Tamรกs Waliczky: THE ADVENTURES OF TOM TOMICZKY Images and excerpts from the original scenario
Tamรกs Waliczky: THE ADVENTURES OF TOM TOMICZKY
The crows of youth
4
Tomiczky the child backs into a sparse, meagre garden in his village. He passes an old Russian jeep and a sinister labyrinth, all concrete walls, a maze stretching into the distance. The rumble of some enormous machine is heard, and then the great wheels come into view. They turn slowly, attached to each other by belts. This is an old distillery no one uses any more, but the machines still work. Tomiczky doesn’t pay attention to the huge machinery; he walks on. He arrives to a spacious, grassy, shrubby area. He walks slowly now, ever slower, almost staggering, and at that moment, the sky turns crimson. Young Tomiczky cannot endure the sky’s sudden, magical metamorphosis: he sways and falls back on the grass shining with crimson light. He lies there, his arms outstretched, staring at the sky, and that is when the first crow appears. Cawing, it glides through the air slowly, a whole army following behind: thousands and thousands of identical black birds, all of them cawing, signalling something, or simply talking to the others. The chattering birds fill the whole sky. Every open spot of sky is filled with another crow’s body. They speak ceaselessly as they come from Yugoslavia for their evening rest. Tomiczky lies there and stares at their flight, rendered immobile.
Tomiczky leaves the building on Ivรกn Markovits Street
6
Exterior shot of a five-storey apartment building, and the interior of an attic loft in the sharp morning light: a long, extended window, easels, an enormous old table, the vaulted ceiling, heavy curtains, and gleaming wood floor. Tomiczky steps out the front door of the apartment and locks the door carefully. The hallway is dim. Lush tropical plants stand outside the door, their branches stretching and twisting in all directions. Tomiczky passes them and begins his descent. He walks down the stairs alongside an Art Nouveau banister. The decorative wrought iron imitates the vines of the tropical plants. Tomiczky makes his way down, following the curve of the stairwell, in slow circles, for quite a long time. On the long journey, partly to amuse himself, and partly from impatience, he performs a bit of strange ballet, composed of stumbling, jumping over stairs, walking backwards, sudden stops and starts, and so on. From time to time, he passes the closed doors of apartments. The stairwell grows increasingly darker as he walks down and down these cursed steps, into the depths of hell, it seems, until suddenly, the stairs end and Tomiczky walks straight ahead. He arrives at the large door leading outside. He presses down on the handle and pushes the door wide open with a single motion. Light floods into the stairwell.
Tomiczky goes to work 8
Tomiczky walks along the bank of the Danube in the morning light. Lamp-posts and fenced-in, cemented-down trees approach, unexpectedly jumping out of nowhere, then disappearing again. Tomiczky has a hard time dodging them: he stops short, lunges forward, hops left and right. On the opposite bank, the Parliament building stands in one place indifferently, unchanging and motionless. With a great effort, Tomiczky arrives at the bridge. He mounts the steps, and the long curve of the bridge stretches before him, leading towards the other side. Tomiczky cautiously places his foot on the bridge. At that moment, the bridge arches its back, ripples underneath his foot, and pushes him with one great thrust to the other side.
An invisible obstacle 10
Strolling people appear on the bank of the Danube in Budapest. One of them bumps into an invisible something and falls backwards onto the ground. More people arrive, stop, and they too, bump into the something. They try to break through, to figure out its boundaries. Some people pass through without any problem, not comprehending what is going on with the others. Some, however, get completely tangled in the struggle with the unseen force.
Tomiczky heads home 12
Tomiczky ambles along the banks of the Danube in the late afternoon sunshine. Nothing obstructs his way. On the opposite shore, the Parliament building is very small, disappearing at times, then reappearing in the dusk. Now a group of trees appears, marching towards Tomiczky: cypress trees, oak trees, acacia trees, and various small types of bushes. They step in time, combatively, bursting with life.
A small, local atomic explosion
14
The apartment building on Iván Markovits Street at night: most of the windows are already dark, with lights shining still in only a few. Stars fill the sky. Everything is peaceful and calm. Suddenly, something horrible happens. The entire block of buildings alongside Tomiczky’s slowly and silently sinks, splitting at the middle like an opening flower, and – still completely mute – is reduced to a pile of ashes. A mushroom cloud emerges in its place, bursting into the sky, higher and higher. Only when it has risen much higher than Tomiczky’s house and starts to expand and dissipate in the air, the noise of the explosion is heard: a continuously intensifying roar. The louder it becomes, the deeper it gets, until it becomes a gut-wrenching rumble – the rumble of the earth that shakes everything. When this sound dies away, the scene is illuminated, as if in daylight, and in this unnatural backlight, thousands of angel-figures become visible as they float towards the sky like startled birds. They look black in the backlight, as if they had all become devils. When even the last angel has disappeared, the artificial light changes into the pale light of early morning.
Tomiczky’s adventure with himself 16
One day Tomiczky met himself in a crowded square among rushing people. They stared at each other, waved, then turned their backs and walked off in opposite directions.
What Tomiczky sees is what Tomiczky gets 18
It is morning. Tomiczky appears on the banks of the Danube again, the water and the trees are his backdrop. Suddenly, he turns and walks in the opposite direction. The background changes at the moment he turns, as if God had changed the slide in the projector. Now the backdrop consists of rolling hills and fruit trees. Tomiczky wanders along, kicking pebbles. Then he turns again to walk in the opposite direction. The background changes once again, Japanese houses appearing this time. With his next turn, he is in the castle park in Karlsruhe – and so he continues to ever changing foreign lands.
The right track 20
The Keleti Railway Station in Budapest: the enormous, vaulted hall. Trains stand idle on the tracks. The platforms are nearly empty, except for the crowd standing in front of the large information board. The board displays various departure times for various trains, but it is obvious that something is wrong. One row displays constantly changing destinations and times. Another row shows only the time, while another displays only the destination: Vienna. A fourth shows a time that is nonexistent, and so on. The people in the crowd point excitedly, murmur to each other, push and shove.
Tomiczky gets on a train 22
With great difficulty, Tomiczky opens the door of a carriage, struggles onto the train, and inches down the aisle. Card-players sit in one compartment; a fat man drinks from a bottle in another. Tomiczky finds an empty compartment and sits down. The train soon starts to move. Tomiczky sits rigidly, staring at the scenery. After a short while, he leaves the compartment and walks down the aisle in the direction of the toilet. He opens the door and enters.
Tomiczky’s battle with the train restroom
24
The space is small. The train speeds along, lurching or rocking violently at times. From time to time, it passes through a tunnel and then everything goes dark. The cubicle is filled with various buttons, the functions of which are unfamiliar to Tomiczky. These are the conditions that await Tomiczky in the restroom. First, he tries to pee standing up, but without much luck. The train is rocking too intensely, and if Tomiczky doesn’t hold on, he’ll fall. He thinks about sitting down on the seat, but he is afraid of catching some disease. Tomiczky is very careful. He looks thoughtfully at the toilet bowl. He steps cautiously onto a button on the floor. Water gushes down with an incredible rumbling sound. Tomiczky recoils: the water might splash on him. He looks down at the toilet again. He leans down and tears off three long pieces of toilet paper. He arranges them carefully on the seat. He straightens up. The strips of paper flutter slowly and majestically to the floor. He tears off more toilet paper. He places them onto the seat more deliberately. He straightens up and looks at the paper. It looks stable enough. He turns around and tries to sit down. As he lowers himself to sit, he sweeps the paper onto the floor. He straightens up quickly. He thinks for a minute. He tears off more paper and smoothes it onto the seat. He straightens up and looks at his work contentedly. He turns around. At that moment, the train lurches violently, the window of the restroom swings open, a gust of wind blows the paper off the seat and whisks it together with the paper on the floor into the air. For a while, the cubicle is filled with long strips of swirling paper. Tomiczky closes the window, and the paper floats gently to the floor. The floor is covered in toilet paper. Tomiczky stands. He turns around slowly, grasps a pipe next to the seat with one hand and clutches the door handle with the other. He lowers himself gradually in a real acrobatic feat. He does not want his behind to touch the seat. As he manoeuvres downwards, he steps on the flush button with one foot by accident. The toilet flushes with a terrible roar. Tomiczky jumps up and tries to get as far as possible from the bowl. The noise of the flush dies down. Tomiczky tries to repeat his previous attempt. He cautiously descends lower and lower. Finally, holding on with both hands, his whole body twisted, he “levitates” above the toilet bowl in the desired position. At that moment, the train rushes into a tunnel and the cubicle is plunged into complete darkness. Sounds of a struggle are heard. A soft shriek. The rustle of paper. A thump. The surge of the flushing toilet, another shriek. More thumps. The train finally emerges from the tunnel. Tomiczky is on all fours in the cubicle beside the toilet bowl, toilet paper everywhere.
Tomiczky misses his flight
26
An enormous Boeing cuts across the sky. Tomiczky dashes through the airport. People are everywhere, and he is polite, so he always has to stop, avoid someone, or say “pardon me”, while he must run. He jumps over luggage. He bumps into people, excuses himself, and races on. He darts along endless hallways. He runs down enormous concrete, metal, and glass corridors. He sprints along the moving walkway. He presses in between people. Shot of one of the walkways from the side. People ride the conveyor belt calmly. Tomiczky appears in the frame, jogs down the walkway, and disappears to the right. A pause of a few seconds. Tomiczky appears, scurrying in the opposite direction, a gigantic dog at his heels, leaping up at him. Tomiczky runs as fast as he can. He disappears from the frame to the left, the dog after him. A few seconds pass. The dog’s master appears to the right, swinging the dog’s leash, hurrying after Tomiczky and the dog. Tomiczky appears in front of the walkway, running from left to right, the dog still in his tracks. For a few seconds, we see Tomiczky and the dog running from left to right and the dog’s owner on the walkway running from right to left. They all run out of the frame.
Tomiczky awakens 28
Early morning in a small Japanese apartment. Curtains cover the windows; the air conditioner hums quietly. A low table. Tomiczky sleeps on the floor. He awakens, sits up on his elbow, crawls on all fours to the balcony door, and pulls open the white curtains. Everything is misty in the dawn; the houses and streets in the distance seem to be smoking. Bluish-green mountains are visible far away through the fog. The street is completely deserted; a deep silence permeates. An enormous, futuristic building looms behind the houses opposite. It looks like a space station. The lights on its tower slowly, but continuously, alternate: from deep blue to green, to yellow, to red, each colour dissolving softly into the next. The air is a network of dense electric wires connected at intervals by tall Eiffel Tower-like pylons.
Tomiczky on the bicycle in Japan
30
Tomiczky rides his bike in Ogaki. He coasts quickly and daringly through stunningly narrow tunnels which run under railway tracks and lead to the other side. The rain begins to fall. Tomiczky steers the bicycle with one hand and holds an open umbrella above his head with the other. He stops in front of the tunnels now, closes the umbrella, and opens it again at the end of the tunnel. The open umbrella would not fit in the tunnels. He bikes home gleefully with the open umbrella. The wind picks up (typhoons are common in Ogaki). The wind breaks dry branches off the trees and scatters them on the road. Tomiczky deftly avoids them and hums to himself merrily. The wind grows stronger, bending the umbrella this way and that, almost wrenching it from his hand. Tomiczky turns onto the straight road leading to his apartment. The wind blows from behind now, propelling the bike forward. The umbrella can even be used as a sail. Ignoring the rain, Tomiczky tilts the umbrella forward, and the wind catches it like a sail. Tomiczky lets himself be pulled along merrily. He even lifts his feet off the pedals. The bike moves increasingly faster. Tomiczky giggles and flies into one of the narrowest tunnels in Ogaki, bike, umbrella, and all.
Indoor snowfall 32
Tomiczky totters around on his crutches in a studio-like, large room. Around him are a bed, a chair, a little table with cups and a teakettle on it. The snow falls slowly behind Tomiczky, inside the room. As the camera shows Tomiczky from slightly above, it becomes apparent that part of the building is covered – where Tomiczky walks about – while the other part is open to the sky, allowing the snow to drift in. As the camera pulls back from Tomiczky and his own private snowfall, the strange, round, flying-saucer-like modern building in the middle of the rice paddies becomes more distinct.
Gravitation 34
Tomiczky sits on the plane, next to the window. Nagoya is visible at an extreme angle through the window, shrinking rapidly. Tomiczky is pressed increasingly deeply into the seat. Nagoya is now just a gold, glimmering, printed circuit, framed in a semicircle by the blue sky and the blue sea.
Moving to Karlsruhe
36
The train arrives to the Karlsruhe station. Tomiczky paces on the platform. The train stops, the doors open, two conductors get off, followed by swarms of people. Manna appears at one of the doors, shouts and waves, but does not get off. Tomiczky rushes over to her, just in time to catch the first suitcase that Manna tosses down. Manna disappears again and Tomiczky puts the suitcase down on the platform. By the time he turns around, Manna pushes the next gigantic, strapped-up suitcase out the door, breathing heavily from the exertion. Tomiczky helps her with this one too. While they struggle, sweating, the other passengers skirt around them. Manna now flings bags of all sizes down from the train. Tomiczky arranges them in a pile in the middle of the platform. The platform is now deserted. A conductor nearby watches them as Manna now drags a rolled-up carpet out the door. Tomiczky pulls it onto the platform. Meanwhile, Manna also descends from the train, the conductor blows his whistle, but Tomiczky and Manna start to holler at him and Manna jumps back onto the train. In the meantime, Tomiczky lugs a suitcase. The conductor steps very close to him and looks at his watch, but it doesn’t occur to him to give Tomiczky a hand. Manna appears again with heavy shopping bags, at least four, and a bag strapped on her shoulder, and tries to keep her balance as she clambers off the train. The conductor helps her down and asks something. Panting, Manna nods, the conductor blows his whistle with determination, and the doors bang shut. The conductor glances around the platform again, takes another good look at Tomiczky and Manna, then jumps up onto the train and closes the door behind him. The train pulls out of the station. The platform is empty save for Tomiczky and Manna and a huge pile of luggage onto which they now collapse. They sit and rest, tired but proud.
The squirrel
38
Shot of a family house from the outside, its odd slanted roof, its jutting tower with the wide, triplex window. A comfortable sofa covered in an embroidered cloth is visible through the window, along with a long draftsman’s table. The next window is regular, but also wide. A full-length mirror stands inside the room. The next window belongs to the kitchen. Walnuts lie on the windowsill outside. Tomiczky and four year-old Annickó peek out the window. The squirrel appears. It climbs deftly up the wall, reaches the sill, stops, listens, twitching its ears. Tomiczky and Annickó hold their breath, watching. The squirrel musters its courage, scurries up onto the sill, puts a nut into its mouth and scampers down from the sill head first, legs askew, down two floors along the brick wall. It reaches the ground, jumps off the wall, disappears in the grass for a moment, then appears again, slipping through the planks of the fence, running out onto the sidewalk, and racing across the motorway in a flash. It reaches a pine grove, keeps running, stops for a moment, drops the nut out of its mouth, puts it back again, then scurries off and up the trunk of one of the pine trees. It disappears and reappears again as it runs round and round the tree trunk upwards, until it finally reaches a comfortable branch. Here it sits, in the crook made by the trunk and the branch, and begins to consume the nut. It breaks open the shell. Turning the nut around quickly but carefully with its two paws, it eats the inside. It drops the empty shell from the tree. After finishing, it rests a little, peering around attentively. Suddenly, it runs along the branch and leaps onto the branch of a neighbouring tree. The branch bends heavily, but the squirrel runs on, reaches the trunk, stops, and almost immediately scuttles down the trunk. It jumps off the trunk when it is about a metre from the ground, into the tall grass. It runs on, only the top of its coat appearing sometimes among the blades of grass and all sorts of wildflowers. Finally, it disappears completely. The camera turns: the grassy field leads to a sidewalk, which leads to a highway. Close-up shots of the wheels of the cars speeding by. The wheels are intimidating from below like this, rumbling and screeching. One of them drives over a beer can and flattens it.
The cry 40
Tomiczky and Manna: he argues with her, gesturing fervently. He paces. He seems to grow bigger, stronger, and more intimidating. Manna looks increasingly fragile, cringing. All of a sudden, completely out of the blue, she emits a piercing cry, like some strange bird in danger, or before an attack, or while trying to protect her young, but it is also a confident, victorious cry. Tomiczky is stunned, as if hit by lighting. He falls silent, reels, begins to sway, chopping the air with his hands. His knees buckle. He strokes his forehead falteringly, and in the meantime, he seems to change. He is no longer an enormous or strong Tomiczky. He is young and beautiful and somehow thinner. They stare at each other silently, until Manna turns and walks out. The slamming door is heard behind her. Tomiczky throws her a kiss.
Tomiczky’s first streetcar ride in Germany 42
A small-town streetcar stop in brilliant backlight. The streetcar pulls into the stop and Tomiczky gets on at the front door. He clutches a ticket somewhat rigidly and awkwardly, and therefore very conspicuously. He walks towards the back of the streetcar. As he passes the people sitting in the car, they fall silent, lower their books and newspapers, and turn to stare at Tomiczky. A general atmosphere of uneasiness permeates. Tomiczky keeps making his way back until an elderly lady stands in his way; she points to the ticket punching machine and the ticket in Tomiczky’s hand, explaining something. Tomiczky understands, steps over to the machine, and “ping!” the ticket is validated. General merriment breaks out in the streetcar; the people laugh with relief and nod towards Tomiczky and each other.
The security lock
44
Tomiczky heads towards the restroom in the ZKM building. He opens the security door with his magnetic entry card, but as soon as the door closes, he drops the card, which falls into some kind of opening in the floor. Tomiczky tries to retrieve it, but gives up quickly. He tries to open the door that closed behind him, but it is securely locked. He walks to the next door, but that is also locked. Tomiczky is stuck in the small space in between the two doors. He really needs to pee. He walks back to the first door and bangs on it. Shot of the door from the other side: he stands there banging on the door, but it emits no noise: the glass is sound-proof. Tomiczky presses against the window, hollering, gesticulating, but in complete silence. Shot of the space between the two doors again: exhausted and spent, Tomiczky paces nervously, writhes, skulks inside. A man with crutches appears on the other side of the glass. Tomiczky rushes to the door, bangs on the door, waves, yells. The man actually notices him, turns slowly, and patters to the door. Behind the door, Tomiczky soundlessly gesticulates, jumps, and pounds on the glass. The man reaches the door, leans the crutches against the door and arranges them to one side. Balancing carefully, with his free hand, he presses steadily the code numbers of the security lock. After the fourth number, the door pops open, Tomiczky bounds out, and with this momentum, he knocks over the poor man, who drops his crutches and tumbles onto the ground.
The first snow in Karlsruhe 46
Tomiczky sleeps in the small apartment in Karlsruhe. He suddenly sits up in bed. He looks around, listening. Silence. Tomiczky gets out of bed and hurries to the door and checks to make sure it is locked. He comes back and looks around. He investigates the kitchen, too. Then he stops in the middle of the room, listening. He turns suddenly around himself. Nothing. He goes back into the kitchen and drinks a glass of water. He paces up and down. He goes to the window and opens it wide. He pulls up the rolling shutters. He leans out the window. The street outside is empty. He looks up at the sky. At that moment, the snow begins to fall. First, it flutters slowly, then it comes down more densely, swirling. Tomiczky turns his face towards the sky and flies upward, accelerating among the snowflakes. He slowly comes away from the window and climbs back into bed. The snow is visible through the window as it falls upon the ground like a blessing.
Tomiczky loses all his knowledge 48
Tomiczky suddenly loses knowledge of everything he has ever known. He is in a vacuum. He doesn’t know how to use his limbs. He tries them, but doesn’t know how to move his body parts, and ends up battering himself in his attempt. He writhes in the middle of nowhere, because he has also forgotten how to see, and he bumps into solid objects he cannot sense. He tries his voice because he has forgotten how to speak. He squeals, bellows, and howls.
Music 50
Tomiczky staggers to the main square in Karlsruhe as dawn breaks. The square is deserted except for street musicians. They are dressed warmly and play their instruments diligently. The mallets vibrate in the hands of the xylophonist; the flautist sways slightly to the rhythm of the music. Sometimes the musicians glance at each other. They play a popular classical piece they’ve played a thousand times, but with real passion and joy. Tomiczky stops in front of them, his body tilted to one side. They don’t look up at him, but continue playing, absorbed in the music. Tomiczky totters off. As he leaves the square, the music follows him.
The trees’ endless system of branches 52
Tomiczky is happy and intoxicated. He wanders through the streets in the dark. It is raining. He runs under the trees hidden in the darkness; the rain does not reach him here. He stands leaning against a tree. The rain slowly lets up. He climbs up the slanted trunk of one of the trees. Swaying slightly, he climbs higher, stepping on ever thinner limbs. Each thin limb branches out into even thinner limbs; he steps along these. From a distance, it looks as if he’s walking on air. He steadies himself on another giant tree and climbs down on its thickening branches. He arrives to a small field. He lies down on his back. Stars appear in the sky. They slowly start to whirl, picking up speed. The heavens revolve around Tomiczky like a carousel. He falls asleep, snoring.
The superannuated locomotive 54
Tomiczky has dropped off to sleep while sitting alone on the bench. Now, slowly, wheezing, an ancient steam-engine backs onto the tracks right in front of Tomiczky. The engine-driver beholds the dozing Tomiczky in surprise. He calls to him. Tomiczky rouses with a start, blinking with a stupefied, blurry expression. The driver asks something and cups his hand around his ear. Tomiczky answers, cupping his hands around his mouth. The driver waves his hand. Tomiczky gets on the old locomotive. It starts. Tomiczky is travelling again. The steam engine rolls along happily, just like in an old children’s tale.
Sightseeing
56
Tomiczky and Manna stand at the exit of the Prague subway, looking around. Above the exit is a large letter “M” with white marble walls on either side. Tomiczky holds a brochure with a picture of a statue on it. The statue is of Saint George the Dragon-Slayer. Manna holds a map, and they examine it. A square with trees and buildings opens before them, but no statue of St. George to be seen. Finally they set off, walking the length of the square, turning their heads this way and that, looking for the statue. Three streets lead out of the square. Tomiczky points right, Manna points to the middle one, but finally they take the street to the right. They walk along this relatively narrow street lined with apartment buildings. No statue. At another intersection, they turn left and walk on. They find modern apartment buildings and a playground. An elderly woman walks towards them. Manna approaches her and shows her the picture. The lady looks at it and points in the opposite direction, saying, “Tak, tak!” She smiles, nods, and repeats the words: “Tak, tak!” Manna bows to her and so does Tomiczky. They turn and start back with hurried steps. They return to the intersection and choose a different direction. They walk and walk. They pass two-storey buildings with small gardens and parked cars. A middle-aged gentleman comes towards them. Manna shows him the picture. “Tak, tak!” says the man confidently and hurriedly, and points in the opposite direction. He is already gone before they are able to thank him. Tomiczky and Manna turn around and walk back. They gesture fervently, arguing. They arrive back to the square they started out from. They stop opposite the entrance to the subway with the letter “M”. It now becomes apparent how large the building is. Familiar buildings and trees stand on either side. No statue. Tomiczky and Manna argue more heatedly, both pointing to the map, until finally Manna heads boldly down one of the streets. Tomiczky stares after her angrily for a while, then waves her away and starts down a street in a completely different direction. Shot of both of them from above at an angle, ascending higher and higher. Tomiczky and Manna wander in different directions down streets that seem to shrink. They stop, turn, start walking again, moving further and further away from each other. The houses and the trees become smaller and smaller. Tomiczky and Manna are now just two moving specks on this city map.
Rainy train ride 58
The train speeds along. The day is overcast. A combination of wet-green and mud-brown scenery whizzes by through the windows on either side. The overhead lights trace glowing arches onto the ceiling. The atmosphere in the car is sleepy and peaceful.
Tomiczky as the guest of a high-class hotel (the wake-up call)
60
Tomiczky sleeps soundly. The door of the room opens softly and smoothly, and three young ladies step into the room. They have wings attached to their backs and hold golden trumpets. They stop next to Tomiczky’s bed, lift the trumpets, and begin to play, out of tune, but very loudly, the opening measures of Mussorgsky’s Pictures at an Exhibition. Tomiczky awakens with a start and jumps up on the bed, pressing his back against the wall. He stares at the girls, stunned. The girls stop playing, bow gracefully, and tiptoe out of the room. Tomiczky remains standing on the bed for a few moments, then slowly gets down, hurries to the door and turns the lock twice. He looks relieved and heads towards the bathroom, yawning. He steps into the tub. He looks around but cannot find the tap. There is no tap or showerhead. Tomiczky sits down in the tub. At that moment, cold water rushes down on him with a great surge. At first, Tomiczky disappears inside the tub, but then summons all his strength in order to climb out from under the waterfall. Finally, he falls head first out of the tub and lies naked, stretched out on the floor. The water stops gushing immediately. At that moment, the phone rings. Tomiczky jumps up, dashes into the room and picks up the phone next to his bed, but the ringing continues. He slams the receiver down, looks around and sees another phone on the wall. He hurries over to it, picks it up, but the ringing still continues. He replaces the receiver here too, and stands bewildered, listening for the source of the sound. He walks back into the bathroom and tries to figure out where the ringing is coming from. Yes, there on the wall next to the tub is a third phone. Tomiczky stands beside the tub, and reaches over it in order to get to the receiver. He has to balance on one foot to reach the phone; he stretches over the tub. The moment he finally manages to pick it up, he slips and falls into the tub with the phone in his hand. The cold water begins to surge immediately. From somewhere deep in the tub, Tomiczky is heard yelling desperately, “hello? hello?” On the other end, the opening measures of the previously heard Mussorgsky piece are heard.
After Monte Carlo, on the way home 62
Tomiczky sits next to his best friend in a car on his way home from Monte Carlo. His friend sits behind the wheel. They drive into tunnels and speed over viaducts. Another tunnel, another viaduct. They laugh ceaselessly at the top of their lungs, giggling and snickering. At each new tunnel or viaduct they burst out laughing harder and more hysterically than before.
Tomiczky’s memory of Venice 64
Venice, a bridge, brilliant sunlight. An odd-looking, merry group marches across a bridge over the lagoon. They carry lanterns, wear masks, leap and dance. Manna and teenage Annickó walk out from under the bridge, laughing like two girlfriends. Shot of the same channel and bridge, but at night. Manna walks along the opposite shore, alone. The shadows envelop her.
Tomiczky on the ICE train 66
The door of the ICE train opens. Tomiczky gets on the train along with the other passengers. The people pour into the train and seat themselves at an incredible speed. Tomiczky is too slow, and there is no place left for him to sit. He ends up standing outside the toilet. As the train rushes along, he is bobbed from side to side. Each time he moves, the automatic doors open, and each and every person sitting in the car turns around to stare at him. After a while, Tomiczky starts to annoy the people on purpose. As soon as they stop paying attention to him, he makes a move and the door opens again.
Tomiczky on his way back to Budapest 68
Tomiczky travels by train again. Hordes of iron cranes are visible through the train window as they lift enormous weights. Cranes are everywhere, as far as the eye can see, ascending, descending, turning. It is a well-choreographed crane-ballet. The train suddenly rushes into a tunnel. It is dark.
Budapest sunlight 70
Tomiczky pulls the shutters up in the morning. First there is only a small gap, so that only one or two colours appear. Tomiczky now collects himself and pulls the shutters up with one or two forceful pulls. The light floods into the room with incredible strength and covers every surface in colour within seconds. A beautiful day begins, full of colour.
The constellations 72
Adult Tomiczky and teenage Annick贸 are working hard. They paint the ceiling in an empty room. A small ladder stands in the middle of the room with Tomiczky standing on it. Annick贸 hands him cut-out stars from the floor. Tomiczky sticks all of them to the ceiling. He writes the name of the star next to each one carefully. The ceiling soon fills with stars. Through the window, the real stars above the yard twinkle, while inside the room, the glued stars shine.
Tomiczky’s pleasant attic room 74
Tomiczky is getting ready for bed in his attic room. He crawls into bed, pulls the covers over himself, turns the light off, and leans back. The slanted walls and windows of the attic room slowly turn downwards, like a closing trap; simultaneously, the horizontal lines of the room shift closer to Tomiczky’s bed, until finally Tomiczky finds himself in a space hardly bigger than a coffin. He turns onto his side and, settling into a foetal position, putting his hands under his head, he falls asleep peacefully. The moon shines down on him serenely through the window at the top of the coffin.
Dialogue at dawn 76
Tomiczky and his friend talk, sitting on the windowsill of an apartment in Budapest. The darkness before dawn is behind them. The sky lightens slowly as the sun rises. They converse like the deaf and dumb, with fervent movements, touching each other, with wild and exaggerated gestures. The buzzing of an alarm clock breaks their silent dialogue.
Written and Directed by Tamás Waliczky Artistic Advisor: Anna Szepesi Producers: György Czabán, Csilla Gyôri, György Pálos, KVB Animators: Tamás Waliczky, Taruto Fuyama, Llászló Kiss, Marc Hankel, Gergely Szabó Modellers: Áron Jancsó, András Czifra, Csanád Szirják, Tamás Waliczky, Gerhard Funk Music: Katrin Scherer & Sven Decker, U.F.O. unidentified flying orchestra, Green Deer Music, Used by Permission. Motion Capture: Zoltán Bathó, László Domján, Dávid Écsi, 3D Brigade Hungary, Inc. Motion-Capture Actors: Tamás Waliczky, Anna Szepesi, Annamari Waliczky Special thanks to: Beate Garmer, András Kárpáti, Bernd Lintermann, László Haris, György Pálos, Annamari Waliczky Supported by the Motion Picture Public Foundation of Hungary, Wallada Bioscop Kft., HBK Saar Copyright © 2011 by Tamás Waliczky & Anna Szepesi Catalogue designed by Imre Gábor Scenario translated by Ildikó Noémi Nagy Control editing: Adèle Eisenstein Published by Wallada Bioscop Kft. ISBN 978-963-06-6034-1