August Falls (2015) - full transcript
A late night phone call wakes Anna Ellison from sleep. It's the news every parent dreads: her 20-year-old son, August, has fallen from a high window. A powerful, haunting mystery, August Falls tells the story of one woman's struggle to find the truth behind her son's disturbing death. Traveling to the city where the tragic event occurred, Anna must unravel the surprising circumstances of her son's life as she pieces together the reason for its brutal end. The police, concluding that his fatality was a suicide, offer little solace. Attempting to make sense of the loss of her only child and grappling with feelings of guilt for their estrangement, she takes up in August's old apartment. There she meets Jonas, the building's superintendent. Though guarded at first, Jonas is able to form a tentative bond with Anna, a shared longing for love and company in a world that feels strangely desolate. Soon Anna comes to believe that August's demise was not the suicide the jaded police maintain. Determined to know the person her son had become and to uncover the reasons for his fall, Anna begins connecting with the people and places that had been important to him. Her investigation brings her and Jonas to the darker corners of a criminal underworld, where her own life is suddenly in jeopardy. Desperate to understand the violence that claimed her son, Anna searches for a villain. Instead she is introduced to the true nature of human cruelty, and forced to confront it on its own shadowy level.
- Four door,
and the license plate,
last seen south bound, Woolley Avenue.
Has been two hours, no
further information.
Where are you staying?
- I just came straight from the airport.
Augy's place, I guess.
- I'm very sorry for your loss, ma'am.
I am.
But his
emotional state isn't something that
No, please, leave the lights off.
So you manage this
whole place by yourself?
- Yeah, keeps me occupied.
It's my old man,
was my old man's building.
Thank you for, for this.
I just can't.
- Don't worry about it, it's okay.
to have him in our lives.
The thing about it is,
that that boy's heart was perfectly clean
and that's what made him
so impossible to hold on to.
That,
that strange purity, that radiance
- August dated him for a couple weeks,
right at the end, it was nothing serious.
Sean, no that was serious.
They were together for over a year
and broke up about a month ago.
Juan was just a rebound.
- Augy never even told me he was gay.
- Did you ever ask him?
I think there's more
to this world than people
will allow themselves to see.
Just try to clear your
mind and picture him.
And then focus on that
image in your heart and
ask questions, listen for the answers.
Sounds simple but,
you gotta be open to it.
It's more than just an act of faith,
It wasn't a suicide, you know.
- What?
- It wasn't a suicide.
he never would give up,
he wasn't a quitter.
And then his friend Eric,
he said something to me
And I don't believe it either.
- I think I might something
a little stronger than tea.
Yes,
I will.
Yes.
Alright, thanks, bye bye.
- And here's my birthday boy.
- And does that look like somebody
who's about to take their own life?
- Sometimes mood is different
after things wind down.
- Someone had to have
gone back to his place
after the party.
- Just to throw him out the window?
They were all happy.
I mean, there was all those
people there, it just,
this doesn't make sense.
- I suppose,
but what can you do?
- Hi, Juan, it's me, Augy's mom.
- Yes, I know.
What do you want?
- Hey!
Who do you think you are?
What do you want from me?
- I'm sorry, I just want to know
where you were the night of the party,
why you weren't there.
- I was at work!
Where were you, ever?
- Hey.
- Hey.
- You must be getting kinda tired of me
just showing up and
barging in like this, huh?
- It's kinda nice to be needed.
You okay?
- A suspect?
Who?
- Well I went to go talk to Juan.
He was acting, very.
- What?
- Well I asked him a question
and the way that he responded was
totally out of proportion,
he just blew up on me.
- Augy are you there?
- Yes?
- This is so sweet.
- I've had it forever.
You want a drink?
- Yeah.
He got that from his dad.
- He told me about him.
- No, he would have,
well, he would have told
you about his step dad,
he'd never knew his biological father.
- What was he like?
- I couldn't really tell you.
- Because, Augy was bright and sweet
but he was also dirty and sad.
You're a,
I've just
seen people I've cared about vanish.
- Augy's friend Sean
is gonna take me out on
his boat this weekend
to deliver them,
the ashes to the bay.
Would you like to come with me?
- I would.
Can you hear me?
Please talk to me.
- Are you alright?
- I'm good.
- Where are you, baby?
- I'm with friends.
- Hey.
- I know you're gonna wanna
try to talk me out of this,
Thanks for checking for me.
I do, the gentleman's name is Juan.
I see.
He was.
Okay.
Yeah, thank you.
Bye bye.
Well, so much for that theory.
To August.
We will all miss him.
- We will.
- I've got a little errand to run.
You okay?
- Yeah.
Actually, I'd really rather
not be alone just now.
- It's still my legal residence.
I got rid of most of my parent's stuff.
I keep meaning to put
it on the market but.
- This is sweet.
There are no other photos here,
is this one of a kind?
Sometimes I wonder what might have
been going through his
mind when he took that.
- Maybe he was just happy.
- That would have been a
little out of character.
- And you are?
- His mother.
I want his boyfriend, Sean.
- Why, what did he do?
- It's about money and
I don't like to discuss my finances
with new acquaintances.
However, when you scattered those ashes,
- Just to help me sleep.
- Yeah, okay.
It really is beautiful here.
The lake I mean.
- This is about
where that picture was taken.
- I hope he was happy when he took it.
That's a rookie dealer.
- I'm sure he is.
A very special someone
with an inch he can't scratch
and a pocket full of cash.
- Someone like Augy?
- No no, Augy never had that,
that look about him, you know.
- I knew a person with a problem.
She came here, I came here with her.
At first I was trying to stop her,
just to find her, to know where she was.
I like to think that love
feels a little better
than what we had.
Anyway, it ended badly as these things do.
She took off.
I found myself coming
to the park without her.
Told myself I was getting over her.
- Do you know what ever
became of her, what happened?
- I got clean,
and when you get clean,
you lose track of a lot of people.
Maybe I'll just leave you
alone with your thoughts.
- Is it?
- Yeah.
before he started crying.
But I still heard him.
- Why would you let him do that?
- Well, you have to understand,
We were very very close.
He was my world.
And I saw so much of
myself in him, that I just,
I worried, you know, how,
how is this kid gonna grow up to be a man?
I can't teach him those things
and Mac did care for me,
I need to ask you something.
I'm parked out back.
you have 24 hours, do you understand?
24 hours and then I escalate.
- Read your statement.
So I guess the first
question's kind of obvious,
why didn't you call us after the break in?
You had two armed men
waiting for you in your room.
- It's not my room.
- Do you?
- She right about me, that detective.
What happened to Eric is my fault.
- That's not true.
Whiskey too, if you need it.
- Jonas?
That was quick!
- Listen, listen to me, time is money.
I need both, I've got neither, okay?
No, she's not hurt.
Don't, don't get macho
with me, old man, okay?
You go to the cops, you screw me over,
she's long gone before
anyone finds her, okay?
So on Friday at noon,
there's gonna be a car
outside your building,
you just put the money in the back seat
in a briefcase, nothing tacky and
and we're done here.
- Don't what?
Let me tell you, it's
not that complicated,
just to tip somebody out a window.
- You bastard son of a bitch!
- You're right on both counts.
- Why?
- He kept nagging me.
He liked the parties
and he liked the boat and
all the other trappings
but he just got these
these spasms of morality.
Probably something he got from you.
- Anna.
Are you okay?
- I think so.
- Oh thank god.
Another couple minutes and
I was gonna swing by the ER.
- Thank you, Jonas.
- Did you pay them?
- Considered going to the police,
after the way they treated you,
- Justice.
- Not if you don't reach.
Listen.
His,
personal affects are ready to be picked up
in the evidence room.
- Time, doesn't run out.
It's an ocean.
Your life is your own little boat.
- Did she do it?
Did Louise push you?
- I hit the ground
to make it from where I was to where I am.
- I've got to look Louise in the face
and tell her that I know what she's done.
- You expect a confession?
- I don't need one.
- Well so what, you'll,
you'll just know,
- When Mac and I first got together,
Augy was just little still.
speak up, boy.
It was just little, you know,
at the time it seemed like
he was just trying to be a dad and
trying to show Augy how to be a man and
a tender boy, a sensitive boy.
I remember looking out the window
and watching him march
Augy around this field
like a soldier for hours.
Buck like a man, straiten your back.
Just yelling at him.
And I didn't stop him.
I didn't do anything.
Had I stopped him,
I know my boy will be alive,
Augy would still be here.
I'm here now.
and the license plate,
last seen south bound, Woolley Avenue.
Has been two hours, no
further information.
Where are you staying?
- I just came straight from the airport.
Augy's place, I guess.
- I'm very sorry for your loss, ma'am.
I am.
But his
emotional state isn't something that
No, please, leave the lights off.
So you manage this
whole place by yourself?
- Yeah, keeps me occupied.
It's my old man,
was my old man's building.
Thank you for, for this.
I just can't.
- Don't worry about it, it's okay.
to have him in our lives.
The thing about it is,
that that boy's heart was perfectly clean
and that's what made him
so impossible to hold on to.
That,
that strange purity, that radiance
- August dated him for a couple weeks,
right at the end, it was nothing serious.
Sean, no that was serious.
They were together for over a year
and broke up about a month ago.
Juan was just a rebound.
- Augy never even told me he was gay.
- Did you ever ask him?
I think there's more
to this world than people
will allow themselves to see.
Just try to clear your
mind and picture him.
And then focus on that
image in your heart and
ask questions, listen for the answers.
Sounds simple but,
you gotta be open to it.
It's more than just an act of faith,
It wasn't a suicide, you know.
- What?
- It wasn't a suicide.
he never would give up,
he wasn't a quitter.
And then his friend Eric,
he said something to me
And I don't believe it either.
- I think I might something
a little stronger than tea.
Yes,
I will.
Yes.
Alright, thanks, bye bye.
- And here's my birthday boy.
- And does that look like somebody
who's about to take their own life?
- Sometimes mood is different
after things wind down.
- Someone had to have
gone back to his place
after the party.
- Just to throw him out the window?
They were all happy.
I mean, there was all those
people there, it just,
this doesn't make sense.
- I suppose,
but what can you do?
- Hi, Juan, it's me, Augy's mom.
- Yes, I know.
What do you want?
- Hey!
Who do you think you are?
What do you want from me?
- I'm sorry, I just want to know
where you were the night of the party,
why you weren't there.
- I was at work!
Where were you, ever?
- Hey.
- Hey.
- You must be getting kinda tired of me
just showing up and
barging in like this, huh?
- It's kinda nice to be needed.
You okay?
- A suspect?
Who?
- Well I went to go talk to Juan.
He was acting, very.
- What?
- Well I asked him a question
and the way that he responded was
totally out of proportion,
he just blew up on me.
- Augy are you there?
- Yes?
- This is so sweet.
- I've had it forever.
You want a drink?
- Yeah.
He got that from his dad.
- He told me about him.
- No, he would have,
well, he would have told
you about his step dad,
he'd never knew his biological father.
- What was he like?
- I couldn't really tell you.
- Because, Augy was bright and sweet
but he was also dirty and sad.
You're a,
I've just
seen people I've cared about vanish.
- Augy's friend Sean
is gonna take me out on
his boat this weekend
to deliver them,
the ashes to the bay.
Would you like to come with me?
- I would.
Can you hear me?
Please talk to me.
- Are you alright?
- I'm good.
- Where are you, baby?
- I'm with friends.
- Hey.
- I know you're gonna wanna
try to talk me out of this,
Thanks for checking for me.
I do, the gentleman's name is Juan.
I see.
He was.
Okay.
Yeah, thank you.
Bye bye.
Well, so much for that theory.
To August.
We will all miss him.
- We will.
- I've got a little errand to run.
You okay?
- Yeah.
Actually, I'd really rather
not be alone just now.
- It's still my legal residence.
I got rid of most of my parent's stuff.
I keep meaning to put
it on the market but.
- This is sweet.
There are no other photos here,
is this one of a kind?
Sometimes I wonder what might have
been going through his
mind when he took that.
- Maybe he was just happy.
- That would have been a
little out of character.
- And you are?
- His mother.
I want his boyfriend, Sean.
- Why, what did he do?
- It's about money and
I don't like to discuss my finances
with new acquaintances.
However, when you scattered those ashes,
- Just to help me sleep.
- Yeah, okay.
It really is beautiful here.
The lake I mean.
- This is about
where that picture was taken.
- I hope he was happy when he took it.
That's a rookie dealer.
- I'm sure he is.
A very special someone
with an inch he can't scratch
and a pocket full of cash.
- Someone like Augy?
- No no, Augy never had that,
that look about him, you know.
- I knew a person with a problem.
She came here, I came here with her.
At first I was trying to stop her,
just to find her, to know where she was.
I like to think that love
feels a little better
than what we had.
Anyway, it ended badly as these things do.
She took off.
I found myself coming
to the park without her.
Told myself I was getting over her.
- Do you know what ever
became of her, what happened?
- I got clean,
and when you get clean,
you lose track of a lot of people.
Maybe I'll just leave you
alone with your thoughts.
- Is it?
- Yeah.
before he started crying.
But I still heard him.
- Why would you let him do that?
- Well, you have to understand,
We were very very close.
He was my world.
And I saw so much of
myself in him, that I just,
I worried, you know, how,
how is this kid gonna grow up to be a man?
I can't teach him those things
and Mac did care for me,
I need to ask you something.
I'm parked out back.
you have 24 hours, do you understand?
24 hours and then I escalate.
- Read your statement.
So I guess the first
question's kind of obvious,
why didn't you call us after the break in?
You had two armed men
waiting for you in your room.
- It's not my room.
- Do you?
- She right about me, that detective.
What happened to Eric is my fault.
- That's not true.
Whiskey too, if you need it.
- Jonas?
That was quick!
- Listen, listen to me, time is money.
I need both, I've got neither, okay?
No, she's not hurt.
Don't, don't get macho
with me, old man, okay?
You go to the cops, you screw me over,
she's long gone before
anyone finds her, okay?
So on Friday at noon,
there's gonna be a car
outside your building,
you just put the money in the back seat
in a briefcase, nothing tacky and
and we're done here.
- Don't what?
Let me tell you, it's
not that complicated,
just to tip somebody out a window.
- You bastard son of a bitch!
- You're right on both counts.
- Why?
- He kept nagging me.
He liked the parties
and he liked the boat and
all the other trappings
but he just got these
these spasms of morality.
Probably something he got from you.
- Anna.
Are you okay?
- I think so.
- Oh thank god.
Another couple minutes and
I was gonna swing by the ER.
- Thank you, Jonas.
- Did you pay them?
- Considered going to the police,
after the way they treated you,
- Justice.
- Not if you don't reach.
Listen.
His,
personal affects are ready to be picked up
in the evidence room.
- Time, doesn't run out.
It's an ocean.
Your life is your own little boat.
- Did she do it?
Did Louise push you?
- I hit the ground
to make it from where I was to where I am.
- I've got to look Louise in the face
and tell her that I know what she's done.
- You expect a confession?
- I don't need one.
- Well so what, you'll,
you'll just know,
- When Mac and I first got together,
Augy was just little still.
speak up, boy.
It was just little, you know,
at the time it seemed like
he was just trying to be a dad and
trying to show Augy how to be a man and
a tender boy, a sensitive boy.
I remember looking out the window
and watching him march
Augy around this field
like a soldier for hours.
Buck like a man, straiten your back.
Just yelling at him.
And I didn't stop him.
I didn't do anything.
Had I stopped him,
I know my boy will be alive,
Augy would still be here.
I'm here now.