A Dark Place

Narrator: Coming up... Bobby: ♪ I have no place to go already ♪ Narrator: ...life on the streets is unpredictable... and filled with tough choices.

A dark place, next on "Film School Shorts."

"Film School Shorts" is made possible by a grant from Maurice Kanbar, celebrating the vitality and power of the moving image.

Additional funding for "BobbyAnna" was provided by... [ Water running ] [ Indistinct conversations ] [ Siren wailing in distance ] Bobby: ♪ I am not afraid, no ♪ ♪ Oh, ooh, whoo, oh ♪ ♪ Ooh ♪ [ Scatting ] [ Vocalizing ] ♪ Ooh, ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪ Oh, oh, oh ♪ ♪ I just want to be ♪ ♪ Ooh, ooh ♪ ♪ Please set me free from all ♪ ♪ I have no place to go already ♪ ♪ Tell me what you see ♪ ♪ When you look at me ♪ ♪ 'Cause you probably judging me already ♪ ♪ I just need to ♪ ♪ Get through to my destination ♪ ♪ I know where to go ♪ ♪ But sometimes I get lost in conversation ♪ ♪ Tell, don't tell ♪ ♪ Slap this, make truck go rattle ♪ ♪ Stroll down the road ♪ ♪ This be another song for my ghetto ♪ Man: Whoo!

Bobby: Thank you.

Appreciate y'all.

Thank you, thank you.

Woman: Hey.

Bobby: Hey.

Woman: You look familiar.

Don't I know you from somewhere?

Bobby: Ah, the castle.

How you been?

Woman: I'm good.

How you doing?

Bobby: Living, man.

You feel me?

Woman #2: That works.

You looking real good out there, playa.

Bobby: Hey, I appreciate that, man.

Woman #1: Yeah, man.

You been doing your thing out here.

That's what's up.

Anna: Excuse me.

Woman #2: Look at that chick, man.

Anna: Sorry.

Woman #2: That's crazy.

Bouncer: Excuse me, ma'am.

Bobby: Hey, don't call me that.

Bouncer: Don't call you "ma'am"?

Bobby: Right.

Bouncer: She's gotta move.

Bobby: She will.

Bouncer: She's not going back inside.

Anna: Who says I want to go back in your bougie-ass bar anyway?

Bobby: We good?

Anna: You don't see this.

Bobby: All right.

Where you headed?

Anna: Where you headed?

You from L.A.?

Bobby: Oakland.

Anna: That's dope.

I was thinking of moving there.

Bobby: Why would you want to do that?

Anna: People tell me I'd like it.

Bobby: Really?

Anna: What you think?

Bobby: I think you should do what you want.

Anna: I do.

Can I stay?

Bobby: Here?

Anna: Yes.

Bobby: There's no one wondering where you at?

Anna: No one I'm worried about.

Bobby: I'm fitting to sleep, though.

Anna: That's cool.

Bobby: Wait.

That's my side.

[ Sighs ] Anna: You good?

Bobby: Yeah.

Anna: You seem nervous.

Bobby: I'm not.

Anna: It's okay.

Bobby: It's just...

I haven't been with anyone is all.

What?

Anna: Just surprised.

♪♪ ♪♪ Man: ♪ Blasting ♪ ♪ Blasting ♪ ♪ Blasting ♪ ♪ Blasting ♪ ♪ Blasting ♪ Bobby: So you missing something?

Anna: Probably.

Bobby: Best to your knowledge.

Anna: Sure.

Bobby: So you just thought you was gonna run up on it and snatch what little I got?

Anna: Damn.

I'm caught.

Bobby: What?

Well, I expect to be fairly compensated.

Anna: Jesus.

[ Engine sputters ] Bobby: Argh!

[ Breathing heavily ] Anna: Should I call the cops?

Bobby: I think you should leave.

Anna: I have some friends that might... What if I just gave you enough money to get the engine running?

Bobby: I don't borrow money.

Anna: Are you gonna go to a shelter?

Bobby: You ever been to one?

Anna: What can I do?

Bobby: [ Breathing heavily ] I'm good.

Anna: No, you're not.

Look, I'm not leaving.

Bobby: Come on.

Summertime, and the living is rough.

My tears shall be tough.

Imagine my ideal manning up.

His hands will touch.

So let's start from the beginning.

A game played with no lost laws of winning.

Raised by gangsters, he calls them men.

Say that they're doing well.

Just like them, I see it as a living hell.

Grew up around empty shells in the middle of shoot-outs.

With a bell, take the loot out, the problem's growing.

Take the root out, but it hasn't.

Removed all his...

Blood ain't seen his chest yet.

A strategy for living or just a luck.

That weave for a buck up so he can stay fly.

Like the clouds, he stays high.

Never sober, but why?

I say freeze, stands up still.

But his heart still moves free.

He's got time to kill.

But it's his mind he'll lose.

Freeze, stop.

Hands where I can see them.

That even sounds low, 'cause he wonder, just by being raised by gangsters.

Man #2: That was pretty nice.

What's your name?

Bobby: Bobby.

Man #2: Nice to meet you.

Bobby: Nice to meet you.

Yeah.

Any donation.

A donation of any kind would help, you know.

Man #2: Here.

Hope to see you around.

Bobby: One love, man.

One love.

Anna: [ Laughs ] Bobby: I don't got enough.

Anna: Let me get it.

Bobby: No.

Let's just go.

[ Sniffles ] Anna: There's a house... 3 or 4 miles from here.

I used to babysit for the family.

Bobby: There an alarm?

Anna: I know the code.

Hopefully, they haven't changed it.

[ Beeping ] Bobby: Yeah.

Bathroom?

[ Door closes ] [ Water running ] Woman #3: Anna?

Anna, are you okay?

Anna: I thought you were gone this week.

Man #3: Good to see you, too.

Anna: I, uh, we...

This is Bobby.

Her place got broken into.

Woman #3: We talked about what it meant for you to live here again, Anna.

You can't just bring some... some homeless person.

Anna: She's not homeless, Mom.

You realize what you look like right now.

Bobby!

Bobby: Don't.

Anna: Would you just wait?

Bobby: What?

Anna: That's not -- I know you, I -- Bobby: What do you know?

Anna: I shouldn't have lied to you.

But that was me just... being stupid.

That's not all that's happening here, right?

Bobby: I gotta find somewhere to sleep.

[ Dog barking ] [ Barking continues in distance ] [ Dog barks ] [ Phone ringing ] [ Sniffling ] Mama: Hello?

Hello?

Bobby: Mama?

It's me, it's Bobby.

Mama: Bobby.

Is that you?

You taking care of yourself down there?

Bobby: I'm trying to.

Mama: You ain't sold your soul yet.

Bobby: No.

Nobody's made me the offer.

Mama: It'll come.

You'll know what to do.

Bobby: [ Sniffling ] I know.

Mama: You sound upset.

You tired?

Bobby: Uh, it's just that I got a lot to take care of is all.

Mama: Well... rest and be thankful.

Bobby: I will.

Mama: You need anything?

Bobby: [ Sniffles ] Nah.

I just wanted to hear your voice right now.

Mama: I'll let you go then.

Give yourself a hug for me, okay?

Bobby: Okay, Mama.

Mama: I love you, baby.

Bobby: [ Sniffles, sighs ] ♪ I ain't got no business ♪ ♪ Loving you ♪ ♪ You ain't got no business ♪ ♪ Keeping me confused ♪ ♪ This love is a mystery, yeah ♪ ♪ To both me and you ♪ ♪ How far can you go?

♪ ♪ When will I choose?

♪ ♪ Slow... ♪ [ Bicycle chain clicking ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ Man: Hey, you got a match, old man?

Man #2: They suspect this boy has killed someone -- a classmate at the high school down the road.

They found his body floating in the bay.

No history of violence, though.

No motive, either.

Man #1: Shame.

You know, I grew up in this neighborhood.

As a kid, we used to walk the underground drainage tunnels to get out of the heat.

There was never any water.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Slurping ] [ Bell dinging ] You shouldn't put that crap in your body -- especially at your age.

Man #2: Look who's talking, Mr. Pack-a-Day.

[ Lighter clicking ] You like that old thing?

Man #1: You should get some shut-eye.

I won't be able to sleep anyway.

[ Click ] Huh?

[ Indistinct voices ] Man #2: I suppose I might as well... just for an hour or so.

[ Bicycle chain clicking ] Man #1: Huh?

[ Tires screech ] ♪♪ [ Jet engine roars overhead ] [ Grunts ] [ Water dripping ] Hello?

[ Footsteps running ] [ Panting ] ♪♪ [ Coughing, panting ] [ Gasps ] Are you gonna tell me what this is really about?

Uh!

[ Choking ] [ Water rushing ] [ Choking continues ] [ Seagulls calling ] [ Water rushing ] [ Seagulls calling louder ] ♪♪ ♪♪ Narrator: You can watch more films by subscribing to our YouTube and Vimeo channels, or visiting pbs.org/ filmschoolshorts.

"Film School Shorts" is made possible by a grant from Maurice Kanbar, celebrating the vitality and power of the moving image.

Additional funding for "BobbyAnna" was provided by... ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪