to Patrick)
...hey son..
(continue singing)
..hey Mr Tamborine..

Patrick looks up awkwardly at the caucasian man, closes his eyes
and takes a deep breath then continues crossing the road after
the light changes green.

PATRICK
(narrating)
And there you go, some remnants from the old
days. You can't really fault that guy though,
at least he seems pretty passionate about it.
I suppose that's the problem with my
generation. We don't really have a glorious
cause to fight for.

Patrick makes a turn into the univerisity campus area and walks
through Sather gate and passes by a group of asians students

PATRICK CHO
(continuing)
Anyway, this is where you'd find people from
my generation. I was rather surprised when I
first came to this univeristy to find that
more than half the student population are
asians, which makes me a majority here.
Not that it makes a big difference to me, people
don't really notice me whether I'm a minority
or majority, which is how I like it.

Patrick crosses another road and enters into an old record store
named "Cho's Records".

INT: INSIDE CHO'S RECORDS STORE – DAY

The "Cho's Records" store is a small shop that only sells old
LPs. The walls are covered with album covers, from Led Zepellin
to Cream. A virtuso solo electric guitar sound playing "House of
Rising Sun" comes from a backroom. A customer seems to be waiting at the counter which is empty. Patrick hurries to the counter and
puts down the LP records in his hand onto the counter.

PATRICK
(to the customer)
I'm sorry. I'm sorry. Hmm, let me take care
of this.

ISABELLA
(smiling, O.S.)
No worries.

Patrick takes the LP record from his customer. He finally got to
take a good look at the girl in front of him now. She is an
beautiful and attractive girl in her early 20s. She dresses like a college student, wears plastic-frame glasses and has an air of
vibrance and positive energy. She has eurasian look.

PATRICK
(shyly)
Sorry for waiting again.

ISABELLA
(smiling)
That's fine. Someone was here when I first
came in but for some reasons he just ran out.

PATRICK
(stealing a glance at Isabella)
Yeah, that'd be Ronald, he does that all the
time.

Patrick is fumbling through the cash register, trying to get it
to work. He appears awkward and clumsy and intentionally avoiding
eye contact with Isabella. Both did not speak for a while when the same solo guitar line from "House of the Rising Run" came
from the backroom for the 3rd time.

ISABELLA
(giggling and pointing towards the
backroom door)
Someone's really putting in a lot of effort
in that solo line.

PATRICK
yeah, that's my dad.

ISABELLA
(genuinely surprised)
oh!that's your dad? That's amazing! I mean,
he plays really well. I wish my dad can..

Before Isabella could finish, a chinese man in his late 50s, back
slightly humped, wearing thick glasses, came out from the
backroom behind the counter. He looks every bit a stereotyped old chinese man, serious and stern looking, definitely not someone
whom you'd expect to play a mean rock guitar.

Patrick makes way for his dad to move pass him.

PATRICK
Hi, dad.

MR CHO/PATRICK'S DAD
Hmm. Where's Ronald?

PATRICK
I think he ran off again

Mr Cho doesn't look too pleased.

MR CHO/PATRICK'S DAD
That'd be $8 off his pay today.

Mr Cho finally notices Isabella and saw the Dylan's record she's
buying.

MR CHO/PATRICK'S DAD
(referring to Bob Dylan's Greatest
Hits LP)
Is this your first Dylan's record?

ISABELLA
(surprised and puzzled)
Yeah, how do you know?

Mr Cho ignored her question, turned around to the aisle behind
him and gave her a copy of "Highway 61 Revisited".

MR CHO/PATRICK'S DAD
Take this.

While Isabella is still trying to figure out what to make of
this, Mr Cho has already walked towards the shop door. Isabella
tries to make some gesture, but Mr Cho merely waves back in a
dismissive manner and leaves the store without looking back.

Isabella, looking slightly helpless and confused, now turns to Patrick.

PATRICK
Don't worry about that...
(taking the "Highway 61" copy)
I'd put this back later...

ISABELLA
(referring to the "highway 61" record)
Hold on, well, do you think I should get this
instead?

PATRICK
No, you don't have to listen to him.
(referring to Greatest Hits)
This is value for money...

ISABELLA
But do you, personally, think this'd be a
good album to buy?

PATRICK
(pausing a little)
I think...personally I'd never buy a Greatest
Hits. Hmm. It's just...I feel I don't give
the artist enough respect if I do that.

ISABELLA
(nodding)
hmm-hmm.

PATRICK
Although I would not get "Highway 61"
either...well, what Dylan songs do you know?

ISABELLA
well, I've heard "Like a rolling stone",
"Knocking on Heaven's door", hmm, "Blowin in
the wind" and "stairway to heaven".

PATRICK
hmm, "Stairway to heaven" is not really a
Dylan song.

ISABELLA
(a little embarassed)
Oops! As you can see I'm really new to his
music. I downloaded that "Stairway to heaven"
song and it says that Bob Dylan was the
singer. I should have known, it's not the first time this kind of mix-up happen. And I
can sort of tell that it's a different guy
singing too.

PATRICK
That's fine. Bob Dylan sounds like lots of
people and lots of people sound like Bob
Dylan. Hmm, but if you're serious into his
music...

Patrick walks out to the Bob Dylan section and flips through his
record and takes out the "Bob Dylan" album.

PATRICK
Get this. This is his first album. 1962.

ISABELLA
Oh thanks! So is this really good?

Patrick is now back behind the counter.

PATRICK
Not his best. But I think it's a nice journey
to listen to his stuff from the earliest days
and just move up the albums chronologically.
It gives you a great story of the man. Hmm,
but that's just me.

ISABELLA
Thanks! Appreciate it! Hmm
(pausing)
you know, I think I'd still get this one
(referring to "Highway 61")

PATRICK
Yeah sure. You should probably be better off
listening to my day.

ISABELLA
I'm sorry, I would have gotten both if I'm
not running so low this month.

PATRICK
That's cool. That's cool. So I guess that'd
be 8 bucks.

Isabella took out a $10 note and hands it to Patrick.

ISABELLA
So, just out of curiosity, is that really
your dad playing guitar at the back just now?

PATRICK
Yup. That's him playing.

ISABELLA
Wow, that's really something. I think that's
probably the first time I ever heard an old
chinese man plays the electric guitar so
well. And he certainly didn't look it...

ISABELLA
(realizing that Patrick is looking at
her with a blank expression)
Oh I'm sorry, I'm sorry. I didn't mean to
offend your dad.

PATRICK
(trying to reassure Isabella)
No don't worry about it. I sometimes think
it's a pretty odd thing too. It's funny, i
mean it's funny.

ISABELLA
(seeing Patrick's expressionless face)
Still, I shouldn't have.

PATRICK
It's cool. I'd laugh with you if I could, you
know.

Awkward silence for a few seconds.

PATRICK
(handing her the change)
Anyway, here's your change.

ISABELLA
Thanks.

PATRICK
Come back if you want more Dylan stuff,
that's if you like it of course.

ISABELLA
(still regretting over what she said)
Hmm. Bye.

Then Isabella leaves the store.

A close-up shot of Patrick digesting what has happened. Then a
wider shot of the whole now-empty store.

PATRICK
(narrating)
I'd laugh with you if I could, you know.

DISSOLVE TO: