Away with Words (1999) — AI Story Visualization

Plot Analysis Summary

A journey through Hong Kong connects overwhelming memory and synesthesia with childhood recollection and the calming force of human attachment.

Story Structure — 5 Plot Phases

Arrival Into Hong Kong

The protagonist travels to Hong Kong and encounters unusual personalities. The city's metropolitan energy introduces the film's free-wheeling atmosphere.

Key Events

• Hong Kong Journey Begins — The protagonist travels to Hong Kong, beginning a series of encounters across the metropolitan landscape. Location: Hong Kong
• Urban Encounters Unfold — The protagonist encounters off-beat personalities while moving through Hong Kong. Location: Hong Kong
• Memory Overload Emerges — The protagonist's excessive memory begins shaping his perception of the city. Location: Hong Kong
• Associations Flood Perception — Mnemonic associations and wordplay contribute to the protagonist's mental disarray. Location: Hong Kong
• Synesthetic Experience — The protagonist experiences profound synesthesia that connects sensory impressions and memories. Location: Hong Kong

The Memory Storm

Excessive memory, synesthesia, and mnemonic associations shape the protagonist's perception. His inner life becomes inseparable from the city's visual movement.

Key Events

• Synesthetic Experience — The protagonist experiences profound synesthesia that connects sensory impressions and memories. Location: Hong Kong
• Memories Along Roads — The protagonist arranges memories visually along roads as part of his mnemonic process. Location: Hong Kong roads
• Childhood Flashbacks Return — Flashbacks introduce the protagonist's childhood in Okinawa. Location: Okinawa
• Kevin Is Encountered — During the Hong Kong trip, the protagonist encounters Kevin, an off-beat bar owner. Characters: Kevin Location: Hong Kong

An Unusual Bar Encounter

The protagonist meets Kevin, a beer-drinking amnesiac gay bar owner. This encounter adds human eccentricity to the protagonist's unstable journey.

Key Events

• The Bar Owner Appears — Kevin is portrayed as a beer-drinking, amnesiac gay bar owner. Characters: Kevin Location: Gay bar in Hong Kong
• Amnesia Complicates Contact — Kevin's amnesia marks his encounter with the protagonist as unusual and unstable. Characters: Kevin Location: Gay bar in Hong Kong
• Urban Imagery Accelerates — The protagonist's mental associations intensify alongside the film's kinetic urban imagery. Location: Hong Kong
• Words Trigger Associations — Wordplay and mnemonic associations continue to overwhelm the protagonist's attention. Location: Hong Kong

Childhood Behind The Present

Flashbacks return the narrative to the protagonist's childhood in Okinawa. Past experiences become connected to his present sensory and mnemonic overload.

Key Events

• Music Alters Taste — The protagonist comments on restaurant music and its effect on the taste of food. Location: Hong Kong
• Memory And Sensation Merge — Sensory impressions, memories, and language become increasingly intertwined. Location: Hong Kong
• School Awakening Echo — A waking-for-school scene recalls a detail associated with the protagonist's childhood. Location: Okinawa
• Past Informs Present — Childhood memories become connected to the protagonist's present experience in Hong Kong. Location: Hong Kong and Okinawa

Attachments Bring Serenity

Human attachments begin to offset the protagonist's mental excesses. The disorder of memory and urban imagery gradually gives way to emotional calm.

Key Events

• Attachments Begin Forming — Human encounters, including contact with Kevin, begin to provide emotional grounding. Characters: Kevin Location: Hong Kong
• Mental Disarray Softens — Emerging human attachments offset the protagonist's overwhelming memories and associations. Characters: Kevin Location: Hong Kong
• Serenity Emerges — The protagonist finds an emotional center that helps tame the disorder of urban imagery. Location: Hong Kong
• Mind And City Reconcile — The film culminates in a contrast between mental excess and the serenity offered by human connection. Location: Hong Kong

Story Breakdown

• Hong Kong Arrival — The protagonist enters Hong Kong and begins moving through its eccentric metropolitan landscape.
  • City Journey — The protagonist's trip to Hong Kong establishes the central setting.
  • Offbeat Encounters — The city introduces unusual personalities who shape the journey.
• Memory Overload — The protagonist's exceptional memory and associations overwhelm his everyday perception.
  • Mnemonic Associations — Memories and wordplay arrive in an excessive stream.
  • Visualized Memories — The protagonist arranges memories visually along roads.
• Synesthetic Perception — Sensory impressions become linked through the protagonist's unusual mental experience.
  • Crossed Senses — The protagonist experiences profound synesthesia.
  • Music And Taste — Restaurant music is discussed in relation to the taste of food.
• Kevin Encounter — Kevin provides one of the journey's most distinctive human encounters.
  • Gay Bar Owner — Kevin is identified as a gay bar owner in Hong Kong.
  • Amnesiac Presence — Kevin's beer drinking and amnesia define his eccentric characterization.
• Okinawa Flashbacks — The narrative returns to the protagonist's childhood and links the past to the present.
  • Childhood Memories — Flashbacks introduce the protagonist's childhood in Okinawa.
  • School Awakening — A waking-for-school scene recalls a childhood experience.
• Attachments And Serenity — Human connection becomes an emotional counterweight to mental excess and urban disorder.
  • Emotional Center — Emerging human attachments provide the protagonist with emotional grounding.
  • Tamed Disarray — Serenity begins to offset the protagonist's rampage of associations and imagery.

Directed by

Christopher Doyle

Key Cast

• Tadanobu Asano — Asano Takashi
• Georgina Hobson — Georgina
• Christa Hughes — Christa
• Kevin Sherlock — Kevin
• Mavis Xu — Susie