I resolved to go back to being someone he'd make love to.
For the sake of pregnancy, I'd give up sleeping pills.
You're still up?
Yeah. I'm not going to bed till I get sleepy.
Don't push too hard.
The pills I didn't take were my downfall.
Just as I was getting more into things...
...my cousin called saying my father had died of a stroke.
What about the funeral?
I'm not going.
They called me a whore, so I'm not going home.
Oh.
But I'll buy them a household shrine. No one's died in our family before.
I've got a friend who knows about those.
Turn that off!
Sorry.
It's huge!
My mother sent the shrine back.
I'm sorry. My friend belongs to this really weird sect.
I've never seen one this big.
Ummmm...
...can we throw it out?
I know what you mean, but it's already been in my house.
Dad's soul might be in there!
What?!
That's where it goes. That's why you pray to it.
It's hard to throw out...
OK, we'll put it in my den. We'll never get it upstairs.
I'll get Komono to help.
Thanks.
Sorry, my deadline's tomorrow. I'm going upstairs.
Please leave your name and a message after the tone.
This is Fresh TV. How's the story going?
Give us a call.
Damn!
Why can't I write a measly 800 characters?
Climb in.
May I climb in there?
Sure! You can fit in there.
Komono was a former delinquent Tetsu had made his protege.
Oh... sorry, Asuka.
Weed...
What's going on?
Staying sober is just too scary right now.
Hey!
'Demons out!'
If it's going to go in Tetsu's room, he wants it to look a bit more solid.
What's that supposed to mean?
Well, you know... it just looks better in silver!
Smarten up!
'Demons out! Demons out!'
Do you realize what you're painting silver?
Someone's father!
Sorry!
Just the idea...
'Back to the Future'?
And then we had the mother of all fights.
Now I'm solid! Solid!
Ow!
That hurts!
Now I'm mad. Komono, we're out of here!
Next thing I remember, I was under 5-point restraint in the Quiet Room.
I was paying attention for the first half, I really was.
From your face, you really have a cross to bear!
You can talk to me.
I've always got time for a phone card, or a cigarette, or a talk.
As a matter of fact, I've been disowned, too.
A parent disowning a child...
...that I understand.
But my daughter disowned me. I just don't get it!
It's kind of a long story, but do you want to hear mine?
Huh?
Uh...
Are we roommates now?
That's right.
They want you for your physical.
Excuse me. We'll talk next time.
Hurry up and pay me back, or I'll have to charge you interest.
No problem. Your appetite's good, and we won't need an endoscopy.
I'll put you back on regular food.
Great!
I hate that stomach camera. It makes me break out in hives.
Then the stomach pump must have been really hard.
That was at the first hospital?
Yes. Then I recommended this one.
I don't remember anything about it.
No?
Perhaps it's better that way.
I can't come to...
I can't come to the phone right now.
I really wish you'd hurry up.
Tigris-Euphrates...
I can't come to the phone right now.
You have 20 seconds after the tone to leave a message.
Jerk!
You seem pretty angry.
I'm being released tomorrow.
What? Oh, no!
I mean... congratulations.
If your husband says to let you out, they can't keep you.
I can't reach mine, and I don't know his friends' phone numbers.
Would you like to come and see Sae in the rich room?
Miki and I are helping her.
Her parents buy her all those intellectual books...
...and poor Sae here can't even read comics!
So they bought her this.
A thousand pieces!
Sae promised us...
...if we finished this. She'd eat all her dinner for once.
Didn't you.
I'll try.
I wanted to finish before I got out, but it doesn't look like I will.
So... tag.
OK.
It fits!
At last.
Great.
This piece won't go there.
There!
She's on a roll.
This is relaxing, isn't it.
That's some clock...
Damn, it's 10 to 8!
Thanks.
Aw, it's over!
The show's popular here, too.
They love it!
Tetsu the Writer, for skipping a meeting...
...must visit the jungles of Myanmar...
...with a parrot on his shoulder.
Go, Private Tetsu!
You and your parrot!
Uh... my name is Komono. Yakihata Tetsu is in Myanmar.
I repeat, my name is...
Damn you!
We tried, but there's still a third to go.
Oh.
Smuggled in from outside.
Eat it quick.
Thanks.
It's so sweet!
How did you smuggle it in?
If I tell you, you'll be sorry you ate it.
Can I ask why you chose me to replace you on the jigsaw squad?
I just had a feeling.
I suppose you struck me...
...as being like me...
...maybe.
I'm not as nice as you are.
I'm picky about people myself.
That woman today. I don't like her.
Nishino?
Be careful. She targets all the new patients.
That girl who burned herself...
She pestered her, too. I think the stress set her off.
So I'm her next target?
Uh-oh...
She used to be a porno actress.
She started in her 20s, then got busted for speed.
She had plastic surgery in her 30s...
...then got worried about her figure.
She didn't have the willpower to diet, so she started binge-eating.
She's the one you'll hear retching in the toilet.
She eats her misery, then throws it up.
Anyway, whether someone's a nuisance or not...
...we're all here in rooms with windows that don't open.
I'm sorry... I'm on some really strong sleeping pills.
Do you know what the picture is in Sae's puzzle?
A lithograph, isn't it?
Escher's endless staircase.
Her parents aren't very sensitive.
Someone's crying.
Of course.
For all the people there are in here...
...there's no lonelier place than this.
Look here!
I'm right against the wall.
It'II be nice to be out.
Look!
Farewell
Leave her to me.
Good luck.
Thanks.
I should write my mail address.
It's OK. I won't be keeping this.
I'm going back to the real world.
But you're different from the rest.
Call me when you get out. We'll have some champagne.
Goodbye.
Take care.
OK! That's it for the change of schools!
Now we can all go back to being sick.
Are you getting a visit today?
I don't really know.
Pay me back, OK?
Oh... sure.
It's especially important that friends keep things straight.
Y13,000 is a lot of money.
The worst thing for making people ugly is a quarrel over money.
So keep things straight.
This isn't the Third World!
Ms Sakura Asuka, you have a visitor.
So Komono...
...is Tetsu in Tokyo or not?
I'm sorry! He's not!
He up and went!
We recorded the program the day you were taken away.
He had to cancel.
As a penalty...
...they sent him to the jungle like in 'Harp of Burma'!
He couldn't tell them why...
...so they got mad and sent him off without even a chance to phone!
I was there!
Yesterday morning they gagged him and blindfolded him...
...put him in a car, and took him straight to the airport!
So I guess that's all my fault, huh?
But I was with him all the way to the airport.
I got your things, and took care of your deadline.
Did you say 'deadline'?
I wrote your eight thousand...
'Thousand'?
Eight hundred!
'Eight hundred' characters, and sent it in for you!
Show it to me.
It's you!
'Hi, everyone! I started a forest fire at summer camp, so I'm being good.
'This is Asuka, your raw meat-Ioving cavewoman... '
'Raw meat-Ioving... '
I wrote it to suit you...
Huh?
Itchy! Itchy!
Komono! Komono!
Damn this thing!
Nurse!
Asuka's freaking out!
Don't tell them that!
Calm down. Ms Sakura...
I'm calm! I've got hives.
Thank you, Nurse.
It's hives, damn it!
Are you acting up again?
No, I'm not acting up!
It's hives!
Ready the Quiet Room.
But...
Now!
Stop!
I'm perfectly calm. I'm not freaking out.
These are hives. Is that a mental illness?
Get an antihistamine...
...from the dispensary.
It's closed till 2.
Then go to a drug store!
Can't you even do that?!
Komono! Camera!
Right!
That's nice!
Great, Asuka!
You can't take pictures here.
That's new.
If you make the rules...
...it's only fair you should tell us what they are.
Do something, or this fool...
...will put pictures of you isolating instead of treating...
...all over the internet.
You can do that?
Sir! Yes, sir!
Yay!
Go back to your room.
Well, maybe someone should get her some ice.
And some ointment.
We'll make efforts to communicate our rules better.
Loafers
That idiot!
No, that won't work.
See the letter? It goes over here.
Ta-da!
You were great.
Nice tits, too.
I won't deny it.
Your dress is...
...blue.
I won't deny it.
It's a good thing you didn't panic in there, though.
Yeah. I was close to it.
I don't want to be more trouble than I already am.
When I see Dr Shirai on Monday, I'm going to make her ask...
...'why are you in here?'
That's my goal.
You can do it.
Did you make Eguchi shut up?!
That's right! She...
Great!
I use what I've got.
What flavor is this?
Don't!
That tastes awful!
All right all right all right...
Back...
Stop.
And...
...there.
Yes!
Good night.
That night, Sae ate her dinner for the first time in five years.
And me...
...I finally fell asleep.
Everybody!
Fresh from her victory over Eguchi and the Head Nurse...
...Asuka makes her creative dance debut!
I was hospitalized after a drug overdose.
In the Secure Wing...
...quietly noisy, and so lonely you can't stand it.
Now I'll write. Now I can.
Huh?
Remember! Remember! Remember!
Remember! Remember!
Ms Nishino?
I'll pay you back your money.
Can I have a bit more time?
I'm not Ms Nishino.
I'm sorry.
I'm only telling this to you.
Whenever I eat a meal. Somewhere in the world...
...someone valuable goes without one.
I figured out the system. That's why I can't eat.
There's a reason why I don't eat.
I'm like you.
I'm sane, but I'm in here.
The system's wrong.
It really is.
Huh?
What else can I do?
What are you doing?
You're overdue!
You had a visitor yesterday, and I was waiting to get paid back.
Money is the root of all evil, you know.
You could have said...
I'm not a collection agency.
Then what's all this?
This is...
...prying.
I like you, you know? So I'm being inquisitive.
That's not always a bad thing.
I... I don't understand what you're talking about.
What's that? A letter?
I'm sorry. It was in with some writing paper.
I was so surprised...
...I went and read it.
You read it?!
Sure! That's where a person's weirdness comes out.
Honey, you made your old man cry!
That's bad.
Don't do that.
I read all about it.
But I understand. I made my daughter cry.
We're the same.
'Dear Asuka... '
I have a choice about going to Myanmar.
Don't tell Komono.
I can go, or leave the show.
I'm going to choose Myanmar.
Yes. Flight.
I'm running away.
I'm going to a fake meeting to be kidnapped.
'There's something I haven't told you...
'... about the day you overdosed.'
Lying there in the bedroom, you looked like you were dead.
Asuka!
Asuka?
Asuka! Asuka! Asuka! Hey!
Ready?
1, 2, 3!
Hang in there!
Here we go...
Don't move...
All right?
Hang in there.
Come on...
This won't take long...
Hold her! Hold her!
Come on!
Keep trying!
Ms Sakura!
Can you hear me?
Ms Sakura?
Doctor!
What did you do to her, anyway?!
Shit!
Aw, man... she's gargling vomit.
Right then your eyes opened, and you said...
Let me die.
What's wrong?
That was no 'accident'!
You wanted to kill yourself!
'When I got home at 4 a.m., you were still up... '
Stop it.
Stop it!
You went upstairs after that.
I thought you were just drunk...
...but you'd already taken the pills.
Just because...
...I was bored...
...I ended thousands of years...
...of my father's and husband's blood lines.
I'm horrible!
That's why you think you can paint my shrine silver and laugh.
Settle down...
Move!
Asuka!
Asuka, don't! Stop it!
Let go!
I'm worthless!
Asuka!
Stop it!
Let go of me!
800 characters!
I'm an empty shell who can't even write that much!
A citizen of boring-land!
And because of that I aborted my baby!
Look here, baby!
Here we go! Say cheese!
Asuka...
Asuka, it's all right. It's all right.
Tetsu, hold me...
Tetsu...
Let's make a baby.
One who's lots of fun.
Let's make one!
Smarten up!
You damn drunk!
I'm a drag, aren't I.
Tetsu, you come from funny-land.
So you can paint a shrine silver and laugh.
But me...
...I'm a drag, aren't I.
Asuka...
...let's end this.
You really are a drag!
You're awful!
Shut up, you old bitch!
But life is a drag, isn't it.
Shut up!
You stale old bitch!
I'm not stale and I'm not old!
You old bitch!
I'm still fresh!
'Fresh'!
This is what happened to me!
Asuka! She loves sending new girls to the Quiet Room!
And those are my shoes!
So what?
When Asuka had hives. I saw Ms Nishino...
...go into the visitors' room!
Get your filthy hands off my memories!
Stop it.
Hands off, weirdo!
It's quiet, very quiet.
But I can sense the world turning.
With my silver shoes back...
...I'm like the Dorothy I played at my high-school culture festival.
Send me back to Aunt Em in Kansas!
Where can I go back to if I tap my heels together three times?
Probably nowhere.
I took those pills so God would choose where I'd be.
And I ended up in the Quiet Room.
There's nowhere better, or worse.
Where I am is exactly where a pain in the ass...
...should be.
Welcome to the Quiet Room, Asuka.
And now... I'm alive.
Miki pleaded with the nurses, and I was out of there that day.
'Morning.
Tigris-Euphrates...
Do you know about work checking water meters?
It came out Ms Nishino had been lifting people's things.
She went to a police hospital.
In all the confusion, Mrs Kinbara had escaped.
I stayed calm and let time go by.
Then came Monday, assessment day.
I don't sense any problems.
I'll let your husband decide on your release.
Three more days went by.
To Ms Yamagishi
Depressing?
Am I depressing?
Say that I am, and we can split up.
In return, I want you to sign my release from here.
OK.
Go ahead.
Deep ressing.
I'm serious.
Depressing.
You're depressing.
You had to come to that club as a punishment, didn't you.
I was supposed to jerk off, but I started laughing...
Your punishment was a long one.
It's over.
Then came the day I left.
I'd been here for 14 days.
Here. You sign, too.
To Asuka
Here.
Mail me or I'll kill you!
See you.
Thank you.
This is for you.
They're tea-flavored.
Thank you for everything.
Here.
Throw this away within one hour or it explodes.
Ready, set...
Asuka, goodbye!
We hope...
...to see you again!
Noriko!
Asuka Uchida Yuki
Tetsu Kudo Kankuro
Miki Aoi Yu
Eguchi Ryo
Ex-husband Tsukamoto Shinya
Komono Tsumabuki Satoshi
Nishino Otake Shinobu
Executive Producers Teshima Masao, Yamada Harunori, Nagasaka Makiko, Kitagawa Naoki & Morimoto Seiichi
Chief Producer Ogawa Shinji
Producers lmamura Takako & Sugawara Naota
Associate Producer Takase lwao
Based on the Novel by Matsuo Suzuki (. BUNGEISHUNJU Ltd.)
Cinematography Okabayashi Akihiro
Lighting Yamazaki Kimihiko
Art Designer Koizumi Hiroyasu
Decorator Taguchi Takahisa
Recordist Sakado Tsuyoshi
Editor Ueno Soichi
Casting Tanabe Chiaki
Wardrobe Yonemura Hiromitsu
Hair Stylist Owada Kazumi
Continuity Uekusa Nahoko
Assistant Director Oishi Makoto
Music Moji Hajime & Mori Takashi
Music Producer Yasui Shin
Theme Song 'Naked Me' Performed by LOVES. Words and Music by Higurashi Aiha Arranged by LOVES. (. Ki/oon Records Inc.)
Planning & Production SPOON. & Asmik Ace Entertainment
"Welcome to the Quiet Room" Film Partners Asmik Ace Entertainment. Inc. SPOON Inc. OTONAKEIKAKU, Inc. Sony Music Entertainment (Japan)lnc. Sumitomo Corporation
Written & Directed by Matsuo Suzuki
Subtitles lan MacDougall
(c)2007 'Welcome to the Quiet Room' Film Partners