Anesthesia

Synopsis: Philosophy professor Walter Zarrow is wounded during a mugging. In an effort to escape he rings buzzers indiscriminately, waking Sam, a middle aged father of two having an affair in the city. Sam reluctantly answers Zarrow's pleas, and Zarrow loses consciousness in his arms. Through an exploration of why these men, along with the mugger, and an addict named Joe, come together, we explore New York City. The experience of Zarrow, Sam, Joe and Zarrow's assailant ripple quickly out to include the connected lives of a housewife struggling with alcoholism, a stoner teen desperate to lose his virginity, a brilliant but failed writer fighting addiction, two parents confronting the prospect of terminal illness, and a brilliant grad student who wounds herself to feel alive.
Genre: Crime, Drama, Thriller
Director(s): Tim Blake Nelson
Production: IFC Films
 
IMDB:
6.1
Metacritic:
55
Rotten Tomatoes:
26%
R
Year:
2015
90 min
£22,386
1,330 Views


You're late tonight, sir.

In all the years of coming here

I've never told you my name.

It's Walter.

It'd make me so happy

if you called me that.

Walter.

Ignacio.

Good evening.

The allure of that never

fades I'm happy to report.

Couple of bunches of hydrangeas?

You got it.

Goodnight, Walter.

Goodnight, Ignacio.

You've got to be kidding me.

- Just ignore it.

- That is not in my nature.

- Yes?

- Help me!

- Sam?

- No. It might be a trick.

Who is this? What's happening?

- Help me!

- I'm buzzing you in.

Get down there, I'm gonna call 911.

- Not a chance.

- Then I'm going.

Okay, okay, okay, alright, fine.

What is that?

Oh, hell.

Oh.

Senseless.

Perfectly senseless...

My wife...

- Call 911!

- I already did. Jesus.

It's okay, the ambulance is on its way.

Just hang in there.

- Make sure she gets this.

- Jesus!

Her name is Marcia.

There is another guy out here!

Don't let go.

I'm here.

I was just...

A thinker who predates

Darwin and dares suggest

that an objective

analysis of what it is

to live as a human.

A thinking sentient being

whose sole trajectory is toward the grave.

Particularly once children have been reared

would have us perhaps

choose not to be born at all.

Imagine that.

Better not to live than

to live and suffer.

But Eros seduces us not only into striving

for the falsely ethereal,

but worse, propagating

and thereby subjecting

another generation

to the same suffering we endure.

In short, to love and reproduce

is at some level a sinister enterprise

because we deposit offspring

into such a shitty world.

Anyway you look at it, grim stuff.

So...

...Friday then.

Just 10 years ago I was

certain the answer was no.

The Greeks had it right.

We're just atoms.

But who knows?

In your lifetime, not mine, thank goodness

we'll perhaps become immortal.

You believe in that stuff?

Our thoughts anyway. Measurable in bits.

Everything reducible to 2

symbols or their absence.

I used to believe in nothing.

Now I believe in everything.

My problem is how all of

this degrades our appetite

to keep asking what it could all mean.

- Jill might have cancer.

- Might?

A lesion on one of her ovaries.

Ah.

- Does your mother know?

- We're not telling her yet.

This puts me in a very odd...

Dad, is that really gonna be your response?

Of course not, Adam.

What can we do?

She doesn't want me telling anyone, so...

...this conversation is...

It's nothing personal, she

just doesn't want people.

No need to explain.

I just...

I'm here, Adam.

Always.

Oh!

I told her, but she's like "You

promised me," so I'm hosed.

What... what if I need that?

- What?

- The chair.

Oh, sorry. Um, hold on a second.

Dude, how many tickets do you have?

F*** you. No way.

- Excuse me...

- Hold on.

I said hold on.

Can I just have this chair

until whoever you're waiting for gets here?

I didn't say that I was waiting for anyone.

Okay, I get it.

Um, excuse me, may I

please have this chair?

Why didn't you just ask in the first place?

Dude, just buy the

ticket and I'll deal.

No. I don't wanna pay for 2.

I need this chair and you clearly don't.

Who are you to determine what I need?

Alright, you keep your f***ing chair.

It's the only empty seat in here

but you could stare at it while

you're killing f***ing trees.

- My book is used.

- Yeah?

Well you're a selfish, lonely b*tch.

The thing about Bobby is

he's an auditory learner

more than a visual one.

Come on, Marta.

You're really gonna choose now

to talk about your

precious little Bobby.

There's a line!

Whoa, whoa, whoa!

Did you honk at me, Sarah?

- I did, Marta.

- Un-f***ing believable.

And what if I needed to speak to Joan?

Uh, you could e-mail her.

Maybe I need to speak with her in person

because my son is having trouble.

Hire a tutor like the rest of us.

How do I know what to say to the tutor

if I can't speak to his teacher?

Which brings us back to e-mail.

I learn more in person.

Inflections.

Like I'm learning what a

shrew you are right now.

Shrew?

I wouldn't get the full

effect in written text.

Did you just say shrew?

F*** off, Jane!

Marta...

...why don't you e-mail me?

Imagine that.

You're a c*nt, Sarah.

Honk at me again and I'll deck you.

Just get me to 5 o'clock.

Hi, mommy.

- Hey!

- Here you go, Angie.

Did you do the math yet?

No, I'll just ask Hal.

Because he's a f***ing genius!

Hal, I can't figure out this...

- Jesus!

- Get the f*** out!

- Lock your door!

- I said get out!

This is why we have locks!

- Really?

- Are you seriously still here?

- Help me with this problem, sicko.

- Call one of your...

I did. None of them have done it.

- None of them has done it.

- Eat me.

Incest is taboo. Give me.

Not with your jizz hands.

"Find the ratio of radius

to circumference..."

It should never deviate.

It's Pi r to Pi r squared.

Oh, right.

That's so easy.

Have you and Amy ever...

- I mean, have you guys...

- I wish.

There's always holocaust literature.

F*** you. I wasn't even...

Wailing away reading about the six million?

We will pursue this no further.

What about you?

I would have with Lucas, but he never tried

and I don't wanna come off like a slut.

Idiot.

- Me or Lucas?

- Both.

You think I should have

lost it to that douche bag?

He is a douche bag.

Thanks for telling me.

I hate all the guys who wanna f*** you.

I just said he didn't wanna f*** me.

Rate this script:5.0 / 1 vote

Tim Blake Nelson

Timothy Blake Nelson (born May 11, 1964) is an American actor, writer and director. His most famous roles include Delmar O'Donnell in O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000), Dr. Pendanski in Holes (2003), Daniel "Danny" Dalton Jr. in Syriana (2005), and Dr. Samuel Sterns in The Incredible Hulk (2008). more…

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Submitted on August 05, 2018

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    "Anesthesia" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/anesthesia_2847>.

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