About Alex (2014)

Nate Parker: Ben

Photos 

Quotes 

• Ben : [in his crumpled writing]  Judgment has a way of creeping into every relationship. Even the most intimate. If we're lucky, somewhere along the way we meet a few people who listen to us without criticism or reproach. We call those people our friends.

• Alex : [as Ben greets Alex arriving home from the hospital]  ... Don't tell me we're having a party in honor of my suicide.

  Ben : Attempted suicide. Jeez, if it were a suicide, we'd both be wearing suits.

• [last lines] 

  Josh : [posing for group picture]  Alright, posture everyone.

  Kate : [holding the camera]  Uh, I'm going to need you to get a lot closer together than that.

  Sarah : Okay.

  Ben : Come on, come on.

  [arm around Alex] 

  Josh : Alright. I'm going to pose a quick idea, you guys. Maybe next time we do this, it's a happy occasion.

  Alex : Is there going to be a next time?

  Isaac : Uh oh.

  Sarah : Alex...

  Kate : Okay. One, two...

• [first lines] 

  Night Editor : [entering]  Ben. Your page's set?

  Ben : Mm, yep. Almost.

  [looking at picture] 

  Ben : Jesus, Alex.

  [answering the phone] 

  Ben : Hello? Yes, this is him, but I'm at work. So...

  Josh : [now answering his phone]  Used to have a freshman roommate named "Ben", but that ass-wad hasn't called me in ages. What?

  Sarah : [on her phone]  And no one was there? He was... Alone? Yeah, of course he was alone. That was stupid. Yeah, I can probably get up in a couple hours. I just need a little bit of time to get out of here.

  [more work gets set on her desk] 

  Isaac : [walking while on his phone]  Well, he's gonna be okay. That's the most important thing. Okay.

  [checking incoming call] 

  Isaac : I gotta take this. Hang on a sec... Babe? Yeah, I'm fine. Just got to the office - I'm gonna leave from there.

• Ben : [narrating]  There are three stages of finding friends in college. The first is desperation. Second is panic. The third is fate. When you wind up at the same table together somehow, then your real life begins.

• Josh : Ben, can I ask you something? Was it difficult, as a couple, when the iPhone 4s came out? Because I can imagine, here you are, minding your own business, and then everybody's asking her a question.

  Ben : You're a fucking idiot.

• Ben : I can't remember what happened last, me writing something good or me and Siri having sex.

  Josh : So basically what you're saying is that you're *blocked* in more ways than one.

• Ben : Nice shiner.

  Alex : Nice driving.

• Ben : When good things happen, we always wanna imagine them as fated. But when bad things happen, we curse the world as this cold and brutally random place.

• Ben : I'm scared of what the world would look like without you.

  Siri : You can't stay with me because you're scared.

  Ben : You're right.

• Josh : Give me a break, I'm not listening to that.

  Ben : What?

  Josh : It's like we're gripped by this never-ending nostalgia for our parents' music. It's oppressive.