Based on Yan Geling's novel "13 Flowers of Nanjing," the Nanjing massacre plays front and center in director Zhang Yimou's tale。
根據(jù)華人女作家嚴(yán)歌苓的同名小說(shuō)改編,張藝謀導(dǎo)演的最新電影《金陵十三釵》以南京大屠殺作為故事背景和中心。
Zhang Yimou's great gift for stories of resilient women serves him well in "The Flowers of War," a uniquely harrowing account of the rape of Nanjing. Simultaneously florid and gritty, this fictitious drama about convent students and prostitutes hiding together from the 1937 Japanese onslaught is a work of often garish dramatic flourishes yet undeniable emotional power, finding humor and heartbreak in a tale of unlikely heroism in close quarters. Considerable advance hype and topliner Christian Bale should help the most expensive production in Chinese history recoup worldwide, though its grave subject matter and 141-minute running time rep not-insignificant obstacles。
張藝謀展現(xiàn)堅(jiān)韌女性故事的杰出才華在金陵十三釵中展露無(wú)遺,這是一部展現(xiàn)南京大屠殺的獨(dú)特電影。本片兼具華麗與堅(jiān)韌,虛構(gòu)的關(guān)于學(xué)生與妓女的故事有強(qiáng)烈的戲劇張力,但亦有不可否認(rèn)的情感力量,在后半段結(jié)局處的英雄主義段落里還能找到幽默與心碎??紤]到前期炒作及克里斯蒂安貝爾的加盟,這部中國(guó)電影史上最貴的電影應(yīng)能在全球收回成本,盡管其沉重的主題及141分鐘時(shí)長(zhǎng)意味著一些不可忽略的障礙。
Set to open Dec. 16 locally and later this month Stateside for an Oscar-qualifying run, the picture will represent China in this year's foreign-language film race, an official endorsement that eluded Lu Chuan's more somber and nuanced Nanjing chronicle "City of Life and Death" (2009). Boasting a starry pedigree, a broad array of cross-cultural acting styles and enough English dialogue to make some viewers question its foreign-lingo designation, "The Flowers of War" is as total an antithesis to Lu's starkly realist treatment as one could imagine; still, as a rare attempt by a major mainland helmer to tackle a subject that remains an unhealed national wound, its cultural significance can be no more underestimated than its cumulative impact。
本片定于16日在中國(guó)上映,本月晚些時(shí)候也會(huì)有為沖擊奧斯卡進(jìn)行的放映,該片將代表中國(guó)參與今年的奧斯卡最佳外語(yǔ)片評(píng)選,這是官方的認(rèn)可,他們并沒(méi)有選擇陸川那部更陰郁微妙的《南京南京》。本片強(qiáng)調(diào)其星光正統(tǒng),廣泛的跨文化表演風(fēng)格的交融以及大量英語(yǔ)對(duì)白會(huì)讓觀眾質(zhì)疑這部電影的奧斯卡外語(yǔ)片屬性?!督鹆晔O》恰是陸川電影中赤裸裸的現(xiàn)實(shí)主義的對(duì)立面;不過(guò),作為極少數(shù)大陸巨匠涉及的這一未愈合的民族傷口的主題,本片的文化重要性與其不斷累積的影響一樣不容低估。
Making his way through the bombed-out rubble of Nanjing, American mortician John Miller (Bale) arrives at a cathedral to attend to a recently deceased priest. To the dismay of the church's boy warden, George, and the dozen or so adolescent girl students in his care, Miller turns out to be a genially lazy opportunist who immediately plunders the communion wine supply。
貝爾飾演的殯葬師約翰米勒穿梭在遭受炮火轟炸滿(mǎn)目瘡痍的南京城,去一家天主教堂出席一位牧師的葬禮。但是他懶惰成性盲目樂(lè)觀,每天只會(huì)粗魯酗酒,讓教堂看門(mén)男孩喬治和在教堂里避難的女學(xué)生們深感失望。
When a small army of courtesans barge into the church seeking sanctuary from the Japanese, who have overtaken the city, Miller is delighted at the prospect of his own personal harem and flirts aggressively with the only one who can speak English, Yu Mo (Ni Ni). Knowing the Japanese won't attack a white man, Yu demands that Miller help her and the other women escape Nanjing, while George similarly begs him to help shield the students。
日本人占領(lǐng)南京古城,一群妓女躲入教堂避難。米勒為自己的艷福不淺的未來(lái)暗自竊喜,時(shí)常與中間唯一會(huì)說(shuō)英文的玉墨(倪妮飾演)調(diào)情談笑。玉墨明白日本人不會(huì)攻擊白人,所以要求米勒幫助她和同伴逃離南京。喬治同樣請(qǐng)求他庇護(hù)這些無(wú)辜的女學(xué)生。
Zhang entertainingly tracks the tensions among this strange gathering of individuals, even staging a near-catfight between the indignant students and their diva-like guests. But the infighting comes to an end when Japanese troops invade the church and, not realizing there are courtesans hiding in the vicinity, try to force themselves on the students -- a sickening scene marked by the girls' screams and the sounds of clothing being ripped, all whipped into a frenzy of terror. Yet the attackers are momentarily held at bay when Miller, in a moment of moral courage finds a way to stop their assault。
張藝謀頗具娛樂(lè)性地處理了這些奇怪個(gè)體之間的緊張關(guān)系,甚至展現(xiàn)了憤怒女學(xué)生和尤物賓客之間的激烈爭(zhēng)吵。日本軍隊(duì)侵入教堂,他們沒(méi)有發(fā)現(xiàn)避難人群中有妓女,而是企圖逼迫女學(xué)生。這是一幕讓人毛骨悚然的場(chǎng)景:女學(xué)生的尖叫聲,衣物被撕裂的聲音,都營(yíng)造了恐怖的氣氛。米勒鼓足勇氣站出來(lái)阻止了日本士兵的暴行,但這也這是暫時(shí)的安全。
Scene by scene, "The Flowers of War" is an erratic and ungainly piece of storytelling, full of melodramatic twists and grotesque visual excesses, which are nonetheless delivered with startling conviction. Zhang has no interest in sparing the viewer's sensitivity, and his willingness to push past the limits of good taste is what paradoxically lends his film a curious integrity。
金陵十三釵的敘事并不規(guī)則,故事充滿(mǎn)夸張的曲折和怪誕的視效。張藝謀讓觀者深陷感性情感中,而他將過(guò)去的美學(xué)品位推向極致的意愿使電影成為矛盾的整體。
On the surface, the most problematic element of Liu Heng's screenplay (adapted from Yan Geling's novel "13 Flowers of Nanjing") is the familiar manner in which it uses a white American character as an entry point for Western audiences. Yet Miller turns out to be just one figure in a panorama that distributes dramatic weight evenly across the board, and allows the students and especially the courtesans to perform unexpected, deeply moving acts of decency and self-sacrifice. While not every character is individuated in the film's large ensemble, the viewer emerges with a sense of a vibrant and varied human tapestry whose colors glow all the brighter in the wake of impending catastrophe。
表面上看,劉恒劇本(節(jié)選自嚴(yán)歌苓的小說(shuō)《金陵十三釵》)的問(wèn)題在于用一個(gè)熟悉的美國(guó)白人套路作為連接西方觀眾的橋梁。但是米勒(貝爾飾演的角色)只是作為一個(gè)充滿(mǎn)戲劇性的角色為整部影片的平衡性添彩,預(yù)留了空間給女學(xué)生和妓女的出人意料的表演,尤其是妓女們的高尚和自我犧牲令人動(dòng)容。在群像塑造上,并不是每個(gè)角色都有個(gè)性化表現(xiàn),觀者能感受到在災(zāi)難發(fā)生前愈加光輝、生動(dòng)而豐富的人性臉譜。
Twenty-four years after starring as a young lad trapped in Japan-occupied China in "Empire of the Sun," Bale has fun playing Miller as a loutish, liquored-up rascal early on before slowly becoming a figure of integrity and fatherly tenderness, a transformation managed by sheer force of movie-star charisma more than anything else. The actor blends in surprisingly well with the mostly non-pro distaff cast, including 23-year-old newcomer Ni, who comes off as stilted in her English dialogue scenes but charges her other moments with a quiet, radiant dignity。
貝爾曾在日本侵華題材電影《太陽(yáng)帝國(guó)》中飾演一位小男孩。24年的今天,貝爾這個(gè)角色由早期的粗魯酗酒的流氓慢慢轉(zhuǎn)變?yōu)檎倍錆M(mǎn)慈父光輝的形象,這種塑造轉(zhuǎn)變主要?dú)w功于演員的個(gè)人魅力。貝爾和這些非專(zhuān)業(yè)演員的融合出乎意料得好,包括23歲的新人倪妮,她在英文對(duì)話場(chǎng)景里略顯青澀,但在其他場(chǎng)景里擁有安靜而閃耀的尊嚴(yán)。
Other thesps who register strongly include Atsuro Watabe as a Japanese colonel with a deceptively kind, cultured appearance; Tong Dawei as a heroic Chinese soldier who protects the church with his dying breath; 13-year-old Zhang Xinyi as the brave young student who narrates much of the drama; and Cao Kefan as her desperate, hapless father, a role virtually identical to the one played by dead ringer Fan Wei in "City of Life and Death."
其他演員還包括渡部篤郎塑造的看似善良有教養(yǎng)的日本軍官,佟大為塑造的英雄赴死保衛(wèi)教堂的中國(guó)士兵;講述電影獨(dú)白的13歲女學(xué)生張欣怡,以及飾演她那絕望不幸的父親的
曹可凡:與范偉在南京南京里的角色很像。
The film's reported $100 million budget is entirely evident in its large-scale battle sequences, shot and staged with intense verisimilitude and impressive spatial coherence. Yohei Taneda's production design, particularly his set for the cavernous cathedral space, reps a staggering feat of period reconstruction in the streets of Nanjing itself. Chan Quigang's score is effective but goes a bit heavy on the violins。
報(bào)道,電影的1億美元投資充分體現(xiàn)在大規(guī)模的戰(zhàn)斗場(chǎng)景上,高度逼真且擁有很好的連續(xù)性。種田洋平的設(shè)計(jì),特別是教堂的空間感,完成了還原金陵古城的驚人壯舉。陳其鋼的配樂(lè)起到了效果,但小提琴部分略顯沉重。