The Man in My Basement (2025) Movie Script
1
You better get through some kind of work.
You ain't got no job.
So you ain't got no money.
You know the bank will throw your ass out.
It's that third loan that you're in,
man.
You should've just sold this out years
ago, brother.
I've raised you... for a second.
You need a job, man.
You're also right in need.
So now, boy, you can check the house and
you can put it up.
Does he?
That's why I'm working.
He'll be here tomorrow.
Just go ask him.
I mean, maybe he'll make beats.
Maybe you're some kind of friend,
don't have work.
I mean, you've been living ok until now.
But they will take this house from you.
You'll end up like old mad
mosquito sleeping in somebody's
garage and yelling at birds
and even bae' old friends.
She's a tough nut, motherfucker.
How many times have I told you not to call
me that?
Charles.
Claire, baby.
Are you trying to tell me I'm worthy,
Claire?
Oh, Claire!
No, stop it!
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Come at him!
Fuck you!
Look at me, Claire!
What the fuck?
Yeah, fuck you!
Fuck you!
Fuck you!
Okay, okay, Claire!
Let's go home!
Hey, back there, let me see you.
Hey, stop!
I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.
You lazy, ungrateful nigga.
I hope they take your goddamn house.
Ow.
Mr. Charles Blakey?
Yeah, yeah, I'm Blakey.
You have a stand-up basement, sir.
A basement where a man can stand fully
erect.
It also has electricity and running water.
Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Charles isn't for sale.
I'm only interested in renting.
What if someone's help?
I'm sorry, Mr. Charles isn't for sale.
Don't forget me.
Aniston Bennett, I'm from Greenwich,
Connecticut.
I haven't in mind to rent your basement
for a couple of months, Mr. Blakey.
Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Blakey, but this
house ain't for sale or for rent.
But I'm sure there's some realtors in town
that'll help you write out.
Maybe this is a bad time.
Why don't you give me a
call when you have a chance
to think about and maybe
discuss it with your wife?
I don't have a wife or a roommate.
Okay, I live alone and I like it like
that.
Thank you very much for your time,
Mr. Blakey.
Well, call me if you have a chance to hire
me.
Everything okay, Charles?
Yeah, everything's fine.
What's he selling?
A mask.
I'm not buying it.
What are you doing here?
I just want to talk to you good.
I was at Wilson Reiter's new site this
morning.
And he's got construction like coming out
of his ass, but no job for me.
He looked at me like I was a piece of
shit, Charles.
We've all been searching our hearts to be
caught since your long guard.
But you have gone too far.
I am so tired.
I'm sorry.
What's that got to do with what I'm
talking about?
You're for real.
You got what you ask, Mom.
Charles?
Yeah?
A man from the bank's holding company was
here last week.
They've had an offer to buy your house and
reclaim their debt.
They came for the best.
Hey!
Hey!
Aunt Peaches, how you doing?
How?
How's the family?
Everybody's on.
Well, that's good.
That's good.
It's been a while since I've seen you,
Peaches.
So, um, I just wanted to ask you
something.
I don't really have time, Charles.
No, no, no, no.
It'll just take a minute.
So, look, I have to borrow some money for
something important on the house.
And, um, well, I kind of need,
uh...
$2,500 for the back noise.
And I'm looking for a job right now,
but ain't nobody really hiring,
so...
Why do you do this to me?
What am I doing to you?
What?
I know that, Peaches.
That's why I want to keep the house and the
family so you just let me borrow the money.
My mother's dead.
Leave her to fuck her mama.
Uh, hey, Mr.
Bennett.
Um, this is Charles Blakey from SAG
Harbor.
Mrs. Little Neckwood, what are you doing
back here?
Gardening, Charles.
In my yard?
Well, that makes all this mess,
but I can't save your mom's roses.
You really need to prove it before the
frost sets in.
Anyway, I'm done.
I have to go and make dinner for Chastity.
Uh...
It's like a tomb down here.
My uncle used to say ghostly down here.
Like they'd rise up out their graves,
come in, play cards all night.
It turned out it's just a lot of shit.
Maybe I should just burn it up.
Whoa, I'm a man.
Man, this kid is anti-quality shit.
Okay, white people?
They spent $500 on a whole broke-down
chair in a minute.
Like a yard sale or something.
Sucka shit, man.
You mean to talk to a real antique dealer?
I mean, there are some in East Hampton,
but...
Well, now you might cheat you.
What would you know about it?
Well, last summer, I fixed up this one
sister's antique store.
I'll bet if we brought her out here to
take a look at this stuff, she'd broke
through with other dealers, and you could
make out.
What was it then?
10%.
Okay.
Part of that 10% is helping me move all
this shit upstairs, all right?
Mr. Blank here.
Hi, I'm Marissa Sully.
Hi, call me Charles.
Come in, please.
Thank you.
Here we are.
Can I just...
Yeah, thank you.
Oh, wow.
It's a really unusual pine cone design.
It's at least 150 years old.
You kidding?
You think it's worth anything?
It's certainly interesting.
The architecture is really unusual for
this side of town.
Yeah, my family has been there for
generations.
Oh, explains the size.
Must be one of the original whaling
families.
Do you know anything about your family
after?
Let's get a check on the 10%.
I don't even know what it is.
Hey, Mr. Sully, you're working good.
Can I have your phone real quick?
Yeah.
You know, I've never seen a deer skin
cushion before.
It's not deer.
No?
No, it's still a weasel, more likely.
You can tell from the white fur and the
belly.
It's just different seams.
Oh, do you hunt?
No, no, no, no.
My father, he taught me about the animals
around here.
Okay.
Could we maybe get a coffee after I've got
a chance to look at a few things here?
I want to talk to you about your options.
Uh, yeah, sure.
Absolutely sure.
Um... Could you just
give me a quick shot?
You know, why don't you go back,
uh, right here?
Ricky.
Ricky.
Get off the phone, man.
Hey, listen, let me call you back before
I'm okay.
All right.
Run.
Here I am trying to promote something and
you all up in my face, man.
I need some money, man.
For what?
I just want us to go for coffee.
Oh.
Oh, I did it.
No.
No, no, no, no.
It's not like that, man.
It's just if I can't pay, she might want
to take advantage of the deal.
I will give you 10% on it.
Charles, did you come here?
Is everything okay?
Yeah, I just, um... I wasn't expecting to
find any of this here.
Charles, your ancestors probably brought
these over from West Africa.
Guinea, maybe Lolly.
These would be the first of their kind
found in this part of the state.
And they would prove something I've been
saying for the longest time.
Just that our people were here for a
moment.
Are you okay?
Yeah, um...
I was just thinking I probably would have
thrown all this away if it was for Ricky.
Are you sure you're okay?
Yeah, yeah.
Um... I'm sorry, I just...
I don't know much about these things.
I'm just... My first time seeing
half of this stuff anyway, so...
If I'm honest, I just... I really just
need the money.
Yeah, sure.
Uh, the paintings that they have...
Any artistic value could go from pretty
high.
The furniture is arts and crafts and
earlier.
So the whole lot with
the exception of the
mass could go anywhere
between 40 and 100,000.
Probably closer to 40.
Damn, 40's for no one who should shake
hands.
Hey, yo, you okay?
Yeah, yeah.
Should we go grab that coffee?
Oh, no, I have a dinner thing.
Maybe sometime next week?
Okay.
Uh, yeah, sure.
Um... Uh, so how do we...
I mean, how do we do this?
I'll come by and photograph and annotate
everything, and I'll list them in the
appropriate newsletters, and just come and
pick the pieces up if they sell.
Assume I see some money.
Yeah, well, the antique dealers usually
take about three months to respond to
museums closer to night.
I should really go.
Sure, yeah.
Yeah.
And Charles, you should keep these close
to you, okay?
I'll show you.
Bye.
Thanks for coming.
Okay, Charles?
Yeah.
Bentonine, you want to come over tonight,
you know what I'm saying?
See your cousin staying.
You know my mom.
Okay, sure.
Great.
Good.
I'll be right back.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Hey, baby.
I'm gonna get us something to eat,
and I'll see you later, brother.
Come and step back to me.
Oh, yeah, Mr. Bennett.
You're ready to rent me your basement.
Oh, well, I'm ready to talk about it.
Well, I'll pay you a thousand dollars.
What?
Did you say sixty-five thousand dollars?
Not illegal, right?
Um...
Uh, yeah.
So we have a deal, then.
Thank you.
I'll see you November 1st.
Get your boy!
You crazy, you know that?
They smell good.
I'm starving.
So you got Tommy?
Only from what Ricky told me.
You were tired and had to get upstairs and
go to sleep.
Uh-uh.
I'm paying to see you and these two
sausages, too.
Ricky always went into a real subjective
area.
Okay, alrighty.
Charles?
You awake?
Sorry.
What about you watching?
I just wanted to remind Ricky was
sleeping.
And I was thinking about you.
You know what?
And how come it's been so long since I saw
you last?
One thing after another.
What happened, Charles?
What do you mean?
Why are you still here?
You were here, too?
I used to walk up and down test this house
trying so hard to make you guys look.
I must have worn the damn hole in my shoes
after I found so hard.
You noticed?
When?
You noticed.
Why do you say anything?
Your mom kicked me off the lawn,
man.
I'm from you.
The cursing in here feels wrong, like part
of me still worries you might tell my dad.
I was just surprised when Ricky said you
were still here.
You know, I thought you'd be gone and
living off the rim.
And I had to take care of my uncle.
Yeah.
You heard that mean son of a bitch,
too.
Thank God.
Sorry, I know I shouldn't say that.
None of you.
Right again.
He wasn't.
I don't see people much.
After Brent, I...
I just got stuck.
You can't leave?
I couldn't move.
We gonna go out for breakfast,
ladies?
Wanna come?
Yeah.
Just a second.
You want some Ricky?
Yeah?
Come over here for your basement.
You got some paperwork?
Just this.
Morning, Miss Little Nut.
How you doing?
Just a little too sick for me to smoke at
the house.
Climate... You're doing
my best now, okay?
I'm sorry, Charlie.
You are sorry.
You know what I mean?
You're just a sorry-ass
mother-fucking-town.
The bank has given you plenty of
opportunities to do that.
Shut up.
You know, you poisoned the whole fucking
town against me, Tom.
You gonna die?
Regardless of what you think has happened.
The bank will have to propose on your
house.
And that's a substantial payment is paid
by the end of the week.
Mr. Reggie.
Mr. Bennett.
It's all here.
Um, I must have forgot those.
Not to worry.
I'll get them out of here.
In my apartment?
Uh, you?
Why don't you give us some glasses?
Okay.
How do you like it?
Why do you like it?
My dad used to say white men are so cold.
Take a bath in ice water, still take their
whiskey on the rocks.
You prefer it neat?
Yeah.
Your house?
I am, that's smooth.
I took it up in Osaka.
Say what you want, but there's nothing the
Japanese don't know about whiskey.
That's real.
Tell me about yourself, Mr. Reggie.
But you are not.
Whatever you're willing to give away.
Well, you know my name, and you know where
I live.
And that's what the most strangers know
about me.
How did you?
Come to be in Sag Harbor, Mr. Blakey.
I never left.
Oh, not really.
Your family here?
Yeah, they're all in the yard out back.
No Blakey's left a lot besides me.
You're looking at the last Bennett.
So I'm just curious, what is it exactly
that you do?
Reclamations.
Uh, suppose you know there are riches in
the ground under someone else's house.
And let's say diamonds.
Let's say you're the only one who knows
they're there.
Well, only you can realize their
extraction.
There is just a... No.
The diamonds only exist for the man who
has imagined them.
They only exist for the man who knows how
to and can realize their extraction.
That's where I come in.
I locate the wealth and acquire the
property that contains it.
And then I receive a stipend based on the
value of my reclamation.
So it belongs to someone else's opinion.
Took it.
We need a way to slice it.
It's just stealing.
Nowadays, it's called globalization,
outsourcing, the cost of doing business.
Speaking of which...
25,000.
That's really great.
Oh, uh, yeah, okay then.
I'll get started on these boxes.
Take the bottle.
It's a gift.
Okay, thanks.
Uh, Mr. Blanky, could I trouble you for
coffee in the morning?
Uh, sure.
Black, please.
Do you really need a blanket or something
just in case you need a rest?
Don't worry.
I don't sleep much.
We can check in this place for months and
it still smells like lilacs.
Why don't you sit down, Mr. Blanky?
I don't need to sit down.
Please, let's not.
No, no, you need to start explaining.
Can I get my coffee first?
You can come out of there and you can get
it yourself.
Please.
Just sit down.
I've rented your basement
because I intend to
be locked in this cage
for the next 65 days.
During that time, I will
need you to bring me my
meals and see the general
upkeep of the environment.
You want to be locked up?
Yes.
What the... I'm not your fucking servant,
man.
This is weird.
It's really not.
Throughout history, there have been men who
have isolated themselves from the world.
They go to mountaintops and sit in caves,
meditating for months at a time.
They flagellate themselves and refrain
from having sex.
You paid to rent my basement?
No, I'm doing some S&M prison.
No, you... you tricked me.
I didn't.
You didn't ask.
You know as much as you needed to accept
my offer, nothing wrong with that.
Now, you come down of there right now.
Why?
Come on.
You stupid or something.
If the police came down here
and found a white man, locked
in my basement, they will
find a man willingly here.
Let me make a deal with you.
Let's go ahead, as planned.
And then, in two weeks, if you still want
me to go, I'm gone.
But, if you agree to let me stay, I will
double the final payment deal in cash.
What are you planning on doing down here,
man?
I'm just reading, thinking, maybe writing.
You can't just go to a hotel.
In my world, I'm pretty
well known, and some
people think I'm
important for their money.
I don't... this time is my own.
Yeah, okay, okay.
Thank you.
You used this to me.
Why should this?
You're a genius.
Mr. Breaking, could I trouble you to pass
me one of my books?
Which one, what?
The first volume of the story of
civilization.
You seem tense, Mr. Breaking.
My mother used to say, Ada was not even
new, I'm not a son.
She was right.
This right here is something new.
It's not so bad, is it?
I'm not the one locked in the freezer
basement.
Corbett, the spiritual journey.
You are renting a room and locking the
door.
That's all.
I'm just trying to set an example.
An example?
I mean, nobody know you down here,
right?
When I'm trying to make way.
Okay, well, you enjoy your spiritual
journey.
Charles?
Oh, hey.
Hey, you even allowed out the house,
man?
What are you doing here?
You don't need some books from the
basement.
Okay, what are you doing when you're done
with Charles, man?
Hey, uh... Claire said he
saw you at the train station.
Hey, uh...
Yeah, you had a crazy look of your arm,
man.
I don't know, I do think I got to get out
of here, man.
For good.
Will you use that arm?
Maybe.
I don't know, excuse me.
It's confusing.
Well, I want you to be confused about it.
You been to college, don't do a hard job.
How's Bethy?
Man, that girl got something cooking in
me, man.
Thinking about starting
some kind of serious
business, making a
life for myself, for us.
Bethy talking about wanting to move down
south.
Your family out in Atlanta, I want a
beauty bottle with a cousin.
I don't know about moving, but it feels
good when she's talking about us.
Will we throw in a party at Claire's place
in a couple of weeks?
Everyone around has called me and Raylene
is cooking.
You come, right?
I wasn't going to be a party without my
boy.
I'll let you already let down by then.
I will try.
I'll try.
Lawrence is coming.
Man, she knows something about you.
You just don't even see it.
Mr. Bennett, call me Aniston.
I think we're past from Amity's.
Okay, Aniston.
How you finding your state?
To be honest, it's not what I expected.
It's strange being locked up down here.
It's great for reading and drawing from
memories.
No sense of days passing other than when
you come down those stairs.
I don't know what's going on in the world.
I don't know about the Renaissance,
because it'll get happening this morning.
Well, maybe we'll be wondering about you.
Does anybody wonder about you,
Charles?
We all disappear sometimes, right?
We go to work down the street from bed.
It might take five minutes.
It might be overnight.
Sometimes you forget to call or have to
stay an extra day.
Sometimes you fall in love with someone
else or have an accident.
One day you just don't come back.
And people are worried at first.
They make calls to the police and
hospitals.
They live asleep.
Some people are so close to their loved
ones that they die without them.
But most of us don't.
Most of us adapt.
People die every day.
You aren't dead.
You're alive.
You aren't lost.
You're in a hole in the ground,
reading books and farting out cornflakes.
Touch.
Will he's a man to lock himself up for
fun?
This isn't fun.
Well, if it ain't fun, it sure is
expensive.
Money ceased being interesting to me a
long time ago.
Only people who got a lot of it can talk
about that.
And I sincerely hope you're enjoying
spending my money, Charles.
I mean it.
Have you ever been to Africa?
I have.
What are you making of this?
What did you get?
You've been in my family for a while.
I'm just trying to figure out where from,
what they mean.
Think of myself.
You've got a pocket knife.
You're welcome.
John.
Hey.
Hey.
Hey, it's just a... I just thought I'd
drive by.
That's a great suit.
It's my father's.
Why is the cut?
He had a lot of
them, so... For what?
No, no.
He was a butcher and a self-empty,
so...
I just... I think he wore them,
so he could feel good.
Maybe I...
Maybe I'll work as a young man.
Well, that's a good look.
I just made some coffee.
Do you want some?
Yes, sure.
Thank you.
I was actually meaning to call you today.
I can't stop reading those diary letters
in your house.
They're just incredible.
Real people's history.
They could be in an entire room.
They should be.
I've been studying these masks,
and...
It's almost like they've been...
It's almost like they're trying to tell me
something that I know, but I...
I don't forgot.
Sure.
No, I'm okay.
Thank you.
Well, I haven't learned much more about
them, unfortunately.
There's not much more in the diary.
I've had some feelings happen, so...
That's okay, because that's why I'm here.
Can I just put...
Yeah, I can, too.
Okay, thank you.
So...
I've been thinking about how my mom,
she...
She always used to talk about how her
family of people, they were never slaves.
Right.
And I just used to think it was just talk
about it, okay?
But...
What do you...
What do you think it means?
Sure.
You... You think maybe...
It means we can get some more money for
it, or...
I got a bit of a proposition for you.
So... All this stuff from
the basement, right?
The Blakeys, we have no family that's been
here since the start, right?
Most people here are just like me.
I mean, we look... We look at this
stuff and we think it's just junk, right?
So... What if...
You and I were...
Partners, right?
And... I got a car.
I got a car.
I could get a van, and then
we could like... I don't know.
We could drive around and offer our
services to folks around here,
and go through this stuff, and just cost
it.
And then we could take a cut.
You know, I think you would have been
better if you phoned it all away.
Um...
Because that way you wouldn't turn your
heritage into merchandise.
Well, I thought that you... Listen, I'll
let you know when the evaluations come back.
Thank you, Miss Northern Fire.
Excuse me.
Are you...
My friends thought you were...
I'm... I'm Aniston.
Aniston Bennett.
I'm in the import-export business.
What do you import?
That you need.
Where were you?
Caught you.
I'm in Shaptubov.
You can't leave me down here all day
without a meal.
That's not what I paid you for.
I was busy.
I should throw you out of here right now,
man.
Fuck your money.
That's big, given you've already spent it.
You know, if I want you out of here,
I will pay you back.
No need to get hated.
Everything's fine.
No.
No, no, everything is not fine.
You need to tell me why you're hiding down
here, man.
I need to be here.
Why?
Why?
It's not bullshitting, man.
I know you're some kind of...
I know you're some kind of criminal.
Is that why you're here?
Yes.
Are they looking for you?
No.
I swear.
Now, you've been trying to dress this shit
over me every which way.
But if you just down here hiding from the
law and they're about to come crashing
through my front door, so help me God,
I will drag your ass out of here right now.
Charles, I swear by your
God that nobody, no arms
to the state is going to
come here looking for me.
And even if they were,
the hypocrites on our
benches will never stand
in judgment over me.
So what do you think you were above the
law, huh?
Not at all.
That's why I'm here.
Just tell me what you did.
You don't need to know that.
It won't help anything.
Next time, you pick up some pussy and kick
your drum out of here first.
How do you have to feed your dog?
My name's Jeff Love.
Can you bring me a new light bulb lighter?
And leave the light on when you go.
Can you put some clothes on, please?
Whatever you want.
I've been thinking about your masks.
Yeah?
They've been in your family long.
I got somebody looking into one.
That's funny.
How's it funny?
I'm down here trying to reflect on the
history of mankind in all these books.
You believe you can hold your history in
the palm of your hand.
What did it wear that easy?
It's not that easy.
It's really not.
Nothing in this world is free of
everything else.
Thank you.
Do you want to tell us how to bring you to
play?
Me?
No, I might get in the way of whiskey.
You need something?
You lose some weight?
He's getting in shape for his journey.
Who's what?
Charles says he's leaving for good,
man.
You gonna sell the house, man?
I can't sell my house.
You sure you can't know who I can't?
Well, I'm gonna go anywhere.
I'll go who you lose to me.
So who are you?
If he's staying, maybe you need to go for
him, man.
Get married.
I got some kids.
He has a rich coming
from the prison that was
reminding me I can't even
take care of my own self.
Okay, so you gonna go?
You can drive it.
You okay, Charles?
John Patterson.
You know, bank manager.
Mm-hmm.
He, uh... He told
everybody, uh...
I took money from my drawer.
What the fuck, damn.
Yeah, well, I did it.
I took the money, and I'm
pretty sure he told Wilson
Ryder, and that's why
they didn't get the job.
And then I called my own peaches, and
she could help with the mortgage again.
She turned me down.
It's not cool, man.
There's already hair there, brother.
She's right, man.
I guess all this time, I just have been...
I tell her, good person, bad luck.
But that's not true, is it?
If you don't try to keep the house,
you won't smell.
Maybe on that moment,
you'll try too much.
Clarence.
Sorry if I haven't heard you, man.
It wasn't the whiskey I was...
It was a joke.
See, I'm going to have to ask you again
for my lifeboat.
Shut up.
Probation's over in two days, and then you
outta here.
I want to ask your money so you can keep
it.
We have a deal.
I changed my mind.
So you robbed a bank?
You, I changed my mind.
I haven't been a burden to you.
I don't want you here.
You wanna know why I'm really here?
My first job was as an accountant in
Tehran.
My employers, to test my loyalty,
brought me to a cell where a man was held
captive, and they told
me to kill him, so I took the
gun that they offered and
shot him in the left eye.
You shot a man just because they told you
to.
Absolutely.
I saw the pieces on the board.
They would've killed him anyway.
And that's... that's why you wanna be
here?
I don't want to be.
I need to be.
Did you shot that man?
Well, yeah.
Yes, that's part of it, a very small part.
But why here?
Why... why my house?
Was he black?
Oh, so you're telling me
that you are freezing in my
basement because you killed
some black man I ain't ever met?
Don't mark me, Charles.
This is a joke.
You are a fucking joke.
Suppose I was crazy.
Suppose I hated white people and decided
to torture and kill you.
Torture's hard work, Charles.
Most men don't have the stamina.
I see you now.
I see you.
You're just some crazy-ass white man.
And I'm sick and tired of you expecting me
to jump like a trained fucking monkey.
You getting your ass out of here day after
tomorrow.
And you need the money.
Thirteen, though, about what I need.
I know you went to Sag Harbor High School.
Your father died in your sophomore year.
Your friends then and now are Clarence
Mayhew and Ricky Winkler.
You might have been nobody at all.
There was something on the football star
in high school.
And that brought you to an average college
where you stuck out three years.
Your mother's health
deteriorated and you came home
to take care of her, but
she died within months.
Her brother Brent was living with her.
He stayed on with you.
I suspect he wanted the house,
and I think you wouldn't let him have it.
You worked as a teller at Harvard Union
and embezzled $433 from your drawer.
It's hard to imagine that's a sum worth
losing your job and dignity for.
But I'm grateful so little was all it
took.
You're broke with no prospects.
And you've got a 68,000-ton of mortgage
hanging over your head, which might lose
you, your family, home.
That's why I offered a good price and
forced the bank to start foreclosure.
So you recently tried to take Miles?
Yes.
That's it.
Charles, don't be stupid.
You're insane.
You kicked me out, and the bank will
continue foreclosure.
I'm not afraid of you.
Has it ever turned to you that my being in
this cage is simply my physical situation?
The problem I present to you doesn't
change in or out.
Could you threaten me?
Could you pass me the first file you left
the Alexandria Court, then?
You say that you really need to be here.
I see how much you really mean it.
Tonight, you're the prisoner.
And I'm a motherfucking warden,
for real.
What are you doing?
It's horrible.
You can't leave me in the dark like that.
It hurts.
Everything is now privileged.
Food, water, books, and light.
I will ask you questions, and you will
answer them if you refuse.
Or if I don't like your answers,
the privilege will be taken away.
To what?
Because I want to.
Those are my rules.
And I'm in charge.
You do have one ring.
At any time, you can ask to be released.
And then 96 hours after that, I will open
that door and you can go.
Why?
Because those are my rules.
And you're not going to be the boss.
One conditional claim.
What's that?
I want to ask you one question for every
tree you ask me.
When you give your word, make your answer
honestly.
Why are you here?
I don't understand the question.
Why do you feel that you should be in a
cell in my basement?
Why do you feel you should be in a cage?
I'm a criminal.
But with those that you pronounce,
it's my turn.
When?
Charles, you made the rules.
Why am I here?
Why do I want to be here?
Why do I feel I should be in a cage?
Did you invest some money from our
reunion?
I took money from my drawer.
Are you an American citizen?
Yes, I am.
Were you born here?
Yes.
You have been convicted of a crime once.
Why are you here?
My father died when I was young.
My mother's brother, Brent, came to stay
and he...
ended up living here.
He got sick.
My mom got sick some after.
Came back to take care of her.
But she died pretty quickly.
And I took care of Brent.
But then he hung on to life like a leech
on a baby's ass.
By the time he finally died, I got stuck.
That's it.
And now I'm down here taking care of you.
Your turn.
Do you have a boss?
Not anymore.
You ever murdered anyone?
No.
That's it.
Four days of solitary.
Why?
Because you lied.
You told me that you murdered that man.
No, I killed him.
Shot him.
Following orders from legal government
representatives.
I'm no more a murderer than the state
executing a condemned man.
Are you a lawyer, Mr. Bennett?
No.
My turn.
Have you ever murdered anyone?
No.
I got you.
Whatever you're saying, Mr. Warner.
I was putting out the trash.
Thought I'd come over, see if you were all
right.
Are you all right, Charles?
Things are coming.
I've never been here before.
Me either.
I want to just apologize for the other
day.
No, you don't have to do that.
No, I do.
I do.
Because I clearly upset you.
And I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Truthfully, it breaks my heart to see you
sell your family's history.
But I need to be professional.
Get you the best possible outcome for
their possessions, which I love.
Thank you.
Your shop is cool.
Thank you.
It was my aunt's place.
It's not exactly the
dream, but, you know, it
helps me to mortgage
while I write my book.
What's it about?
African American textiles, all the way
back to the 16th century.
Chopsticks are regular.
Chopsticks mean.
Yeah, chopsticks.
Uh, nurses, uh,
can I ask you a question?
Of course.
Were you in college?
Um, did they ever teach you about evil?
No, I mean, that's the date.
Okay.
No, no, no, no.
No, it's okay.
I can try again.
Yes.
Well, I had this one professor who said,
all the evil in the world is white.
Only white people?
Back then, I just thought he was trying to
impress us, but now...
Well, what changed?
I looked around more.
I don't think that's the world we're in,
I mean.
What would you say if
I murdered your family
and then said the white
man made me do it?
I would say if evil is in a food
that you meet and the clothes
that you wear and the language
you speak, it becomes you.
But we can fight against it.
Oh.
However you can.
Africa is the history of people standing
up against pure evil.
But a lot of those people lost,
though, right?
That's an oversimplification.
Is it?
Yes, it is.
And somebody has to lose.
You think like that, we all lose.
Exactly, we all lose.
You put gas in your car, don't you?
But you think that you
get to live the easy life
while someone's somewhere
is suffering or dying?
Who's humming, Matilda?
Where did those guys come from?
Glad you're back.
I'm not done.
I'm impressed.
I got the next question.
Okay.
Let's continue.
How do you actually make your money?
Individuals, corporations, and sometimes
governments pay me to get obtained and
reclaim properties that are meaningful to
them.
Are these transactions legal or illegal?
Legality is slippery, maybe.
But answer me, or spend the next four days
in the dark.
The things I do are seen as illegal.
I summon this destiny to others.
Why'd you choose my house?
It's been pushing against your teeth since
I got down here.
It's a difficult question, Charles,
and there are multiple answers.
Sadly, I don't think you're going to like
any of them.
The first is the ancient and irrefutable
concept of the nigger.
That's what we call you in our secret
moments.
Just before we hand out loans and awards
and life sentences.
We have created human mutants and cursed
them with names like boy and son.
From oversized genitals to tiny little
brains, we have repeated the curses so
often that most people,
even some of your own
people, believe in at
least part of the lies.
That's one reason.
I need to be incarcerated by someone with
black skin.
But why?
You?
Charles, you're so goddamn pedestrian.
Why did I choose you?
You were having thing that I needed.
The perfect specimen.
A lonely black man no one would miss with
an enormous debt and a good sized basement.
A perfect example of the failure we've
made up your race.
I'll see you for days.
Don't stop on what you agreed.
Charles!
Oh, hi.
I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me
after our lunch.
Oh, no, no.
I think we both got a little heated.
Okay, good.
Great.
Ashley, because I wanted to ask you about
something.
And if I don't just work
out the nerve to do it,
I'm afraid I'll never do
it or we'll both regret it.
Would you be open to sponsoring a museum?
For what?
An African-American museum.
I haven't figured out all the logistics,
but I think it's the perfect solution.
We would use your
artifacts and my shop or even
here a couple days a
week if you'd be willing to it.
But most importantly, most importantly to
you we charge admission.
And I haven't decided
how much yet, and you
wouldn't make as much
as if you sold the pieces.
But this way, you could keep them and make
some money.
Your family's history needs to be shared.
The museum.
I wonder what secrets you think.
Jojo.
What?
There's Jojo.
There's Jojo.
That's what I'm calling it.
This icky look and do right here,
this leopard.
This is saying it because you've got his
mouth open.
So can I have my conversation,
please?
Well, pleasure to meet you all.
I don't know.
Whatever secrets they have, then I'll tell
them.
Sorry.
Why does it matter to you so much?
It's my sister.
Can we tell them?
I don't know.
Hi, guys.
I want to feel part of the world,
you know?
I've known my true place in it.
Hello.
I think, uh...
I think maybe that's what my mom would've
wanted, you know?
For the house.
My mom, for me.
Like a fox or something.
It's all for me.
Yeah, I don't know.
Don't chase it away.
It's, um... it's getting late.
Okay, yeah.
Yeah, we'll talk soon.
All right, well, good night.
Good, calm.
Thank you, Charles.
Now my time here has begun.
They came to me in the dark.
I remembered them all.
And I tell you, I'm a journalist.
I saved him.
But he committed suicide 18 months later.
A Jordanian man I tortured.
I threatened to kill his family if he
didn't give up his comrades.
He committed suicide too.
So I kept my word.
He killed his wife inside.
Stop.
You gotta go.
I can't leave.
A man once paid me to give a
nine-month-old girl to his dog.
He wanted to know if the dog's true nature
would kick in.
And he paid me a large sum to make it
happen.
Have you ever watched a child be torn
apart?
I don't believe you.
Nobody could do something like that.
Oh, give me the mother.
Yet, thirteen other children, all of them
starving.
The sale of one meant the survival of the
rest.
You bought a baby?
How many lives have you saved,
Charles?
I've saved thousands!
But the world exists without me.
A child would have died anyway.
It's the way of the world.
It's not a question of good or evil.
It's simple humanity.
What does it even mean?
Have you ever been listening?
In or out of this cage with a single word?
I could end your life.
Power like that.
You're a child, Charles.
You need to believe you're still doing
childless things, but you're not.
You're a man.
Flicking paint on others.
And now, you just have to admit you enjoy
it.
I'm sorry.
Please, please.
No, leave me down here.
But please, don't.
Please, not yet.
I need rest.
Give me my light up, Charles.
Give me another couple days of light.
Look out!
Isn't it beautiful?
Whoa!
Charles, man.
How you doing, brother?
Good.
Should we get the rain?
She did.
Mm-hmm.
Congratulations.
Glad you could come, man.
You okay?
Yeah, you need a drink?
I'm good.
Have yourself over there.
Charles.
Charles!
Where is that nasty?
So ugly, you don't want that monkey,
sir.
This is a little neck.
Uh, I know my mom used to make these pies
for you at Chastity's sometimes,
but,
uh...
You're gonna have to come in and give it
to her yourself.
It hasn't changed much.
You're a dust-seater, but he's still
living just fine.
Chastity?
Look what little Charles Blakey did.
I promise.
It's your favorite pie.
Come closer, Charles.
She can't see that far.
Isn't that nice?
Don't you recognize him?
Grab a reasonable way.
Better let her get some rest.
She hasn't had a guest in over three
years.
Okay, now.
Move!
Aah!
Aah!
What the hell are you doing?
A bad guy!
Will you go back in the dark?
Are you pretending we're still playing by
the rules?
Answer me!
Stop!
Stop!
Ask me!
Ask me!
Is there anything better to your real
name?
Don't do this.
Is it your real name?
Yes, no, stop.
Your birth name?
What was that name?
Timonosis.
I never knew my parents.
My mother's name was Murianosis.
On my birth certificate it says she was
Greek.
Unburied, my father was listed only as
Timon.
His nationality was Turkish.
I became Timonosis because my mother died
before she could give me a name.
My father was gone.
When I grew up, I named myself.
I gave myself power.
I chose Bennett from the British fan base
that came over on the Mayflower.
The descendants waged the Indian wars.
Claimed territories larger than most
states.
So you could be anybody.
You don't know if your father was Turkish.
She could have been Arab, Indian,
African.
My name is Aniston Bennett and I am as
white as the sun.
But you could be a nigga too.
Your turn.
I don't want to play anymore.
Did you ever find out who your father was?
Haven't you had enough?
Tomorrow, please.
You want the light to read, but...
Thank you.
Meaning a book?
Please.
Your choice.
Hey.
You read this down in school.
Hey.
Have you read it before?
It's a big part of this town, man.
Not a long time.
I remember this is a part of the story
where...
The sailors are sitting on the boat eating
roasted well meat.
And there's sharks in the water.
And a frenzy because they're feeding on
the well carcass.
The sailors, they can't
enjoy their meal while
listening to the sound
of the sharks eating.
So they dragged a cook, black man,
as a joke, out of the kitchen.
And they tell him to go order the sharks
to stop eating.
So this cook, he starts preaching to the
sharks.
He's sermonizing like he's on top of a
mountain to get the sharks to stop eating.
And he told them that they could be
angels.
They just masked him down.
Maybe the cook was talking to himself.
I killed a man.
I let my uncle die.
I was left alone.
In this house, taking care of a man that I
hated my entire life.
So I stopped answering when he called.
Eventually, those calls became screams.
And I waited.
Until those screams that he ran up.
I never told anybody.
But that's how I ended up here.
That's how you forced your way into him.
Do you hate me, Charles?
Not any more than a hundred dollars.
Dear Charles, I'm sorry to skip out on our
last few days together.
I know you still have questions about us
both.
But there's some answers I have to take
with me.
I wasn't sure when I came to you if I
would die.
I've wanted to die for a long time.
But I had answers I needed to find first.
I hoped to find them among my books.
But they eluded me until you left me alone
in the dark.
In the dark, they all came back to me.
All the things I have done.
I could smell blood in the darkness.
And then I knew I had to die down here.
I was relieved I'd found the answer.
Watching you enjoy the
dark helped me realize
that like you, I am
a child of this world.
We're not so different, Charles.
We're both the decisions of those who came
before us.
I know you hate me for buying that child.
But I did think about saving her just for
a moment.
I think that's why she came to me in the
dark.
She's here with me, right now.
After all we've been through, all you did
to me and your uncle, do you really think
you would have done anything differently?
I've left letters for my business associates,
two friends, and my wifes and children.
Send them, please, so that the few people
who know me can mourn.
There's a red pill amongst my possessions.
It's fast, painless.
I leave it for you, in case this is your
last stop.
Maybe you'll finally try to make something
of yourself.
Maybe you'll just stay here and rot.
You can decide, either way.
Goodbye, Charles.
Good luck.
MoviePovie.Com
You better get through some kind of work.
You ain't got no job.
So you ain't got no money.
You know the bank will throw your ass out.
It's that third loan that you're in,
man.
You should've just sold this out years
ago, brother.
I've raised you... for a second.
You need a job, man.
You're also right in need.
So now, boy, you can check the house and
you can put it up.
Does he?
That's why I'm working.
He'll be here tomorrow.
Just go ask him.
I mean, maybe he'll make beats.
Maybe you're some kind of friend,
don't have work.
I mean, you've been living ok until now.
But they will take this house from you.
You'll end up like old mad
mosquito sleeping in somebody's
garage and yelling at birds
and even bae' old friends.
She's a tough nut, motherfucker.
How many times have I told you not to call
me that?
Charles.
Claire, baby.
Are you trying to tell me I'm worthy,
Claire?
Oh, Claire!
No, stop it!
What the fuck is wrong with you?
Come at him!
Fuck you!
Look at me, Claire!
What the fuck?
Yeah, fuck you!
Fuck you!
Fuck you!
Okay, okay, Claire!
Let's go home!
Hey, back there, let me see you.
Hey, stop!
I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.
You lazy, ungrateful nigga.
I hope they take your goddamn house.
Ow.
Mr. Charles Blakey?
Yeah, yeah, I'm Blakey.
You have a stand-up basement, sir.
A basement where a man can stand fully
erect.
It also has electricity and running water.
Oh, I'm sorry, Mr. Charles isn't for sale.
I'm only interested in renting.
What if someone's help?
I'm sorry, Mr. Charles isn't for sale.
Don't forget me.
Aniston Bennett, I'm from Greenwich,
Connecticut.
I haven't in mind to rent your basement
for a couple of months, Mr. Blakey.
Well, I'm sorry, Mr. Blakey, but this
house ain't for sale or for rent.
But I'm sure there's some realtors in town
that'll help you write out.
Maybe this is a bad time.
Why don't you give me a
call when you have a chance
to think about and maybe
discuss it with your wife?
I don't have a wife or a roommate.
Okay, I live alone and I like it like
that.
Thank you very much for your time,
Mr. Blakey.
Well, call me if you have a chance to hire
me.
Everything okay, Charles?
Yeah, everything's fine.
What's he selling?
A mask.
I'm not buying it.
What are you doing here?
I just want to talk to you good.
I was at Wilson Reiter's new site this
morning.
And he's got construction like coming out
of his ass, but no job for me.
He looked at me like I was a piece of
shit, Charles.
We've all been searching our hearts to be
caught since your long guard.
But you have gone too far.
I am so tired.
I'm sorry.
What's that got to do with what I'm
talking about?
You're for real.
You got what you ask, Mom.
Charles?
Yeah?
A man from the bank's holding company was
here last week.
They've had an offer to buy your house and
reclaim their debt.
They came for the best.
Hey!
Hey!
Aunt Peaches, how you doing?
How?
How's the family?
Everybody's on.
Well, that's good.
That's good.
It's been a while since I've seen you,
Peaches.
So, um, I just wanted to ask you
something.
I don't really have time, Charles.
No, no, no, no.
It'll just take a minute.
So, look, I have to borrow some money for
something important on the house.
And, um, well, I kind of need,
uh...
$2,500 for the back noise.
And I'm looking for a job right now,
but ain't nobody really hiring,
so...
Why do you do this to me?
What am I doing to you?
What?
I know that, Peaches.
That's why I want to keep the house and the
family so you just let me borrow the money.
My mother's dead.
Leave her to fuck her mama.
Uh, hey, Mr.
Bennett.
Um, this is Charles Blakey from SAG
Harbor.
Mrs. Little Neckwood, what are you doing
back here?
Gardening, Charles.
In my yard?
Well, that makes all this mess,
but I can't save your mom's roses.
You really need to prove it before the
frost sets in.
Anyway, I'm done.
I have to go and make dinner for Chastity.
Uh...
It's like a tomb down here.
My uncle used to say ghostly down here.
Like they'd rise up out their graves,
come in, play cards all night.
It turned out it's just a lot of shit.
Maybe I should just burn it up.
Whoa, I'm a man.
Man, this kid is anti-quality shit.
Okay, white people?
They spent $500 on a whole broke-down
chair in a minute.
Like a yard sale or something.
Sucka shit, man.
You mean to talk to a real antique dealer?
I mean, there are some in East Hampton,
but...
Well, now you might cheat you.
What would you know about it?
Well, last summer, I fixed up this one
sister's antique store.
I'll bet if we brought her out here to
take a look at this stuff, she'd broke
through with other dealers, and you could
make out.
What was it then?
10%.
Okay.
Part of that 10% is helping me move all
this shit upstairs, all right?
Mr. Blank here.
Hi, I'm Marissa Sully.
Hi, call me Charles.
Come in, please.
Thank you.
Here we are.
Can I just...
Yeah, thank you.
Oh, wow.
It's a really unusual pine cone design.
It's at least 150 years old.
You kidding?
You think it's worth anything?
It's certainly interesting.
The architecture is really unusual for
this side of town.
Yeah, my family has been there for
generations.
Oh, explains the size.
Must be one of the original whaling
families.
Do you know anything about your family
after?
Let's get a check on the 10%.
I don't even know what it is.
Hey, Mr. Sully, you're working good.
Can I have your phone real quick?
Yeah.
You know, I've never seen a deer skin
cushion before.
It's not deer.
No?
No, it's still a weasel, more likely.
You can tell from the white fur and the
belly.
It's just different seams.
Oh, do you hunt?
No, no, no, no.
My father, he taught me about the animals
around here.
Okay.
Could we maybe get a coffee after I've got
a chance to look at a few things here?
I want to talk to you about your options.
Uh, yeah, sure.
Absolutely sure.
Um... Could you just
give me a quick shot?
You know, why don't you go back,
uh, right here?
Ricky.
Ricky.
Get off the phone, man.
Hey, listen, let me call you back before
I'm okay.
All right.
Run.
Here I am trying to promote something and
you all up in my face, man.
I need some money, man.
For what?
I just want us to go for coffee.
Oh.
Oh, I did it.
No.
No, no, no, no.
It's not like that, man.
It's just if I can't pay, she might want
to take advantage of the deal.
I will give you 10% on it.
Charles, did you come here?
Is everything okay?
Yeah, I just, um... I wasn't expecting to
find any of this here.
Charles, your ancestors probably brought
these over from West Africa.
Guinea, maybe Lolly.
These would be the first of their kind
found in this part of the state.
And they would prove something I've been
saying for the longest time.
Just that our people were here for a
moment.
Are you okay?
Yeah, um...
I was just thinking I probably would have
thrown all this away if it was for Ricky.
Are you sure you're okay?
Yeah, yeah.
Um... I'm sorry, I just...
I don't know much about these things.
I'm just... My first time seeing
half of this stuff anyway, so...
If I'm honest, I just... I really just
need the money.
Yeah, sure.
Uh, the paintings that they have...
Any artistic value could go from pretty
high.
The furniture is arts and crafts and
earlier.
So the whole lot with
the exception of the
mass could go anywhere
between 40 and 100,000.
Probably closer to 40.
Damn, 40's for no one who should shake
hands.
Hey, yo, you okay?
Yeah, yeah.
Should we go grab that coffee?
Oh, no, I have a dinner thing.
Maybe sometime next week?
Okay.
Uh, yeah, sure.
Um... Uh, so how do we...
I mean, how do we do this?
I'll come by and photograph and annotate
everything, and I'll list them in the
appropriate newsletters, and just come and
pick the pieces up if they sell.
Assume I see some money.
Yeah, well, the antique dealers usually
take about three months to respond to
museums closer to night.
I should really go.
Sure, yeah.
Yeah.
And Charles, you should keep these close
to you, okay?
I'll show you.
Bye.
Thanks for coming.
Okay, Charles?
Yeah.
Bentonine, you want to come over tonight,
you know what I'm saying?
See your cousin staying.
You know my mom.
Okay, sure.
Great.
Good.
I'll be right back.
Yeah.
Oh, yeah.
Hey, baby.
I'm gonna get us something to eat,
and I'll see you later, brother.
Come and step back to me.
Oh, yeah, Mr. Bennett.
You're ready to rent me your basement.
Oh, well, I'm ready to talk about it.
Well, I'll pay you a thousand dollars.
What?
Did you say sixty-five thousand dollars?
Not illegal, right?
Um...
Uh, yeah.
So we have a deal, then.
Thank you.
I'll see you November 1st.
Get your boy!
You crazy, you know that?
They smell good.
I'm starving.
So you got Tommy?
Only from what Ricky told me.
You were tired and had to get upstairs and
go to sleep.
Uh-uh.
I'm paying to see you and these two
sausages, too.
Ricky always went into a real subjective
area.
Okay, alrighty.
Charles?
You awake?
Sorry.
What about you watching?
I just wanted to remind Ricky was
sleeping.
And I was thinking about you.
You know what?
And how come it's been so long since I saw
you last?
One thing after another.
What happened, Charles?
What do you mean?
Why are you still here?
You were here, too?
I used to walk up and down test this house
trying so hard to make you guys look.
I must have worn the damn hole in my shoes
after I found so hard.
You noticed?
When?
You noticed.
Why do you say anything?
Your mom kicked me off the lawn,
man.
I'm from you.
The cursing in here feels wrong, like part
of me still worries you might tell my dad.
I was just surprised when Ricky said you
were still here.
You know, I thought you'd be gone and
living off the rim.
And I had to take care of my uncle.
Yeah.
You heard that mean son of a bitch,
too.
Thank God.
Sorry, I know I shouldn't say that.
None of you.
Right again.
He wasn't.
I don't see people much.
After Brent, I...
I just got stuck.
You can't leave?
I couldn't move.
We gonna go out for breakfast,
ladies?
Wanna come?
Yeah.
Just a second.
You want some Ricky?
Yeah?
Come over here for your basement.
You got some paperwork?
Just this.
Morning, Miss Little Nut.
How you doing?
Just a little too sick for me to smoke at
the house.
Climate... You're doing
my best now, okay?
I'm sorry, Charlie.
You are sorry.
You know what I mean?
You're just a sorry-ass
mother-fucking-town.
The bank has given you plenty of
opportunities to do that.
Shut up.
You know, you poisoned the whole fucking
town against me, Tom.
You gonna die?
Regardless of what you think has happened.
The bank will have to propose on your
house.
And that's a substantial payment is paid
by the end of the week.
Mr. Reggie.
Mr. Bennett.
It's all here.
Um, I must have forgot those.
Not to worry.
I'll get them out of here.
In my apartment?
Uh, you?
Why don't you give us some glasses?
Okay.
How do you like it?
Why do you like it?
My dad used to say white men are so cold.
Take a bath in ice water, still take their
whiskey on the rocks.
You prefer it neat?
Yeah.
Your house?
I am, that's smooth.
I took it up in Osaka.
Say what you want, but there's nothing the
Japanese don't know about whiskey.
That's real.
Tell me about yourself, Mr. Reggie.
But you are not.
Whatever you're willing to give away.
Well, you know my name, and you know where
I live.
And that's what the most strangers know
about me.
How did you?
Come to be in Sag Harbor, Mr. Blakey.
I never left.
Oh, not really.
Your family here?
Yeah, they're all in the yard out back.
No Blakey's left a lot besides me.
You're looking at the last Bennett.
So I'm just curious, what is it exactly
that you do?
Reclamations.
Uh, suppose you know there are riches in
the ground under someone else's house.
And let's say diamonds.
Let's say you're the only one who knows
they're there.
Well, only you can realize their
extraction.
There is just a... No.
The diamonds only exist for the man who
has imagined them.
They only exist for the man who knows how
to and can realize their extraction.
That's where I come in.
I locate the wealth and acquire the
property that contains it.
And then I receive a stipend based on the
value of my reclamation.
So it belongs to someone else's opinion.
Took it.
We need a way to slice it.
It's just stealing.
Nowadays, it's called globalization,
outsourcing, the cost of doing business.
Speaking of which...
25,000.
That's really great.
Oh, uh, yeah, okay then.
I'll get started on these boxes.
Take the bottle.
It's a gift.
Okay, thanks.
Uh, Mr. Blanky, could I trouble you for
coffee in the morning?
Uh, sure.
Black, please.
Do you really need a blanket or something
just in case you need a rest?
Don't worry.
I don't sleep much.
We can check in this place for months and
it still smells like lilacs.
Why don't you sit down, Mr. Blanky?
I don't need to sit down.
Please, let's not.
No, no, you need to start explaining.
Can I get my coffee first?
You can come out of there and you can get
it yourself.
Please.
Just sit down.
I've rented your basement
because I intend to
be locked in this cage
for the next 65 days.
During that time, I will
need you to bring me my
meals and see the general
upkeep of the environment.
You want to be locked up?
Yes.
What the... I'm not your fucking servant,
man.
This is weird.
It's really not.
Throughout history, there have been men who
have isolated themselves from the world.
They go to mountaintops and sit in caves,
meditating for months at a time.
They flagellate themselves and refrain
from having sex.
You paid to rent my basement?
No, I'm doing some S&M prison.
No, you... you tricked me.
I didn't.
You didn't ask.
You know as much as you needed to accept
my offer, nothing wrong with that.
Now, you come down of there right now.
Why?
Come on.
You stupid or something.
If the police came down here
and found a white man, locked
in my basement, they will
find a man willingly here.
Let me make a deal with you.
Let's go ahead, as planned.
And then, in two weeks, if you still want
me to go, I'm gone.
But, if you agree to let me stay, I will
double the final payment deal in cash.
What are you planning on doing down here,
man?
I'm just reading, thinking, maybe writing.
You can't just go to a hotel.
In my world, I'm pretty
well known, and some
people think I'm
important for their money.
I don't... this time is my own.
Yeah, okay, okay.
Thank you.
You used this to me.
Why should this?
You're a genius.
Mr. Breaking, could I trouble you to pass
me one of my books?
Which one, what?
The first volume of the story of
civilization.
You seem tense, Mr. Breaking.
My mother used to say, Ada was not even
new, I'm not a son.
She was right.
This right here is something new.
It's not so bad, is it?
I'm not the one locked in the freezer
basement.
Corbett, the spiritual journey.
You are renting a room and locking the
door.
That's all.
I'm just trying to set an example.
An example?
I mean, nobody know you down here,
right?
When I'm trying to make way.
Okay, well, you enjoy your spiritual
journey.
Charles?
Oh, hey.
Hey, you even allowed out the house,
man?
What are you doing here?
You don't need some books from the
basement.
Okay, what are you doing when you're done
with Charles, man?
Hey, uh... Claire said he
saw you at the train station.
Hey, uh...
Yeah, you had a crazy look of your arm,
man.
I don't know, I do think I got to get out
of here, man.
For good.
Will you use that arm?
Maybe.
I don't know, excuse me.
It's confusing.
Well, I want you to be confused about it.
You been to college, don't do a hard job.
How's Bethy?
Man, that girl got something cooking in
me, man.
Thinking about starting
some kind of serious
business, making a
life for myself, for us.
Bethy talking about wanting to move down
south.
Your family out in Atlanta, I want a
beauty bottle with a cousin.
I don't know about moving, but it feels
good when she's talking about us.
Will we throw in a party at Claire's place
in a couple of weeks?
Everyone around has called me and Raylene
is cooking.
You come, right?
I wasn't going to be a party without my
boy.
I'll let you already let down by then.
I will try.
I'll try.
Lawrence is coming.
Man, she knows something about you.
You just don't even see it.
Mr. Bennett, call me Aniston.
I think we're past from Amity's.
Okay, Aniston.
How you finding your state?
To be honest, it's not what I expected.
It's strange being locked up down here.
It's great for reading and drawing from
memories.
No sense of days passing other than when
you come down those stairs.
I don't know what's going on in the world.
I don't know about the Renaissance,
because it'll get happening this morning.
Well, maybe we'll be wondering about you.
Does anybody wonder about you,
Charles?
We all disappear sometimes, right?
We go to work down the street from bed.
It might take five minutes.
It might be overnight.
Sometimes you forget to call or have to
stay an extra day.
Sometimes you fall in love with someone
else or have an accident.
One day you just don't come back.
And people are worried at first.
They make calls to the police and
hospitals.
They live asleep.
Some people are so close to their loved
ones that they die without them.
But most of us don't.
Most of us adapt.
People die every day.
You aren't dead.
You're alive.
You aren't lost.
You're in a hole in the ground,
reading books and farting out cornflakes.
Touch.
Will he's a man to lock himself up for
fun?
This isn't fun.
Well, if it ain't fun, it sure is
expensive.
Money ceased being interesting to me a
long time ago.
Only people who got a lot of it can talk
about that.
And I sincerely hope you're enjoying
spending my money, Charles.
I mean it.
Have you ever been to Africa?
I have.
What are you making of this?
What did you get?
You've been in my family for a while.
I'm just trying to figure out where from,
what they mean.
Think of myself.
You've got a pocket knife.
You're welcome.
John.
Hey.
Hey.
Hey, it's just a... I just thought I'd
drive by.
That's a great suit.
It's my father's.
Why is the cut?
He had a lot of
them, so... For what?
No, no.
He was a butcher and a self-empty,
so...
I just... I think he wore them,
so he could feel good.
Maybe I...
Maybe I'll work as a young man.
Well, that's a good look.
I just made some coffee.
Do you want some?
Yes, sure.
Thank you.
I was actually meaning to call you today.
I can't stop reading those diary letters
in your house.
They're just incredible.
Real people's history.
They could be in an entire room.
They should be.
I've been studying these masks,
and...
It's almost like they've been...
It's almost like they're trying to tell me
something that I know, but I...
I don't forgot.
Sure.
No, I'm okay.
Thank you.
Well, I haven't learned much more about
them, unfortunately.
There's not much more in the diary.
I've had some feelings happen, so...
That's okay, because that's why I'm here.
Can I just put...
Yeah, I can, too.
Okay, thank you.
So...
I've been thinking about how my mom,
she...
She always used to talk about how her
family of people, they were never slaves.
Right.
And I just used to think it was just talk
about it, okay?
But...
What do you...
What do you think it means?
Sure.
You... You think maybe...
It means we can get some more money for
it, or...
I got a bit of a proposition for you.
So... All this stuff from
the basement, right?
The Blakeys, we have no family that's been
here since the start, right?
Most people here are just like me.
I mean, we look... We look at this
stuff and we think it's just junk, right?
So... What if...
You and I were...
Partners, right?
And... I got a car.
I got a car.
I could get a van, and then
we could like... I don't know.
We could drive around and offer our
services to folks around here,
and go through this stuff, and just cost
it.
And then we could take a cut.
You know, I think you would have been
better if you phoned it all away.
Um...
Because that way you wouldn't turn your
heritage into merchandise.
Well, I thought that you... Listen, I'll
let you know when the evaluations come back.
Thank you, Miss Northern Fire.
Excuse me.
Are you...
My friends thought you were...
I'm... I'm Aniston.
Aniston Bennett.
I'm in the import-export business.
What do you import?
That you need.
Where were you?
Caught you.
I'm in Shaptubov.
You can't leave me down here all day
without a meal.
That's not what I paid you for.
I was busy.
I should throw you out of here right now,
man.
Fuck your money.
That's big, given you've already spent it.
You know, if I want you out of here,
I will pay you back.
No need to get hated.
Everything's fine.
No.
No, no, everything is not fine.
You need to tell me why you're hiding down
here, man.
I need to be here.
Why?
Why?
It's not bullshitting, man.
I know you're some kind of...
I know you're some kind of criminal.
Is that why you're here?
Yes.
Are they looking for you?
No.
I swear.
Now, you've been trying to dress this shit
over me every which way.
But if you just down here hiding from the
law and they're about to come crashing
through my front door, so help me God,
I will drag your ass out of here right now.
Charles, I swear by your
God that nobody, no arms
to the state is going to
come here looking for me.
And even if they were,
the hypocrites on our
benches will never stand
in judgment over me.
So what do you think you were above the
law, huh?
Not at all.
That's why I'm here.
Just tell me what you did.
You don't need to know that.
It won't help anything.
Next time, you pick up some pussy and kick
your drum out of here first.
How do you have to feed your dog?
My name's Jeff Love.
Can you bring me a new light bulb lighter?
And leave the light on when you go.
Can you put some clothes on, please?
Whatever you want.
I've been thinking about your masks.
Yeah?
They've been in your family long.
I got somebody looking into one.
That's funny.
How's it funny?
I'm down here trying to reflect on the
history of mankind in all these books.
You believe you can hold your history in
the palm of your hand.
What did it wear that easy?
It's not that easy.
It's really not.
Nothing in this world is free of
everything else.
Thank you.
Do you want to tell us how to bring you to
play?
Me?
No, I might get in the way of whiskey.
You need something?
You lose some weight?
He's getting in shape for his journey.
Who's what?
Charles says he's leaving for good,
man.
You gonna sell the house, man?
I can't sell my house.
You sure you can't know who I can't?
Well, I'm gonna go anywhere.
I'll go who you lose to me.
So who are you?
If he's staying, maybe you need to go for
him, man.
Get married.
I got some kids.
He has a rich coming
from the prison that was
reminding me I can't even
take care of my own self.
Okay, so you gonna go?
You can drive it.
You okay, Charles?
John Patterson.
You know, bank manager.
Mm-hmm.
He, uh... He told
everybody, uh...
I took money from my drawer.
What the fuck, damn.
Yeah, well, I did it.
I took the money, and I'm
pretty sure he told Wilson
Ryder, and that's why
they didn't get the job.
And then I called my own peaches, and
she could help with the mortgage again.
She turned me down.
It's not cool, man.
There's already hair there, brother.
She's right, man.
I guess all this time, I just have been...
I tell her, good person, bad luck.
But that's not true, is it?
If you don't try to keep the house,
you won't smell.
Maybe on that moment,
you'll try too much.
Clarence.
Sorry if I haven't heard you, man.
It wasn't the whiskey I was...
It was a joke.
See, I'm going to have to ask you again
for my lifeboat.
Shut up.
Probation's over in two days, and then you
outta here.
I want to ask your money so you can keep
it.
We have a deal.
I changed my mind.
So you robbed a bank?
You, I changed my mind.
I haven't been a burden to you.
I don't want you here.
You wanna know why I'm really here?
My first job was as an accountant in
Tehran.
My employers, to test my loyalty,
brought me to a cell where a man was held
captive, and they told
me to kill him, so I took the
gun that they offered and
shot him in the left eye.
You shot a man just because they told you
to.
Absolutely.
I saw the pieces on the board.
They would've killed him anyway.
And that's... that's why you wanna be
here?
I don't want to be.
I need to be.
Did you shot that man?
Well, yeah.
Yes, that's part of it, a very small part.
But why here?
Why... why my house?
Was he black?
Oh, so you're telling me
that you are freezing in my
basement because you killed
some black man I ain't ever met?
Don't mark me, Charles.
This is a joke.
You are a fucking joke.
Suppose I was crazy.
Suppose I hated white people and decided
to torture and kill you.
Torture's hard work, Charles.
Most men don't have the stamina.
I see you now.
I see you.
You're just some crazy-ass white man.
And I'm sick and tired of you expecting me
to jump like a trained fucking monkey.
You getting your ass out of here day after
tomorrow.
And you need the money.
Thirteen, though, about what I need.
I know you went to Sag Harbor High School.
Your father died in your sophomore year.
Your friends then and now are Clarence
Mayhew and Ricky Winkler.
You might have been nobody at all.
There was something on the football star
in high school.
And that brought you to an average college
where you stuck out three years.
Your mother's health
deteriorated and you came home
to take care of her, but
she died within months.
Her brother Brent was living with her.
He stayed on with you.
I suspect he wanted the house,
and I think you wouldn't let him have it.
You worked as a teller at Harvard Union
and embezzled $433 from your drawer.
It's hard to imagine that's a sum worth
losing your job and dignity for.
But I'm grateful so little was all it
took.
You're broke with no prospects.
And you've got a 68,000-ton of mortgage
hanging over your head, which might lose
you, your family, home.
That's why I offered a good price and
forced the bank to start foreclosure.
So you recently tried to take Miles?
Yes.
That's it.
Charles, don't be stupid.
You're insane.
You kicked me out, and the bank will
continue foreclosure.
I'm not afraid of you.
Has it ever turned to you that my being in
this cage is simply my physical situation?
The problem I present to you doesn't
change in or out.
Could you threaten me?
Could you pass me the first file you left
the Alexandria Court, then?
You say that you really need to be here.
I see how much you really mean it.
Tonight, you're the prisoner.
And I'm a motherfucking warden,
for real.
What are you doing?
It's horrible.
You can't leave me in the dark like that.
It hurts.
Everything is now privileged.
Food, water, books, and light.
I will ask you questions, and you will
answer them if you refuse.
Or if I don't like your answers,
the privilege will be taken away.
To what?
Because I want to.
Those are my rules.
And I'm in charge.
You do have one ring.
At any time, you can ask to be released.
And then 96 hours after that, I will open
that door and you can go.
Why?
Because those are my rules.
And you're not going to be the boss.
One conditional claim.
What's that?
I want to ask you one question for every
tree you ask me.
When you give your word, make your answer
honestly.
Why are you here?
I don't understand the question.
Why do you feel that you should be in a
cell in my basement?
Why do you feel you should be in a cage?
I'm a criminal.
But with those that you pronounce,
it's my turn.
When?
Charles, you made the rules.
Why am I here?
Why do I want to be here?
Why do I feel I should be in a cage?
Did you invest some money from our
reunion?
I took money from my drawer.
Are you an American citizen?
Yes, I am.
Were you born here?
Yes.
You have been convicted of a crime once.
Why are you here?
My father died when I was young.
My mother's brother, Brent, came to stay
and he...
ended up living here.
He got sick.
My mom got sick some after.
Came back to take care of her.
But she died pretty quickly.
And I took care of Brent.
But then he hung on to life like a leech
on a baby's ass.
By the time he finally died, I got stuck.
That's it.
And now I'm down here taking care of you.
Your turn.
Do you have a boss?
Not anymore.
You ever murdered anyone?
No.
That's it.
Four days of solitary.
Why?
Because you lied.
You told me that you murdered that man.
No, I killed him.
Shot him.
Following orders from legal government
representatives.
I'm no more a murderer than the state
executing a condemned man.
Are you a lawyer, Mr. Bennett?
No.
My turn.
Have you ever murdered anyone?
No.
I got you.
Whatever you're saying, Mr. Warner.
I was putting out the trash.
Thought I'd come over, see if you were all
right.
Are you all right, Charles?
Things are coming.
I've never been here before.
Me either.
I want to just apologize for the other
day.
No, you don't have to do that.
No, I do.
I do.
Because I clearly upset you.
And I'm sorry.
Thank you.
Truthfully, it breaks my heart to see you
sell your family's history.
But I need to be professional.
Get you the best possible outcome for
their possessions, which I love.
Thank you.
Your shop is cool.
Thank you.
It was my aunt's place.
It's not exactly the
dream, but, you know, it
helps me to mortgage
while I write my book.
What's it about?
African American textiles, all the way
back to the 16th century.
Chopsticks are regular.
Chopsticks mean.
Yeah, chopsticks.
Uh, nurses, uh,
can I ask you a question?
Of course.
Were you in college?
Um, did they ever teach you about evil?
No, I mean, that's the date.
Okay.
No, no, no, no.
No, it's okay.
I can try again.
Yes.
Well, I had this one professor who said,
all the evil in the world is white.
Only white people?
Back then, I just thought he was trying to
impress us, but now...
Well, what changed?
I looked around more.
I don't think that's the world we're in,
I mean.
What would you say if
I murdered your family
and then said the white
man made me do it?
I would say if evil is in a food
that you meet and the clothes
that you wear and the language
you speak, it becomes you.
But we can fight against it.
Oh.
However you can.
Africa is the history of people standing
up against pure evil.
But a lot of those people lost,
though, right?
That's an oversimplification.
Is it?
Yes, it is.
And somebody has to lose.
You think like that, we all lose.
Exactly, we all lose.
You put gas in your car, don't you?
But you think that you
get to live the easy life
while someone's somewhere
is suffering or dying?
Who's humming, Matilda?
Where did those guys come from?
Glad you're back.
I'm not done.
I'm impressed.
I got the next question.
Okay.
Let's continue.
How do you actually make your money?
Individuals, corporations, and sometimes
governments pay me to get obtained and
reclaim properties that are meaningful to
them.
Are these transactions legal or illegal?
Legality is slippery, maybe.
But answer me, or spend the next four days
in the dark.
The things I do are seen as illegal.
I summon this destiny to others.
Why'd you choose my house?
It's been pushing against your teeth since
I got down here.
It's a difficult question, Charles,
and there are multiple answers.
Sadly, I don't think you're going to like
any of them.
The first is the ancient and irrefutable
concept of the nigger.
That's what we call you in our secret
moments.
Just before we hand out loans and awards
and life sentences.
We have created human mutants and cursed
them with names like boy and son.
From oversized genitals to tiny little
brains, we have repeated the curses so
often that most people,
even some of your own
people, believe in at
least part of the lies.
That's one reason.
I need to be incarcerated by someone with
black skin.
But why?
You?
Charles, you're so goddamn pedestrian.
Why did I choose you?
You were having thing that I needed.
The perfect specimen.
A lonely black man no one would miss with
an enormous debt and a good sized basement.
A perfect example of the failure we've
made up your race.
I'll see you for days.
Don't stop on what you agreed.
Charles!
Oh, hi.
I wasn't sure if you wanted to see me
after our lunch.
Oh, no, no.
I think we both got a little heated.
Okay, good.
Great.
Ashley, because I wanted to ask you about
something.
And if I don't just work
out the nerve to do it,
I'm afraid I'll never do
it or we'll both regret it.
Would you be open to sponsoring a museum?
For what?
An African-American museum.
I haven't figured out all the logistics,
but I think it's the perfect solution.
We would use your
artifacts and my shop or even
here a couple days a
week if you'd be willing to it.
But most importantly, most importantly to
you we charge admission.
And I haven't decided
how much yet, and you
wouldn't make as much
as if you sold the pieces.
But this way, you could keep them and make
some money.
Your family's history needs to be shared.
The museum.
I wonder what secrets you think.
Jojo.
What?
There's Jojo.
There's Jojo.
That's what I'm calling it.
This icky look and do right here,
this leopard.
This is saying it because you've got his
mouth open.
So can I have my conversation,
please?
Well, pleasure to meet you all.
I don't know.
Whatever secrets they have, then I'll tell
them.
Sorry.
Why does it matter to you so much?
It's my sister.
Can we tell them?
I don't know.
Hi, guys.
I want to feel part of the world,
you know?
I've known my true place in it.
Hello.
I think, uh...
I think maybe that's what my mom would've
wanted, you know?
For the house.
My mom, for me.
Like a fox or something.
It's all for me.
Yeah, I don't know.
Don't chase it away.
It's, um... it's getting late.
Okay, yeah.
Yeah, we'll talk soon.
All right, well, good night.
Good, calm.
Thank you, Charles.
Now my time here has begun.
They came to me in the dark.
I remembered them all.
And I tell you, I'm a journalist.
I saved him.
But he committed suicide 18 months later.
A Jordanian man I tortured.
I threatened to kill his family if he
didn't give up his comrades.
He committed suicide too.
So I kept my word.
He killed his wife inside.
Stop.
You gotta go.
I can't leave.
A man once paid me to give a
nine-month-old girl to his dog.
He wanted to know if the dog's true nature
would kick in.
And he paid me a large sum to make it
happen.
Have you ever watched a child be torn
apart?
I don't believe you.
Nobody could do something like that.
Oh, give me the mother.
Yet, thirteen other children, all of them
starving.
The sale of one meant the survival of the
rest.
You bought a baby?
How many lives have you saved,
Charles?
I've saved thousands!
But the world exists without me.
A child would have died anyway.
It's the way of the world.
It's not a question of good or evil.
It's simple humanity.
What does it even mean?
Have you ever been listening?
In or out of this cage with a single word?
I could end your life.
Power like that.
You're a child, Charles.
You need to believe you're still doing
childless things, but you're not.
You're a man.
Flicking paint on others.
And now, you just have to admit you enjoy
it.
I'm sorry.
Please, please.
No, leave me down here.
But please, don't.
Please, not yet.
I need rest.
Give me my light up, Charles.
Give me another couple days of light.
Look out!
Isn't it beautiful?
Whoa!
Charles, man.
How you doing, brother?
Good.
Should we get the rain?
She did.
Mm-hmm.
Congratulations.
Glad you could come, man.
You okay?
Yeah, you need a drink?
I'm good.
Have yourself over there.
Charles.
Charles!
Where is that nasty?
So ugly, you don't want that monkey,
sir.
This is a little neck.
Uh, I know my mom used to make these pies
for you at Chastity's sometimes,
but,
uh...
You're gonna have to come in and give it
to her yourself.
It hasn't changed much.
You're a dust-seater, but he's still
living just fine.
Chastity?
Look what little Charles Blakey did.
I promise.
It's your favorite pie.
Come closer, Charles.
She can't see that far.
Isn't that nice?
Don't you recognize him?
Grab a reasonable way.
Better let her get some rest.
She hasn't had a guest in over three
years.
Okay, now.
Move!
Aah!
Aah!
What the hell are you doing?
A bad guy!
Will you go back in the dark?
Are you pretending we're still playing by
the rules?
Answer me!
Stop!
Stop!
Ask me!
Ask me!
Is there anything better to your real
name?
Don't do this.
Is it your real name?
Yes, no, stop.
Your birth name?
What was that name?
Timonosis.
I never knew my parents.
My mother's name was Murianosis.
On my birth certificate it says she was
Greek.
Unburied, my father was listed only as
Timon.
His nationality was Turkish.
I became Timonosis because my mother died
before she could give me a name.
My father was gone.
When I grew up, I named myself.
I gave myself power.
I chose Bennett from the British fan base
that came over on the Mayflower.
The descendants waged the Indian wars.
Claimed territories larger than most
states.
So you could be anybody.
You don't know if your father was Turkish.
She could have been Arab, Indian,
African.
My name is Aniston Bennett and I am as
white as the sun.
But you could be a nigga too.
Your turn.
I don't want to play anymore.
Did you ever find out who your father was?
Haven't you had enough?
Tomorrow, please.
You want the light to read, but...
Thank you.
Meaning a book?
Please.
Your choice.
Hey.
You read this down in school.
Hey.
Have you read it before?
It's a big part of this town, man.
Not a long time.
I remember this is a part of the story
where...
The sailors are sitting on the boat eating
roasted well meat.
And there's sharks in the water.
And a frenzy because they're feeding on
the well carcass.
The sailors, they can't
enjoy their meal while
listening to the sound
of the sharks eating.
So they dragged a cook, black man,
as a joke, out of the kitchen.
And they tell him to go order the sharks
to stop eating.
So this cook, he starts preaching to the
sharks.
He's sermonizing like he's on top of a
mountain to get the sharks to stop eating.
And he told them that they could be
angels.
They just masked him down.
Maybe the cook was talking to himself.
I killed a man.
I let my uncle die.
I was left alone.
In this house, taking care of a man that I
hated my entire life.
So I stopped answering when he called.
Eventually, those calls became screams.
And I waited.
Until those screams that he ran up.
I never told anybody.
But that's how I ended up here.
That's how you forced your way into him.
Do you hate me, Charles?
Not any more than a hundred dollars.
Dear Charles, I'm sorry to skip out on our
last few days together.
I know you still have questions about us
both.
But there's some answers I have to take
with me.
I wasn't sure when I came to you if I
would die.
I've wanted to die for a long time.
But I had answers I needed to find first.
I hoped to find them among my books.
But they eluded me until you left me alone
in the dark.
In the dark, they all came back to me.
All the things I have done.
I could smell blood in the darkness.
And then I knew I had to die down here.
I was relieved I'd found the answer.
Watching you enjoy the
dark helped me realize
that like you, I am
a child of this world.
We're not so different, Charles.
We're both the decisions of those who came
before us.
I know you hate me for buying that child.
But I did think about saving her just for
a moment.
I think that's why she came to me in the
dark.
She's here with me, right now.
After all we've been through, all you did
to me and your uncle, do you really think
you would have done anything differently?
I've left letters for my business associates,
two friends, and my wifes and children.
Send them, please, so that the few people
who know me can mourn.
There's a red pill amongst my possessions.
It's fast, painless.
I leave it for you, in case this is your
last stop.
Maybe you'll finally try to make something
of yourself.
Maybe you'll just stay here and rot.
You can decide, either way.
Goodbye, Charles.
Good luck.
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