Poetic Justice
- R
- Year:
- 1993
- 109 min
- 1,115 Views
FADE IN:
1 INT FANCY NEW YORK APARTMENT--DINING ROOM--NIGHT Where we see a romantic scene
played out between a man and
a woman. Both are white. The couple have just finished a candlelit dinner.
BRAD:
You like your wine? Want s'more?She nods her approval.
PENELOPE:
Mmmmm you're good. Candles, dinner, wine. What's next?He grins.
BRAD:
Let me set the mood.He goes over to the stereo to turn it on. The Isley Brothers' "Between the
Sheets" emanates from the speakers. Brad crosses to the
couch and into a position in which to kiss Penelope. He does, and the sound of
"Between the Sheets" is invaded by the remix of A
Tribe Called Quest's "Bonita Applebum."
2 EXT. COMPTON DRIVE-IN THEATER DUSK:SFX
Two lines of cars wait to enter the drive-in. The heavy bass sounds of hip-hop
music mingle in the air with that of the many window
speakers that plag the movie. In the background we can see the couple in the
previous scene kissing on a large movie screen. An
LAPD helicopter flies overhead, transcending us into the next shot. Welcome back
INT. COMPTON DRIVE-IN THEATER-DUSK SFX
Overhead we see a shaft of Light coming from the drive-in's projector. As we
move past a few cars, their inhabitants are all in various
threes of sexual foreplay. Some are kissing; others are actually making love.
All the windows are steamed up. We hear the voices of
the females as the men grunt, groan, moan, and beg over their bodies. Love is in
the air.
CAR #1:
Don't bite me so hard! You gotta be more gentle.CAR #2 (softly):
Use your tongue. Just use your tongue.CAR #3 (with heated passion): Ohhhh! Oh, yes, ohhh! Oww! I'm sticking to the
seat.
We come to last car, whose windows are crystal clear. Things are just beginning
to heat up between the couple inside the car. The
woman is an "around the way" honey with soft brown skin, full brown eyes, and
nice delicious full lips. This is Justice, who at
seventeen is still looking for her place in the world. The lucky man kissing her
is her boyfriend, Markell, a small-time drug dealer and
former gangsta. Justice reluctantly accepts his advances, but she ain't having
it. There is a window speaker, from which the sound of
the movie Alters into the car.
MARKELL:
C'mon, let's get in the back seat.JUSTICE:
No, Markell, why can't we just watch the movie?MARKELL:
'Cause it's boring.He goes to kiss her again. This time, it's a nice, long, juicy powerhouse kiss
that causes the Richter scale to jump two points. Justice
appears obviously affected. She asks the inevitable question.
JUSTICE:
Markell, do you love me?MARKELL:
Of course I love you.JUSTICE:
Why? Tell me why you love me.MARKELL (looks around): Now?
JUSTICE:
Yeah, right now.There is a pause. He thinks.
MARKELL:
Okay, I love you because you too fine.JUSTICE:
Is that it?MARKELL:
Yeah.Justice looks dissatisfied.
MARKELL:
Can I have some sugar? Some butter? Some sweets?JUSTICE:
No, not yet. Get me some popcorn.Markell 's face drops.
JUSTICE:
Pleazzze?!Markell relents and gets out of the car. He takes two steps, turns on a heel,
and leans into the car again.
MARKELL:
Hey, Justice! I was just thinking. I also love you 'cause when I was intha county jail, you wrote me a lotta sweet poems.
Justice grins. Markell smiles and blows her a kiss good-bye.
4 LNT.COMPTONDRIVE-IN CONCESSION STAND--NIGHT
There are only a few customers in line; all are Black or Hispanic. Markell gets
in line, and time slows down. We notice the abruptness
of the popcorn popping like gunshots, the sound and motion of the gurgling
Orange Bang machine, and two thugs who stand in the
corner talking to each other. Markell seems noticeably nervous at their
presence.
THE COUNTER Where Markell finally arrives at the front of the line.
THE CORNER Where one of the two thugs looks across the room at Markell. For a
moment it looks as though he recognizes Markell.
He turns back to continue to talk with his friend. A fight breaks out in another
corner, and everyone's attention is drawn in that
direction.
BACK TO COUNTER Markell completes his transaction amidst the mayhem and walks
away popcorn in hand. In the corner, the thug
looks back toward the counter. On his face we see he now recalls where he has
seen Markell before.
5 INT/EXT COMPTON DRIVE-IN---THE CAR--NIGHT Markell comes back to the car,
glancing behind his back every so often.
MARKELL (looking over his left shoulder): I think I saw these fools that Pete
and I got beef with.
Markell turns to notice that Justice is not in the passenger seat. Justice leans
up from the back seat to kiss his cheek and tenderly run
her fingers around Markell's neck and shoulder. We notice her long fingernails.
Markell laughs and places the popcorn on the
dashboard. Our attention is drawn to the passenger window, where the drive-in
speaker hangs. Romantic movie music flows into the
car. On the driver's side the window is open. Suddenly, a pistol is placed next
to Markell's head. Time slows down. The gun is fired.
Justice screams. The popcorn scatters, and the passenger window breaks from the
traveling bullet. Time resumes. Justice's screams
turn to a whimper. There is blood on her hands. The drive-in speaker has now
fallen on the passenger seat. We hear the romantic
movie playing in the background.
OVERHEAD As we PULL UP and away from the car. There are people running and
screaming in every direction, and cars are leaving.
These sounds overlap into TITLE CARD: POETIC JUSTICE: The sun rises behind the
logo.
DISSOLVE TO:
6 INT INGLEWOOD CEMETERY-DAY Where we come out of the leaves of atree to see a garden of stones,
concrete symbols of souls long past. There is one lone figure standing before a
grave. We recognize this person as Justice. We also
hear Justice speak in voice over. Over the following images she recites the
first of many poems that move this story forward. BURN
17V:
Two YEARS LATERJUSTICE (V:
O.): "Alone. Lying, thinking. Last night. How to find my soul a home.Where water is not thirsty. And bread loaf is not
stone. I came up with one thing. And I don't believe I'm wrong. That nobody. But
nobody can make it out here alone."
DISSOLVE TO:
7 INT PACIFICBEAUTY COLLEGE-DAY We move past many women. Ah of themare dressed in white smocks and
are standing over the heads of other women who are seated in reclining beauty
chairs. We hear the instructor giving a lesson in hair
coloring. We end on Justice listening attentively and primping the hair of the
woman in her chair.
JUSTICE (V.O.):
"Alone, all alone. Nobody, but nobody. Can make it out herealone. There are some millionaires with money they
can't use. Their wives run round like banshees. Their children sing the blues."
DISSOLVE TO:
8 EXT. PARKING LOT--DAYWhere Justice puts some model heads into the trunk of her car.
9 EXI:
CRENSHAW BOULEVARIF-DAY We see a CRENSHAW Sign up close go past theframe, left to right. MONTAGE OF
IMAGES We see various images of life in the Crenshaw district of South Central
Los Angeles. Some are static; others are hand-held
traveling shots, docu style.
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"Poetic Justice" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 12 Nov. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/poetic_justice_729>.
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