Poetic Justice

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

to South Central Los Angeles.

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 in

tha 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 a

tree 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 LATER

JUSTICE (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 them

are 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 here

alone. 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--DAY

Where 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 the

frame, 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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