Daily Dialogue — July 22, 2016
QUENTIN: Well?
LEAVEN: Well, he’s right. Not prime. (Quentin climbs through and drops to the floor.) Stop! (Quentin freezes.) In front of you.
Quentin notices razor wires strung vertically. They surround him. As they begin to twist, Quentin dives between, but is cut along his leg.
HOLLOWAY: What is it?
Kazan grabs her by the hair and drags her away from the door. Quentin returns to the red room, followed by Holloway.
QUENTIN: (reacting to Kazan’s howling) Shut up!
LEAVEN: I don’t know what happened. It wasn’t prime.
HOLLOWAY: Quentin, hold still!
QUENTIN: Somebody stop that racket!
HOLLOWAY: Worth!
She motions toward the door. Worth heads toward it.
QUENTIN: Leave the boots. (Worth drops the boots and climbs into the adjoining room.) And shut the fucking door! (The door closes behind Worth.) I had a feeling about that fucking guy. He knew about that trap.
LEAVEN: But these numbers aren’t prime.
QUENTIN: Then your number system failed, but he knew.
HOLLOWAY: Knew what? How would he know?
QUENTIN: You’re the paranoid one, think about it. His only function so far has been to kick us when we’re down.
HOLLOWAY: So, he has a bad attitude. Are you saying that makes him a spy?
QUENTIN: Trust me on this. It’s my job to read people like an X-ray.
WORTH: (Returning with Kazan) He doesn’t like red rooms. (He sets Kazan in a corner). So, what happened?
QUENTIN: You saw what happened.
HOLLOWAY: Quentin!
LEAVEN: I guess the numbers are more complicated than I thought.
WORTH: Maybe they mean nothing at all.
LEAVEN: No, it means they’re more involved.
— Cube (1997), written by André Bijelic, Vincenzo Natali, and Graeme Manson
The Daily Dialogue theme for the week: Accusation. Today’s suggestion by Will King.
Trivia: All of the characters are named after prisons: Quentin (San Quentin, California), Holloway (England), Kazan (Russia), Rennes (France), Alderson (Alderson, West Virginia), Leaven and Worth (Leavenworth, Kansas).
Dialogue On Dialogue: Commentary by Will: “Imagine being held hostage inside a gigantic Rubik’s Cube. Quentin and the others are trying to figure out how to escape while the rooms continue to shift positions at random times, and some rooms hold deadly traps. Already, the number of original prisoners has been reduced through attrition. Who wouldn’t be paranoid? Quentin makes the statement about reading people like an X-ray because he’s a policeman, and after almost meeting his demise, he’s losing his ability to withhold his suspicion and judgment of his fellow prisoners.”