Pain - Print Topic

Posted by: Don, December 20th, 2015, 1:44pm

Pain by Richard Russell - Short, Drama - Nice girl learns about pain from a bad boy. 6 pages - pdf, format 8)

Posted by: stevemiles, December 20th, 2015, 3:09pm; Reply: 1

Richard,

Read this a couple of times - feels rushed in places.

‘To one side, in robe, eyes red, Amy watches.’  -- IMO odd sentence structure.  Doesn't lend itself visually.

I’m left wondering what to take from this.  The logline is for a ‘nice girl’ learning about pain.  Though Amy made the decision to cheat on her husband -- in that sense she brought the ‘pain’ into her life by getting rough with bad boy Raff.  When it goes south she murders him -- so not such a nice girl...  I’m not sure what she hoped for.  My guess is a guy who hangs out at needle exchanges and uses the opening line of ‘You’ve got nice tits’ isn’t serious relationship material.

If anything Amy’s worse than him -- he’s no saint, but my take was she’s pretty much murdered him.

I like the idea of Amy getting revenge in the manner she does, I’m just struggling to take much from either character.  Some sense of moral ‘justice’?  Amy learns about pain -- but I’m not sympathetic.  Poor old dirtbag Raff ends up the one who learns the biggest lesson of all.

Hope this helps.

Steve.

Posted by: SAC, December 20th, 2015, 6:33pm; Reply: 2

Richard,

Didn't think I was going to like this at first. No clear, likeable person in the script. However, Amy comes close. That's not to say what she did was right by any means. You make your bed, you lay in it. But I just love seeing the arrogant, tough guy get a comeuppance. Just me.

Thought the writing was very good, as usual. Very dark. Good job.

Steve

Posted by: eldave1, December 21st, 2015, 2:14pm; Reply: 3

Richard - as usual - well written.

I had a hard time finding someone to root for here - not necessarily a bad thing - just my own idiosyncrasy.

SPOILER

For me, the fact that Amy is cheating on her husband, eliminated empathy for me. She really is no better (maybe even worse) then the guy she infects. I guess I would like her better is a vigilante - e.g., something like the dude screws with her best friend or sister or something and fucks their life up and then Amy delivers justice.

Anyway - again - solidly written. I just need someone to root for.

Posted by: RichardR, January 8th, 2016, 3:00pm; Reply: 4