哈欠吟者在伯林艮晒太阳时的哼哼唧唧: 指点群豪戏

蓝莓之夜（My Blueberry Nights）

Tue, 05 Aug 2008 21:32:10 GMT

看《蓝莓之夜》象拿咖啡壶煮茶。刚入口时觉得不对劲。茶不象茶，咖啡不象咖啡的。几口下去才找回感觉。其实什么都没变。一样简单的人物设置，一样淡化的故事情节，一样段落式的叙事，一样装X的对白，一样浓重的色彩，连没用杜可风的摄影也还是杜可风的调调。啊，原来茶还是茶，王家卫还是王家卫。

看《蓝莓之夜》象拿咖啡壶煮茶。有那么一阵感觉不错。等喝见了底，又觉得不对劲。怎么什么都没变啊？原先用茶壶那会儿，这茶喝了一道又一道，十几年下来也没觉得单调。如今换了咖啡壶，才发现这茶真是旧得可以。

换了器具，没添什么新意，徒显乏味而已。

★★★☆☆

黑骑士（Dark Knight）

Sat, 26 Jul 2008 18:27:09 GMT

蝙蝠侠系列到了Christopher Nolan手里是越玩越有味。最新的这部《黑骑士》与其说是superhero片，还不如说是反superhero片。大反派小丑自信洒脱，理念坚定，始终居于主动。蝙蝠侠一路被动失利不说，还时时彷徨无助。跟小丑放在一起，好似受老师宠爱的明星学生碰上了校外来的邪魅小流氓。Nolan在接受娱乐周刊采访时说“Michael Caine（蝙蝠侠管家的扮演者）说得好：美国觉得自己象超人，世界却觉得美国不过是蝙蝠侠。蝙蝠侠是个善良的亿万富翁，有着金钱所赋予的权力。但他不象超人一样是个上帝般的角色。他跟我们一样是人。”虽然这番话还是有点往美国脸上贴金，但很好地诠释了导演的理念。

Superhero类型拍到这个份上，算有点意思了。其实近几年的superhero片多有类似尝试。但新理念始终让位于类型需要，最多是英雄战胜邪恶路上的一点小波折。Nolan则不满足于给类型加点新噱头，他把类型翻转了撕破了来玩。不少人看了《黑骑士》觉得压抑愤怒甚至惶恐，这本不该是看superhero片该有的反应。但这样的突破吸引了一批象我这样的新观众。这是导演疯狂天才的一面。另一方面，类型需要该有的爆炸，追车，精心策划，高科技武器，绑架英雄爱人等等一样不少。娱乐上也极到位。这是导演精明技巧的一面。这两方面天衣无缝的融合，是《黑骑士》票房奇迹的主因。

票房的另一大推动自然是小丑的扮演者Heath Ledger的精彩表演和意外死亡。撇开Ledger的死的八卦效应不谈，Ledger的表演亦足以作为一大卖点。小丑所代表的混乱无序，让生活在现代文明里的人深深惧怕，但也许又暗暗迷醉。当小丑舔着嘴唇阐述自己的理念，当小丑编出一个又一个关于自己伤疤的故事，当小丑在夜风中乱发飞舞，你能看到长夜将至，修罗王降临，现世的结构和秩序打得粉碎，只剩下裸露的人群舔着自己的爪子嚎叫，瑟瑟发抖。这就是小丑的鬼魅。现在猜Ledger能不能拿奥斯卡为时过早。但他的小丑可以与曾获奖/提名的反派角色Anthony Hopkins的Hannibal Lecter（《沉默的羔羊》）和Denial Day-Lewis的Bill Cutting（《纽约黑帮》）比肩，是毫无疑问的。

影片最大的败笔在两船互炸这一段。这种光明的尾巴似的处理即不符合片子的整体风格，更不呼应前后情节。不知道是导演对观众情绪的照顾，还是对票房需要的妥协。我愿意相信导演是在试图寻回一种平衡。确实，用“哀而不伤，乐而不淫”的标准来衡量，《黑骑士》倾斜过度，有欠圆熟。但光明的尾巴并不能弥补。好比水煮鱼的辣加巧克力豆是压不住的，得下花椒才行。

★★★★☆

A Thousand Splendid Suns

Wed, 27 Feb 2008 00:01:55 GMT

平心而论，在处女作《The Kite Runner》万水千山红遍之后，Khaled Hosseini写第二本书的难度很大。要重现甚至超越《Kite》的奇迹基本是mission impossible。因此，《A Thousand Splendid Suns》（《灿烂千阳》）出书大半年了我还一直没看。我等。等自己的期望值降下来再说。

我没白等。半年之后，以平常心去读《Suns》，我读到了一本不错的书。

《Suns》的背景依然设在阿富汗。故事围绕两个女性人物展开。Mariam是富家扫地出门私生女；Laila是知识分子家庭独养明珠。Mariam因自己的执拗和父亲的绝情失去父母；Laila因战争成为孤儿。一个因为被离弃，一个因为被欺骗，Mariam和Laila先后嫁给Rasheed。Mariam不能为Rasheed生儿育女；Laila不愿却最终为Rasheed生子。Mariam和Laila从彼此仇视，到彼此同情，到相依为命。最终Mariam为救Laila奋起反抗，以死与命运抗争。

看得出来，Khaled Hosseini在第二本书上下的苦功不比第一本书少。总体感觉上《Suns》和《Kite》相当一致。故事背景相对简单，人物不多不少。风格平实有大家风度。以情节见长，人物刻画为次。文字上，《Suns》少见《Kite》的灵动和机智，代之以精雕细琢，结结实实的文笔。结构上，两个人物两条线。故事用主观式第三人称在Mariam和Laila之间交替进行。Laila锋锐，Mariam厚重。两者间的互动着实出彩。对位法的运用比比皆是，是刻意也是必然。花哨得不算过分。

男作者从女性角度写作，多少有点吃力。年轻的Laila是进步女青年形象，还算有血有肉。年长的Mariam是克己坚忍的传统女性，本应该是两个人物中更有分量的一个，却刻画得不够力度。描写Mariam嫁给Rasheed以后生活的部分明显枯涩，是全书最大的败笔。相比之下，书中男性人物用墨不多，却个个鲜活。特别是Laila的爱人Tariq。大概比较接近作者身边熟知的人。类似现象在《Kite》里也有出现。Khaled Hosseini编故事的本领一流，虚构人物的本领就差些。

时代背景在《Suns》中依然有重要意义。美国梦的光明尾巴有取巧讨好美国读者之嫌。但在其特定场景下大概有现实依据。《Suns》重墨描绘阿富汗女性在重重苦难下的勇敢与坚韧。对其苦难的根源则没有太多置评。大多数时候，阿富汗的动荡历史和女性不公正的社会地位，是留给读者的思考。宗教在其中扮演的角色，更是个有趣的留白。从《Kite》中对人性的深刻批判，到《Suns》中对现实社会问题的提出和回避。Khaled Hosseini锐气略减，成熟有加。

《A Thousand Splendid Suns》之后，Khaled Hosseini不再是天才中年，但仍然是个可以让人期待的作家。

我的评分:

文学价值：★★★★☆
思想价值：★★★☆☆
娱乐价值：★★★☆☆
信息价值：★★☆☆☆

菠菜豆腐

Wed, 06 Feb 2008 01:52:13 GMT

看《Once》象听Suzanne Vega的第一张专辑。一切都自然简单，却有种直指人心的触动。

《Once》的剧情平实，没什么花哨。街头音乐家遇上卖花姑娘。从彼此欣赏，寂寞相伴，到合作音乐，却又最终分头收拾旧爱。两人间的感情开始时似有若无，结束时点到为止。演员表演很放松。台词简短朴实。手提式摄影也并不粗砺得过分。出来的效果是种温暖的平静。确实是minimalism的典范。

《Once》一半都是在唱歌，但很难给套个音乐片的头衔。音乐都是剧情自然带出来的，绝没有没事张嘴就唱的恐怖。因为是Irish口音，我看的时候可耻地开了字幕。也因为如此，连歌词一块儿看了。歌词也都不错。更主要的是男主角唱得投入。被小小感动了一把。

前两天看多了烂电视，有点油腻。《Once》象碗菠菜豆腐汤，喝下去觉得五脏六腑都洗了一遭，无比地清爽。

最近看的好电影还算不少。Emir Kusturica的《When Father Was Away on Business》，这个蛋黄评过了。《Juno》，我很喜欢。有人拿来比《Little Miss Sunshine》，我觉得比《Sunshine》好得不是一点半点。哦，还有Darren Aronofsky的《The Fountain》。这个是我最喜欢的题材。眼看是要达到《12 Monkeys》的水准的。但是可惜，拍出来没有我期望的效果。三个故事之间不够融合，太散太炫了点吧。不如他拍的《Pi》。不过，在无限的时空里寻找永恒，这样的题材是我的死穴。所以还是拿来看了第二遍。

Confession of an Economic Hit Man

Fri, 07 Dec 2007 22:11:24 GMT

This book is sort of an autobiography by John Perkins. The reason it is a confession instead of a normal autobiography is that the author, who obviously had a successful career as an economist working for big consulting companies, believes his role as an economist was part of a grand empire building "corporatocracy". Early in his career he had some contact with the NSA, so he claims. After he joined a consulting firm, he was "trained" by an NSA agent to work as an economic hit man, whose primary job beneath the economist mask is to forge inflated economic forecast of other countries in attempt to lure foreign government into financial and political traps of American corporations. He served in this role for more than 10 years before his conscience called upon him and he quit the job. It took another 20 years before he finally took the action to confess his past in an effort to raise the consciousness of both the old and new generation to reflect and redeem the past and to rethink about the future.

It is disputable whether the author truly worked for the NSA unofficially, as his story about how he was recruited and trained by the NSA was very vague. However, it's really not about whether the story was true or not. The main idea is that in modern days, corporate America uses economic means in conjunction with military means to conquer other countries and build a global empire; and that greed is the fundamental evil force that drives everybody to work, consciously or unconsciously, for this corporatocracy scheme; that we are all guilty of our own actions in playing our own roles, which collectively drove the world into the crazy reality. The ideas might not be entirely new, but could still be eye-opening to a lot of readers. Our generation that were brought up under the influence of consumism and the promotion of a strong nationalism identity, either in America, in China, or in any other country that holds great power, may find these ideas inspiring, disturbing, or at least interesting.

This is the first book recommended by Leo and guys in TWiT's audible.com plug. But Leo himself didn't read the book. Now I know why. Despite the educational and philosophical value, this book has almost no literature merit. The book is a laundry list of the projects he was involved in plus, quite faithfully, his confession. The author repeated the basic points over, and over, and over. It is plain most of the time, preaching often time, and boring sometime. Definitely not a fun read. But for the ideas presented in the book, though not all agreeable, I'd still recommend it to everyone. After all, it's not that long.

My ratings:
Literature: ★☆☆☆☆
Philosophy: ★★★☆☆
Entertainment: ★★☆☆☆
Information: ★★★★☆

色·戒

Tue, 16 Oct 2007 22:28:44 GMT

周末看了『色·戒』，是下午两点场。中午吃了一大碗拉面进了电影院。正食饱伤神的当儿，眼前一黑，一不小心就被感动了。国将亡，家半丧，乱世无根的切肤之痛在李安游移的镜头，汤唯低垂的眼皮，Alexandre Desplat 悲惋的音乐中无比地鲜活。电影演完了还半晌回不过神来。

本来有点难以理解张爱玲为什么会写了这样一篇小说。或者王佳芝为什么会接了这么一件任务，又那么肯牺牲。被父亲弃之不顾是王佳芝命运的基调。但这个情节好象是原作中没有的。点了这个题眼，一切都顺理成章了。回头去翻原作，才找到那一句“因为一切都有了个目的”。故事虽然多了一笔，只是用来帮我这样笨的，并没改了味。再来看小说，象是缩微版的『倾城之恋』。乱世男女的心机和一点真情，无论结局悲喜，都还是无奈。

李安也真是个天才。那么短的一篇小说拍了两个半小时的电影。原作中能填的空都填上了，该留的白竟也没怎么少。珠宝店的戏实在出彩。从进场前的杀机四伏，到男女间反复的恍然，到易先生仓皇逃遁。整段戏象一张渐渐拉满直至崩断了的大弓，看得人透不过气来。王佳芝出来在街上，断了的弓弦惶惶四顾。一切好象都丢了空了，一切又好象有了结局和解脱。黄包车边上的三架小风车滴溜溜地旋着，车夫的一转身一问话都笃定踏实。回家？是该回家了。这一刻王佳芝不再惶然。悲剧完美，照我这样的俗人说就该嘎然而止。不过李安不是哼唧，又有刑场一段。只有这一段我觉得蛇足。

说说演员吧。王佳芝是个极悲剧的人物。被离弃被利用，却又倔强地抓住自己扮演的角色。亏得汤唯，从表情到身形，一身垂而不坠的张力。真演活了。陈冲的易太太，何赛飞的萧太太都很传神。这二位演这样的官太太全不费力的。相比之下汤唯的表演重了一点。不过也只是事后比较，看时并没觉得演过了。毕竟王佳芝自己就在演戏，表演痕迹是剧情需要。梁朝伟的戏分出乎意料的多，表演却出乎意料的少。冷血特务头子大概该是这样。但多少有些不过瘾。易先生的形象比小说中丰富了很多。和王佳芝其实同病相怜。那一点真情，虽然就一点，也更真切深刻得多。激情戏是影片争议的焦点，恐怕也会是票房的重点。非常佩服两位演员，没说的。敬业不敬业还在其次，确实演得好。至于邝裕民，象『卧虎藏龙』里的张震，王力宏的角色只需一个字来形容：弱。不过也算弱得入戏。邝裕民这样的角色是要叫人恨的，还会有可怜。

就说这些。下面是等待，等DVD出来。『卧虎藏龙』是在电影院里看了两遍的。不知道『色·戒』能不能忍得住。

Blonde Redhead new album

Mon, 09 Apr 2007 21:35:49 GMT

Blonde Redhead is releasing a new album tomorrow: "23". It's got 4.5 stars and a very favorable review from AMG. Actually it's so highly praised I'm afraid that Blonde Redhead has become just another dream-pop band. Will find out tonight.

Ohhh, excited about an album again, that feels good.

4/12:
It's really not bad. The review was true, BR is certainly moving toward the pop camp. Nothing wrong with that, as long as it's good stuff. However, a couple of songs got dangerously close to something you'd hear from a Black Box Recorder album. I'm so tired of BBR that it worried me a little.

Overall it seems another "Misery is a Butterfly" but one notch down on the dark side and 5 degrees warmer. I remember listening to Misery over and over in the miserably cold winter in Minneapolis. It gave me chill just listening to her crisp voice and his pained yell. But for some reason that chill warms me up. And that chill is gone in "23" (or maybe it's just what California did to me?). What replaced it is a not-so-real tone of past and carelessness. Good thing is, that feels warming too.

All the parallel realities: Donnie Darko, Science of Sleep, and Pan's Labyrinth

Fri, 23 Feb 2007 03:25:49 GMT

Watched three movies lately: Donnie Darko, Science of Sleep, and Pan's Labyrinth. It happens that, though the background and stories are quite different, they have a similar story telling style: two parallel story lines about, not two stories, but two parallel realities of the character.

Donnie Darko:

It is not a very easy movie. Not that it's boring, no, definitely not. It's just weird and intriguing in a deceivingly boring way. I mean, take Mulholland Dr. for example. It's weird and extremely intriguing, and you know it right away. But Donnie Darko is slow and dry at times. However, it sucks you in somehow. The story is about a troubled high school boy Donnie who's guided by a giant bunny Frank to do all kinds of random supernatural things. The supernatural thread is driving the reality thread most of the time. But at times the reality thread reveals, forward or backward, what happens in the supernatural thread. It's interesting how these two work together. And I was all worked up waiting for the big answer. But after all, there isn't one, or, there are more than one. Either way, it keeps your head spinning.

Science of Sleep:

Science of Sleep is directed by the guy who made Eternal Sunshine. That raised my expectation to a very high level. Subconsciously I was waiting for a hard fall, but it didn't come, just like the happy ending that didn't come. And that, feels good.

Like Eternal Sunshine, Science of Sleep is a mind-twisting love story. The geeky Stephane tends to mix his dreams and reality (but hey, who knows what is what?). So his dream pushes or pulls him in pursuing this girl next door. In the core it's really a one-man show. He's rejecting himself and being encouraged by himself all at the same time. All the gory details of his desire and personality defects are magnified and twisted and they all have to play a role in this love story. He's like his own puppet, taking one step forward with the girl, then two steps back. And at the end? There's no end.

The story telling itself is like a love story with the dream and the reality as two lovers. They fight, they reconcile, they love, hate, can't live without each other. It's insanely amazing, or amazingly insane. Either way, it's fascinating.

Pan's Labyrinth:

No question about that: it's a visual feast, not in the most pleasant way, but quite stunning. Besides that, the package includes the parallel story line, the anti-Nazi background, the helpless little girl in the cruel world sentiment, etc. In a word, it's got all the elements that should work. But they didn't.

The story is about a little girl in a harsh reality who had a parallel reality going on the side. The parallel reality is equally harsh but full of hope. At the end, she lost in the reality but prevailed in her parallel reality. It could have been a great story. But there's simply not enough interaction and tension between these two threads. As the story develops you expect more sparkles come between the two. But there's none. When the two stories drift away and away from each other, it became only distracting to have them going side by side. I did enjoy the movie, the pieces themselves are nice. But the story telling is a disaster.

So I guess the moral of the story is: the best is to have two threads with a love/hate relation and a twisted tension between them. When the two threads work together, it's less interesting but it still works. When they simply tell their own stories and don't pay much attention to the other, forget it.

Old stuffs - Movies

Mon, 01 Jan 2007 20:27:30 GMT

12/4/05 - Memoirs of a Geisha

Just saw this piece of news "Geisha received criticism". It's about that the movie Memoirs of a Geisha reciececd harsh criticism in China and Japan. It's not a surprise to see it got boiled in Japan as they may take it as an insult to Japanese people and Japanese culture, though from an outsider's point of view, it's more about promoting Japanese culture. As far as I know, it is becoming more popular than ever, if possible. What really surprised me though, was how the movie is criticized in China, well, not really the movie itself, but the fact that Ziyi Zhang took the role of Sayuri. A traitor, that's what they call you if you act in a movie set in a coutry that invaded your country 60 years ago. Give me a break, it's only a love story, and not even a good one. It's not about the war, it's about a dying art and a girl's fatansy. What's next? Are we gonna censor all Japanese characters from Chinese movies? OK, let's all just turn our heads and pretend Japan doesn't exist, that way we don't have to work to surpass Japan, we only need to pretend.

4/29/03 - Platoon

Last night I was sitting in sofa and pushing the "channel+" key of my TV remote at a 3Hz pace. Something, just a flash of a forest scene, caught my eyes. "It's 'Platoon'." I said. It's "Platoon". Such a great movie that every single picture remains in my memory, a very poor one by the way. Opposite to OOA, where the actress was what made it good, Oliver Stone is the best part of it, as in all his movies.

4/28/03 - Out of Africa

I was a fan of Echo (San Mao) in middle school. Once I was reading this new book of her in which she met a super sensitive Greek guy somewhere Mediterranean. They talked and talked, weather, city, travel, music, philosophy, literature, and finally, movie. "We came to the conclusion that movie is the charm." Then, they went to see "Out of Africa". I was like, "Wow, movie is?!" So I watched "Out of Africa" about two minutes after that and I was, blown away.

Couple of years ago I watched "Out of Africa" again with Ying. She wasn't that impressed. Shamefully, I wasn't neither. Meryl Streep is still one of the greatest actresses, and OOA is still one of her greatest performance. The story is still touching but it couldn't touch me as much as before, when I was so hungry for the epic type of stories back in middle school. My taste changes. Once I was somewhat embarrassed to admit that. But I got used to it soon enough, before that bit of feeling ashamed became a hurdle of my enjoyment of movies. There are still clips in OOA remain classic. The lion shooting, the shampoo rinsing, Karen reaches Denys' hand on the plane, the coffee talk with the girl, the last dance... However, there's something missing, some, coherence? Seems Pollack was torn between an epic and a love story. The love story appears pale yet distracting. Part of it might be Robert Redford didn't give enough depth to Denys to match Karen.

10/27/02 - Beijing Bicycle

Here is a piece of review of, also, "Beijing Bicycle" on Netflix.
"Good film overall. But the characters won't win any points with anyone. If this is the only Chinese film a foreigner sees in his/her lifetime, then China is f**ked for good because there's not a single redeeming character in the entire movie. They're all fools, theives, vain, and hopelessly selfish. It's like watching the news and think that's all the Arabs are about..."
If I have to act in his standards to be redeeming so I can f**k other people however I want otherwise I deserve to be f**ked, Thank God I'm not redeeming and I don't want to be.
Don't even want to say more...

8/13/02 - Beijing Bicycle

If you experienced that struggle of youth when you grew up, "Beijing Bicycle" catches you just like "In the Heat of the Sun". Two boys, from different worlds, have their fates collapsed under a deadlock. The ownership of a bicycle, a trivial issue to adults, the whole world to the seventeen-years boys. They fought so hard trying to get hold of a little piece of their life, with a believe, which turned into a beautiful innocent cruelty, that the bicycle is the tunnel to happiness. That really brought me back to the time when I stood outside the girl's door with a book in my hand which I wanted to show her. The book was soaked in my sweat, and I never felt so alive.

7/23/99 - What Dreams May Come

It's a fantastic experience to watch "What Dreams May Come". Quite a shock, visually. However, it's just a little too colorful to express the point of the movie, which is a simple and nice point: Sometimes you win, you lose; Sometimes you lose, you win; But, never give up. With less special effects, the same story could dig into this point much deeper and stronger. But now it's a little pale and funny compared with the technical stuff, like a black and white painting in a golden frame.

5/6/99 - A Simple Plan

Just watched a movie called "A Simple Plan". It's something like "Fargo", and also a little "No U Turn". It talks about how greed corrodes conscience, and how things go out of control. Pretty good movie, a nice surprise. The interesting thing is: the background is also in Minnesota, as "Fargo". Why? Who told me Minnesota was the safest state in US?? I guess the Minnesota people are considered nice and indifferent, so such a story could dig into human's greed more deeply.