Chinese Box
- R
- Year:
- 1997
- 99 min
- 246 Views
John, it's Mary. Not there, okay.
Don't forget to call the kids.
(machine beeps)
John, it's Jack again. I haven't
been able to get in touch for days.
What's going on? You've missed
If you don't get in touch with
me by the end of today,
we're killing the story.
(typing)
(phone rings)
Yeah?
I know Morgan-Grenville
said they were releasing
the document today.
No. I would have said yesterday
if I'd meant yesterday.
Today.
Your today.
Yeah, put it somewhere
near the end.
Okay.
Bye.
Scores of British lawyers,
administrators and police,
all of them long-time employees
of the Hong Kong government,
boarded the ship, "Oriana,"
their destination: England.
But this was no
ordinary farewell.
Those sailing out
on the Oriana
are part of an exodus
as the colonial era
draws to an end.
There is a revenge
element in it, we think...
revenge in quotation marks...
that people in the past may have been
discriminated against
purely because they were
of a particular race.
Now the reverse
appears to be so.
Anchor:
The days of special privilegesfor British citizens
here are over.
And as the Oriana sailed
into the sunset,
there was a palpable sense
of an era coming to an end.
John!
John, up here. Up here.
Someone you should meet.
This charming lady is
Amanda Everheart.
- Hello, Amanda Everheart.
- It's such a pleasure to meet you.
She wants to know everything
there is to know about Hong Kong,
by reading your book.
I wonder, would you mind
signing a copy for me?
- I'd just love that.
- I thought this was out of print.
- I found it fascinating.
- Listen, hold that will you?
You read it?
Yes, I did. I took a few tips and made a few
investments actually.
I particularly liked the chapter when you
talk about Hong Kong
as an honest whore.
Of course we're all
dying to find out
how she copes
with her new pimp.
Speaking of which,
here's a man who has very
strong views on that subject.
I'll leave you in his capable hands.
Don't let him get too close.
What will you do,
Mr. Spencer
when the sun rises over
Hong Kong on July 1st?
Well, Mr. Aristedes,
I think I should get out of bed,
have a bit of a fart,
a sh*t, a shave, and a shower.
And I'll look for my...
Listen, nothing is going
to be different, is it?
I mean the Chinese have
been here 10, 15 years.
- Nothing's going to change.
- I know that.
I mean this great big
department store
management, that's all.
That's my problem,
I have a problem.
I cannot photograph
social crises
until somebody dies.
They gave me money. I'm not giving
it back. I'd rather give a kidney.
But I have a problem.
What am I going to do?
Where am I going
to get the real stuff?
The real stuff is the deals.
The deals happen
behind closed doors.
What deals?
You've been here what now, 15 years?
Because of deals?
John:
Of course it isn'tjust the deals.
Sometimes you just
fall in love with a place
without really
knowing why,
without really ever
fully understanding it.
The way I fell
in love with Vivian.
How is it I want so badly
the one woman I can't have?
John!
How are you?
Nice to see you.
You are sober,
yeah?
and 20 seconds to go.
So John, why don't you
ask Vivian to dance?
You know I'm never good with this,
uh, this sort of...
- I might do that.
- I'll see you in a minute, right?
So much of Hong Kong
exists below the surface.
They don't know that this is
the woman I love above everything.
If they could see what I see,
hidden in her eyes.
There's an old game we play,
telling ourselves this is enough.
I want to ask
you something.
What?
I want to ask
you something.
All right,
ladies and gentlemen,
are we ready to celebrate
the last few seconds
of historic 1996
in Hong Kong?
Let's hope that the Hong Kong
that we know and love
will still be here,
same time next year!
Here we go,
count with me!
10...
nine...
eight...
seven...
six...
five...
four...
three...
two...
one!
- Happy New Year, John.
- Happy New Year.
Happy New Year.
Happy New Year.
Stay back!
Stay back!
Stay back!
Stay back!
Stay back!
My action
is to stand against
the loss of personal
and cultural freedom
in Hong Kong after 1997.
This is just
a personal decision.
I don't want anybody
to be blamed.
Call the police!
Someone call the police!
Get a doctor!
Call for a doctor!
Oh my God.
Is a doctor here
somewhere?
Somebody call
for a doctor!
Keep them back!
Reporter:
Thousands mournedthe student activist who shot himself at the
stroke of midnight
in front of the
up-market crowd
at the Hong Kong Club's
New Year's Eve Party.
The leader of the front-line
theater group, Eric Lee,
has admitted responsibility for helping
the distraught student
stage the suicide.
The group has described its action as
"The Theater of Assisted Suicide."
Weeks:
The city of hope isbecoming a city of fear.
Why? Because the Chinese
want to change all
the laws relating
to human rights.
They're taking that
refusal to admit mistakes
right there into the history
books in Hong Kong.
- So what are my kids asked...
- But that's face, isn't it?
Well, face maybe but there's
- And they don't admit it.
Translation
Translate and read this script in other languages:
Select another language:
- - Select -
- 简体中文 (Chinese - Simplified)
- 繁體中文 (Chinese - Traditional)
- Español (Spanish)
- Esperanto (Esperanto)
- 日本語 (Japanese)
- Português (Portuguese)
- Deutsch (German)
- العربية (Arabic)
- Français (French)
- Русский (Russian)
- ಕನ್ನಡ (Kannada)
- 한국어 (Korean)
- עברית (Hebrew)
- Gaeilge (Irish)
- Українська (Ukrainian)
- اردو (Urdu)
- Magyar (Hungarian)
- मानक हिन्दी (Hindi)
- Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Italiano (Italian)
- தமிழ் (Tamil)
- Türkçe (Turkish)
- తెలుగు (Telugu)
- ภาษาไทย (Thai)
- Tiếng Việt (Vietnamese)
- Čeština (Czech)
- Polski (Polish)
- Bahasa Indonesia (Indonesian)
- Românește (Romanian)
- Nederlands (Dutch)
- Ελληνικά (Greek)
- Latinum (Latin)
- Svenska (Swedish)
- Dansk (Danish)
- Suomi (Finnish)
- فارسی (Persian)
- ייִדיש (Yiddish)
- հայերեն (Armenian)
- Norsk (Norwegian)
- English (English)
Citation
Use the citation below to add this screenplay to your bibliography:
Style:MLAChicagoAPA
"Chinese Box" Scripts.com. STANDS4 LLC, 2024. Web. 26 Apr. 2024. <https://www.scripts.com/script/chinese_box_5475>.
Discuss this script with the community:
Report Comment
We're doing our best to make sure our content is useful, accurate and safe.
If by any chance you spot an inappropriate comment while navigating through our website please use this form to let us know, and we'll take care of it shortly.
Attachment
You need to be logged in to favorite.
Log In