市川崑

在今屆香港國際電影節 (HKIFF), 有一個關於日本著名導演市川崑的專題, 播映他的四部作品。 今次我就談談市川的電影!

市川崑 (Kon Ichikawa) 是一位很有名氣的導演, 他與黑澤明, 小林正樹, 木下惠介合稱為'四騎士'。 市川相信真實, 希望透過自己的電影來表現人性的現實。 但他亦明白到, 真實的世界是毫不片面的: 有美好的地方, 亦有殘酷的地方。 市川大導的尊嚴, 就是源自他作品中描繪好與壞而達到的平衡, 令歡眾信服他的判斷。 市川敢於把個人風格融入自己的作品中, 卻令他與電影公司產生了不少磨擦。 1964年, 時值東京奥運, 市川便拍攝了紀錄片'東京奥運會'。 日本政府希望市川以紀實的手法去拍攝 (甚至有報喜不報憂的趨向!)。 不過, 他没有理會, 堅持自己的風格去拍, 終於引起政府不滿, 强行把他的原來版本删剪掉一半。 不過市川的原本, 今天已經成為了紀錄片的不朽經典!

人在孤島

人在殘酷的世界生存, 何其痛苦! 尤其, 是自己孑然一身。 孤獨不一定是性格問題: 當一個人看透世情的荒謬, 不願和凡人一樣默默承受時, 亦會淪為孤島。 市川不少的作品, 都是講述一個人如何在殘酷和虚偽的世界中存活。 可悲的是, 世界的意願往往和人所憧憬的理想背道而馳。 例如改编由三島由紀夫'金閣寺'的電影'炎上', 就是說主角知道了家族裏不可告人的秘密, 和看透世界的腐朽, 開始與現實脱節, 步向瘋狂。 他没有看到夢想的宫殿, 只是逐步邁向虛無的煉獄。 這部電影也頗具時代意義: 顯示當時的日本人開始質疑傳统觀念是否還合情理, 和他們開始認清現實世界的絲絲敗絮。

不過說到市川的代表作, 怎可以不提經典的'野火'? 故事的主角是一位士兵, 當時日本已面臨戰敗, 日軍已採取半放棄狀態。 他感染了肺病, 但部隊卻捨棄了他, 要他在比島戰線隻身飄泊, 這是真正的'孤軍作戰'。 他被世人所遺忘, 要在一個完全陌生的境地中存活, 可謂名符其實的Hunger Games! 他還會經歷到人性中最黑暗的每一方面, 到最後, 迎面撲來的, 只有陣陣的槍火。 故事極為寫實, 而且十分淒美, 是我強烈推介的一部電影!

令一部有趣的作品是'雪之丞變化', 在1935年依笠貞之助亦有拍過一個版本。 雪之丞是一位'女方' (一位扮演女性角色的男演員), 他同時亦懷着為父母報仇的大計。 在雪之丞所處的世界, 好壞並存, 而且充滿不同的對立面。 雪之丞摸不透自己的身份 - 是演員? 還是復仇者? 雪之丞最後成功報仇, 但他亦不知道自己有了甚麼得着, 對世界有了甚麼新的體會。 片中有一位語調冷酷的旁述, 令觀眾以冷眼旁觀這個複雜又矛盾的世界。

前文所述, 市川的電影訴盡了現實世界的腐敗不堪。 那市川是不是完全不給予我們一絲希望呢? 非也。 在'緬甸豎琴'裏 (這算是'野火'的姊妹作), 和善的主角常以演奏音樂去娛樂戰友。 他瞭解到戰爭的荒謬, 希望說服戰友投降, 減低傷亡。 不過這些士兵被一些扭曲了的'武士道精神'所影響, 寧死不屈。 最後他為了幫助已故的戰友挽回尊嚴, 自己立地成佛, 留在缅甸去埋戰友的屍體。 雖然他仍是孤軍作戰, 但他相信這樣可以貢獻世界, 那怕只是一個人輕微的力量? 就像市川大導一樣, 勇於表達自己相信的, 才能夠改變世界, 缔造出無數經典!

(在電影節裏的四部市川崑電影 - '雪之丞變化', '炎上', '弟弟', '東京世運會'都值得一看! 這幾部電影亦會在五月初再度放映。 至於'野火', 大家亦可看塚本晉也的2014年重拍版本, 以作比較。)

by Ed Law

30/03/2015

Film Analysis - 37

亞特蘭大號 (L' Atalante)

在二十世紀初期, 法國出現了一位極具才華的年輕人。 他在二十九歲時, 拍攝了一齣足以名留後世的電影。 或許, 天妒英才, 他一生慘被結 核病所煎熬。 在這部作品剛剛拍峻後, 他就離開了人世。 但他這部唯一的長片, 最終成為了電影史上最偉大的作品之一, 受法國新浪潮以及世界眾多電影愛好者所推崇。 他的名字就是Jean Vigo, 而他的電影就是今次我所介紹的'亞特蘭大號' (L'Atalante, 1934)!

Jean Vigo

Vigo在生之時, 很多人都不了解他的作品, 這只是因為他的想法實在太過前衛! '亞特蘭大號'的情節看似平實, 但電影可以達到如今的地位, 是因為Vigo把其獨特的風格灌注進片中, 使之成為了Poetic Realism中最具代表性的例子之一。 假如Vigo可以在世上活得久一點,他的作品或會能夠完全改變我們對電影藝術的看法!

相比起現在很多所謂的'浪漫'愛情故事, '亞特蘭大號'的情節來得簡潔。 新婚的情侣Jean和Juliette登上了亞特蘭大號。 亞特蘭大號是一艘駁船(barge), 而Jean是駁船的船長。 船上還有成員Jules和一個男孩。 來自鄉村的Juliette没有接觸過城市生活, 所以 對每事每物都感興趣。 她在風趣的Jules的房間裏遊玩, 令到Jean很不是味兒。 駁船把貨物運送到巴黎, Jean和Juliette有機會上岸到處消遣。 Juliette在舞廳裏被另一位男子調戲, Jean憤而帶她離開。 Juliette個性反叛, 决定再次隻身走到巴黎, 去感受那裏的夜生活。 可惜, 盡興過後, 駁船已經駛走! Juliette又不幸被劫, 以致身無分文, 無法回家, 只好艱苦地在巴黎幹活。 另一方面, 孤獨一身的Jean亦不好過, 心中有很多的疑惑, 徹夜難眠。 他記起了Juliette說過, 只要在水中瞪大眼睛, 就能看見誰是自己的真愛。 Jean跳進河裏, 看到穿着婚纱的Juliette, 展露出迷人的笑容, 茅塞頓開。 他把駁船駛回巴黎, 而Jules亦在街頭找回Juliette, 兩人終於重逢。

Vigo獨特的風格, 其實是源自幾種不同的影響。 首先, 他受到當時盛行的Surrealism所影響, 所以他懂得從一些另類的角度去表達日常的事物。 他又受到法國導演Rene Clair的影響, 由於Clair認為電影與夢境的性質十分相似, 所以他的電影風格亦都是如夢似幻, 這一點也表現在Vigo的作品裏面。 而且Vigo的父親亦是一位無政府主義者, 所以他從小便極為崇尚自由, 而且亦希望對時政多作評析。 基 於以上三種影響, 我們可見到Vigo縱使是Poetic Realism的代表人物之一, 他與其他Poetic Realists的風格, 又不盡相同。 '亞特蘭大號'是一個愛情故事, 但它不致於給人濫情的感覺, 是因為Vigo懂得運用恰當的手法, 去處理這個較為平實的故事。 電影運镜的手法, 是以相對客觀的角度而, 不會過份運用Point-of-view或者是特寫的手法, 使得觀眾能夠全面地感受故事的情節, 而不至於會過份代入某一個角色, 而導致濫情的結果。

'亞特蘭大號'被喻為是Poetic Realism的代表作之一, 是因為Vigo把生活裏較為切身的一面和虛擬的幻想融入電影裏。 開始時, 當兩口子走到駁船的盡頭時, 他們的步伐彷似在空氣中飄逸一樣, 成為了一個如夢似幻般的場景。 駁船是實在的, 而他倆的婚姻是虛幻的, 是摸 不通透的。 當穿着黑色禮服的Jean戲謔的拿起花圈套在身上時, 穿着婚紗的Juliette卻望着遠方, 像為不能猜度的將來感到擔憂。 這一場戲除了豔麗之外, 兩人的行動亦形成了極強的對比, 為接下來的麻煩埋下伏線。 片中確實用了不少Foreshadowing: Juliette告訴Jean, 在水中要能夠瞪大眼時, 才會看清楚自己的真愛。 而且在Jean失去Juliette之前, 駁船亦幾乎在黑暗中與另一艘貨船相撞, 似為兩人關係漸現的暗湧埋下伏筆。

L' Atalante - Underwater Dance

說到'亞特蘭大號'最經典的一幕, 就是當Jean跳進河裏, 看到Juliette的笑容, 肯定了她是自己的最愛。 這一幕融會了寫實和虛幻, 可謂最為表現到Poetic Realism風格的一幕。 Jean的身軀和Juliette的倒影, 形成了強烈的對比: 明暗, 遠近, 動靜, 虚實, 所有的维度都能互相配合, 而Juliette真摰自然的微笑更成為了電影史上最著名的影像之一。 一切的隔膜, 瞬間完全泯滅!

我在前文說過, Poetic Realism的一個主題是'超越', 這在'亞特蘭大號'裏亦有觸及。 在我看來, 駁船其實是象徵婚姻, 一種commitment. 片中的一大諷刺, 是在於駁船和巴黎的對比。 駁船上的生活枯燥乏味, 而且黑黑沉沉, 吸引力自當不及巴黎的夜市。 不過, 駁船正正就是給予兩夫婦安全感和安穩生活的國度, 即使Juliette覺得自己喪失了所謂的'自由', 那都只是流於物質上的享受。 兩夫婦真正要珍惜的, 是相互的愛慕。 但, 這從來是不易實踐的 (否則現代社會又怎會有這麼多婚變的出現?!), 雙方都必須超越自己, 勇於踏出一步, 才能愛得更深。 Juliette必須明白到, 或許Jean常常心煩氣躁,但他是真心關懷她, 盡心地去保護她。 當駁船駛走之際, 她所受的abandonment是難以忍受的。 Jean亦要付上责任, 他在初時不懂在水中瞪大眼晴, 是代表他還未看透真愛的意義, 其他男人稍微調戲一下Juliette, 他便心存妒忌, 未有男子的氣量。 當他失去Juliette後, 经於肯去面對問題, 能夠瞪大眼睛看清楚Juliette才是他一生所愛。 當兩人在思維上戰勝了自己的困惑, 才有重遇的機會。

時光不會停下來。 在最後一幕, Jean和Juliette重逢後, 駁船繼續向前航行。 而'亞特蘭大號'和Jean Vigo的才華, 將會為後世人所傳誦! 

By Ed Law

22/03/2015

以戲服人 Film Analysis - 36

憶夢鄉

原曲 : Jerry Goldsmith
填詞 : Edwin Law

誰像我接受懷抱
相信敢夢會達致心窩
誰來讓殘夢奪去
摧風燭
不淌淚

誰讓我繼續沉醉
敢去思念着我的家鄉
誰令我
思朔夢蹤
緬懷故鄉
遠路長

無情面對
冰冷淚光
俯拾痛哭
嘆夢碎


我很喜歡電影巴比龍(Papillon, 1973)的配樂。 故事的主角雖被囚禁着， 但他一直渴望自由， 就像浪蝶一樣。 不知怎的，每一次我聽到此樂韻時， 心中就會想起以上的歌詞， 似是說人喪失自由， 美夢粉碎之情懷。 靈感儼如流星， 在此寫下， 以作歷史的印記。


秋水E人
20/03/2015

Poetic Realism - Its Descendants

The final part of the ‘Poetic Realism’ trilogy looks at the various film movements that have been inspired by Poetic Realism, which should be rightfully considered as the ‘Golden Age’ of French Art Cinema.  

Film Noir - ' The stuff that dreams of made of '

Film Noir was a genre, or some might put it, a style that predominated many American films from the early 1940s to the late 1950s. Rather than stating that these films were about crime, washed-up characters, or the femme fatales, these films were really about characters surviving in an amoral and almost circumstantial universe.

The relationship between Poetic Realism and Film Noir is a contentious one. While the two movements touched on similar thematic elements, inherent contradictions seemed to emerge on their stylistic aspects. The genre of Film Noir was indeed originated from several contradictory styles – that of German Expressionism, the classical Gangster genres and melodramas, and also the burgeoning Neorealism movement. Such a diverse sets of influences provided Film Noir a perspectivism that could not easily reduced to very simpler themes. For many, Poetic Realism represented a form of stylized realism – adding poetic elements to the more realistic themes. Thus, it would be fair to say that Poetic Realism and Film Noir were based on rather different stylistic concepts – naturalism for Poetic Realism, expressionism for Film Noir. A circle should represent a nice analogy to distinguish between the two. Poetic realism was about closing the circle; and Film Noir was tearing that imaginary circle apart.  

The world views presented in Poetic Realist films and Film Noirs were easier to reconcile. Both types were cruising in the melancholic stream, and the storylines were signified by a lack of optimism. The doomed lovebirds in Poetic Realist films and the desperate underdogs in Film Noirs were both consumed by fatalistic beliefs, and their fates were in no way lifted up by the worsening surroundings they were being ‘thrown’ into (to borrow Heidegger’s jargon here). The greasy streets of Poetic Realism would just lead one into the gritty subways of Film Noirs. 

Italian Neorealism

Italian Neorealism was considered as a major film movement in Italy in the 1940s, and its impact has transcended across time and beyond nations. Many considered Renoir’s ‘Toni’ (1934) was the first film that illustrated a style close to Neorealism. Neorealist films fascinated many future filmmakers, and it was considered as a precursor to the French New Wave, for which many of their aspects were taken from the Neorealists.

 

The representatives included Roberto Rossellini, Vittorio De Sica, and a young Luchino Visconti, before his now famous ‘Viscontian’ style was developed in the 1950s. Adopting approaches of Poetic Realism, Neorealist films touched on the life of common people, and favored real location shooting and used more amateur actors. The themes could often be related to contemporary social issues, such as poverty and crime, and the characters too often could not act against their doomed fate. A prime example was De Sica’s ‘Bicycle Thieves’, for which a strong realism was established by depicting the common lives of people, and illustrating the labyrinthine town streets and dinky shops. It was a bittersweet story, as fate seemed to shed no pity on the impoverished ‘father-and-son’ duo, by robbing them of their bread-winning tool. A decade later, Pontecorvo’s The Battle of Algiers (1966) demonstrated again the essence of the Italian Neorealist School. Almost reminiscent of documentary realism, the film detailed the rebel’s action against the French Government during the Algerian War. There were no morals in any sort of military confrontations. Torture strategies were met with terrorist-style tactics, and the big question was which side was going to take one step further. Although the Battle of Algiers was a film beyond the Golden Age of Neorealism, it was still considered as one of the most illustrative pieces of this style.

French New Wave 

The movement of French New Wave was defined by 2 periods, signified by distinct preoccupations. The first period was defined by Bazinian Realism, advocated by Andre Bazin, and this championed the use of techniques that enhanced the realism of the work. Directors like Renior, Wyler and Mizoguchi were championed. The second period of the movement, pioneered by the younger `Cahiers du Cinema' critics, Godard and Truffaut to name a few, placed their focus on auteurship of a work, whether the director could instill original signatures to their films, even under the influence of studio control. The masters were Vigo, Renoir, Welles, Hitchcock, Ray and others.

Poetic Realism addressed many of the ideals of the French New Wave. The focus on topics relevant to accessible real lives nodded to the Realism criterion treasured by Bazin. More, Bazin was particularly impressed by techniques that could heighten the realism of the scene, and the use of deep focus and plan séquence by Renoir, Mizoguchi and Wyler was thus well regarded by Bazin. Poetic Realists came as a diverse group of filmmakers, and each of them had their preoccupations and artistic signatures. This addressed the Auteur theory proposed by the younger New Wave members, as they in particular praised Vigo and Renoir for instilling their original stylistic elements into their work, through the use of mise-en-scène, and henceforth they acted as the true ‘author’ of their work. Of course, the emphasis on real location shooting, use of non-professional actors and focus on fragmentary and ambiguous nature of real lives, could also be nicely attributed to the cinematic realism of the 1930s.

Final Words

Like many artistic movements, Poetic Realism possessed inherent contradictions. Yet it was the synthesis of conflicting styles that provided the subtle beauty that were evident in many of the Poetic Realist films. This movement has given rise to some of the most influential filmmakers ever committed to cinema, and its influence will still be felt for the future years to come.

-THE END-

Poetic Realism - (3/3)

by Ed Law

15/3/2015

Film Analysis - 37

The Grand Illusion

‘The Grand Illusion’, by any metrics, was one of cinema’s most inspiring gifts. Not only it was one of the greatest works in the War genre, it was also the very first ‘Prison-Escape’ film. It inspired numerous other films, the most famed ones being ‘Casablanca’ and ‘The Great Escape’. It was one of the pre-WWII films that Renoir had full artistic control on, and his unique style could be fully realized. The story delivered a strong sense of humanism. Renoir wished to convey a pacifying attitude to put brake on the eventual clash between nations – yet this attempt proved to be futile.

The storyline was simple yet humanistic. Two French pilots were shot down by Germans during the World War I, and they were sent to two prisoner camps, where they met other Prisoners of War. Under circumstances, they reconciled with some of the POWs they have met before when they were transferred, and also met the now crippled German Officer (played by the one and only Erich von Stroheim) who was now serving as the head officer of the prisoner camps. The POWs had different backgrounds, and originated from different ranks of social ladder, yet they could be able to respect each other, and the prisoners could also identity with their German counterparts. Nevertheless, the POWs hatched a daring escape plan, and the blue-blooded French officer turned out to be the one to sacrifice his life and allowed the remaining escapees to run away. After a brief stay in a common German girl’s house (played by L’Atalante’s Dita Parlo), the surviving duo eventually made their ways across the Swiss border.

‘La Grande Illusion’ was considered as an exemplary case of Poetic Realism. The humanistic elements conveyed in the film contributed to such a notion. Renoir adopted a cinematic style that would eventually be fully realized in his masterpiece, ‘The Rules of the Game’, to afford a cinematic naturalism that audience could be identified with. In order to bind all the characters together through a frame, he adopted his famous deep-focus photography to balance out the objective distance between his various characters and the audience. By using a fluid camera movement, the realism and the objectiveness of the scenes were enhanced, and this was signified by a far longer Average Shot Length (ASL) as compared to many contemporary films – which suggested the preponderance of sequence shots.

Using the aforementioned techniques, the theme of ‘unity’ could be succinctly stated. Renoir intended to unveil the illusion that categories and labels were meaningful and would lead to better ends. In the film, the group dynamics were not always dictated by stable categorizations – class, nationality, character were meaningless and these could all be reduced to one class known as ‘man’. Down under the skin, we are all indeed the same. No one particular attributes were above other – for example, the blue-blooded French pilot turned out to have an unlikely friendship with the German officer because they came from a similar upbringing and gained mutual respect. The Frenchman was far more reserved with his other working-class comrades, though ironically, at the end that was him sacrificing for a greater good. This is what humanism is all about – human characters are so complex and unpredictable that makes it such a fascinating appeal. By abandoning the futile labels, humans could then transcend and get closer.

Though the emergence of this film could not wipe out the arrival of WWII, Renoir has indeed made this truly inspiring film that its impact could still be felt many years after its release. As Welles has complimented, ‘La Grande Illusion’ was a film that should be brought onto the Ark!

Poetic Realism (2/3)

by Ed Law

8/3/2015

Film Analysis - 36