Oxalis (2018) - full transcript

You know,
bakeries are dangerous places.

Flour is flammable,
you know that, right?

They've got these
particles

that kind of float
all over a room.

I mean, just one of them
catches fire,

the whole place just kind of

goes up like a tinderbox.

I got it.

The boredom is a killer,
you know?

Aren't you bored?

Uh, yeah, at first,



but, uh...

I had enough good times.

So you're content with being
some fucking robot?

'Cause I'm not.

Can't do this much longer.

I guess what you've been doing
up to this point

has been working out
so well, huh?

See, even that.

You sound
like a fucking robot.

99 out of 100 of you guys
will say that same exact shit.

And the other guy would say
"You're sitting here getting fat

while your disease is out back
doing push-ups."

Yo, it's not funny.

Okay.



I gotta go.
You cover this?

- I got you next time?
- Yeah, sure.

Hey, you call me
if you need me.

Yeah.

Hi, everybody.
My name is Isabel.

I'm a recovering alcoholic.

Hi, Isabel.

And I've been in and out
of these rooms for years.

Until I finally had the guts
to tell my sponsor

what made me wanna get sober
in the first place.

I killed someone.

I was driving home
and I hit a guy.

And I was so loaded
I didn't even slow down.

I drove home waiting for the
police to show up at the door

and they never did.

My sponsor told me
what I had to do.

I had to turn myself in

and make amends to his family.

And she told me this,

"His family may never
forgive you,

and you will go to prison,

but you'll have some of us
out here

and you'll have some of us
in there.

'Cause out here with all
the lies and the guilt,

you'll be less free
than you'll be in there."

We're years out,

but my guys think they have
isolated a cluster of cells

that can be built
into a filter.

Salt water goes in and
fresh water comes out.

What about the resulting
overpopulation?

Problems ascribed to
overpopulation are...

political contrivances.

Misbehavior of power.

You know that.

You know, John, for one
of the richest guys I know,

you sound an awful lot
like a communist.

According to the internet,

you're one of the richest guys
anybody knows,

but every time we talk
about overpopulation,

you sound like an asshole.

Remind me again,
what's the internet?

Oh, come on, Max, don't pretend
like you're an old fart, all right?

I know you better than this.

Nick, do me a favor.

In the future, in say
ten years from now,

you ever catch me bragging

that I had dinner
with John Ives, shoot me.

You know, Max,

I'll do you a favor

and I'll shoot you myself.

Well, you impressed me
at least.

Well, that's because
you are a communist.

Oh, very funny.

Max may look
like a "Bond" villain,

but he's got a good heart
and I think you made your point.

You ready to go home, Red?

Let's get outta here.

Now?

Yeah, Maria's gotta go
to sleep.

Maria, put Ethan
to bed long ago.

And right now she's falling
asleep in front of the TV.

You're gonna dance with me.

I'm gonna...

- I'm gonna dance with you?
- Mm-hmm.

Selene.

There's a Mrs. Ives
to see you.

Mrs. Ives.

She's in conference
room three.

- Tell her I'll be there in ten minutes.
- Okay.

You know, I...

I read about your son,

and I'm sorry for your loss.

Thank you.

It's been hard on John.

How have you been?

I miss him so much.

I'd give...

I'd give anything
to have him back.

But I know that's crazy,
isn't it?

No.

I don't think that's crazy.

I know why you're here.

It is possible.

The answer is yes.

They cloned a sheep.

You're talking
about a human being.

All he needs is Ethan's DNA.

We can finally
move on, John.

This isn't moving on.

He can bring Ethan back.

The technology is there,
John.

He can clone him.

No.

I can't.

You don't have to.

- I'm sorry.
- I can't.

I can't.

Sit down.

Look at me.

Come to my room.

I'll let you touch.

Fuck!

You fuck!

Get the fuck...

What happens when Nick starts
to look like Ethan?

What are we going
to tell people?

The same parents,
kids are gonna look alike.

Nick uses his right hand.

So what?

Ethan used his left.

Hon...

he's a baby.

How can you tell?

Because I'm with him
all day.

I know.

Maybe you should talk
to someone.

No, I... I can't talk
to anybody about this.

I don't mean about this.

I mean...
about how you're feeling.

Don't diminish
what I'm feeling, John.

I'm not, okay?

I'm sorry.

Hey.

I just hate seeing you
like this.

I was lost, Selene.

And you pulled me back.

You saved my life.

There's nothing in the world
I wouldn't do for you.

Or Nick.

I love you.

I love Nick.

I was in the supermarket the other day

and there was this piece
of fruit

that had fallen off the stand

and it was just there
on the floor all by itself

and I started to cry.

I don't know, there was just
something about it

that was incredibly sad.

What do you think it was
that made you cry?

I don't know.

I mean, I guess I do know.

But I can't talk about it.

Okay.

How are things with John?

Things with John are good.

I got home from the market

and John was there
and he was great.

I promise
I will man the fort 24-7.

He really works hard
to make me feel better.

He's happy.

He seems happy.

He acts happy.

The other day I looked through a box of Ethan's stuff.

I found his baby teeth
and I took them to the park.

I don't even know why.

I guess I just wanted him
close to me.

Hey, girl.

How've you been?

Let me ask you something.

Do you think Nick
looks like Ethan?

Well, um... no.

I don't.

You know when you walk
into a spider web

and you freak out and you're
pulling it off of you,

but it's so thin and silky?

And you can't feel it anymore,

but you know it's all over
your body.

I feel like that.

But there's no web.

No spider.

It's Nick.

John!

What are you doing?

Oh, God.

John, his diaper
is soaking wet.

I need to know
what he's doing.

I need to know what he's doing
when I'm not there.

Who are you talking about,
John or Nick?

Everything is like something.

I said it's like a spider web.

But it's not.

It's...

Your body has changed since carrying Ethan.

Environmental conditions
play a major factor

- in the development of the baby.
- Oh, God, bullshit!

I just want to know
if they're the same person.

They are.

How do you know?

Because Shepard tested
the blood, the hair...

I don't believe him, John.

He's got his fingerprints.

You have Ethan's
fingerprints?

I wanna see.

I gave Shepard everything
from the crime scene.

I don't have them,
he has them.

You know something's wrong.

You act happy and pretend
that everything is normal,

but I've seen the way
you look at Nick.

You spend every day and night
in your office

because you don't wanna admit

what's really going on
in our lives.

You know.

I know you know.

What do I know?

That Nick is not our son.

Then who is he?

Oh.

After we made our agreement,

John gave me the sample.

But very quickly
I knew it wasn't your son.

But he gave me a choice:

you can work with this sample,

you can clone this sample,

or you can walk away.

He assured me that he would
produce the true donor

of the sample at a later date,

and he said that he would
explain everything to you

and that you would
be okay with it.

He promised me that.

I had to believe him.

I needed to believe him.

This work...

I felt it had to be done.

We were never gonna get Ethan.

At the very least,
we could get the killer.

What is...
What is this?

This is Nick.

And this is a man
that John fired.

This is John's uncle.

He was caught embezzling,
stealing from the company.

He's comparing
facial features

between Nick and all
of these people.

John didn't lie to you

when he said the sample came
from the crime scene.

But it wasn't Ethan's DNA.

It's the killer's DNA.

My son, the boy you put
in my body,

will reveal who killed Ethan.

The face of my baby
is the face

of the man
who killed Ethan.

You pushed me into it.

My father's picture was in your files.

Do you think
my father did this?

Am I married to a man

who thinks that my father
could murder his own grandson?

Are you so weak

that you have to believe
there was a reason?

There's never any reason, John.

Ethan's death was
not something

that was natural
or unnatural.

It was just something
that happened.

But Nick...

what is he?

What you did was unnatural,
John.

And he...

he is not natural.

Mr. and Mrs. Ives.

My name is Dean Ruster.

I'm the man
who murdered your son.

Nothing I can ever do
can set things right.

I'm writing this letter
in an attempt

to make amends to both of you

and to allow you some peace.

What I want you to know is
that I've made the decision

to turn myself into the police
and accept the punishment.

Part of the process of making
amends is to ask for forgiveness

but what I've done is
beyond forgiveness.

I could try and explain
who I was

and where I was in my life
back then,

but I know that there could
never ever be any excuse

for what I've done.

I know I'll never get a chance
to speak to you in person,

so this is my only chance
to speak to you directly.

I hope that knowing the truth about what happened to your son

and knowing that the man
who did it will be punished

will bring some kind of peace.

God bless.

Nick!

Nick, now!

God grant me the serenity

to accept the things
I cannot change.

Courage to change
the things I can

and wisdom to know
the difference.

Keep coming back,
it works if you work it.

This is West 8th Street,
New York Aquarium.

Transfer is available
to the Q train.

You expecting a phone call
or something?

Put the fucking phone away.

You're... you're a cop.

No.

A lawyer?

Oh, God, no.

No, I'm a friend of Mrs. Ives.

Dean.

I know who you are.

And I... I know
what you've done.

The Ives have a son.

Nick. He's gonna
be 12 years old.

And as crazy
as it sounds...

How old are you, Dean?

35.

Have you ever had any
major illnesses?

No.

Surgeries?

No.

Have you broken
any bones?

Yes. Many.

Siblings?

Dean?

Are you okay?

Have some juice.

Are you good?

Yeah, I'm fine.

Are you troubled
by feelings of guilt?

No.

Have you ever experienced
a deep emotional connection

with another person?

No.

Yes.

Uh, not in the way
you're asking.

The boy... is... is there
something wrong with the boy?

The boy's fine.

So, these... these questions...

Is this, um... Is this a nature
nurture thing?

It's not...
It's not one thing.

May I go on?

Yeah.

Do you feel the world
exists solely for you?

Hmm.

I remember...

going to bed at night

and I knew that the world
collapsed when I was asleep.

And then when I woke up,

it had reassembled itself.

What's going on here?

What do you mean?

This isn't...

This is not what I expected.

I was...

I thought I'd be crucified,

but instead I'm getting a
blood test, orange juice.

There's a part of me
that welcomes it.

The survival part,

but the...
the moral part...

I want to see him.

You seem like
a reasonable guy, Dean,

but you're gonna have to wait.

Yeah.

Nick.

Nick.

Mom?

Hey.

Mom, what are you doing?

You're freaking me out, mom.

I'm gonna go to bed now.

This is Dean.

Leave a message.

This is Selene Ives.

I'd like to come
and talk to you.

Give me a call back
with your address.

None for you?

Oh, not now.

This is very good.

I've been trying
to locate the...

the nanny's family.

I... I want to speak
with them.

But...
well, I can't find anything.

She didn't have any family.

No kids.

Her parents were both dead.

She divorced her husband
and moved from Guatemala.

She had no one.

What was her name?

Maria.

We buried her.

I contacted some of her friends
from Guatemala,

but no one came.

It was just us.

What?

Ah! Ow.

John wanted to hate Nick.

But he was so helpless
and so small,

so we raised Nick
as our own.

What's he like?

Nick?

Nick doesn't have that scar.

What's it from?

Blood brothers.

Are you still in touch
with your blood brother?

No.

There was more blood
there than brother.

Five years ago,
I first decided to contact you,

and by the grace of God...

and whatever moral sense
I still had,

I knew I had to confess.

To give you closure.

When I finally
found you and John...

I couldn't.

I was a coward.

I felt so alone
back then.

I was a different person.

No.
It was me.

I did these things.

To you.
To your husband.

To your nanny.

To your son.

Tell me.

I need to know.

That day...

I'd fallen asleep
on a train.

And I woke
in Coney Island.

It was so hot,
I swam in the ocean.

Dried out in the sun.

Then I was back
on the train.

And then
I was somewhere else.

The streets were tree-lined,
big houses.

She woke up
and saw me standing there.

She asked what I wanted.

And... and I hit her.

I don't know
what I wanted.

I wasn't there
'cause I wanted anything.

But once I started,
I couldn't stop.

And then I saw him.

He just stood there.

He closed the door behind him,
but it wasn't locked.

Sorry.

Tell me.

I need to hear it.

He was crying, but calm.

It was as if he had accepted
what was happening.

So I walked him
down the hall

and he tried to bite me.

He didn't hurt me.

I threw him down
and he hit his head

on the corner
of the television stand.

He tried to crawl away,
but his...

he couldn't get his arms and legs
to work the way that he wanted.

And then he stopped moving.

And then
he stopped breathing.

I looked around the house. I was there,
so I figured I should steal something.

But...

there was nothing for me.

I couldn't remember everything
that had happened, but...

I felt it.

I'm turning myself in.

I shoulda done it long ago.

Hey, it's getting late.

I haven't heard from you
all night.

Give me a ring, okay?

All right,
it's bedtime, bud.

Nick.

Yeah?

How long's it take
before you finish that thing?

However long it takes.

All right, get to bed.

One second.

Nick, now. Go.

- Hey.
- Hey.

How's Jeannie?

She's fine.
She's good.

It's late. I left you
a couple messages.

I left my phone
in the car.

I'm gonna
take a shower.

Hey.

Come here.

John, I'm so tired.

Come here.

I miss you.

I love you.

I love you.

I'm gonna go take a shower.

...what might happen in our lives,

we'll be able to move closer
to the idea

we've been trying to prove.

...conscious contact with God,

with His grace,
wisdom, and love.

And always remember that
meditation is in reality...

Father,
it's been a long time,

and I miss you.

I wonder how you are,
where you are,

if I'll ever see you again.

I bought land
in the mountains.

Acres and acres
of empty canvas.

But I've been staring so long
into the forest...

I feel like the forest has
started to stare back into me.

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey!

Hey.

Hey, asshole!

Hey!

Hey.

Holy shit, man.

Hey.

Did you think that I was
just gonna give up?

What the hell's
going on here?

There's a hole
in my floor.

Einhorn won't fix it.

Why are you telling me?

Well, you own the land.

And my house.

Talk to Einhorn.

You're deaf.

Pleasure.

You put these up?

Yes.

Why?

Boredom.

I guess I wanted to make it more difficult
to walk around a familiar space.

Where's the hole?

These columns go all the way
through the floor to the ground?

You tried to put
a column there.

That's why Einhorn
wouldn't fix it.

I'll see what I can do.

Thanks for stopping by.

Father, you live inside me.

The past lives inside me.

My body existed
before I was born.

It walked through a timeline
I wasn't part of.

The past is imprinted
in my DNA.

This body killed
a woman and a child.

I was raised by a man
who murdered his wife

and then killed himself.

I'm an abomination.

A riverfront property runs along
the front of all these cabins.

It's just
a little clearing.

Now, all of 'em.
And this, this is a road.

This is the end
of the property up here.

And there's a real nice
building site way up here.

- Mm.
- And it overlooks the whole valley.

- And then there's...
- Hey, boys.

Wow.

You build this place
yourself?

With the trees
that were standing here.

I'll take a look.

Do you want to look at a
bigger chunk of property here?

Yeah.

Through here.

And then there's another chunk
up here on this map here.

But you could be
something else.

Like, it's some gorgeous
pieces of property here.

Jesus Murphy.
You have a lot of books.

Mm.

Why don't you
give me one?

Uh...

What's this?

When Benjamin was writing,
about 100 years ago,

there was a massive jump
in the speed and accuracy

of mass reproduction.

He believed this
changed the context

in which all art
could be understood.

How?

The authenticity
of a work of reproduction.

If the copy is the same
as the original,

it's just as authentic.

But an exact copy is different
in one very important respect.

Time.

One was created
after the other.

So what?

If anything, that makes
the copy more interesting.

How do you figure?

Well, it has all the same qualities
as the original, but it's...

something different.

But you just said
they're indistinguishable.

- Yes, but...
- So, why do you now say...

Wait, wait. Wait.

If an object could possess
some sort of historical quality,

does the bullet that
killed Abraham Lincoln

have some sort
of mystical quality?

Something that the thousands
of other identical bullets

that weren't used
don't have?

Isn't intentionality
more important than appearance?

No, the people interpret it
the way they choose.

A guy living in a cave.

He sees "The Last Supper"
for the first time.

Now, he might just see a bunch of
people sitting at a dinner table.

But the ideas and the symbols
are still there.

No, they're
shape and color.

But it's the people
that give the thing meaning.

What?

It's just funny
coming from a guy

that's been living out here
for, like, a thousand years.

Let me as you something.

If you could make an exact
reproduction of yourself,

would you?

Sure.

What would you do with it?

I'd fuck it.

No, wait.

I'd fuck it,
I'd cook it,

I'd kill it,
and eat it.

Are you lonely?

- Hmm?
- Are you lonely?

You get used to it.

I gotta go.

No.

What?

Yeah, go ahead.

I'll come by
your place tomorrow.

Father,
I remember the day at the carousel.

John brought me there
because when I was younger,

that was our favorite place.

I remember stirrings of nostalgia
so bad my stomach ached.

I remember in that moment,
wanting to go back

to when I was even younger,

back to waking up
in the back seat of the car

when John would
carry me into the house.

I try to hold onto memories,
but they fade.

- Hmm.
- Ahem.

I'd forgotten
what it feels like

to know another person
is in the next room.

No music.

Nick?

I know you.
I remember you.

Well, I guess you would.

Of course, I've only met
you before as a child.

Here, that is.

Where you're from, I...

- Where I'm from?
- Yeah.

Where you're from.

What year is it?

- What?
- Humor me.

Uh, it's 2033.

2033.

Maybe.

Maybe not.

What if it's 300 years
past that?

What if you're not
number two, Nick?

But version 10
or version 20?

Your friend,

he looks familiar,
doesn't he?

You think
he's an original?

Original what?

If you're number 20, eh,

what if he's number 18?

And you two have been
doing this same dance,

with minor variations,
for a very long time?

I took Nick out of school early today.

Wanted to take him
somewhere special.

When I asked him, he told me he wanted
to go to the carousel in Brooklyn.

Remember when we
used to take him there?

Those are memories
I'll cherish forever.

I wonder if the carousel
is also Dean's favorite place.

I wonder how deep the
similarities run between them.

I guess you know
the answer to that.

- Is he here?
- No.

I love you very much.

And I love Nick very much.

John? John!

Nick.

I love you, all right?

- Wanna go out there?
- Sure.

- Coming?
- Yeah.

Yeah, I'll swim
out there in a bit.

Father, why did you take
me in and raise me as your own?

Was it penance?

What did it feel
like to raise...

yourself?

How did the letter you wrote to
John and Selene end up at my door?

Who put it there?

Did he?

Is he a copy of John?

I don't understand.

Do you think you were crazy
when you killed his boy?

Was it you who killed him,
or was it a copy?

Am I a copy of you or
a copy of a copy of a copy?

Maybe I killed the boy.

I feel like I'm going crazy.

I need to know.

I need to find proof
of... of what?

Did you put the...

did you put that letter
under my door?

Did you put that letter
under my door?

Did you... no, no!

No! No! No!

I'm sorry.
I'm... I'm sorry, no!

Oh, no, don't do it!

I'm sorry,
don't make me leave.

Don't... no! No!

Don't make me...
don't... no.

I'm sorry. I'm sorry.

- Get out of my house.
- Please.

- Get out of my house.
- Please. I'm sorry.

I'm so lonely.
I'm so lonely.

I can't see you.

I can't see you.

Get out.

Okay.

I'm sorry.
I'm sorry.

Father.

You once told me that everything
is already in the past.

And you loved a line
from that old movie.

"The present is real,
but you're not in it now.

You're not in it now.
You're not in it now.

By the time the light
bounces off something

and into your eyes
it's already in the past."

Everything we see
is past.

Everything
has already past.

But you're not
in it now.

You're not in it now.

You're not
in it now.

You're not in it now.