SouL FRee

YHY

kästner — Thu, 14 Feb 2008 11:43:23 +0300

Summer Palace, renovated before the first Sino-Japanese war, witnessed the country's defeat. A love story, occurred before the Tian'anmen protests, broke up formally and hastily.

As a dividing line, 1989 showed the audience two completely different plots. The first part of the film was so insincere that I hesitated to quit seeing the rest. I couldn't stop criticizing the costumes, the lifestyle and the behaviors in the film -- dandyism, smoking (girls!), flirting, masturbation, one-night stand, all these stuffs are like a big joke against the truth and the ideology in such period. (I even doubted Lou Ye has mixed Beijing up with Berlin although the story took place in China?) But after a while, I comprehended it was their honest ignorance of this world and also, the hunger for freedom and love. 1989, all pure desires crushed. The desire to establish a democratic state, the desire to believe there will be a worldwide camp, the desire to establish an intimate relationship (with and transcending sexuality). What have been left to us, were mere a burnt truck, a fallen wall, a disintegrated union and a dismal love.
I thoroughly admire the second part. Being experienced a chain of changes, Alone, purposeless, poor, sorrowful or whatever became quite reliable to me. Yu Hong said in her diary, when the bodies are intimate, they bring the trust, which gives the confidence in success -- yet the passion won't last long. but wait, what on earth would last forever?
We once had firm faith in a polity, now we lost the passion as well. When we were young, precocious, we knew little about what we needed, but we had power, could waste freely. We bled in the war. After we've been matured enough, sophisticated, we then know what actually we are seeking for, however, it suddenly becomes hard to approach the reality. We're unable to move in the years of peace.
Lou Ye was asked what was he doing during Tian'anmen himself. He responded with "I told you! I was in love at that time." But he didn't forget to question, for example, "What's Warsaw like?" in the film -"It's...ok." whispered the woman, "and Beijing?" -"It's ok." a diffident reply. It was full of irony to shot the demonstration in favor of socialism in Germany, but there has nothing more contrasting between a resurgent communism and a withered relationship. The scene Zhou Wei stood beside a gang of punks is meaningful, you know he (and his friends) once wanted to be one of them -- the horrifying spectacle disco/rock'n'roll for China in 1987.
There was no pain, we pretended to be afflicted. When the real suffering comes, we've forgotten what aches are. C'est La vie, the same as the love. Both Yu Hong and Li Ti refused love, they were afraid it hurts someone, so Yu chose to escape and Li committed suicide. If that zeal can't sustain a brief is acceptable, evading a love is no way to blame too. Zhou Wei didn't understand that in the beginning. He had intercourse with different people, as rumor said all females thought he's sexy but Yu only bumped into them one time when he was dating another girl in his dormitory. Therefore, Zhou rashly fell into a relationship with Li is not surprising at all. In Berlin Zhou told that he had a feeling life there was only temporary, ain't his love either? "When the wounds scar over, love disappears." That was Li's remarks, Zhou Wei totally disagreed. He watched Li jumping down, as well as the parting of Yu before. A protest demonstration is formed again, yet a love doesn't. He shirked in the end, without simply saying goodbye.
A long silence before the ending thus was the best performance, compared to the numerous sex scenes and clumsy play in Tian'anmen act. Personal emptiness can't ever replace a nation's bitterness, narcissistic narrative only brings partial concern.

We don't forget Lou Ye once lived in that period. More or less, the movement influenced on him. Some people suspect his sincerity for that film, I can't tell, but all of us become mature in the things we adore, or hate. One can never choose his fate before a historical event. They've been dashed upto the ridge of waves or submerged by flood water, no matter reluctantly or not. I admit this film has a strong smack of personal inclination, and it seems the director had certain reservations about it -- apparently in his anxious and his affectation. I call them authentic revelation, though unfortunately failed, sorry.

中后卫也好

kästner — Thu, 08 Nov 2007 22:55:40 +0300

人跟人之所以有差别，在我看来，很大一部分原因是由于我们无法透视或侵入他人的思维与情感。抚摸、拥抱、亲吻，能传达那时那刻心中的爱，但也只限于“那时那刻”而已。生命中相当漫长的时间，有如睡眠之于人生，都自觉或不自觉地陷入情感交流的真空状态。但若说“真空”，也不太确切，通常不与任何人交流的时段，却也常常成为观察周围人最好的时光，这大概是中译名《屋顶上的童年时光》之由来吧。
评论家说 Kim Rossi Stuart 的这部 Anche libero va bene (Along The Ridge) 是意大利版的 Les 400 Coups，我并不否定，不过，这样的逐本溯源也许会偏离前者自身的内涵——用导演自己的话说：“大人对汤米的伤害，让他有时候其实很想逃跑，甚至希望被邻居那个美满的家庭收养，但最终他选择了另一条路：用不成熟的爱去包容、原谅大人。然而不成熟的爱，也是爱。我试着创造一对不能说好也不能说坏的父母，他们在逃避责任与必须养育孩子长大之间拉扯。他们个性中的复杂面，对孩子来说是最难以理解的部分。”其实，又何止是成人的复杂性难以理解呢？汤米决定偷偷溜出去与邻居一家人滑雪，好摆脱家庭的创伤和恐惧，而在途中悄悄返回家探望他担心的爸爸，再到沉默片刻后的那句“自由中卫也不错”，最终读着妈妈的纸条潸然泪下，观众，又能揣摩出多少他的内心？
我们每个人都从童年走来，亦或许，最初体验这个世界之时的敏感和早熟，便没有理由不报以热情与真诚。

父亲与女儿

kästner — Fri, 19 Oct 2007 09:32:14 +0400

我最近看许多图绘和动画。
知道了二木真希子，知道了 Michaël Dudok de Wit 。
欣赏动漫时，我时常感到一阵轻快和沉重并存。

下午看 Michaël Dudok de Wit 的动画短片 Father and Daughter ，眼眶有些湿润。
爱和亲情，一生的挂念，都蕴含在这简简单单的线条和背影里。

Michaël Dudok de Wit 部部是名作，比如 Prophétie des grenouilles, La (2003)/aka: Raining Cats and Frogs,《哗啦哗啦漂流记》（又译《青蛙的寓言》），比如 Moine et le poisson, Le (1994)/aka: The Monk and the Fish,《和尚与鱼》。个人推荐后一部。

au Coeur du Mensonge

kästner — Wed, 11 Jul 2007 03:11:03 +0400

午后，天空昏黄，闷热得叫人窒息。
DVD机里在播夏布洛 (Claude Chabrol) 的《谎言的颜色》 (au Coeur du Mensonge) 。

电影讲述一位沉内的职业画家因涉入一起女童凶杀案，成了最大嫌疑人而变得愈加封闭和脆弱。这种脆弱不仅来自小城里每个他所认识的居民带给他的无形压力，更来自于画家与其妻子之间开始出现的难以回避的失望与不安。画家最终选择了结与妻子纠葛不断的明星作家的生命，以负罪的侥幸心替代蒙冤的屈卑感，希望从此消弭两人的隔阂，重拾爱和生活，却不料此举更加剧妻子的不信任。
影片结尾，画家喊叫出是自己杀害了作家，获得妻子最大的理解及体谅，二人相抱恸哭。

这让我觉得，闪烁其辞和坦然应对，无法放在一块儿来进行比较。
因为缺失的，不仅仅再是信任和依赖。

p.s. 海报共有3张，我没有选使用最多的二人相视那张，而是挑了大家现在看到的这张。
谎言或许也可以相对着说出，但信任又何尝需要彼此肯定呢？

别人的生活

kästner — Fri, 04 May 2007 22:51:20 +0400

上海举办爵士周，我在家庆祝我的电影周。老蔡一再推荐《别人的生活》(Das Leben der Anderen／The Lives of Others)，说既然你喜欢《再见列宁》(Good Bye Lenin!)，那么一定不能错过这部片子。
事实上，两者太不同。
本来打算写篇稍长些的影评，不过在阅读了王怡《我们头顶干净的天空：电影〈窃听风暴〉》和胡佳夫人曾金燕的《感受〈窃听风暴〉》之后，我决定放弃。
片名有点意思，中文译名普遍取了《窃听风暴》，未看过本片的观众大概以为又是一部好莱坞大片。我个人更喜欢《别人的生活》，其他国家地区也都是采用德文 Das Leben der Anderen 的直译，不知道为什么华文如此看重挖掘文字，而忽略剧情的发展——当影片结尾，Georg Dreyman 下了车，欲前又止，继而重新上车驶回家；Gerd Wiesler 折回书店，凝望着扉页上的 HGW XX/7 ，然后平静地走向收银台，掏钱买下这本书。两人最终都没有打破别人的生活。

比起上面两篇观后感，我更喜欢《纽约时报》的评论，尤其这两段：

And even as they are, to some extent, enacting a morality play, the actors also seem like real, vulnerable people forced into impossible choices. This is especially true of Ms. Gedeck, whose natural nobility — her height, her carriage, the strong line of her jaw — makes Christa-Maria’s half-hidden fragility all the more poignant.

Georg and Captain Wiesler, though they occasionally waver and worry, remain true to their essential natures, and thus embody the film’s deepest, most challenging paradox: people don’t change, and yet the world does.

好的影评应切忌过度引申，要专注影片本身。这条就用来勉人和自勉吧。

http://www.good-bye-lenin.de/

励志 • 希望 • 救赎

kästner — Wed, 02 May 2007 09:25:11 +0400

今天才总算欣赏了电影《肖申克的救赎》(The Shawshank Redemption)，之后我读了一些影评，惊讶地发现它被归为所谓励志影片。
是因为没有失去自由才无法感受自由的意义吧？那么，也是因为过于惊讶才会夸大惊讶的作用吧。

《圣经·路加福音》第23章里说：

39 那同钉的两个犯人，有一个讥诮他说，你不是基督吗？可以救自己和我们吧。
40 那一个就应声责备他说，你既是一样受刑的，还不怕神吗？
41 我们是应该的。因我们所受的，与我们所作的相称。但这个人没有作过一件不好的事。
42 就说，耶稣阿，你得国降临的时候，求你记念我。
43 耶稣对他说，我实在告诉你，今日你要同我在乐园里了。

《圣经·马太福音》第27章里却说：

41 祭司长和文士并长老，也是这样戏弄他，说，
42 他救了别人，不能救自己。他是以色列的王，现在可以从十字架上下来，我们就信他。
43 他倚靠神，神若喜悦他，现在可以救他。因为他曾说，我是神的儿子。
44 那和他同钉的强盗，也是这样的讥诮他。
……
46 约在申初，耶稣大声喊着说，以利，以利，拉马撒巴各大尼？就是说，我的神，我的神，为什么离弃我？
47 站在那里的人，有的听见就说，这个人呼叫以利亚呢。
……
49 其余的人说，且等着，看以利亚来救他不来。
50 耶稣又大声喊叫，气就断了。

《圣经·马可福音》也有相差无几的情节。

Andy，当他从狱友口中获知可以证明自己无罪的证据后，情绪激动表现出的大约就符合这句“以利，以利，拉马撒巴各大尼？”。那一刻的基督耶稣，在心底最深处仍存对神做法的不理解——正如Andy动摇了越狱的初衷，期盼光明正大、还清白之身地从监狱走出去。神的旨意、十字架上的救赎，法的正义、牢狱墙后的赎回，看上去如此相像又不可思议。
Red 在镜头里获释被拒三次，他的一番台词以及讥讽 Andy 关于希望的描述，恰巧成了《圣经》中一个强盗语境的援引。
希望，到底是什么呢？佛也说：放下屠刀，立地成佛。这句话其实是在说：想要立地成佛而放下屠刀是无用功；而放下屠刀，才是不二法门——听起来相当没有逻辑，有些禅味。Red 明明渴望着获释，嘴上却说“希望是危险的东西，是精神苦闷的根源”，无数次被拒；当他寄托自由，把咒骂“希望”变成“置之死地而后生”的绝望那刻，意外获准。然而，“置之死地而后生”，你既可以说它是绝望，又可以说它是希望，这层道理，很接近“放下屠刀”的特定涵义。
信仰是痛苦的，同时也是幸福的。在信仰尚且不能被称为“信仰”的期间，动摇或坚守，谁都不了解结局会是怎样。
而当人们最终了解的那一刻，希望才变得有意义。必须反证才行。所以我们看到了不同的结果： Brooks 的自杀、Andy 的成功，以及 Red 的重生。

Šílení

kästner — Sun, 24 Dec 2006 02:27:54 +0300

今天耐心看完 Jan Švankmajer 在 2005 年的力作 Šílení 。视觉呈现秉持了他的一贯风格。
两年前观赏他的Alice，兴许还算部纯粹艺术电影；这回 Šílení 的序言开门见山地否定它是一部艺术电影，多少让人觉得 1988 到 2005，十七载风雨过后作为捷克人的叹息——无法弥补的、继续煎熬的隐痛。
也许人类无法得到真理，应证了影片所鞭笞的自由和保守两种极端方式。意识形态究竟能为我们带来些什么？无尽的控制和惩罚？
人为宗教活着是耻辱的、虚伪的。任凭造物的“神力”（无论先世的或在世的）让人们的内心充满鲜血、泪水和悲伤，远不及“渎神”那样外露。
还有，谁比谁残忍。

家族～妻の不在・夫の存在～

kästner — Mon, 27 Nov 2006 02:46:34 +0300

佐伯晋一郎问上川：今天是什么日子知道吗？
上川匆匆应付了一声晋，领着儿子回家。
电话两头，上川亮平和理美互相以工作为由推托照顾年幼的儿子悠斗。上川情绪失控咆哮着让理美立即接走儿子，喊声过大，担心吵醒悠斗于是上川起身走到沙发前。
当他的目光不经意间停留在儿子的生日画上时，突然意识到夫妻俩都把儿子生日这件重要的事抛于脑后。
上川缓缓地对理美说：你不用来接了，我会抚养悠斗的。

眼圈一热。二分钟。寥寥数句台词，一段钢琴伴奏。没有煽情。
前几年曾经读到报道，说《那山那人那狗》在东京上映期间，电影院内许多观众被感动流泪，当时还觉得不可思议。
原来，我们一直就为这种平易的镜头动容。