The Man Who Fell To Earth/落到地球上的人 (1976)

Director: Nicolas Roeg

Year of Release: 1976

Main Cast: David Bowie, Candy Clark

好久没写中文了，并且好久没写电影了，有点惭愧和忐忑。这部片被神奇的港人译为[天降财神]。很难把它归为某一类型的片，超现实，科幻，剧情，前卫艺术，还是摇滚？先看剧透:

Glam rock之神David Bowie来自某干旱星球，坠到地球上找水喝 (持英国护照到美国历险)，掌握了人类最重要的赚钱技术，认识了一些让他留恋的人，在回家与不回家中犹豫挣扎，经历种种被发现被研究后还是留下来称谓地球的一分子。

各种元素都占齐了，各种对人性对社会的隐喻都有了，可惜拼凑得松散，奇怪。因而传达主题的力量也弱。观影完毕就留下Bowie好酷，Candy Clark (American Graffiti, 1973)三年后老了那么多之类的印象。此外，手枪开炮的设定让人觉得它也只不过是70年代茫茫众多的奇幻摇滚电影中的某一位。

美国宇航员/The American Astronaut (2001)

刚完成一项变态的期末考，放松下心情写点关于这部喜剧的一点不专业的东西，无关片子主题(其实今天既然是圣诞，该写点关于圣诞的，但是圣诞既不放假，还要一大早起来去考试，加上学院墙上那棵假树，还是不过的吧，只真心说一句Merry Christmas)。这部片子类型要归于cult或者大众比较难，开场由疯子Professor Hess用理性的声调啰七八嗦了宇宙环境几句，用来迷惑人，一旦设定好故事背景后，大众中只要带有点幽默感就会开心过场，从头笑到尾，剧情又不晦涩，充满想象力，歌舞“升平”，煞是好看。2000后出了不少故意拍成黑白的片，看过的几部中还没有让人失望的，特别是Guy Maddin的半黑白片[悲歌之王](The Saddest Music in the World, 2003)和复古默片[懦夫跪下/蓝色的手](Cowards Bend the Knee or The Blue Hands, 2003)，不过走的诡异派路线，比较小众，只让怀旧和喜欢David Lynch的人迷恋迷恋。所以，且不管它是超现实主义还是什么荒诞主义，像[美国宇航员]这样希拉里斯的，迎合大众又不失品位的黑白科幻歌舞喜剧片，在我看来还是比较少见的：如Curtis和The Boy八卦“当年勇”的那种只可意会不可言传的喜剧效果，连抽搐的大反派Professor Hess疯起来都能喜气洋洋，无跳不欢，即兴一段“凤舞狂沙”，舞台戏剧感很足。下面是截图时间...






最近年纪越来越大，视力开始下滑，在片子看到有些人觉得面熟，有些人觉得像，也不敢确定。

Jack Nicholson?


Monica Bellucci?


关于原声，很迷人，音乐指导是下面这位仁兄，名唤Bobby Lurie。导/演Cory McAbee身兼数职，分饰两角，长得也有味道，作品不多，看资料显示多为黑白短片。结尾的简易滚动着的职员表是强大的幕后。



还记得酒吧里面那个跳舞比赛吧，那个The Billy Nayer Show吧？成员为(粗译自片尾)：
主唱/自鸣筝/夏威夷四弦琴：Cory McAbee
鼓/打击乐器/键盘：Bobby Lurie
吉他：James Beaudreau
贝斯/管类乐器：Michael Silverman

蓝色阳光/Blue Sunshine (1976)

the poster with a caption "Blue Sunshine"


海报很吸引人，冷蓝色调，一个女光头带着神经质的表情置于蓝色圆形前，有带超现实科幻片的感觉。于是期待着类似[银色星球]那样的东西，可惜片子一开始的调调就有严重的B片情结，后来更离谱地用drug来解释blue sunshine，尽管上面这幅画蛮出彩，尽管演员们的眼神都有些超现实的抽搐和诡异，导演似乎更倾向于对某某候选人的讽刺。不知有没有人和Zalman King说过他长得很像Sean Penn，从年龄上说，应该是有没有人和Sean Penn说他很像Zalman King？

If we can breath in water in Saw 5...

Does anyone have the same thought with me? This assumption is of no significance to the plot though. I am thinking that, if the water is something like the breathable fluid in The Abyss (1989), the water cage thing will be no problem in Saw VI (2008). This thought makes the scene like a farce for me (Figure 1). The guy is also making efforts to get used to this accidential liquid breathing (Figure 2). Apparently he has no imagination for what he did at last.


Figure 1

Figure 2

What we got in The Abyss (1989)

this photo is originally from Technovelgy.com

Emil Jannings = Mephisto

This guy is brilliant!

如果现在哪部片子有这阵容

一部极尽诗情画意展现生活在传统中国男同性恋内心独白的禁片

Yeah, this censored movie (that nuts administration of mainland China finally did something right) is 东宫西宫 (East Palace West Palace, 1996), aka Intolerance: Forward Button's Struggle Throughout the Film (named by Chelsea). The transvestite actor tries so hard to tell the audience: I'm merely reading the lines from the script. I'm an actor and I'm acting, this is not real!!! The story tells about a homosexual relation between a cop and a thief, accompanied by some twisted music and poignant 'parody' of Beijing opera. By blending all the conventions of similar genre, the director's conspiracy of earning fame plus some cups made of gold or silver is so visible throughout the film.

Skip it as possible as you can...

恐怖分子里的Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?

老杨的《恐怖分子》( The Terrorizers, 1986 )开始几秒后出现的一张海报特写，觉得眼熟，第一个蹦进脑子的是彭浩翔的《出埃及记》，有点怪怪的想法。



下一个镜头的下半截海报马上给了解答，因为小白知道并强烈喜欢上的这部电影，Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?(WAOVW)。 它出现了好几次，不知老杨的用意，是暗示两人关系和WAOVW的相近，还是强调Virginia Woolf所擅长的意识流?

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Poetry

I just watched this one of the (most) underrated films (imdb rate: 6.6/10; accessed on 24/10/2008): The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy (Garth Jennings, 2005). There is a hilarious scene where the protagonists Arthur and Ford are captured by the Vogons and forced to listen to the Vogon leader Jeltz to read his awful poem. Afterwards, Arthur utters a thoughtful comment on it. Though this answer fails to prevent the Vogons from saying "resistance is useless" or throwing them out of the spaceship, I found that this comment rather applicable and viable to all humane circumstances in poetry. So recite it if you wanna save your life.;P Here is the excerpt from their dialogues:

Guide: "Vogon poetry is widely accepted as the third worst in the universe. The second worst is that of the Azgoths of Kria. During a recitation by their Poet Master, Grunthos the Flatulent, of his poem Ode to a Small Lump of Green Putty, four of his audience died of internal hemorrhaging, and the President of the Mid-Galactic Arts Nobbling Council survived by gnawing one of his own legs off."

The absolute worst poetry was by Paula Millstone Jennings of Sussex. Luckily, it was destroyed when the Earth was.]

VS.

Vogon: "Either die in the vacuum of space, or tell me what you thought of my poem."

Arthur: "A...a...actually, I rather liked it."

Vogon: "Hmm?"

Ford (whispered): "Yeah. That's good. Run with it."

Vogon: "Hmmm."

Arthur: "Uh, some of the words I didn't understand, but I found the
imagery quite effective."

Vogon: "Continue."

Arthur: "Well, uh, yes, interesting rhythmic deviced, which seemed to counterpoint the underlying metaphor of the humanity..."

Ford(whispered): "Vogonity!"

Arthur: "Vogonity, sorry, vogonity...of the poet's soul."

Vogon: "So what you're saying is, I write poetry because underneath this mean, callous, heartless exterior, I just want to be loved?"

Ford(whisper): "Yes, yes, yes."

Arthur: "Yes, yeah, yes, please."

Another notable issue in this film for me is the scene at which Slartibartfast (played by Bill Nighy) shows Arthur their factory on a flying 'machine'. It immediately reminds me of the one in Tron (1982), though full-rigged by technology.

in The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy


in Tron

有一种职业叫“喂虱子”

虱子属于寄生虫的一种，它们和蚊子一样，在吸食血液过程中传染各种微生物传染性疾病。可通过接种疫苗对其进行防控，但此类疫苗主要用豚鼠进行实验，给动物如猫、狗、牛等接种，当然也有给人接种的疫苗。那么“喂虱子”是怎么一回事？在《夜的第三章》(Trzecia część nocy, 1971)中，在那个犹太人的恶梦岁月里，有一种职业能让人获得安全保障，换肉票。这种职业就是“喂虱子”。抛开片中的种种影射、象征，来看下这种可怕工作的流程。

喂虱工作分两种，一种喂养对象是健康虱子，每天一次，工作人员未接种疫苗。各人员围桌而坐，桌上每人一套简单设备。具体步骤如下：

1.用绵球沾酒精消毒好喂养部位后，取一条小皮带环扣喂养部位：一般男生小腿，女生大腿。




2.取下虱笼(如下图一，扁平矩形木盒，一面为金属网，透过网能看到虱子们窜动的头)，把虱笼一个排一个插到皮带和喂食部位之间，网面紧贴喂食部位(下图二、三)






3.坐着等待“半个小时，直到血液循环结束”。被吸血期间必须专心，不能做抽烟、喝酒、看书、抓痒等影响喂食效果的事情。喂食完成后其他工作人员会给吃饱的虱子们“注射伤寒菌，让伤寒菌在它们的肠道内繁殖”。


感情比较丰富的人做久这种工作会向两个极端发展：或对虱子又爱又恨产生变态心理，或极度压制感情而变得冷漠。


前面说的是技术含量较低的喂虱，还有一种喂虱工作是注射员，由患过伤寒症后已免疫的人员从事，给感染过的虱子喂养，薪水也较高。人手一个工作台，进行注射的同时也在腿上做第一种喂食。步骤如下：

1. 用酒精灯外焰给镊子消毒(化学课都做过)


2.用镊子配合酒精灯外焰消毒吸管(哪种吸管不清楚，仍作移液使用)


3.从虱笼中将虱子们镊至培养皿中(下图一，笼子里有些似乎已经死了)，或直接用镊子将虱子一只一只从笼中镊出(下图二)




4.将虱子一只一只的夹在虱子夹中，只剩其身体前半部露出来在乱动(器具名乱安的，外型如下图)


5.用吸管将注射物抽出，将注射物置于显微镜下准备进行注射(注射物不明，如下图为红色液体，有可能是特殊血液，因为受感染的虱子特别脆弱易亡)。




6.开始注射。将吸管尖头插入虱子尾部，随着一声打气充的声音，注射物进入虱子体内，然后换下一个。下三图截取的是不同虱子个体，只为表现注射前、注射中和注射后虱子身体血液充实程度。(在截图里静止看虱子外边那一层有点像透明塑料纸，但片子里不断蠕动的虱子们是很让人没味口的)






由此，一轮注射结束。本以为“喂虱子”这种职业的确存在，在网上查了很久都没有相关资料。尽管如此，片中整个工作过程还是很慑人，说不定曾经真有那么一种职业，不知要在什么样的绝境才迫于从事这种生计。另“虱子”和“跳蚤”是两种不同昆虫，虱子以寄生为生存方式，产卵都在寄主上进行，跳蚤虽然吸血但却不寄生，在不干净的房间角落产卵化蛹。同学们要注意个人卫生啊，勤洗澡，勤换衣。