Tape Page #3

Synopsis: Based on a three-character, one-act play, Tape is set entirely in Room 19 of a seedy motel in Lansing, Michigan rented by Vince, an ill-tempered, outgoing party animal/drug dealer who's visited by his old high school friend Jon, a documentary filmmaker, where they pass the time reminiscing about the good old times which take a turn when Vince records their conversation with Jon admitting to a possible date-rape of Vince's old girlfriend Amy, who later shows up and opens up a new wave of talk and arguments about whose story is fact or fabricated.
Genre: Drama
Director(s): Richard Linklater
Production: Lions Gate Releasing
  1 win & 1 nomination.
 
IMDB:
7.3
Metacritic:
71
Rotten Tomatoes:
78%
R
Year:
2001
86 min
Website
2,027 Views


And you and I don't see

each other often enough

to make worthwhile

this little competition

for who's more

"authentic," okay?

It's not about that

anymore, we're just...

We should accept the fact that

we're different from each other,

and let the friendship

go from there.

Accept the fact we're

different from each other?

- Yeah.

- Would you like to make me?

- Make you what?

- Accept that fact.

No.

- Why not?

- Because it's stupid.

- No, it's not.

- Yes, it is.

No, it's not.

How else will I know

you're different?

- You'll just have to trust me.

- No.

Prove it.

Or else what?

Or else, I'll kick your ass.

Well, I guess this means

you are potentially violent.

Only when it comes to you, John.

You know, it's funny

how you get this way

- whenever we talk about Amy Randall.

- No, I don't.

I don't even think

you realize it.

- F*** off, John.

- Okay, you know what?

- I'm out of here.

- F*** off.

- Thanks for coming.

- F*** off!

Vince!

- F*** you, John.

- Look...

I'm sorry you still feel bad

about Amy Randall,

and every time you get stoned

and drunk around me,

- this comes up.

- F*** you.

It was over 10 years ago.

I've explained this to you

a million times...

That I thought it was okay

for me to be with her

because you had broken up,

and that I now have a...

better understanding as to

the fragility of human emotions.

And thus,

if the situation arose again,

I would not let

what happened happen.

But these things do happen,

especially in high school.

And I'm sorry that

I hurt your feelings.

That's not what

I'm talking about.

What are you talking about?

What happened.

- So am I.

- So...

what happened?

We slept together.

How?

- What do you mean, how?

- How did you sleep together?

Okay,

so now this is

about that? Is it?

I don't know.

You tell me.

We slept together.

Yeah, how?

Vince...

- you know how.

- No, I don't.

I mean, I have an idea...

but I don't actually know,

because...

we've never talked about it.

We laughed about it.

We thought it was kind of funny,

but you never exactly

told me what happened.

Okay...

- So what do you want to know?

- I want to know what happened.

We slept together.

How?

What do you mean, how?

How?

You're gonna have

to be more specific.

In what fashion...

- did you sleep with her?

- Jesus...

We had sex.

- And...

- And that was it.

Was it good sex?

I've had better since.

Was it fun?

It was all right.

Was it on the rough side?

It's hard to say...

We were both drunk.

Did you rape her?

Did I rape her?

No.

Kind of?

No.

Was it kind of like a date rape?

Was it kind of like a date rape?

Yeah. Did you kind of force her

to have sex with you?

No, man.

John?

I'm not sure

what you want me to say.

I want you to tell me

what happened, all right?

You're a filmmaker, okay?

Lay out the scene for me.

Show me the dailies.

You know what? Can we talk

about this when you're not high?

Maybe the only reason I'm high

is so that you would get high,

and for once tell me the truth,

instead of changing the subject.

Okay.

It was a little rough,

which is something

that doesn't make me proud.

- Okay?

- Did you talk to her after that?

- No.

- No? Why not?

I wouldn't know

what to tell her.

I'm a completely

different person.

- Well, maybe she is too.

- Maybe.

- Maybe she's fat.

- That's really not funny.

I didn't say it was.

- Does anybody know what happened?

- I didn't tell anyone.

Why not?

Maybe you should.

Wait...

Look, I don't actually

consider it a crime.

It was not a good thing.

It was morally

somewhat questionable...

and yeah, yeah,

I wish it hadn't happened.

But it's nothing where I need

to turn myself in to the police

- 10 years later.

- Nobody's talking about the police.

- What are you talking about?

- I don't know...

Her.

I think she already knows.

Maybe you should apologize.

Jesus!

You think I should

apologize to her?

Yeah, why not?

Look, it wasn't even date rape.

It was something that got

a little out of hand.

I thought you weren't sure

what date rape was.

- I'm sorry, okay?

- Don't apologize to me.

I'm not.

I'm... what

I'm trying to say...

is that 10 years ago,

I did something...

wrong.

And that when I think about it now,

the person who did that

seems like

a complete stranger to me.

This dumb,

drunk high school senior

who thought she was being prudish...

and needed some coercion.

It was bad. I regret it.

But it was a far cry from rape. And

I don't think she'd call it that either.

What do you think she'd call it?

- I have no idea.

- What if she called it rape?

Listen to me.

I highly, highly doubt

that she even remembers it.

You remember it.

Yeah, I remember it because

it was a pivotal thing for me.

- Your first rape?

- Don't be an a**hole.

Look, just tell me

why it was pivotal for you.

I don't know. It was one

of the first times in my life

that I looked

at myself objectively

and made a conscious decision

to try to avoid becoming

a certain type of person.

For her it may have been nothing

important one way or the other.

For me, it constituted

something more significant.

Or so you'd like to think.

Why are you suddenly

so high and mighty?

I'm not high and mighty.

I'm too high

to be high and mighty.

Besides, I'm just a lowly,

drug-dealing,

boxer-wearing scum

of the earth, right?

- You said it.

- No, actually you did.

- I didn't mean it like that.

- How did you mean it?

That you should change

your life a little.

- This coming from a rapist.

- You're an idiot.

I'm sorry. This coming

from a low-budget film maker

who makes movies about,

"Where society is possibly headed

if he could just forget about

the date rape he didn't kind of do."

You're seriously disturbed.

No, actually,

I am high and mighty.

I was wrong before.

Look, what do you

want me to say?

- I'm sorry.

- Stop apologizing to me.

I'm not!

I'm apologizing in general.

It's something

I wish hadn't happened.

I don't think

I'm an evil person.

No one's saying you're evil.

It sure as hell feels like it.

Do you think you're evil?

No.

So then, you're not evil.

I'm the evil one.

You're the morally conscious

movie-maker.

Whatever.

Whatever.

- All right, can we stop now?

- Totally.

Thank you.

Jesus.

I just think

you should call her.

- I am not going to call her.

- Why not? You should.

Just stop, okay?

To call her now would be

to trivialize the entire thing.

I mean, what do I say?

"Hey, how's it going?

How's your life?

By the way,

sorry about

the date rape 10 years ago."

So you did date rape her?

No, I didn't.

What did you do?

I coerced her

to have sex with me.

How?

Verbally.

You verbally coerced her?

Yeah, by applying

excessive linguistic pressure,

I persuaded her

to have sex with me.

And then, things got rough?

No, things got rough

in that, after a while,

they became

aggressively playful.

They did?

We did.

Meaning what?

Meaning that I probably thought

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Stephen Belber

Stephen Belber (born March 3, 1967) is an American playwright, screenwriter and film director. His plays have been produced on Broadway and in over 50 countries. He directed the film adaptation of his Broadway play, Match, starring Patrick Stewart, (playing the Tony nominated role created by Frank Langella). He also wrote and directed the film Management, starring Jennifer Aniston, Steve Zahn and Woody Harrelson. Belber was an actor and associate write on The Laramie Project, (which later became an HBO film, for which he received an Emmy nomination), as well as a co-writer of The Laramie Project, Ten Years Later. more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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