3/10/2024
content warnings (highlight to reveal): Adolescent swearing. Discussion of internet social rules. Short mental breakdown. jokingly spouting suicidality. Self accusation of whoring oneself out. nervous tics in public space. being put in compromising position and being recorded. Offhanded mention of J.K. Rowling, Ernest Hemingway, Michael Jackson. Micromanaging digital footprint & Identity leak. Studio hiring of underaged overachiever. Commenting on an older woman's appearance. Self-consciousness of internet identity.
"...The plot revolves around 10 different paintings of flowers." Osho's eyes widened, Mr Jin continues "There is a lot of imagery regarding idols and thematic importance of this idea of nature being neutered after having been painted by a human hand, like the worship of nature as some sort of idol? I mean I would love to tell you all the details but I don't know them, apparently it's an art house production where these paintings will get a lot of screen time and y'know” “Mr Jin PLEASE!!! I beg you PLEASE get me this part!" Osho raised her hands in pleading, Jin giggled "I will put in the good word for you! You'll just have to give me your portfolio." "It's nesting at home right now, Oh and please, her name is Margherita." "Of course Margherita!"
Osho is back at her house, laptop on lap, now having been accepted into the production as though by will of nature, portfolio next to her because though uncool she is simply too excited. The temperature is warming as the temperate season enters, entering much like Nicola is entering Osho's doorway, fanta can on hand "Osho this is a huge deal, this movie premise makes me feel so stuffy, it must be good" "I'm so glad it's still early in production, I'm not running anywhere near short of time! I can really put my puss into this" Osho taps away at her computer "I'm fixing up my social media right now" "Oh right!" Nicola goes next to Osho before clicking open the can "RIGHT! Margherita Kon! God she's beautiful. I know, right? Not a day over 30" Nicola and Osho amuse themselves at the self-portrait of Margherita Kon, an affectionately creepy Japanese woman in her late 50s and Osho Faraway's Internet persona.
"I don't like micromanaging my digital footprint, that scares me but I think there is value in what I'm doing here" "I really like that idea, even if it's like self-preserving it's just so aesthetically you." Nicola smiles. Osho stammers "You get why I'm doing this right?" "Yeah you've told me, one time you went on twitter and saw an artist who literally said they were 12 on their bio and the were making straight up apex legends concept art tier digital illustration" Osho nods "I still shock myself at how quickly I stopped engaging with their art and just succumbed to the brain damage" Osho looks at Margherita, Nicola adds "Menopause has not been nice to Margherita-" "Yeah, she knows she's beautiful though. I told Mr Jin to tell the production team that Margherita's protege, Osho faraway would attend directorial meetings for her" Nicola struck an impressed glance at Osho "Is Ms. Kon disabled? That would be smart" Osho laughed "HAH, no I didn't wanna cash in brownie points" Nicola takes a sip of the fanta "Isn't it wild that children online straight up stamp their age on their descriptions? Osho that shit's crazy" "I don't know, I feel like I would be the same".
At the production studio: "Hello, my name is Osho Faraway, I'm Margherita's Protege, It's nice to meet you all" Osho shakes hands with the director, round glasses, curled moustache, hipster "Nice to meet you Osho, My name is Laurencio, I would have loved to meet Margherita herself" "No you wouldn't, she's ghoulish" Says Osho with a completely straight smile, The director looks weirdly at her before giggling "In personality, I would think!" Osho nodded. Jin Zhu Approached Laurencio "Hello Laurencio, I'm Jin Zhu, I'm here with two students that are close to Osho, Nicola Taylor and Oliver Samuels. Don't mind them, they're incredibly respectful" Jin Zhu briefed Oliver about the occasion since he'd expressed interest in writing screenplays and this was a revelatory opportunity for him, but he may have forgotten a certain detail. Osho is taken by a board artist to be briefed.
"Alright Osho, you're familiar with Margherita's works right?" "Intimately" "Alright, this is a surrealist film about the last remnants of taoism before it's superseded by modernity." Osho begins writing on a notepad for relaying to Margherita. Nicola is with Mr Jin as they walk through the production studio, Nicola begins "Do they have one of those scissor lift chairs here?" "No Nicola, those are for shooting on a film set, the film is still in pre production" Mr Jin shook his head, even though he likes those chairs. Oliver is thusly making his way to the snack table.
at the snack table: Oliver exclaims "Isn't it incredible what Osho does? I mean I knew the first time I saw her that she's going places" Laurencio looks at Oliver "I think this is a wonderful opportunity for her, yes. The press will be here soon too for publicity so look your best okay?" "Such incredible work at such a young age! She's always been so inconspicuous with it. Do you know how refreshing it is to see someone like Mr Jin supporting a young artist like this?" Oliver's smile is way too big for Laurencio's comfort. "I haven't seen Osho's art, I wouldn't know" Oliver looked really offended "You haven't seen her artwork, and you're hiring her?" "We're not hiring her because of her painting talent, she's here because she's Margherita Kon's messenger." Oliver looked defeated, the world was truly not fair, he had fallen short to a 17 year old girl who got a major illustrative job on a film simply by her association to a random japanese woman named after a pizza without even needing to prove her talent to the producer. "Well, maybe you should open your eyes to the girl who you have at your disposal."
Oliver pulls up a candid picture of Osho painting a piece that Laurencio saw in Margherita's portfolio, Laurencio was profoundly confused at what was going on in the image and his established knowledge, at first he thought "why is Osho pretending to paint one of Margherita's pieces?" then to "Did Margherita lie about making that painting?" which sublimated to "Is Osho repainting Margherita's art as practice?" though Osho's technique is unmistakable, a piece made from the ground up. Oliver kept scrolling through pictures of Osho painting until the proverbial cat got out of the bag and walked right into the studio. Laurencio's producer walked up to them at that moment "Marco, that Japanese girl there is Margherita Kon! It's a pseudonym!" Oliver looks proudly and speaks "Yeah it's her pseudonym! She pretends to be a woman in her 50s because- oh whoops" Oliver's heart sank. "guys please don't tell anyone she's literally gonna kill me, don't look at how properly she's dressed you will go missing and never be found. She'd rather not be known" "why should we have to hide her talents? This will be great for the movie!" Oliver's heart sank even deeper "Yeah I uh-" but not wanting to tarnish a perfectly good networking opportunity he shut up. Laurencio took Oliver's phone and made his way to Osho who was being briefed on fundamental story beats.
"Osho! you made these paintings right? Your friend showed your paintings! they're incredible! That's incredible you're incredible!" Osho looked at Oliver who was trying to look normal harder than ever. Osho bluffed "No I didn't..." she broke a sweat "...Margherita Kon did." Osho swallowed super hard, the cat is out of the bag "Osho, your talent shines through! You need to be honest if you want your career to flourish! You have a gift" she eased up, "Yeah, I'm Margherita Kon." she flattered herself, it felt nice to be acknowledged by the dude whose got auteur-level directorial control. Osho you're whoring yourself out for these French art house pervs "I DIDN'T- I DON'T WANT-" Nicola is having a nervous tic fit in the corner realizing what is happening, Oliver stands stiff with hands by his side. "The press is here to do a puff piece!" "Yeah, Okay" Osho picks a colour in her head and tries to list all the objects in the room in that colour "Black. Nicola's hair, the baseboard of the wall, the rim of the clock, the cameras, the stage lights, the ceiling, the cameras, The cameras" Nicola pops in "Yo osho, Let's go outside" "No no no, this is important to me". Cutting to the interviewer "So, Marco, what is it about cherry blossoms that attracts you so much-" "Well, when my uncle and aunt had eloped to Japan and they accidently took me with them-" Laurencio comically pushes off Marco off set and brings Osho into frame "Ah yes, thank you Marco for that remarkable insight, hello Laurencio, we heard that Margherita Kon was on set? Or something to that effect." "WELL HERE SHE IS!" Osho continues "Yes uh hi." oh Jesus "I'm Osho Faraway" "Hello Osho Faraway, we were told that the masterful workings of Margherita Kon were in fact the prodigious works of a 17 year old girl who attended the school of golden pillars" Osho felt nauseated from the gleamingly insincere praise "Yeah that's me actually".
"Osho, what do you think this film benefits from with having you in it?" "You know, I'm just here to play the minimal role of creating paintings, the absolute last thing I want people to think about when they see the art I've participated in is my AGE. WHO GIVES A- who cares? Look at the paintings don't look at me! I'm still a 17 year old for the life of me! I don't know anything about life, I'm still waiting for the big moment where life completely kicks me in the ass and it turns out I'm schizophrenic or something!" Osho catches onto a rhythm "Life's not fair, not to you not to me, if life was karmically balanced we'd all be living in a cosmically indescribable non-Euclidian stone-age society where a pair of literal eyes watch over from the sky" To Nicola "Nicola, are you jealous of your best friend for her immediate rise to recognition and partnership with such a production?" "Different kinds of lesbians by design don't get envious with each other, she gets off to painting stuffy pictures of flowers, I get off to boring the press about Jewish feminist literature. Feel free to interrupt me again it's alright I don't mind, on the subject of men possessing women-". Returning to Osho "What happens if i turn out to be a rapist?" says the 17 year old Japanese schoolgirl whose current biggest crime is piracy "What happens If I'm like Earnest Hemmingway who likes pile driving children into the concrete? Suddenly I'm not celebrated to be a childhood prodigy anymore am I? I don't wanna be Michael Jackson where people suddenly become psychoanalysts and blame my improvised child endangerment on my father, my father loves me" To Mr Jin "I really adored the character of Margherita Kon, I mean Osho really put in effort into that" Osho puts her phone on speaker on a call with her father and points the phone to a microphone "I'm so incredibly proud of my daughter, and that's all that needs to be said. I could not be happier with her at the moment and I think this movie could really use her touch" "Thank you dad, bye".
A comment on Osho's latest floral study wrote "Margherita Kon is apparently a 17 year old girl which is really cool but it kinda fucked me up, I don't think I'll be able to appreciate her paintings again in the same way. It doesn't feel right but idk like this doesn't feel like a healthy way to look at it" Osho dropped to the ground and screamed "I'M DEAD! SHE'S DEAD!" Nicola looks down at Osho as she's eating pickle chips "Osho it's okay!" "Nicola, Margherita Kon is dead, they have killed her, she is no longer." Osho looks unimaginably heartbroken. "Just like that, she is no more." Osho looked at Nicola "Maybe I should kill myself that way all the comments on my social media start talking more about my suicide than my art" "Oh my god Osho, that's messed up! Man Who cares about a tarnished legacy or whatever? You're not gonna be 17 forever" "Yeah.." Osho looked at the ceiling for a moment of comfort before a pang of mortality struck her and her eyes widened "Nicola who gives a shit about idolising nature. I don't know what that bullshit movie is even going on about or like what even like that-" Osho breaks into hysterics "Osho you've done a wonderful job on the paintings so far." Osho has drawn rough sketches for 8 of the paintings and has started applying acrylic on 3 of them, huge paintings that take up substantial room in her study now covering up her fun-loving portraits and rough sticky notes that would dot her walls. "Nicola who gives a fuck about Taoism???" "C'mon Osho don't say that! We both know that shit's dope! Remember what Lao Tzu said about caring about what other people think?" "That I will be their prisoner?" "Yeah, and in this case you're a juvenile delinquent who's been wrongfully imprisoned by people's notions of age!"
another comment below, 2 hours ago "here's another comment, personally I don't care if margherita is 17 years old, I respect her as an artist and it's not like she's showing off or anything she's just putting herself out there" "Who said that?" "some guy called cyberpervoslavian" "oh it's FUCKING Oliver, damn that boy knows he fucked up. Any other comments?" "no it's just those two" "oh wow, that's not much of anything" "yeah, it's rare I get any comments at all" Osho says this in a bittersweet manner "I don't know I've made some groundbreaking paintings before but I'm kinda glad people didn't really know who Margherita Kon was. I don't know what I'm gonna do" "I know what you're gonna do, you're gonna do the work. It's going to be amazing, you're going to be professional and people are going to think of you as mature and personable, very adult qualities to have" osho looks at Nicola with tears and snot covering her face "yeah?" "Osho you're gonna be great, just persevere and also like, get OFF of social media while you're working on this, like just take a break." Nicola tics "It's like, you know I can't help myself with posting online either, like someday If I ever become a famous writer I'm gonna be JUST like J.K. Rowling and tumble down the proverbial stairs of my alpine mansion but right now we're 17 and this is all way too business for either of us" Osho clears up a bit, Nicola continues "Osho I would love to see these paintings once they're done too" Osho nods along.
The work was done, the film was out, and what happened?
Nicola and aunt Emma walk out of the movie theatre. Nicola began with "Did you like it?" aunt responded "oh darling I don't know, a lot of the symbolism bounced right off of me!" "I think, I'm not sure. I think a lot of it felt like a critique of wellness culture? Idolatry is a uniquely Abrahamic concept and I don't know that it translates well into eastern religion" Nicola scratched her head, Emma continued "Right, respecting nature doesn't sound particularly sinful to me, it just sounds like appreciating God's creation. I thought Osho's paintings were exceptional. I love the joy of seeing a loved one's contribution to a film. Also I'm really glad that the girl's talent is recognised by the art school, that's something that' right with this world”. Emma brushes off her skirt "would you like to go to KFC?" "Yeah" Nicola was looking at the Letterboxd page for the film, Osho faraway was part of the crew, not a single comment about her, 3.2 star rating, Godspeed Osho you magnificent girl, you may not have stood the tests of time but our hearts have grown just a bit fuller.