《煩惱的蒙太奇》把科特·柯本送下神壇

With ‘Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck,’ Brett Morgen Demythologizes a Legend

《煩惱的蒙太奇》把科特·柯本送下神壇

Clad in a crimson dress, Courtney Love blew into the Beverly Hills Hotel in March 2007 with a lawyer in tow and Kurt Cobain’s legacy on her mind. For the first time, she wanted to provide a documentary filmmaker with unrestricted access to her dead husband’s archives, including journals, artwork, home movies and more than 100 never-before-heard cassette tapes stashed in a mysterious storage locker.

洛杉磯——2007年3月，身穿紅裙的柯妮·拉芙(Courtney Love)心里想著科特·柯本(Kurt Cobain)的遺產(chǎn)，突然來到貝弗利山莊酒店，身后還跟著一個律師。這還是第一次，她打算毫無保留地向一位紀(jì)錄片制作人提供亡夫的各種資料，包括他的日記、藝術(shù)創(chuàng)作、家庭錄像和100多份之前從沒有人聽過的卡帶，它們原本靜靜地隱匿在一個神秘的儲物柜里。

And she wanted the unorthodox nonfiction director Brett Morgen, tucked in the booth beside her at the hotel’s Polo Lounge, to take on the project.

她選了不循常理的非虛構(gòu)影片導(dǎo)演布萊特·摩根(Brett Morgen)，兩人來到酒店的波洛廳，他坐在她身邊，大口吃著東西。

“It was time to examine this person and humanize him and decanonize these values that he allegedly stood for — the lack of ambition and these ridiculous myths that had been built up around him,” Ms. Love, the actress and musician, said recently by telephone. It would be the first authorized documentary since the Nirvana singer committed suicide in 1994, leaving Ms. Love a widow with a 20-month-old daughter, Frances Bean.

“現(xiàn)在應(yīng)該好好審視這個人，把他還原為普通人，拿掉那些人們強(qiáng)加給他的價值，那些圣徒的光環(huán)——全無野心，以及那些圍繞著他編造的可笑神話，”演員兼樂手拉芙女士最近在接受電話采訪時說。“涅槃”(Nirvana)樂隊的主唱科特·柯本于1994年自殺身亡，留下妻子拉芙與20個月大的女兒弗朗西絲·賓(Frances Bean)，這是他去世后的首部正式授權(quán)紀(jì)錄片。

Shocker: The film did not go smoothly.

令人震驚的是，拍攝過程并不順利。

Mr. Morgen, whose movies include the celebrated Robert Evans cine-memoir “The Kid Stays in the Picture,” figured a Cobain documentary would take about 18 months. It took eight years — “Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck” arrives in limited theatrical release April 24 — as Mr. Morgen wrestled with an unexpectedly enigmatic subject. Mr. Morgen also had to navigate a mother-daughter legal drama and pick through that storage locker, which turned out to be a gargantuan task. (“It’s totally true,” Ms. Love said. “I’d never gone through any of it.”)

摩根的作品包括廣受好評的羅伯特·埃文斯(Robert Evans)電影回憶錄——《光影流情》(The Kid Stays in the Picture)，他最初覺得拍一部和柯本有關(guān)的紀(jì)錄片需要18個月。始料未及的是，最后他花了八年時間處理這個謎一樣的題材——《科特·柯本：煩惱的蒙太奇》(Kurt Cobain: Montage of Heck)將從4月24日開始在部分影院上映。此外，摩根還得應(yīng)付一出母女關(guān)系法律劇，在儲物柜中挑選素材也成了一項極為龐大的任務(wù)。(“真的是這樣，” 拉芙說，“我從來沒看過那堆東西。”)

In the end, Mr. Morgen, 46, said he discovered a guy who was “enormously complicated, much more than I ever imagined,” an artist whom the culture had come to misunderstand, or at least confine to a distorted niche.

到最后，46歲的摩根說，他發(fā)現(xiàn)了這樣一個人，他“非常復(fù)雜，比我想像的要復(fù)雜得多”，這是一位遭到文化深深誤解的藝術(shù)家，至少也是被限定在一個扭曲的小范圍之內(nèi)。

“I thought I was going to meet a rock star who got tired of his fame, because that’s the narrative that has settled around him,” Mr. Morgen said. As he dug deeper, “a character started to emerge who I had never met before.” Yes, the romanticized rock-god misery was there: the unwanted spokesman-for-a-generation pressure, the disturbing art and journals, the horrific heroin spiral. “But there was also this loving and funny and warm guy who enjoyed parts of his life,” Mr. Morgen said.

“我本以為自己要拍的是一個厭倦盛名的搖滾明星，因為關(guān)于他的敘事都是這樣的，”摩根說。但他愈是深入挖掘，就愈覺得“一個之前從未見過的形象開始浮現(xiàn)在我心中”。誠然，被浪漫化的搖滾神祇的悲劇還在這兒：意外成為一代人代言人的壓力、令人不安的藝術(shù)與日記、可怕的海洛因毒癮。“但他也同樣是一個可愛、有趣、溫暖的家伙，自己生活中的有些方面，他還是挺滿意的，”摩根說。

The ingrained perception of Cobain as an unambitious, helpless waif overpowered by Ms. Love was “shattered,” Mr. Morgen continued. “On the home movies I saw, Kurt is not meek. Courtney is not dominating him. I think this film is really going to challenge people’s perceptions.”

人們對柯本根深蒂固的看法是：他是個全無野心、內(nèi)心無助的流浪兒，完全受拉芙壓制，摩根說，紀(jì)錄片“粉碎”了這個觀念。“在我看到的家庭錄像里，科特一點都不吻合這個形象，柯妮也沒有統(tǒng)治他。我覺得這部影片真的會挑戰(zhàn)人們的看法。”

In one eye-popping 1992 home video included in the film, Cobain and Ms. Love are seen blissfully living in druggie squalor in Los Angeles. Standing in a towel in the bathroom with shaving cream on his face, Cobain teases Ms. Love about her tabloid image as a man-eating monster. “You and Roseanne,” he says playfully, referring to Roseanne Barr. “You’re tied for the most-hated women in America.” She pretend-pouts.

影片收錄了1992年的一段家庭錄像，非常讓人震驚，柯本和拉芙在洛杉磯，快樂地生活在一片癮君子的污穢之中?？卤菊驹趲囊粔K毛巾上，臉上還有剃須膏，對拉芙開玩笑，說她在小報上的形象就好像吃男人的怪物。“你和羅西妮，”他開玩笑地說起羅西妮·巴爾(Roseanne Barr)，“你們倆正努力成為全美國最招人恨的女人。”拉芙聽了裝出生氣的樣子。

Mr. Morgen said the 108 cassettes he found in a Southern California storage space were the most enlightening. Recorded by Cobain when he was still unknown, the cassettes find the budding musician experimenting on the guitar (singing the Beatles song “And I Love Her,” for instance), talking on the phone, giggling, listening to 1980s pop (Kim Wilde’s “Kids in America”), working on embryonic versions of Nirvana songs (“Polly”) and relating raw stories about his anguished teenage years.

摩根說，他在南加州的儲物柜里發(fā)現(xiàn)的108盤卡帶是最有用的。它們是柯特尚籍籍無名時錄下來的，顯示出一個嶄露頭角的音樂家如何用吉他進(jìn)行試驗，比如他唱了“披頭士”(Beatles)的《而且我愛她》(And I Love Her);他打電話，咯咯笑，聽80年代的流行歌，比如基姆·王爾德(Kim Wilde)的《美國的孩子們》(Kids in America)，那時候他寫了幾首歌，算得上是后來“涅槃”歌曲的雛形，比如《波麗》(Polly);另外他還講了一些未經(jīng)修飾的故事，是關(guān)于自己悲慘的青少年歲月。

Cobain was a pack rat, and when he died people started stealing his stuff. Ms. Love had everything that was left, which was a lot, quickly moved into storage facilities. Some of the material had been seen over the years by writers, including Charles R. Cross, whose “Heavier Than Heaven” is regarded as the definitive Cobain biography. But the cassettes Mr. Morgen discovered had apparently never been played. (Asked how it was possible that she had never listened to them, Ms. Love responded, a bit testily, “I’m not going to listen to 108 noise cassettes!”)

柯本是個什么東西都不肯扔的人，他死后，人們開始偷竊他的遺物。但是還剩下了不少，拉芙把這些剩下來的東西都留下來，趕快送到專門存東西的地方。多年來，有些作家看到了這些素材，其中包括《重逾天堂》(Heavier Than Heaven)的作者查爾斯·R·克羅斯(Charles R. Cross)，這本書也被視為為柯本蓋棺論定的傳記。但是摩根發(fā)現(xiàn)的這些卡帶顯然從來沒有人聽過(被問到她怎么可能從來沒聽過這些卡帶時，拉芙帶點不耐煩地回答，“我可不會去聽108盤吵吵鬧鬧的帶子!”)

“Montage of Heck,” which will also arrive on HBO on May 4, emphasizes one audio passage as a crucial window into Cobain’s psyche. In the lengthy recording, Cobain talks about trying to lose his virginity in high school to a “very fat” girl who attended special education classes. When his peers found out, Cobain felt so humiliated that he panicked. “I couldn’t stand the ridicule,” he says on the tape. “So I got high and drunk, and I walked down to the train tracks,” where he lay down, hoping to be killed.

《煩惱的蒙太奇》也將于5月4日在HBO臺播放，其中有一段音頻，仿佛是通往柯本內(nèi)心的一扇重要窗口。在這段冗長的錄音里，柯本講了自己在高中和一個上特殊教育班的“非常胖”的女孩在一起，打算結(jié)束處子之身，結(jié)果被同伴們發(fā)現(xiàn)了，柯本覺得非常丟臉，變得驚慌失措。“我受不了他們的奚落，”他在錄音中說。“所以我磕了藥、喝了酒，然后就沿著鐵軌一直走，”后來他躺在鐵軌上打算自殺。

“To me, that is the most interesting and revealing piece of media he ever recorded,” Mr. Morgen said. The film connects dots between that moment of teenage despair and Cobain’s suicide, suggesting that humiliation — Cobain suspected Ms. Love of cheating — factored heavily in his end.

“對于我來說，這是他錄下來的最有意思、最揭示內(nèi)心的東西，”摩根說。影片把柯本人生中的一個個點串聯(lián)起來：青少年時期的絕望與后來的自殺，認(rèn)為羞辱也是導(dǎo)致他死亡的重要原因之一(柯本曾懷疑拉芙不忠)。

Nirvana fans will undoubtedly regard “Montage of Heck” as mandatory viewing, but some may not like Mr. Morgen’s inferences. What drove Cobain to get high and shoot himself has been endlessly debated for 21 years, with no satisfactory closure, noted Mr. Cross, who was not involved with the film. “Everyone wants to make conclusions that ultimately can’t be made,” he said. “There is no easy answer.”

“涅槃”的歌迷無疑會覺得《煩惱的蒙太奇》是非看不可的，但有些人可能不喜歡摩根的論斷。關(guān)于柯本為何在吸毒之后開槍自殺，21年來，爭論從未平息，克羅斯總結(jié)說(他本人并沒有參與到這部影片中來)，這個問題從來沒有令人滿意的結(jié)論。“所有人都想下結(jié)論，但是根本就沒有最終結(jié)論，”他說。“這個問題沒有簡單的答案。”

Most fans, he added, want to write the narrative that Kurt was a victim of his fame. “The truth is that this man was very, very tormented, and he was full of contradiction,” Mr. Cross said. “What part of Kurt do you want to believe? What he wrote in diaries? What he said in interviews? What his friends said?”

他還說，大多數(shù)歌迷都希望這個故事是關(guān)于科特是被名聲所累。“真像是，這個男人非常非常痛苦，他身上充滿矛盾，”克羅斯說。“科特身上的哪一部分是你愿意相信的?他在日記里寫的?他在訪談里說的?還是他對朋友說的?”

Other viewers may question specific filmmaking decisions. For instance, Krist Novoselic, Nirvana’s bassist, reflects on camera about Cobain, but an interview with Dave Grohl, who played drums and went on to form Foo Fighters, was not included. (Contrary to reports, that interview will not pop up as a DVD extra, Mr. Morgen said.) Mr. Morgen also abruptly ends his movie just before Cobain commits suicide, leaving examination of that event and its aftermath to the highly unauthorized 1998 shock-doc “Kurt & Courtney.”

還有一些觀眾可能會質(zhì)疑若干拍攝上的決定。比如說，“涅槃”的貝斯手克里斯·諾沃瑟里克(Krist Novoselic)在片中對著鏡頭懷念柯本，但“涅槃”的鼓手與“噴火戰(zhàn)機(jī)”(Foo Fighters)的創(chuàng)建者戴夫·格羅爾(Dave Grohl)的訪談卻沒有收入片中。摩根解釋說，這段訪談將出現(xiàn)在DVD加長版里。而且，影片戛然而止，結(jié)束在柯本自殺之前，把關(guān)于這件事及其后續(xù)事件的審視完全留給1998年未經(jīng)授權(quán)與認(rèn)可、非常令人震驚的紀(jì)錄片《科特與柯妮》(Kurt & Courtney)。

“The problem with most biopics is that they try to hit all the beats you see in Wikipedia,” Mr. Morgen said. “You can’t cover everything. That’s what books are for. I think my films are documentaries in the sense that they arrive at a truth. But the word ‘document’ is actually antithetical to art and cinema.” (As it happens, Insight Editions will publish a “Montage of Heck” companion book on May 5. Mr. Morgen has also been working on a soundtrack, but a release — if any — is still undecided.)

“大多數(shù)人物傳記片的問題是，他們總希望把你能在維基百科里看到的每個點都收進(jìn)去，”摩根說。“但你不可能面面俱到，那是寫書的目標(biāo)。我希望我的電影是那種走近真相的紀(jì)錄片，但是‘紀(jì)錄’這個字眼實際上是和藝術(shù)與電影相對立的。”(與此同時，Insight Editions出版社將于5月5日出版一本與影片配套的書，名為《煩惱的蒙太奇》，摩根也在制作一張影片原聲專輯，但是否發(fā)行尚未決定。)

Even so, Mr. Morgen knows that his film has a stigma to overcome: “Authorized” documentaries are usually hagiography.

盡管如此，摩根也知道自己的影片還要克服一個困難：“授權(quán)”紀(jì)錄片通常會把主人公神圣化。

“It usually means watered down,” Mr. Morgen said. “That’s clearly not the case here.” He said members of Cobain’s family, notably his sister and mother, were uneasy with some material, but it stayed in.

“這樣的影片通常都會很平淡，”摩根說。“不過，我們的影片不會。”他說，柯本的家庭成員，特別是他的妹妹和母親，都對片中某些素材感到不安，但它們還是保留下來了。

In particular, it was difficult for the family to see camcorder video, shot by a family friend, of a sore-covered Cobain — high to the point that he is nodding off — holding his baby daughter while Ms. Love tries to cut her hair. “I think that they just wish that the heroin wasn’t there,” Mr. Morgen said. “And so do I.”

特別是其中這樣一段，是朋友拍的，家人看起來會格外難過。鏡頭中是極度痛苦、微微打著盹的柯本，懷里抱著小女兒，拉芙正試著給她剪頭發(fā)：“我覺得他們希望他沒有染上海洛因毒癮，”摩根說。“我也是這么希望的。”

Ms. Love had no creative input, Mr. Morgen said, but Frances Cobain, 22, served as an executive producer. Ms. Cobain has held rights to her father’s name and likeness since 2010 as part of a confidential agreement with her mother. Ms. Cobain and Ms. Love have a volatile history, with Ms. Love most recently losing custody of her daughter in 2009.

摩根說，拉芙?jīng)]有參與到創(chuàng)作過程中，但22歲的弗朗西絲·柯本(Frances Cobain)擔(dān)任了執(zhí)行制作人。2010年，弗朗西絲·柯本與母親達(dá)成了一項秘密協(xié)議，自此之后，她也擁有父親的冠名權(quán)等權(quán)利，她和拉芙之間的關(guān)系一度并不穩(wěn)定，拉芙最近一次失去對女兒的監(jiān)護(hù)權(quán)是在2009年。

“Frances wanted an emphasis on the art,” Mr. Morgen said. “She felt that Kurt had been heavily mythologized, and that it was essential to her that he was humanized in the film. It happened that her take was exactly in sync with mine.”

“弗朗西絲希望強(qiáng)調(diào)藝術(shù)的成分，”摩根說。“她覺得柯本被嚴(yán)重地神化了，她希望在片中能把他還原為普通人，這對她來說很重要。這一點她和我完全一致。”

“Montage of Heck,” named for a mixtape Cobain made in 1988, has been greeted with universal acclaim on the festival circuit. The family also seems pleased. “I love it,” said Ms. Love, who receives a fair amount of humanizing in the film herself. “It’s as honest as it’s ever going to get.” Ms. Cobain declined to comment. In an interview with Rolling Stone, she said, “It’s the closest thing to having Kurt tell his own story in his own words — by his own aesthetic, his own perception of the world.”

《煩惱的蒙太奇》這個名字來自柯本1988年錄制的一盤磁帶，在電影節(jié)展映期間，它贏得了各種好評?？卤镜募胰怂坪跻差H為滿意。“我喜歡它，”拉芙說，這部影片也在很大程度上把她還原為普通人。“它努力做到了誠實。”弗朗西絲·柯本拒絕發(fā)表評論。在接受《滾石》(Rolling Stone)雜志采訪時，她說，“這是最接近讓科特用他自己的語言講述他自己的故事的辦法，這是他自己的美學(xué)，他自己對世界的看法。”

Even though Ms. Love did not know it when she approached him, wrestling with difficult, oversize projects has long been one of Mr. Morgen’s specialties. As a high school student at the Crossroads School in Santa Monica, Calif., he directed as his senior thesis a rock musical adaptation of “The Conformist,” Bernardo Bertolucci’s 1970 political drama, replete with dance sequences. (His classmates Jack Black and Maya Rudolph led the cast.)

拉芙去找摩根的時候還不知道，克服困難、處理極為巨大的題材早就是他的拿手好戲。在加州圣塔莫妮卡的十字路口中學(xué)上高中的時候，摩根就曾經(jīng)執(zhí)導(dǎo)過自己的畢業(yè)作品，一部名為《國教教徒》(The Conformist)的搖滾音樂劇，改編自貝納多·貝托魯奇(Bernardo Bertolucci)1970年的政治劇;摩根的作品中還有大量舞蹈，領(lǐng)銜主演的是他的同學(xué)杰克·布萊克(Jack Black)與瑪雅·魯?shù)婪?Maya Rudolph)。

Mr. Morgen, who studied American mythology at Hampshire College in Amherst, Mass., has said that people call him the mad scientist of documentary film. It’s partly a reference to his appearance — long, unkempt hair — and manner. “Would you mind if we went to SoulCycle,” he asked me with a penetrating stare as I arrived at his office, referring to the exercise chain, “and you could interview me as we pedal?” Was he serious? Joking? It was hard to tell.

摩根后來在馬薩諸塞州阿莫斯特的漢普郡大學(xué)攻讀美洲神話學(xué)，他說人們叫他“紀(jì)錄片的瘋狂科學(xué)家”。部分也是因為他的又長又亂的頭發(fā)，部分是由于他的風(fēng)格。“你介不介意我們?nèi)oulCycle，”我到辦公室時，他目光炯炯地直視著我，SoulCycle是他的健身房。“我們一邊踩單車，你一邊采訪我。”他是認(rèn)真的還是開玩笑?很難說。

But the nickname mostly comes from his unusual approach to making movies. He is no Ken Burns, who also attended Hampshire. “On the Ropes,” a 1999 look at three young boxers, was a deliberate attempt to make a documentary feel like fiction. Directed with Nanette Burstein, it was nominated for an Oscar for best documentary.

但是這個外號最主要的還是因為他拍片的方式太獨特了。著名導(dǎo)演肯·伯恩斯(Ken Burns)也是漢普郡大學(xué)的校友，和他的風(fēng)格可截然不同。1999年，摩根與納內(nèi)特·伯斯坦(Nanette Burstein)聯(lián)合執(zhí)導(dǎo)了《拳擊少年》(On the Ropes)，講述三個年輕的拳擊手的故事，影片刻意讓紀(jì)錄片有虛構(gòu)影片的風(fēng)格，它獲得奧斯卡最佳紀(jì)錄片獎提名。

“The Kid Stays in the Picture,” also directed with Ms. Burstein, again pushed the form. “Kid” told the story of the flamboyant producer Mr. Evans from one point of view — his — using motion graphics and other untraditional visual tricks. Mr. Morgen tried an animated documentary in 2007 with “Chicago 10,” about the antiwar protesters put on trial following the 1968 Democratic National Convention.

《光影流情》也是和伯斯坦聯(lián)合執(zhí)導(dǎo)的，再一次挑戰(zhàn)了紀(jì)錄片的形式。該片從風(fēng)格夸張的電影制作人埃文斯自己的的角度講述了他的故事，使用了動畫等非傳統(tǒng)的視覺手段。2007年，摩根還嘗試了動畫紀(jì)錄片《芝加哥10》(Chicago 10)，講述反戰(zhàn)示威者在1968年民主黨全國大會之后遭受審判的故事。

“Montage of Heck” uses all of those tools. Cobain’s journals are brought to life with animation. Parts of the film are in essence music videos, with sharp-edged Nirvana songs playing against photos of Cobain as a sweet little boy. When Cobain’s chronic stomach ailments are discussed, Mr. Morgen’s camera appears to zoom inside bubbling human intestines.

《煩惱的蒙太奇》把這些手段都用上了。柯本的日記被拍成了動畫，影片有一部分其實就像音樂錄像，有風(fēng)格鮮明的“涅槃”歌曲，伴隨著柯本小時候的可愛照片。談到柯本的慢性胃病時，摩根的鏡頭好像慢慢搖到翻涌胃液的內(nèi)臟中去。

“Brett is unique in his presentation of the psychology of his characters,” said Sheila Nevins, the president of HBO Documentary Films. “His films are almost like abstract paintings. In this one, you feel the pain in the stomach of Kurt Cobain. You feel the talent. You feel the anger.”

“布萊特在呈現(xiàn)人物的心理狀態(tài)方面非常獨特，”HBO臺紀(jì)錄片部總監(jiān)謝拉·內(nèi)文斯(Sheila Nevins)說。“他的影片簡直就像抽象畫。在這部影片里，你能感受到科特·柯本劇烈的胃痛，也能感受到他的天賦與憤怒。”

Ms. Nevins described Mr. Morgen as a bit of a tortured artist himself. “I don’t think Brett ever really feels that he has done a great job on anything,” she said.

內(nèi)文斯說，摩根自己也是備受痛苦的藝術(shù)家。“我就覺得布萊特從來不覺得自己有什么事做得特別好，”她說。