好片值得再看! 奇幻漂流震撼人心又一章(羅傑叔叔寫的影評還是最得我心)This Rare Cinematic Experience Will Make You Believe!
















Life of Pi

“ I have decided it is one of the best films of the year.”

BY ROGER EBERT / November 20, 2012

我的偶像Roger Ebert1120日刊出了這篇李安執導的「少年Pi的奇幻漂流」影評。

我喜歡閱讀Roger Ebert羅傑叔叔的影評,因為他的文筆的細膩且觀察獨到。閱讀Ebert的文章彷彿在看一篇優雅的散文。近年來羅傑叔叔因為鬼門關走過一回,已經收斂起過去較為犀利的批評,文章多了圓潤敦雅的氣質,這種氣質跟導演李安很相似,這都是經過生命淬鍊而成的圓柔與敦厚,是雄性激素暴衝的年輕男人身上所不曾散發的溫暖。

羅傑叔叔對這部電影讚譽有佳。我個人這陣子閱讀了許多西方影評人對這部片的評論,可以綜合出三個影評們都同意的出色點:

1.     這部片或許是史上運用3D效果最出色的一部。這並不是指特效的先進,而是導演善用了3D技術,讓這個媒介,成功地為這部電影加分。羅傑叔叔認為,少年Pi的奇幻漂流是電影史上最成功的3D電影。之前我閱讀過他很多的影評,對於3D技術的使用,羅傑叔叔多半充滿不屑。好萊塢導演濫用3D,把這項噱頭當成削錢的手段,這已經是好萊塢商業片的顯學。李安沒有走進這個死胡同,這是諸多影評這次都肯定的一點。3D的處理強化了劇中的魔幻寫實效果,讓視覺更豐富,提升整體的觀賞經驗。

2.     這部電影劇情雖簡單,但是好的影片不需要灑狗血。貼近人性的描繪其實比甚麼都深刻。如果導演不了解人性,對於拍攝的主角沒有熱情,那麼一切都將只是大螢幕聲光效果的演繹。李安對於劇中很多情境都有巧妙的安排,至於是甚麼安排,影評很有道德的都不先透露,讓大家上戲院去看分明。

3.     這是一部過去名導一致認為很難拍攝的影片,因為原著小說中,有很多的劇情或是描繪的細節都太細膩、太抽象也太難表達了。好萊塢的電影科技日新月異,但是如何去傳達少年跟老虎之間的微妙情誼與互動,這不光是特效就做得出來的。原著小說作者看到李安如此詮釋自己的作品,不曉得會不會很感動。

綜合上面的說法,最成功的3D,最動人的故事與挑戰自我、將不可能化為可能,是這部電影的成功之處。我相信這部片將會帶領李安攀上個人生涯的另一個高峰。看多了打打殺殺或是酷炫效果多於一切的好萊塢電影,少年Pi的奇幻漂流,或許能提供生命另外一種視野。電影導演了不起的地方在於幫我們這群無聊且苦悶的現代人編織一個夢,這個浪漫且史詩一般的夢,滿足了想像力與對人性的渴求,也提升了人性的價值與層次。

大家把這篇影評當成是散文來閱讀就好,我接下來用視覺版面乾淨一點的解析方式幫大家寫字詞解析。希望大家開心地閱讀,總有那麼幾次,閱讀英文沒那麼苦。





















Ang Lee's "Life of Pi" is (1) a miraculous achievement of storytelling and a landmark of visual mastery. Inspired by a worldwide best-seller that many readers must have assumed was unfilmable, it is a triumph over its difficulties. It is also a moving spiritual achievement, a movie whose title could have been shortened to "life."

(1)李安的這部電影”Life of Pi”是一部充滿奇蹟的故事描繪,同時也是一部難得的視覺饗宴。

The story involves the 227 days that its teenage hero spends (2)drifting across the Pacific in a lifeboat with a Bengal tiger. They find themselves in the same boat after (3)an amusing and colorful prologue, which in itself could have been (4)enlarged into an exciting family film. Then it expands into a (5)parable of survival, acceptance and adaptation. I imagine even Yann Martel, the novel's French-Canadian author, must be delighted to see how the usual kind of (6)Hollywood manhandling has been sidestepped by Lee's poetic idealism.

(2)漂流在太平洋上
(3)一個有趣且充滿色彩的序幕
(4)放大成為
(5)一個關於接受、適應與生存的寓言
(6)劇中所有的慘忍粗暴,都被李安詩歌般的理想主義色彩所壟罩

The story begins in a small family zoo in Pondichery, India, where the boy
(7)christened Piscine is raised. Piscine translates from French to English as "swimming pool," but in an India where many more speak English than French, his (8)playmates of course nickname him "(9)pee." Determined to put an end to this,(10) he adopts the name "Pi," demonstrating an uncanny ability to write down that mathematical constant that begins with 3.14 and never ends. (11)If Pi is a limitless number, that is the perfect name for a boy who seems to accept no limitations.

(7)受洗且被命名為
(8)玩伴
(9)尿尿
(10)劇中男主角因為玩伴不會說法文,因此取笑他的名字,於是決定將名字改成Pi。這個名字正巧跟圓周率與其十進位的近似值3.14(到無限)雷同。
(11)如果Pi是無理性的(只能用近似值的方式來運算),那麼這個名字恰巧也呼應了劇中男孩在生命逆境中所展現的無限可能。

The zoo goes broke, and Pi's father puts his family and a few
(12)valuable animals on a ship (13)bound for Canada. In a bruising series of falls, a zebra, an (14)orangutan and the lion tumble into the boat with the boy, and are swept away by high seas. His family is never seen again, and the last we see of the ship is its lights disappearing into the deep — a haunting shot that reminds me of the sinking train in Bill Forsyth's "Housekeeping" (1987).

(12)值錢的動物
(13)朝向前進
(14)紅毛猩猩

This is a hazardous situation for the boy (Suraj Sharma), because the film (15)steadfastly refuses to sentimentalize the tiger (fancifully named "Richard Parker"). A crucial early scene at the zoo shows that wild animals are indeed wild and indeed animals, and it serves as a (16)caution for children in the audience, who must not make the mistake of thinking this is a Disney tiger.

(15)這邊是說導演李安堅持不將影片中的老虎,賦予感性/感傷的特質(也就是儘量真實呈現猛獸的樣貌,這可不是迪士尼卡通裡面會唱歌的老虎)
(16)警告

The heart of the film focuses on the sea journey, during which the
(17)human demonstrates that he can think with great ingenuity and the tiger shows that it can learn. I won't spoil for you how those things happen. The possibilities are surprising.

(17)在人虎漂流的277天當中,人類展現了靈巧的智慧,老虎也表現出了學習的能力。

What astonishes me is how much I love the use of 3-D in "Life of Pi." I've never seen the medium better employed, not even in "Avatar," and although I continue to have doubts about it in general, Lee never uses it for surprises or sensations, but only
(18) to deepen the film's sense of places and events.

(18)這句是說明3D技巧不是誇炫噱頭,目的只在於強化影片所描繪的地點與情節。

Let me try to describe one point of view. The camera is placed in the sea, looking up at the lifeboat and beyond it. The surface of the sea is like
(19)the enchanted membrane upon which it floats. There is nothing in particular to define it; it is just … there. This is not a shot of a boat floating in the ocean. It is (20) a shot of ocean, boat and sky as one glorious place.

(19)這邊是說影片中的海面,看起來彷彿是一片魔幻的藍色薄膜
(20)shot是指鏡頭,這邊當名詞用。海洋的鏡頭

Still trying not to spoil: Pi and the tiger Richard Parker share the same possible places in and near the boat. Although this point is not specifically made, Pi's ability to expand the use of space in the boat and nearby helps reinforce the tiger's respect for him. (21)The tiger is accustomed to believing it can rule all space near him, and the human requires the animal to rethink that assumption.

(21)老虎已經習慣於相信牠可以駕馭所處的環境,這樣的既定想法,在片中被少年所挑戰。少年逼迫老虎重新思考這樣的假設

Most of the
(22)footage of the tiger is of course (23)CGI, although I learn that four real tigers are seen in some shots. The young actor Suraj Sharma (24)contributes a remarkable performance, shot largely in sequence as his skin color deepens, his weight falls and deepness and wisdom grow in his eyes.

(22)影片
(23)CGI 這是 Computer-generated Imagery的縮寫。中文的意思是電腦模擬特效畫面
(24)有著精湛的演出

The writer W.G. Sebold once wrote, "
(25)Men and animals regard each other across a gulf of mutual incomprehension." This is the case here, but during the course of 227 days, they (26)come to a form of recognition. The tiger, in particular, becomes aware that he sees the boy not merely as victim or prey, or even as master, but as another being.

(25)人類與動物隔著一條無法理解的鴻溝相互打量
(26)人與老虎達成了某種共識。老虎尤其不再將男孩視為受害者或是被捕食的動物,甚至更不是牠自己的主人,而是將男孩視為另一個對等的存在。

The movie
(27)quietly combines various religious traditions to enfold its story in the wonder of life. How remarkable that these two (28)mammals, and the fish beneath them and birds above them, are all here. And when they come to a floating island populated by countless (29)meerkats, what an incredible (30)sequence Lee creates there.

(27)這部片在令人激賞的生命歷程中,安靜地結合了不同的宗教傳統在劇情當中
(28)哺乳類動物
(29)狐獴
(30)電影裡描述同一個主題的連續鏡頭

The island raises another question: Is it real? Is this whole story real? I refuse to ask that question. "Life of Pi" is all real, second by second and minute by minute, and what it finally amounts to is left for every viewer to decide. I have decided it is one of the best films of the year.


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