Synopsis of Script: Apple Core
This movie consists of three modern stories: one from Germany, one from Afghanistan, and one from Canada.
The first story collides people’s desires and emotions with people’s morals and responsibilities. Dr. Hans Lang is a respectable maternity doctor close to retirement. Over the years, Lang has lost passion in his job as a doctor. Based on true events of refugees escaping to Germany as background, the story takes us through Lang’s life from Christmas to Easter.
The story has three plots: Hans’s getting roped into a rape case, a university student’s pregnancy, and a complication during a Muslim woman’s hospital stay. All three plots converge at the end as Hans is stuck at the epicenter.
The second story depicts a mother’s love. The story follows the life of a 10-year-old Afghan boy, Abdullah, with his mother one month before his father returns home from a 5-year sentence. The boy’s father has been locked up due to the father’s suspected terrorist activities. The boy and mother stick closely together to ride through the hardships of everyday life. With the father’s release date nearing, the boy’s newfound friend at school, and the school’s choir contest, the boy’s peaceful life is thrown into turmoil. This story demonstrates the damages done to children’s psyche by violence and poverty.
The third story portrays an immigrant finding his way in a foreign country. Mr. Zhou is a skilled worker. To save up money for a house’s down payment in Toronto, he leaves his wife and 6-year-old son for a half-year contract in Vancouver. Through his journey, he encounters a formidable hurdle—does God exist?
The story revolves around Mr. Zhou’s joining his company’s Canstruction team and his creating an AI software company alongside his friend. These events come together to manifest his homeland culture interlaced with Canadian culture with optimistic outlooks.
This is a low-budget script. All settings are in the real world, and the compelling stories are evenly paced. The complete script has 170 pages—a 2-hour film at least. The first and third stories are intentionally written to have potentially high-budget sequels. In the first story, Dr. Hans Lang can have a breakthrough in human memory. In the third story, machines can develop self-awareness. The script offers unique perspectives on life with an intended target audience of Americans, Europeans, and the Chinese—some of the highest-grossing box office groups.
The script seeks to challenge the standards set by Stanley Kubrick’s Eyes Wide Shut and David Lean and Roman Polanski’s Oliver Twist.
In Eyes Wide Shut, the main character’s identity does not match with the story’s development. This causes the film to lose much of its intended attraction. However, I do appreciate the film’s picture quality and colour palettes. I believe, using a low budget and real settings, my film will surpass Eyes Wide Shut.
In Oliver Twist, Polanski spent a great fortune replicating antique London streets to create an old-fashioned world away from reality. My film uses more poignant and more critical perspectives to depict the hardships of children’s everyday life.
Western children are exposed to Christianity since early childhood. The Chinese are not truly exposed to Christianity until adulthood due to the absence of religious practices in China. I want to earnestly present the two cultures clashing together, offering a valuable perspective.