Atarashii kutsu wo kawanakucha Page #4

---

Yeah?

It's probably in full swing now.

Let's have a party here, then.

Just the two of us.

Why not?

This fills you up!

I won't waste it.

It's made right.

It's good!

It's good.

You made it, not me.

But no more.

I'm full.

Yeah.

You have to go back...

To the hotel.

Yeah.

I haven't stayed there yet.

That's a waste of money.

I forget the name again.

Oh, right... uh...

I'll write it down.

What was it?

It's a long name. Now I forget.

Have you really forgotten?

Let's drink some more.

More?

For now, let's drink.

Sure.

Bordeaux or Medoc?

Can you play?

No.

Sure you can!

We had a band in school,

so I know a few chords.

A popularity ploy.

How did you know?

People who play guitar

or sing...

Any boy who wants to be popular

is obliged to be in a band.

Maybe not 'obliged'.

'Obliged to be'?

How do you say that in French?

I don't know. I'm Japanese.

One day I reached a turning point.

What?

I switched from guitar to camera.

And?

People liked that better.

I won a prize,

and I got too confident.

Like that?

Not quite.

Like that.

I thought I'd make a living at it,

so after university I just did that.

That was brave.

But...

...it's a cold, cruel world.

I ended up working part-time

at Sukiya.

Do you know it?

Beef-bowl?

A chain, like Yoshinoya.

Film costs money.

I ate rice with bean sprouts

for breakfast, lunch, and dinner.

With citrus sauce,

then soy, then Worcestershire.

Are you listening?

I tried every taste variation

I could think of.

But bean sprouts are bean sprouts.

Still OK?

I'll have some more.

Thanks.

Then one day...

Is that too loud?

No. Add in the music.

Then a pro photographer

who used me sometimes...

...got sick and asked me

to sub for him...

...for a musician's

publicity photographs.

And they loved it?

Not so much the public

as the musician herself.

Then what? I took lots of stuff.

Publicity stills...

...advertising, CD jackets...

Then came actresses and so on

that she knew.

Yeah, that can happen.

And before I knew it...

...I was the best

retouching photographer around.

Retouching?

Yeah. You know

what it's like now.

It's all digital.

Spots, wrinkles, bags under the eyes.

The three-piece set.

If everything's right, you can even

change the shape of the face.

I'm more like a Takasu Clinic

than a photographer.

Cosmetic surgery.

I know the Takasu Clinic.

That's not why I stopped.

I was waiting.

So if you ask me...

...what pictures

I'm most confident about...

...I'd probably say the ones I took

when I was eating bean sprouts.

I don't know... it's like back then

I was in charge of my photographs.

Now my clients are.

Really?

For example...

I was doing a soft-drink poster

down in Okinawa.

The sky was so blue

it made your eyes sting.

But they wanted me to make it blue

right up to where the sun was.

And you know, Aoi-san,

a real sky...

...isn't blue right around the sun.

It's white.

But they wanted me to make

the whole thing blue.

It's like all they knew was

'the sky is blue'.

Do they want it to look painted?

The sky isn't like that!

Like that?

Exactly. Just like that.

But...

...I wanted the work.

Whenever one of my actresses

or woman editors calls me...

...no matter when or where,

I hurry right over.

Like a host.

That's not my plan for you.

Sorry?

I don't have a thing for hosts

or younger men.

That's not what I'm saying.

Don't take it like that.

You're not like those people

at all.

You're just...

...a little bit to one side

of absolute perfection.

I'm told that a lot.

Maybe I was born that way.

I don't know about that...

Like my tuning's wonky.

Does that bother you?

You're not 'wonky'.

'Laid-back', maybe.

I shouldn't say this

about someone older, but...

...you're cute.

'Cute'?

Wow! I haven't heard that

for a century.

You aren't that old.

Sorry.

I'm not all that good, so if I don't

spend all my time on my work...

...I can't make ends meet.

So the girlfriend I'd had for years

left me.

That was a come-on.

I said I'm single.

Forget it.

So anyway, because of that

I'm basically kind of miserable.

I started...

...wanting to take pictures

only I could take.

Like everyone else, the dream was

to put out books and have exhibitions.

But right now

I'm nothing but a yes-man...

...running around being nice

to the people who use me.

Really?

I'm only in Paris to be...

What did you call it?

The 'luck brother'.

The luck brother.

That's fine as far as it goes...

...but the whole situation

just irritates me.

I was thinking I'd like to

just pack it all in...

...but when my passport got wrecked,

the first thing I thought of was work.

I've been tamed.

I can't go forward,

and I can't go back.

Surely something will work out.

You can still take

your own photographs.

Someone who's tried hard once

can always do it again.

I'm no expert, but I'd love to see...

...your exhibition.

Want more cheese?

And some dried raisins?

Yeah, sure.

Shall we go on to

the 2nd movement?

What's the chord?

Of what?

The Story of Aoi-san.

Forget my story.

I can't tell it as well.

Too bad.

Good night, Sen.

I'm going to bed.

Hey, Sen...

Why are you sleeping there?

I thought you'd gone.

Come here.

OK, don't.

May I?

Sure.

What?

Isn't this fun?

When I started photography,

I took up climbing...

...and bought a sleeping bag.

The scenery changes

with where you sleep...

...even in the same room.

This isn't any fun.

Yours was my first bathtub.

You're weird.

My arms need to be

more than twice as long.

It's like trying to hold

a sumo wrestler.

No, thanks.

I'm...

No, I'm scared to say.

I'm not scared to hear.

No?

No.

OK.

About me.

I like art.

When I finished art school,

I got a job in a gallery.

The Japanese economy was still good,

and it had a branch here.

I studied French real hard,

and got hired here.

A man the gallery dealt with

was a local artist.

French?

Yeah.

Maybe I was lonely in a new place.

We got married right away.

But this guy had girls everywhere.

I didn't like being cheated on...

...so we got a divorce.

And I quit the gallery, too,

and got a job with a company...

...that published free papers.

I had my cat.

But he went, so it was just me.

Without Guru or Shion, all alone.

'Shion'?

Shion was my baby.

I heard about that.

Joanne?

She thought we were old friends.

When I left my husband,

I was pregnant.

I had...

...a boy.

The cutest little angel.

But he was never healthy.

He only lived five years.

The poor thing.

Shion named Guru.

Shion played the piano.

When Guru heard him playing

that Minuet and Trio...

...he'd come straight home,

no matter where he was.

Like magic.

Shion found Guru

and brought him home.

He came in with the kitten

in both his bony little hands...

...and stood right there.

'Mama, can we keep him?'

he said.

'He'll die.

'The poor cat!'

Sorry.

After he died,

I couldn't work for a long time.

I couldn't move forward.

Aoi-san...

Rate this script:0.0 / 0 votes