Bright Light, Mean Shadow

As they listen to contrasting music (big beats versus classical, a GIRL and a MAN collide on a seaside resort’s prom. He doesn’t say sorry. It intrigues her. In his hotel room, listening to more of his preferred music, he assembles a gun and points it at the politician being interviewed on TV. She plays slot machines, listens to her music of choice. Conflicting music choices play over and across sequences, informing meaning and states of mind. The man checks the venue for the political conference. A radio reports that a public-private finance initiative has been frozen by the government, pending investigation of the other half’s funding’s origins. Having tracked him, she rescues him from a random stop-and-search by claiming he’s her father. They split after an ice-cream ‘thank you’. As he finesses the hit, she plays amusements, both listening to their disparate music. She reads a newspaper stating the freezing of PPI funding will not be taken lying down by the organisation in question: a lightbulb moment. They happen upon one another again. Having deduced his star sign she reads a foreboding horoscope. They ride a dodgem car: biff! The Man in a deckchair on the beach, the Girl reads his palm, predicting things will change irrevocable for him. She departs, phones 999, awaits security forces’ arrival. The Man dozes, the same music she’s listening to also playing in his ear. She pulls an Elastoplast off her knee, the wound sustained when they collided.