(Higanbana) Equinox Flower, directed by Yasujiro Ozu, 1958

A fictional biopic based on internet conspiracies.

# FADE IN:

A slow montage portrays a beautiful traditional Japanese countryside home. The hallway, the living room, the kitchen. There’s no people around. (Ozu would be proud.) In voice over we hear a young girl counting in Japanese:

“Ichi, ni, san…”

# TITLE: Kyoto, Japan — 1987

More images pass by. The house is minimally decorated, without losing its sense of home.

The girl: “…hachi, kyuu, juu. Mo ii kai?!” “Ready?!”, she asks. But there’s no response.

We slowly track in on a wardrobe the width of an entire bedroom wall. A phone starts to ring. We get closer, slowly. Ring… ring…

# CUT TO BLACK

As the ring continues, a description pops up:

Satoshi Nakamoto is the name used by the unknown person or people who designed bitcoin and created its original reference implementation. As part of the implementation, they also devised the first blockchain database. In the process they were the first to solve the double-spending problem for digital currency.

Slow fade in: — Wikipedia

Ring…

# CUT TO:

We’re in YUKI NAKAMOTO’s cake shop. YUKI, late thirties, drops her piping bag and rushes to the phone.

# TITLE: California, USA — 2019

Y U K I

Hi there! This is Cake Shop Delight, Yuki speaking. How may I help you?

W O M A N

Is this Yuki Nakamoto, the owner?

There’s a slight hint of nervousness in her voice. It goes unnoticed to Yuki.

Y U K I

Yes, it is!

W O M A N

Okay, great. My name is Leah McGrath Goodman*. I’m a reporter for Newsweek and I have something I need to confirm for a report I’m doing. Are you okay to talk?

Y U K I

Just a moment.

Yuki jumps up and down in excitement while holding the mute button. She shouts for Miriam, her employee, to come over.

She hits the speaker button.

Y U K I

Hi Leah, are you there? I moved to the other room!

L E A H

Are you sitting down? — I’m just going to cut to the chase. I have reason to believe your father is the real Satoshi Nakamoto, creator of bitcoin.

Not what she was expecting.

Y U K I

Uhm.. is this a prank?

L E A H

It’s not..