The Season of Red
FADE IN
Act 1
INT. DINING ROOM - 20:30
Two plates are largely cleared. PETER swirls the last of the lemon honey in his glass. Across from him, his WIFE, enjoying her coffee.
PETER: I was thinking...for November.
WIFE: Mmm? November. We'll be back from Kuala Lumpur on Nov 2.
PETER: It's just...our Sept Hokkaido trip feels a long time ago already.
WIFE: We've barely unpacked from one trip before we're planning the next.
PETER: I feel like...I should do more. While I still can. Before the "can" becomes "can't".
WIFE: What to see? Red leaves?
PETER (V.O.): I spend time chasing autumn leaves - not because I haven't seen them before, but because each time, I'm a different person seeing them anew.
WIFE (Cont'd): We saw them in Hokkaido weeks ago.
Act 2
FLASHBACK
EXT. DAISETSUZAN NATIONAL PARK - 11:00 (18 SEPT, 2026)
A blaze of colour. An ocean of trees - green, yellow, orange, red. The sky is blue. Peter and his wife stand in a viewing platform. The Asashidake Ropway beneath them.
PETER: Look at it. Just...look.
WIFE: The earliest red leaves in Japan.
PETER: It's like a painting. A giant, living painting.
They absorb the panorama.
PETER (V.O.): It's my idea to check it out.
EXT. YUNI SERVICE AREA - 13:00 (22 SEPT, 2026)
About 20km outside Sapporo. Cars come and go. Peter and his wife walk out of the toilets. They look content. They stop abruptly. They're staring at a maple tree planted in a patch of grass at the fringe of the parking lot. The leaves are crimson.
PETER & WIFE: Oh, wow, a little bloomer.
They walk over, gently touch the red leaves. They're almost translucent in the sunlight.
PETER: The whole trip. We're chasing the "carpet". The grand vista.
The capture the moment with their smartphones.
FLASHBACK UPON FLASHBACK
EXT. SPROAT LAKE, VANCOUVER ISLAND, CANADA - 16:00 (23 Oct, 2019)
Brilliant fall colours. Red leaves everywhere. Peter, BRIAN and NICKY stroll. Peter is very excited.
PETER (V.O.): To me, it's like a miracle. For my Canadian friends, it's just normal.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): My sole purpose of coming to Vancouver Island is to see them - the last time we met was in 1987.
Enjoying.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): I haven't thought about seeing red leaves here.
END FLASHBACK UPON FLASHBACK
PETER (Cont'd): And the most perfect red leaf of the entire journey is right here. Next to the dog toilets.
WIFE: You know, it's never what you plan for. It's the little surprises.
INT. LIVING ROOM - 10:00 (8 Oct, 2026)
Peter is scrolling Facebook. He stops at a post about the film "An Autumn's Tale". The 1987 one with Chow Yun-fat.
PETER (V.O.): They needed a scene with red leaves, but the leaves weren't red yet. So they just painted them red.
Reading.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): It was against the law. But they did it anyway. All that effort just to create a symbol of autumn.
RETURN TO PRESENT
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Red is the colour of love, of blood, of fire. It's no wonder Autumn chose it as its final statement.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The painted leaves in that film were fake, but the feeling they created was real. Perhaps that's enough. Perhaps that's everything.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The season of red isn't a warning of winter. It's a reminder that endings can be luminous.
Pausing.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): When I'm gone, I hope those who remember me would remember not the places I went, but the ways my eyes lit up when I talked about going.
Act 3
INT. BEDROOM -22:10
Peter uploads a photo to a draft on his laptop. It shows a close-up of vivid crimson leaves among fading green and bronze foliage, glowing in the sunlight - a striking image of autumn, the season of red.
PETER (V.O.): Time is the one thing we can't paint over. But we can choose what colours we leave behind.
Thinking.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): The autumn of life isn't a countdown. It's a harvest, gathering moments, pressing them between the pages of memories like fallen leaves.
Reflecting.
PETER (V.O.) (Cont'd): Autumn asks only one thing of us: to notice. The red leaves are not the point. The noticing is.
The END
FADE OUT
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