THE NIHILISTS
c 1974 Tristan Winter
Morning. Crimson boilings. Black tunnel out, passing amorphous earbones. Ear. Author grinding a fork through a mannequin’s legs. Teee and Prints come dancing in and knock him over, grab his two legs and he is again standing as he was (flippancy). Author starts to introduce Teee & Prints, who bow accordingly. Morning. Boiling in cast iron pot. Author, Teee & Prints bowing. Author asleep in a cell. A cigarette tickles his ear, he makes ridiculous attempts at swatting it. Finally he wakes up and then tries to wake himself up. He is putzing around when a hand coming from the camera paps him & instructs him to do something. Flaming hands.
A man goes to the bathroom and knocks on the door. Seagull/Seagull/Seagull. A young woman emerges and he enters. Takes off his coat. Face shot: perfect calm profile and magazine. Jungle drums. Black hand shaking dice. Calm again, he stands up and fastens his SLAX. Turns to check it. Inside the bowl is a complete intestinal tract.
Derelict man with cigar (staccato repeat shots: 123/123/123)
A baby. From behind camera a large fish is thrown down on the floor.
A room. Night. A man with a large shotgun mounts a motorcycle. The motorcycle speeds off. Dinner couple. Night. Man takes a smack steak and coaxes the woman into extending her hand to him across the table. Man drops pea sized coal into her hand. Animal scream. Same couple on a couch. Woman automatically tries to whip her hand free. The man holds it. Eye. Man’s mouth/lips in slight curl. Balcony & bay window. Night. Couple in silhouetted close embrace, seen from outside the closed window. Animal scream. Woman plunges through the window. Man swoops down. Drinks the woman through her palm (where the coal was).
Daybreak. Charlotte’s house in the woods.
The stage. Scaramouche & telephone receiver, sometimes bullhorn.
Fat man wipes his hands on a white handkerchief. Focus on embroidered initials. Fat man spots it, scrubs at it, spits &rubs & it is out. He walks down an aisle and we see him from behind ascending the stage at the left. The actors are in a large bed along with a few animals. The man grabs one actor and pulls him out of bed. He is wearing scuba diving gear.
Two half naked wrestlers. Some ballet and then an exchange of black eyes (i.e., black eyes appearing on alternating faces in alternating locations (staccato repeat shots: 123/123/123). Black eyes into steak.
Farmworker’s foot runs over it and we see the fastly foreshortening man running.
Man eating a feathered bird. Meekle smile and eyebrow.
Midnite sun. Man in a parka says no.
Night. An orchard. A worker’s shack. Profile complemented by gasp.
The man keeps his eyes on us for one second and moistens his lips once. Down his torso to his hands. Shoes. Face. Man meekly smiles & raises his eyebrows at the camera. His eye become wild & his teeth projected towards the camera until they overwhelm the frame then fall to the ground. Swords clash. Clash turn to a single vibrating string. Man’s throat is slit in half as he passes through the string. Shot of his foreshortening back as he runs leaving blood flying into the camera, only he is running on his hands, which have irons. His foot lands on a steak. The steak is kicked toward the camera, landing our view an a fat man in a theater seat. At first we see him in the dark, from behind. On the stage we see three figures sitting around a large campfire, joking with their coffee cups, pretending to speak to the audience as though they could be megaphones. There are two policemen, one on either side of the stage. We see the fat man’s face. He is holding the steak to his left eye –he is uncomfortable and richly dressed. Focus on diamonds and jeweled object of his attire. Wild shots of his eyes and his face becomes calmer. Wild shots of the theater chandelier.
A man with a gun in his high hand screaming. He is in a crowd, also yelling, at a revolutionary street council. The speaker is pounding his fists for revolution. Everyone cheering and waving caps & arms & arms. Circle above and away.
The multitudes dissolve into the steak. Fat man’s face. He starts to take the steak from his eye, at the same time starting to look at the camera and smile. He takes the steak, which has his eyeball attached to the back, and puts it in a small jeweled opera-glass case.
Daytime. On the beach. Dead oily bird impaled on litter stick. Cleanup man is revealed holding the litter stick. He spikes a newspaper lying open. Newspaper was spread over fat man’s face –who spring up out of the sand in a rage.
Dusk. The village prison. Kids tossing the prisoners peanuts. (Note: shot of milling prisoners interspersed throughout rest of film with a growing pile of bodies gradually surrounding the little prison).
INTERTITLE: They met after dinner, when all is lost.
Inside. Party. Milling around. Peripheral lady in red gown. Focus on man’s torso. Same woman’s hand comes forward and dips into his coat pocket. Wiz through membrane tunnel (three curves –last turns right). Burst in through window. Out the opposite. Across night-lit creek. Soul musician with lute. Baby gurgling. Fish slaps down from behind camera.
Night.Balcony. Rasputin type (“R”). Hand from behind taps him on shoulder. Servant bids him to come in. Well-set table. Maid brings decanter of wine. Servant brings covered dish. Hand lifts top off dish to reveal a rat curled in garnishings.
Shadow of a foot wiggling toes.
Night. Garden with walkway. R walking. Sops & looks up. Bell tower. R up stairway. In bell tower. R takes swig & throws bottle away. Wild face/ he grabs rope. Bell in big swing. Bottle hits ground. R hanged.
The prisoners, climbing over corpses, taking out mundane garbage.
Small room. Two nihilists at table. Debate. Nihilist “C” turns pocket inside out. They meet contact.
Orchard. Worker appears ¾ emerged from behind tree. Staccato repeat shots with worker emerging from different trees throughout the orchard.
Morning. Crimson boilings. Author asleep in a cell. Cigarette tickles his ear. Eyes still shut, he swats at it. He awakens, yawns, etc. Pap from behind camera. His hands ignite.