Kubo and the Two Strings

KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS

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(0100 PRO) PROLOGUE

BLACK:

A child’s whispered voice HISSES through the darkness...

CHILD’S VOICE (V.O.)

If you must blink, do it now!

A full moon fills the screen like a giant, unblinking eye. *

An eerie wind HOWLS through the night sky, and a wave *

suddenly rises in front of the moon, eclipsing it from view.

Another giant wave swells and we CUT WIDER to reveal-

EXT. OCEAN - STORMY NIGHT

A tiny wooden fishing boat comes into view, tossed about by

enormous waves, cresting hundreds of feet high.

That’s when we hear it, weaving throughout the howls of wind. *

Hopeful, inexplicable MUSIC. A sweet, chromatic MELODY. *

It is being played by the boat’s lone passenger. A beautiful *

Japanese woman with long black hair whipping in the wind. She *

kneels as she plays a stringed shamisen instrument. *

CHILD’S VOICE (V.O.) *

Pay careful attention to everything *

you see and hear...No matter how *

unusual it may seem. *

On the woman’s back we catch a glimpse of a woven bag

embroidered with the image of a beetle.

Before we can get a better look, our attention turns to a

tsunami-sized wave, rising up silently in front of the boat,

threatening to consume everything in its path.

The woman raises her hand, strikes the strings on her

shamisen, and the sea literally parts in front of her,

allowing safe passage clean through the center of the chaos.

The boat floats onward, approaching a rocky coastline beneath

high windswept cliffs, and at the sight of land the woman

gives an almost imperceptible smile.

CHILD’S VOICE (V.O.)

And please be warned. If you

fidget. If you look away.

(MORE)

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KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS

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CHILD’S VOICE (V.O.) (CONT'D)

If you forget any part of what I

tell you, even for an instant, then *

our hero will surely perish. *

Before the narrator can finish his sentence, another wave,

larger than the others, surges menacingly behind the woman...

EXT. ROCKY BEACH

Propelled by that huge wave, the fishing boat violently rams

into the rocky shore, throwing the woman from the boat.

Tossed through the turbulent undercurrent, the woman’s head

smashes hard against a rock.

And as the ocean recedes, she’s left lying in the sand, her

body limp and unmoving and blanketed by her tangled hair. *

And then another sound. The CRYING of an infant.

The woman’s eyes snap open.

Slowly, painfully, she begins crawling across the sand

towards the crying. It’s coming from inside that woven bag. *

CHILD’S VOICE (O.S.) *

His name is Kubo. His grandfather *

stole something from him. *

As she reaches the bag and draws back the folds of cloth, we *

see the face of a baby underneath. We can see his head is *

wrapped in a bloodied bandage, covering his missing left eye. *

We watch them from a HIGH ANGLE, like we’re standing *

somewhere up on those cliffs, as the narrator adds... *

CHILD’S VOICE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

And that really is the least of it.

CUT TO:

(0200 BRK) BREAKFAST WITH MOM

BLACK:

GHOSTING IN TITLE: KUBO

THEN:
... AND THE TWO STRINGS

CREDITS ROLL as we slowly FADE IN, coming face to face with --

A MONKEY:

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A serious monkey. Staring right at us. Fixed expression.

That’s because this monkey is actually a carved wooden charm,

also known as a netsuke, standing about four inches high.

Next to it a young boy, perhaps ten years old, sleeps on a

thin mat on the floor. He is curled up within a robe

emblazoned with the crest of a beetle, just like the one we

saw on the bag earlier.

The boy rolls over, revealing his left eye is covered in a

patch. He is the baby from the prologue, grown into a wiry

youth, with thick black hair tugged into a messy topknot. He

is our hero. KUBO.

INT. KUBO’S CAVE - EARLY MORNING (PRE DAWN) *

Kubo gets up and begins to tidy up the place, picking up *

dozens of strewn pieces of paper that inexplicably litter the *

ground. The paper is creased and wrinkled as if it has been *

repeatedly folded and unfolded. He smooths each sheet out, *

then stacks it and places it back on a shelf. *

By the light of the full moon outside, Kubo walks to a little

kitchen area and strikes a flint, starting a fire.

He gracefully pours and heats a pot of water, preparing both *

rice and tea for two place settings on the ground. *

He then turns to regard a sleeping woman, lying on a mat in

the corner of the cave, barely noticeable in the dark. The

folds of her gown move gently as she sleeps.

Kubo steps over and kneels down by her side, and we see this

is the same woman from our prologue, only now she seems older

and paler. Her face is creased and wrinkled like the crumpled

paper scattered around her, and her long black hair is

streaked with silvery grey. She is Kubo’s MOTHER.

Kubo watches her for a moment, then gathers himself and

extends a hand to gently push her hair out of her face.

Her eyes flutter open. She sees Kubo, kneeling there, and he

gives her a small smile. An unspoken “good morning.” *

Kubo helps her up and to the mat where the rice and tea are

waiting, her movements are slow and feeble. *

INT. DINING AREA KUBO’S CAVE - EARLY MORNING

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Kubo serves his mother rice, even blowing on it to cool it

for her.

His Mother eats just a little. A bit of rice falls onto her

chin.

Kubo uses his chopsticks to gently put the grains of rice

back into her mouth. There is clearly something wrong with

his mother. *

INT. ENTRANCE KUBO’S CAVE - EARLY MORNING *

Kubo walks his mother over and she kneels on a mat in the *

shadow of the cave entrance, staring down at the angry white

crests of the waves.

Kubo sits beside her. He works intently, folding those sheets

of paper he stacked earlier into an assortment of origami

figures.

There is a tiger, a deer, and a snake, each as impressive as

the next. His nimble hands make swift and expert work of it.

It’s kind of incredible.

Kubo leans forward, grinning from ear to ear as he plays with *

a paper samurai, showing it to his unresponsive mother. *

But then Kubo stops, and gets closer to lean on his mother’s *

shoulder as the sun rises. *

A BELL CHIMES in the distance, triggering him instantly into *

action.

As the orange light of dawn begins to fill the cave, he *

hurries over to where the shamisen leans against the wall and *

scoops it up with one hand. He grabs the netsuke and all his *

origami figures, hastily packs them into his bag and it over *

his shoulder. *

Before he leaves he notices a strand of hair has fallen in *

front of his mother’s face. He gently reaches out and pushes *

it back into place.

Kubo looks at his mother’s staring empty eyes and rests his *

hand on her shoulder for a moment before running off. *

(0300 JTV) JOURNEY TO THE VILLAGE

DRAFT:
01.05.16

KUBO AND THE TWO STRINGS

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