TASK DEFINITION: In this task, you will be shown an extract from a movie plot and a question. You need to provide the correct answer for it. Short answers containing words that are present in the passage are preferred.
PROBLEM: The film opens to the sound of a gramophone playing Axxon N, "the longest-running radio play in history". Meanwhile, a young prostitute, identified in the credits as the "Lost Girl", cries while watching television in a hotel room, following an unpleasant encounter with her client. The Lost Girlâs television displays a family of surrealistic anthropomorphic rabbits who speak in cryptic statements and questions. Occasionally, there are laugh track responses within these Rabbit scenes. These three elements become recurring motifs throughout Inland Empire.The main plot follows an actress named Nikki Grace (Dern), who has applied for a comeback role as Sue in a film entitled On High in Blue Tomorrows. The day before the audition, Nikki is visited by an enigmatic old woman (Zabriskie) who says she is her neighbor; she predicts that Nikki will get the role, and recounts two folk tales. One tells of a boy who, sparking a reflection after passing through a doorway, "caused evil to be born." The other tells of a girl who, wandering through an alleyway behind a marketplace, "discovers a palace." The old woman presses Nikki for details on her new film, asking whether the story is about marriage and involves murder. Nikki denies both, but her neighbor disagrees. Disregarding Nikki's offended response, the old woman comments on the confusion of time, claiming that were this tomorrow, Nikki would be sitting on a couch adjacent to them. The film then pans to where the neighbor is pointing, and we see Nikki and two girlfriends sitting on the couch. Her butler (Ian Abercrombie) walks into the living room with a phone call from her agent, announcing that she has won the role. Ecstatic, Nikki and her friends celebrate while her husband Piotrek (Peter J. Lucas) ominously surveys them from atop a nearby staircase.Some time later, Nikki and her co-star Devon Berk (Theroux) receive an interview on a talk show. The host (Ladd) asks them both whether they are having an affair, to which each of them respond negatively. Devon is warned by his entourage that Nikki is out of bounds, due to her husband's power and influence. Later, on the set being built for the film, Nikki and Devon rehearse a scene with the director, Kingsley Stewart (Irons). They are interrupted by a disturbance, but upon investigation Devon finds nothing. Shaken by the event, Kingsley confesses that they are shooting a remake of a German feature entitled 47. Production was abandoned after both leads were murdered, creating rumors of the film being cursed.Immersed in her character, while the film is being shot, "Sue" / Nikki appears to begin an affair with Devon / "Billy". A strange scene follows based on what the old woman had described: Nikki appears in a mysterious alley walking to her car, carrying a bag of groceries, but then she notices a door in the alley marked Axxon N, and enters. It leads her back to soundstage where the earlier rehearsal took place. She witnesses that rehearsal from across the roomââshe herself was what had interrupted it earlier. This time, when Devon seeks to discover who's observing them, she disappears from the rehearsal scene, and flees among the half-built backgrounds and into the house of a character named Smithy (possibly her husband in the film's story, but this is never made clear). Despite the set being merely a wooden facade, Nikki enters to find an illuminated suburban house inside. Devon looks through the windows, but sees only darkness, not hearing her frantic cries of his character's name, "Billy."At this point, the film takes a drastic stylistic turn. Various plotlines and scenes begin to entwine and complement each other. The chronological order is often confused or nonexistent. Inside the house, Nikki sees her husband (whether it's "Smithy" or Piotrek is unclear) in bed. Hiding from him, she enters a different room and encounters a troupe of prostitutes. One of the women advises her to burn a hole through silk with a cigarette and look through the hole. Nikki complies and witnesses several strange happenings, many of which seem to revolve around her, or alternate versions of herself.Prior to these scenes, the woman who plays Billyâs wife tells a policeman that she had been hypnotised to murder someone with a screwdriver, but finds the screwdriver embedded in her own side. A mysterious organization claims to have captives from Inland Empire. A parallel plotline involves Polish circus artists in the present day, as well as Polish prostitutes in ÅÃ³dÅº during the 1930s, who are confronted by strange pimps while murder permeates their city. Nikki, having become one of the group of present-day prostitutes, wanders the streets while her companions ask, "Who is she?" Both Nikki and her prostitutes frequently ask people to look at them and "say whether you've known me before." In a parallel plotline, Sue climbs the dark staircase behind a nightclub to deliver long monologues to an unidentified man touching upon her childhood sexual abuse, disastrous relationships, and retaliations. Her husband Smithy seems to be connected with both the pimps and the organization, and then is hired by a circus from Poland because he is said to be "good with animals." There is much talk of the Phantom, an elusive hypnotist. Convinced sheâs being stalked by a red-lipped man, Sue arms herself with a screwdriver.Finally, Sue walks down Hollywood Boulevard, and is startled to see her doppelgÃ¤nger across the street. Before Sue can investigate, Doris arrives and attempts to kill her, having been hypnotized by The Phantom. Sue is brutally stabbed in the stomach with her own screwdriver, causing her to stagger down the street and eventually collapse next to some homeless people on the corner of Hollywood and Vine. One woman remarks that Sue is dying, then proceeds to debate with another, younger homeless woman about taking a bus to Pomona. Her companion talks at length about a friend named Niko, a prostitute whose blond wig makes her look like a movie star, thus allowing her to walk through the rich district without drawing attention. The older woman comforts Sue by holding a lighter in front of her face until she finally dies, promising her "no more blue tomorrows." Off-camera, Kingsley yells "Cut!" and the camera pans back to show this has merely been a film scene.As the actors and film crew wrap for the next scene, Sue slowly arises, Nikki once more. Kingsley announces that her scenes for the film are complete. In a daze, Nikki wanders off set and into a nearby cinema, where she sees not only On High in Blue Tomorrowsâencompassing some of the subplots of the filmâbut events that are currently occurring. She wanders to the projection room, but finds an apartment building marked "Axxon N". Eventually, Nikki confronts the red-lipped man from earlier, now known to be the Phantom. She shoots him, which causes his face to morph first into a distorted copy of Nikki's own face, and then an even more distorted face bleeding from its mouth.Nikki flees into a nearby roomâRoom 47, which houses the rabbits on television, though she fails to see them. Elsewhere in the building, Nikki finds the Lost Girl, who has been watching and crying all along. The two women kiss, before Nikki fades away into the light along with the rabbits. The Lost Girl runs out of the hotel and into Smithy's house, where she happily embraces a man and child.Nikki is then seen back home, smiling at the old woman from the beginning of the film. The concluding scene takes place at her house, where she sits with many other people, among them Laura Harring, Nastassja Kinski, and Ben Harper. A one-legged woman who was mentioned in Sue's monologue looks around and says, "Sweet!" Niko, the girl with the blonde wig and monkey, can also be seen. The end credits roll over a group of women dancing to Nina Simone's "Sinner Man" while a lumberjack saws a log to the beat., Question: What is the name of the apartment building in the story?

SOLUTION: Answer: Axxon N

PROBLEM: The film begins with the funeral of one of the three Tempio brothers. These men are violent criminals. Mourning the passage of their beloved brother Johnny are Chez and Ray. Ray is cold and calculating. Chez is hot tempered. Flashbacks show us that Johnny was more sensitive. Exposure to Communist meetings as a spy sway Johnny's opinions.The chief suspect in Johnny's murder is rival gangster Gaspare Spoglia.Ray and Chez swear revenge. Ray's wife, Jeanette, opposes the campaign of retribution and the violence it will bring, while Chez' wife, Clara, struggles to deal with her husband's obsessive nature.As it turns out, Johnny was not murdered by rival gangsters, but by a man who first claimed Johnny had raped his girlfriend, but who later admits, just before Ray kills him, that he wanted revenge because Johnny had beaten him up in front of his girlfriend and friends.As he buries the dead murderer, Chez reflects on his brothers' lives before the tragedy. He then returns to Ray's house and shoots and kills Ray and all of his bodyguards. Chez then shoots Johnny, lying dead in the casket, before putting the gun in his own mouth and committing suicide as the family women wail over Ray's dying body., Question: Who is thought to be Johnnys murderer?

SOLUTION: Answer: Gaspare Spoglia

PROBLEM: Set in the high mountains of Vermont and the giant waves of Hawaii's surf, Johnny Tsunami is an exciting adventure about a 13-year-old boy who learns to adapt to his new surroundings after his family moves from one extreme environment to another. Johnny Tsunami is filled with life's lessons in family and friendships and packed with snowboarding and surfing action.Johnny Kapahaala (Brandon Baker) is a 13-year-old surfing sensation enjoying his carefree life in Hawaii. Living in Hawaii, Johnny K is surrounded by his surfing buddies, his parents and most importantly, his legendary grandfather Johnny Tsunami (Cary-Hiroyuki Tagawa) who he greatly admires. Plus, he is able to enjoy his life's passion, surfing.With the help of his grandfather, Johnny K became a champion surfer at an early age. In his own day, Johnny's grandfather was known worldwide as having won the most prestigious surfing medal, the Tsunami medallion (thus his nickname, Johnny Tsunami). This medallion is something Johnny K has coveted all of his life and has dreamed of winning himself one day. Johnny Kapahaala's Hawaiian life is turned upside-down when his father, Pete Kapahaala (Yuji Okumoto) announces that he is moving the family from Hawaii to Vermont. Pete is the opposite of his father, Johnny Tsunami, and is a businessman, not a surfer. An expert in computers, Pete has developed a classroom computer network program CLASSNET, which links schools together so they may share files and information. Johnny K is disappointed about the move to Vermont as it means moving away from his grandfather and no longer being able to surf. Taking advice from his grandfather, he knows he must keep a positive attitude and make the best of his new home.Upon his arrival in Vermont, Johnny K is quickly aware that he is a fish out of water. His father enrolls him in a private school, Sky Academythe same school that has hired his father to implement his computer program, CLASSNET. His first introductions are with Brett (Zach Bostrom) and his friends, which include Emily Pritchard (Kirsten Storms) whom Johnny immediately likes.Brett isn't exactly friendly to Johnny, and right away a rivalry develops between the two boys, with Emily caught in the middle. In order to try and fit in, Johnny K takes Brett up on an offer to go skiingsomething that is a must for Sky Academy students. Johnny figures with his skills in surfing that skiing could not be all that difficult, but quickly realizes it is going to take some time for him to master the sport. Brett, of course, is pleased that Johnny is having a hard time with skiing.Riding the bus home from school one day, Johnny sees a group of boys snowboarding which piques his interest. Johnny K befriends a snowboarder by the name of Sam (Lee Thompson Young) and asks him to teach him how to master the sport. Sam explains to Johnny K that only public school kids snowboard and are referred to as "Urchins" and private school kids, like Johnny, known as "Skies" ski. Sam also explains that the mountain in their town is divided"Skies" on one side and "Urchins" on the other, and the two do not mix.Johnny K convinces Sam to teach him to snowboard and they become fast friends. Johnny K finally feels he belongs in Vermont and has found his niche in snowboarding and the "Urchins." Of course, when Brett and the rest of the "Skies" find out, they make Johnny's school life difficult. Sam learns that he and his father, an Air Force pilot, have been transferred and he will be moving away from Vermont. Upset by this, Sam and Johnny K devise a plan and stowaway on an Air Force plane heading to Hawaii, to be with Johnny's grandfather. Johnny Tsunami, of course, convinces the boys upon their arrival, to contact their parents and explain what they have done. He also convinces the boys' parents to let them stay in Hawaii a few days. Reluctant, Sam and Johnny K's parents agree. Johnny and Sam enjoy their days in Hawaii surfing and hanging out with his grandfather. After a few days of Hawaii and guidance from Johnny's grandfather, the boys realize they need to head back to Vermontwith Johnny Tsunami, of course!Pete was not at all happy about Johnny Tsunami returning home with the boys, but soon realizes that his father does have a positive influence on young Johnny K, after all. Soon after his return, Johnny K meets up with his nemesis, Brett. Johnny K seizes the opportunity and challenges Brett to a racehe on his snowboard and Brett on skis. Johnny K even takes the challenge a little further and claims the prize will be control of the mountain. If Johnny K wins, "Skies" and "Urchins" will mix, and the mountain will not be segregated between skiing and snowboarding.The day of the race arrives and Johnny is nervous but excited. Once he arrives at the mountain for the race, he is even more pleased to see those he cares about most are there to cheer him onSam, his grandfather, his mother, and most importantly, his father. The race begins and off they go neck and neck all the wayhearts pounding and everyone cheering., Question: Who is Johnny pleased to see at the race?

SOLUTION:
Answer: Sam, grandfather, mother and father.