Kubo and the Two Strings Page #5

MARI:

Oh! But she just got here. *

HOSATO:

Come on.

Kubo stares back at his lamp for a moment. Then he looks back

up into the air.

KUBO:

Father? Hellooo?

He purses his lips. Folds his arms impatiently.

KUBO (CONT’D)

Any time. *

The family then brings their lit lantern down to the river, *

placing it in the water and watching it float out to sea. *

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Time passes...

Still Kubo’s lamp remains steadfastly unlit. The cemetery is

practically deserted by now. Behind Kubo in the river, dozens

of lit lamps are slowly floating out to sea as the village

bell begins RINGING out the fall of night.

Kubo just stands there defiantly. He glares at his altar,

patience spent. He grabs his unlit lamp and crumples it up,

tossing it angrily to the ground.

KUBO (CONT’D)

Fine! I don’t need you anyway!

The sun sets behind the mountains. *

INT. DINING AREA KUBO’S CAVE - EVENING *

Kubo’s Mother’s eyes snap open. *

MOTHER *

Kubo! *

EXT. CEMETERY - DUSK *

The bell stops RINGING, and Kubo has a change of heart. His *

contorted face softens and he reaches down to scoop up the

broken lamp. Feeling vile and foolish he does his best to

unfold and smooth out the paper.

KUBO:

(softly)

I... I’m sorry.

(1100 MTS) MEET THE SISTERS!

EXT. CEMETERY - WOODS OUTSIDE KUBO’S VILLAGE *

Instantly, all along the river, each and every lamp is

silently extinguished.

Wisps of smoke curl from the charred wicks, joined by a

seeping fog that rolls across the surface of the river from

the far bank. This cheerful place has become dark and eerie.

WHISPERED VOICE (O.S.)

Kuuuuboooooo!

The voice is eerily melodic. It tingles in the air, seemingly

from several directions at once.

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WHISPERED VOICE (O.S.) (CONT’D)

Kubo!

Kubo looks around, heart racing. He follows the direction of

the voice and sees, across the river, a lone woman clad in

flowing robes, billowing in the breeze.

She has long black hair and wears a wide-brimmed peasant’s

hat pulled low so we cannot see her face. In her bone white

hand she holds a long wooden pipe. This is a SISTER.

THE SISTERS:

Little boy. What happened to your

eye?

Kubo takes a step backwards, sensing something is very, very

wrong here.

The strange woman with the hidden face LAUGHS. A horrible,

high-pitched sound, joined by another nightmarish GIGGLE as a

second woman emerges from the shadows, her face also obscured

by a wide-brimmed hat. This one is the other SISTER. *

KUBO:

Who are you? How do you know my

name?

THE SISTERS:

We’re your family, Kubo. Your

mother’s sisters. And we’ve been

looking for you for so long.

Kubo’s eye widens and he takes another step back.

THE SISTERS (CONT’D)

It is so lovely to meet you, Kubo.

Face to face.

As they say these words, they raise their heads in unison and

look up at Kubo to reveal their faces are covered by the

blank features and fixed smiles of terrifying “NOH” masks.

THE SISTERS (CONT’D)

Come, Kubo. Come to your aunties.

Kubo stands frozen and horrified as they begin gliding like

the mist across the river towards him.

THE SISTERS (CONT’D)

No reason to be afraid, Kubo. We

just need your other eye. Your

grandfather admires it so.

Kubo runs.

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The sisters GIGGLE as they watch him bolt along the path

toward the village, then one of the Sisters leisurely brings

her long pipe up to the mouth hole of her mask and takes a

deep puff.

The smoke she exhales twists and coalesces into horrible

shapes that grow and move of their own accord. They are the

DEMONS OF THE PIPE, and they’re after Kubo.

Kubo tears up the path leading back to the village, SHOUTING

at the top of his lungs.

KUBO:

HELP! HELP! SOMEBODY HELP! HELP!

LOOK OUT! RUN!

(1200 SMD) SMOKE DEMONS

EXT. CENTRAL AVENUE - CONTINUOUS

Kubo staggers through the gate, leaning against it as he

finds his breath. He goes to YELL, but his warnings are

swallowed up by SHRIEKING EXPLOSIONS of fireworks as the

festival ends in noisy celebration.

KUBO:

RUN!

And then it is too late.

As Kubo races through the market, the demonic smoke breaks

off from its pursuit of him, rolling like a bank of fog into

the throng of celebrating villagers.

In a storm of smoke, fire, and terrified SCREAMS, the demons *

tear through the square, destroying everything in their path.

(1300 MSD) MOTHER SAVES THE DAY *

EXT. MOUNTAIN PATH - CONTINUOUS

Kubo runs for his life up the long path towards his cave.

Breath coming in fevered GASPS, he risks a look over his

shoulder.

His village is ablaze, consumed in that terrible smoke,

tendrils of which are slithering up the hill in his

direction.

Kubo stumbles and falls, and before he can scramble back onto *

his feet he is surrounded by the demons.

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Through their writhing, ethereal bodies he catches sight of

his masked aunts, inexorably gliding up the path toward him.

THE SISTERS:

We’re here, Kubo. Your family has

come for you.

Kubo recoils in horror, but has nowhere left to run.

And then a hand appears out of nowhere, pulls Kubo’s shamisen

out of his bag and strikes the strings!

The notes reverberate, rippling out through the demons like a

shock wave.

Kubo turns to see his mother standing over him.

MOTHER:

KUBO!

KUBO:

MOTHER!

MOTHER:

KUBO, YOU MUST FIND THE ARMOR! IT’S

YOUR ONLY CHANCE! REMEMBER THIS!

She gives him the shamisen and smacks the beetle crest on the

back of his robe, causing two flapping beetle wings to emerge

magically from the robe’s folds!

The wings pump furiously, lifting Kubo up into the air!

Kubo clutches at his mother, accidentally tearing out a few

strands of her hair as he rises up into the sky.

The flapping wings take him higher and higher, away from the *

village and towards the ocean. All Kubo can do is watch as

below, the two masked aunts advance on his mother, one

pulling a bladed chain from her robes, the other drawing a

menacing sword.

Mother narrows her eyes and squares off against them, and

there’s a strength and power to her that we’ve never seen

before. She pulls her own sword from her robes and raises it *

defiantly.

And then, as if to conceal the horrors from him, Kubo’s robe

envelopes him, cocooning his body and face. The last thing it

covers is his one eye, taking us to -

BLACK.

(1400 MKY) MEET MONKEY

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EXT. SNOW-COVERED TERRAIN - BLIZZARD

SILENCE, eventually broken by the sound of a rising wind, *

creeping from a WHISPER to a WAIL as we slowly FADE TO:

A MONKEY.

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

isn’t another netsuke charm, but an actual living, breathing *

4-foot tall monkey, and it SHOUTS at him over the wind in a

female voice...

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