$DEGEN

I think I went a bit too far on that one 🤣 Originally wanted to do a short movie with actual conversations and a scenario, but realized it's an enormous work. I won't have the time. Instead you've got some sort of enigmatic trailer 🎩 

Degen, the movie - trailer 01

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ORIGINAL SCRIPT (PART I)

In the city of Grivemoor, where the sky never cleared and the air was thick with sorrow, emotions were regulated like currency. Joy, hope, and laughter were outlawed, buried under centuries of sadness. Everyone moved in somber silence, eyes downcast, as if weighed by an invisible force.

Two officers, Cain and Vera, patrolled the empty streets. They were part of the Bureau of Emotional Compliance (BEC), the enforcers of the new world order. Their job was to ensure that no one broke the most fundamental law: No smiling.

The pair walked through the narrow alleys, their gray uniforms blending into the colorless world. A report had come in—something so outrageous it seemed impossible.

"A man wearing a purple top hat," Vera muttered, reading the alert on her wrist console. "Caught smiling on Halloway Street. Can you imagine?"

Cain shook his head. “It’s a joke. No one smiles anymore.”

ORIGINAL SCRIPT (PART III)

“By the law of Grivemoor,” Vera began, her hand trembling as she reached for her restraint device, “you are under arrest for displaying prohibited emotions. Step forward slowly and—"

The man’s smile didn’t fade. In fact, it grew brighter, softer, like the first warm ray of sunlight breaking through dark clouds.

Cain took a step back. His heart, long dulled to emotion, fluttered strangely. He hadn’t felt anything like it in years, but he recognized the feeling from long ago.

Happiness.

The suspect spread his arms wide, as if offering an embrace to the world. “Why don’t you smile too?” he asked gently. “It’s not so hard.”

Cain froze. His face twitched involuntarily, lips pulling at the edges, defying all his training. He looked at Vera, whose mouth quivered in response. They were law enforcers, but at that moment, something greater than law surged inside them.

The man took a step closer. “Go on. Try it.”

ORIGINAL SCRIPT (PART IV)

And then it happened. Vera, usually so rigid and emotionless, cracked a smile—a real one. The tightness in her chest released, and suddenly, the oppressive sadness around them lifted. The same warmth bloomed in Cain. He couldn’t stop it. He didn’t want to stop it.

The man in the purple top hat beamed brighter, his smile spreading from his face to theirs like an uncontainable force.

At that moment, something extraordinary swept through Grivemoor. People in their homes, on the streets, and in factories paused. A ripple of joy coursed through the air, as if the very fabric of sadness that held the world together was unraveling. Smiles broke out across faces that had forgotten what it meant to feel joy.

In the end, Cain and Vera didn’t arrest the man. They didn’t stop him. He had given them something far more valuable than order or control.

He had given them hope.

ORIGINAL SCRIPT (PART V, END)

And as the man in the purple top hat walked away, his smile still radiant, Cain turned to Vera. “I think the world is finally waking up,” he said, his voice light with an emotion he barely recognized.

Vera nodded, smiling, as they watched the city around them begin to change.

Grivemoor was no longer a place of sadness. The malediction had been broken, all because of one smile shared between three souls.

ORIGINAL SCRIPT (PART II)

But it wasn’t a joke. They’d received four more reports of the same man, and the last sighting put him near the Old Quarter.

“There!” Vera hissed, pointing down the street. Amid the gray fog, a figure in a bright purple top hat was unmistakable, standing out like a forbidden flame.

Cain and Vera approached cautiously. The man’s back was to them, his posture too relaxed, too calm for someone who had defied the most sacred rule.

“Stop right there!” Cain shouted, his voice rough from years of shouting orders in this bleak city.

The man turned slowly. And then they saw it.

A smile.

Not a smirk. Not a grin. A full, open, joyous smile. His eyes sparkled with something they hadn’t seen in years—delight.