TRUTH MARATHON -- OPENING SEQUENCE

This is the new opening to my screenplay-novel, Truth Marathon:

EXT. A STREET IN PRE-WORLD WAR TWO TOKYO. MID-DAY.

TITLE: TOKYO, JANUARY 26, 1941.

The street in front of the Japanese branch of the National City Bank of New York. The street is covered with a thin film of snow. Crowds move back and forth quickly: Japanese men, mostly, dressed in sober dark suits, but also the occasional vendor pulling a large wagon, or, with her head bowed, a woman.

Sometimes the women are young and officious and also dressed in dark, business-like fashions. But once in a while, they are wearing bright kimonos.

The overall visual effect is of a series of monochromes, from the black of window frames and wrought iron fences, to the dark grey of stone walls, to the steadily dirtying white of the snow -- but all this dotted by an infrequent bob of colour.

A car pulls up in front of the bank. A WELL-DRESSED WESTERN MAN emerges from it. He enters the bank.

INTERIOR. THE BANK. A MOMENT LATER.

The WELL-DRESSED WESTERN MAN stands in line. After a moment, he reaches the front.

JAPANESE MALE TELLER: [with an accent] Hello. May I helping you?

WELL-DRESSED WESTERN MAN: [speaking in a well-educated, Ivy League-inflected accent. His manner is friendly; clearly, he is trying to be genial] Konichiwa. Yes, I’d like to convert some yen to U. S. dollars.

JAPANESE MALE TELLER: How much?

WELL-DRESSED WESTERN MAN: [reaching into his jacket and pulling out a big envelope] Well, it’s rather a large amount….

JUMP-CUT. JUST BEHIND THE WELL-DRESSED WESTERN MAN.

ANOTHER WESTERN MAN, also well dressed, taps the first on the shoulder.

OTHER WESTERN MAN: [with a Latin-American accent] Mr. Bishop.

BISHOP (FIRST WELL-DRESSED WESTERN MAN): [startled] Oh, Dr. Schreiber. You surprised me.

DR. SCHRIEBER: [somewhat anxiously] I’m sorry. May I have a word with you?

BISHOP: Shoot.

DR. SCHRIEBER: No. A private word.

BISHOP: [friendly] Sure. Just a moment.

Bishop turns back to the teller, finishes his business, then turns back to Schreiber who is clearly agitated.

SCHREIBER: [whispering] What I have to say is of paramount importance.

BISHOP: Oh. All right, then.

The two walk to an alcove.

INTERIOR. A CLOSE-UP OF THE TWO MEN. THE BUSINESS OF THE BANK CONTINUES IN THE BACKGROUND.

SCHREIBER: What do you know about Japanese foreign policy toward your country?

BISHOP: [in a rather hale tone] Well, it’s complex, isn’t it? [Trying to be witty] That’s what the Japanese do so well. Make things complex.

SCHREIBER: Well, of course. There is complex. But there is also hostile.

BISHOP: Good god, why should the Japanese be hostile?

SCHREIBER: You are interfering with their aims.

BISHOP: What? In China?

SCHREIBER: Well, yes. In China. But also --. [Schreiber turns his head and does a quick nervous scan of the bank. Then he turns back to Bishop] Well, it would seem that since they signed that agreement with Germany and Italy….

BISHOP: [shaking his head] Oh, yes, a foolish business, that. Very bad form.

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