Pale Flower (1964)

Mariko Kaga: Saeko

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Quotes 

• Saeko : I wish the sun would never rise. I love these wicked nights.

• Saeko : The stakes are so small. I'm losing interest. I don't care if I win or lose. You know anywhere they play for higher stakes?

  Muraki : How high?

• Muraki : Ask anyone: I'm no good. Even I think so. I'm the scum of the earth. I have nothing in common with ordinary society. But still - I forgive myself.

  Saeko : I know. No matter what others say, I forgive myself too.

• Saeko : Why do you do what you do? You went to prison for killing a man, right?

  Muraki : Yeah.

  Saeko : A crime like that...

  Muraki : It was no crime. Far more ordinary than that. I had no reason to stab him. It wasn't about honor, or duty, or saving face. I killed a man I had no reason to kill. It was just a matter of whose number came up, whose turn it was. But at the moment I killed him, I knew it was the only way I could survive. As I stabbed him, he said, "You don't have a wife and kids." I really hated him right then. But when I stabbed him, I felt more alive than I ever had before.

• Muraki : How about a little game with me? Since that first night I saw you, I've wanted a private game with you.

  Saeko : The stakes?

  Muraki : Up to you.

• Muraki : You really love to gamble. Why is that?

  Saeko : Why do you?

  Muraki : Why? There are no whys.

• Saeko : That Yoh - doesn't even realize how reckless he seems. Everything about him says he doesn't give a damn.

  Muraki : That's one way of looking at it.

  Saeko : That's one way of living.

• Saeko : Have you ever tried dope?

  Muraki : No.

  Saeko : Why not?

  Muraki : I hate drug addicts.

  Saeko : Why?

  Muraki : They're a bunch of cowards.

  Saeko : Why?

  Muraki : They can't pull their own weight.

  Saeko : Really? Is everyone supposed to pull his own weight?

  Muraki : Enough. Anyone strong enough to control how much they take wouldn't start using it to begin with.

• Muraki : There's a bitter taste in my mouth - but I fell almost giddy. I'm about to do a job - it feels I was meant to do. Fate, you might say. It's something I need to do. It's no big deal. It'll be over soon.

  Saeko : That's right. It'll be over soon.

• Muraki : I'll show you something even better than dope. I'm going to kill a man.

  Saeko : Kill a man?

  Muraki : Want to come?

  Saeko : It's so pointless.

  Muraki : Yeah, it is.