Martin Scorsese’s Film School: The 85 Films You Need To See To Know Anything About Film

By: Rick Tetzeli

As we head into Oscars weekend, here’s an A-Z list of the films that influenced the most influential--and Oscar-nominated--director in Hollywood, Martin Scorsese (in other words, the films you need to see to be the film expert you think you are).


Interviewing Martin Scorsese is like taking a master class in film. Fast Company’s four-hour interview with the director for the December-January cover story was ostensibly about his career, and how he had been able to stay so creative through years of battling studios. But the Hugo director punctuated everything he said with references to movies: 85 of them, in fact, all listed below.

Some of the movies he discussed (note: the descriptions for these are below in quotes, denoting his own words). Others he just mentioned (noted below with short plot descriptions and no quotes.) But the cumulative total reflects a life lived entirely within the confines of movie making, from his days as a young asthmatic child watching a tiny screen in Queens, New York to today, when Scorsese is as productive as he’s ever been in his career--and more revered than ever by the industry that once regarded him as a troublesome outsider. Hugo leads the Academy Award nominations with 11 nods, including Best Picture and Best Director. Several Oscar pundits believe he’ll nab his second Directing win. If so, he owes a lot to movies like the ones below.

Ace in the Hole: "This Billy Wilder film was so tough and brutal in its cynicism that it died a sudden death at the box office, and they re-released it under the title Big Carnival, which didn’t help. Chuck Tatum is a reporter who’s very modern--he’ll do anything to get the story, to make up the story! He risks not only his reputation, but also the life of this guy who’s trapped in the mine." 1951

All That Heaven Allows: In this Douglas Sirk melodrama, Rock Hudson plays a gardener who falls in love with a society widow played by Jane Wyman. Scandale! 1955

America, America: Drawn directly from director Elia Kazan’s family history, this film offers a passionate, intense view of the challenges faced by Greek immigrants at the end of the 19th century. 1963

An American in Paris: This Vincente Minnelli film, with Gene Kelly, picked up the idea of stopping within a film for a dance from The Red Shoes. 1951

Apocalypse Now: This Francis Ford Coppola masterpiece is from a period when directors like Brian DePalma, John Milius, Paul Schrader, Scorsese and others had great freedom—freedom that they then lost. 1979

Arsenic and Old Lace: Scorsese is a big fan of many Frank Capra movies, and this Cary Grant vehicle is one of several that he’s enjoyed with his family at his office screening room. 1944

The Bad and the Beautiful: Vincente Minnelli directed this film about a cynical Hollywood mogul trying to make a comeback. It stars Kirk Douglas, Lana Turner, Walter Pidgeon and Dick Powell. 1952

The Band Wagon: “It’s my favorite of the Vincente Minnelli musicals. I love the storyline that combines Faust and a musical comedy, and the disaster that results. Tony Hunter, the lead character played by Fred Astaire, is a former vaudeville dancer whose time has passed, and who’s trying to make it on Broadway, which is a very different medium of course. By the time the movie was made, the popularity of the Astaire/Rogers films had waned, raising the question of what are you going to do with Fred Astaire in Technicolor? So, really, Tony Hunter is Fred Astaire--his whole reputation is on the line, and so was Fred Astaire’s.” 1953

Born on the Fourth of July: Produced by Universal Pictures under Tom Pollock and Casey Silver, this Tom Cruise movie (directed by Oliver Stone) was an example of how that studio “wanted to make special pictures,” says Scorsese. 1989

Cape Fear: As he once explained to Stephen Spielberg over dinner in Tribeca, one of Scorsese’s fears about directing a remake of this film was that, “The original was so good. I mean, you’ve got Gregory Peck, Robert Mitchum, Polly Bergen, it’s terrific!” 1962

Cat People: Simone Simon plays a woman who fears that she might turn into a panther and kill. It sounds corny, but the psychological thrills that directors Jacques Tourneur got out of his measly $150,000 budget make this a fascinating movie, with amazing lighting. 1942

Caught: “There are certain styles I had trouble with at first, like some of Max Ophuls’ films. It took me till I was into my thirties to get The Earrings of Madame de…, for example. But I didn’t have trouble with this one, which I saw in a theater and which is kind of based on Howard Hughes [protagonist of The Aviator].” 1949

Citizen Kane: “Orson Welles was a force of nature, who just came in and wiped the slate clean. And Citizen Kane is the greatest risk-taking of all time in film. I don’t think anything had even seen anything quite like it. The photography was also unlike anything we’d seen. The odd coldness of the filmmaker towards the character reflects his own egomania and power, and yet a powerful empathy for all of them—it’s very interesting. It still holds up, and it’s still shocking. It takes storytelling and throws it up in the air.” 1941

The Conversation: Gene Hackman stars in this thrilled directed by Scorsese’s friend, Francis Ford Coppola. It’s a classic example of stuido risk-taking in the early 1970s. 1974

Dial M for Murder: When discussing the creation of Hugo, Scorsese referred to this Hitchcock film as an example of other directors who have tangled with 3-D over the years. In its original release most theaters only showed it in 2-D; now the 3-D version pops up in theaters from time to time.1954

Do The Right Thing: Spike Lee’s film was the kind of risky production that drew Scorsese to Universal Pictures when it was run by Casey Silver and Tom Pollack. “Then Pollock left,” says Scorsese, “and it all changed.” 1989

Duel in the Sun: Scorsese went to see this movie, which some critics called “Lust in the Dust”, when he was 4 years old. Jennifer Jones falls hard for a villainous Gregory Peck in this lush King Vidor picture. A poster of the movie hangs in Scorsese’s offices. 1946

The Four Horseman of the Apocalypse: Rex Ingram made this movie, in which Rudolph Valentino dances the tango. Ingram stopped making films when sound came in. Michael Powell’s father worked for Ingram; living in that milieu gave Michael the cultural knowledge that informed his own movies like The Red Shoes. 1921

Europa ’51: “After making The Flowers of St. Francis, Rossellini asked, what would a modern day saint be like? I think they based it on Simone Weil, and Ingird Bergman played the part. It really takes everything we’re dealing with today, whether it’s revolutions in other countries or people trying to change their lifestyles, and it’s all there in that film. The character tries everything, because she has a tragedy in her family that really changes her, so she tries politics and even working in a factory, and in the end it has a very moving resolution.” [Also known as The Greatest Love] 1952

Faces: “[Director John] Cassavetes went to Hollywood to shoot films like A Child is Waiting and Too Late Blues, and after Too Late Blues he became disenchanted. Those of us in the New York scene, we kept asking, “What’s Cassavetes doing? What’s he up to?” And he was shooting this film in his house in L.A. with his wife Gena Rowlands and his friends. And when Faces showed at the New York Film Festival, it absolutely trumped everything that was shown at the time. Cassavetes is the person who ultimately exemplifies independence in film.” 1968

The Fall of the Roman Empire: One of the last “sandal epics,” this sweeping Anthony Mann picture boasted a stellar cast of Sophia Loren, Anthony Boyd, James Mason, Alec Guinness, Christopher Plummer and Anthony Quayle. And it failed miserably at the box office. 1964

The Flowers of St. Francis: “This Rossellini movie and Europa ’51 are two of the best films about the part of being human that yearns for something beyond the material. Rossellini used real monks for this movie. It’s very simple and beautiful.” 1950

Force of Evil: Another picture that defined the American gangster image, this noir stars John Garfield as the evil older brother whose younger sibling won’t join his numbers-running conglomerate. 1948

Forty Guns: Barbara Stanwyck stars in this Sam Fuller Western. She plays a bad-ass cattle rancher with a soft spot for a local lawman. 1957

Germany Year Zero: “Roberto Rossellini always felt he had an obligation to inform. He was the first one to do a story about compassion for the enemy, in this film--it’s always been hard to find, but now there’s a Criterion edition. It’s a very disturbing picture. He was the first one to go there after the war, to say we all have to live together. And he felt cinema was the tool that could do this, that could inform people.” 1948

Gilda: “I saw this when I was 10 or 11, I had some sort of funny reaction to her, I tell you! Me and my friends didn’t know what to do about Rita Hayworth, and we didn’t really understand what George McCready was doing to her. Can you imagine? Gilda at age 11. But that’s what we did. We went to the movies.” 1946

The Godfather: “Gordon Willis did the same dark filming trick on The Godfather as he had done on Klute. And now audiences accepted it, and went along with it, and every director of photography and now every director of photography of the past 40 years owes him the greatest debt, for changing the style completely--until now, of course, with the advent of digital.” 1972

Gun Crazy: A romantic example of film noir, this one features a gun-toting husband and a sharp-shooting wife. 1950

Health: This Altman movie came out at the same time as King of Comedy. They were both flops, and we were both out. The age of the director was over. E.T. was a very big worldwide hit around then, and that changed the whole business of film finance. 1980

Heaven’s Gate: Scorsese was with United Artists in the 70s, with producers he describes as ”understanding and supportive.” Heaven’s Gate, one of the ambitious films UA backed at the time, was a critical and box office bomb, although its reputation has improved over the years. 1980

House of Wax: This was the first 3-D movie produced by a major American studio. It starred Vincent Price as a wax sculptor whose sourcing was, shall we say, unusual. 1953

How Green Was My Valley: “I appreciate the visual poetry of [director John] Ford’s film, like in the famous scene where Maureen O’Hara is married and the wind blows the veil on her head. It’s absolute poetry. No words. It’s all there in the image.” 1941

The Hustler: Scorsese liked the Paul Newman character (Eddie Felson) in this movie so much that when Newman came calling about a possible update of the movie, he agreed to direct The Color of Money. He says the movie’s box office success helped rehabilitate his career after a tough slog. 1961

I Walk Alone: One of several movies that Scorsese says clearly defined the American gangster ideal, this one stars Burt Lancaster and the smoldering Lizabeth Scott. 1948

The Infernal Cakewalk: One of the many George Melies movies that have been restored and can now be seen on DVD. Melies, a French director of silent films, is at the center of the plot of Hugo. 1903

It Happened One Night: “I didn’t think much of this Frank Capra film, until I saw it recently on the big screen. And I discovered it was a masterpiece! The body language of Claudette Colbert and Clark Gable, the way they related--it’s really quite remarkable.” 1934

Jason and the Argonauts: As part of his film education of his daughter, Scorsese screened a bunch of Ray Harryhausen classics, including this one. 1963

Journey to Italy: “After Rossellini married Ingrid Bergman he wiped the slate clean and left Neo-Realism behind. Instead he made these intimate stories that had a great deal to do with a certain intellectual mysticism, a sense of cultural power. In Viaggio [Viaggio in Italia is the Italian title], for example, the English couple played by George Sanders and Ingrid Bergman are traveling in Naples on vacation while marriage is faling apart, but the land around them—the people the museums, and especially their visit to Pompeii, these thousands of years of culture around them—work on them like a modern miracle. The film is basically two people in a car, and that became the entire New Wave. Kids may not have seen this film, but it’s basically in all the independent film of today.” 1954

Julius Caesar: “This is another example of Orson Welles’ risktaking, with Caesar’s crew as out-and-out gangsters.” 1953

Kansas City: “This is one of the great jazz movies ever. If you could hang on with Altman, you were going to go on one of the great rides of your lives.” 1996

Kiss Me Deadly: A great example of the noir genre that so inspired Scorsese. This one stars Ralph Meeker as detective Mike Hammer. 1955

Klute: “There are movies that change the whole way in which films are made, like Klute, where Gordon Willis’s photography on the film is so textured, and, they said, too dark. At first this was alarming to people, because they’re used to a certain way things are done within the studio system. And the studio is selling a product, so they were wary of people thinking that it’s too dark.” 1971

La Terra Trema: This Lucchino Visconti film is one of the founding films of Neo-Realism. 1948

The Lady from Shanghai: “The story goes that Welles had to make a film and he was in this railway station, and there were some paperbacks there and he was talking to Harry Cohn of Columbia and he said look, I’ve got the greatest film it’s called Lady from Shanghai, which was this paperback he saw there. And then he made up this story, taking elements of Moby Dick, where he talks about the sharks, and the whole mirror sequence in that picture is unsurpassed. I don’t know if Lady is a noir, but it’s awkward, and it’s brilliant.” 1947

The Leopard: “Visconti and Rossellini and deSica were the founders of Neo-Realism. Visconti went a different way from Rossellini. He made this movie, which is one of the greatest films ever made.” 1963

Macbeth: “This was the first Welles movie I saw, on television. He shot it in 27 days. The look of it, the Celtic barbarism, the Druid priest, this was all very different from other Macbeth productions I’d seen. The use of superimpositions, the effigies at the beginning of the film—it was more like cinema than theatre. Anything Welles did, given his background in radio, was a big risk. Macbeth is an audacious film, set in Haiti of all places.” 1948

The Magic Box: “There were a number of people who felt that they had invented moving pictures. Robert Donat plays William Friese-Greene, one of those people, who’s obsessed from childhood with movement and color. Donat was a great actor. And this is a beautifully done film.” 1951

M*A*S*H: “I saw it at a press screening. That was the first football game I ever understood. Altman developed this style that came out of his life and making television movies, it was so unique--and his movies seemed to come out every two weeks.” 1972

A Matter of Life and Death: “This is another beautiful film by Powell and Pressburger, but it was made after World War II, so people said, ‘You can’t use the word ‘Death’ in the title!’ So it got changed to Stairway to Heaven, that’s what it was called in America. Now it’s A Matter of Life and Death again.” 1946

McCabe & Mrs. Miller: “This is an absolute masterpiece. Altman could shoot quickly and get the very best actors.” 1971

The Messiah: “Rossellini’s last film in this third period, the last film he made before he died, is this beautiful TV film on Jesus. He had planned on making more such films, like one on Karl Marx. He thought TV was the way to reach young people, to educate them. But then of course TV changed.” 1975

Midnight Cowboy: One of the great movies released by UA in its glory days, starring Dustin Hoffman and Jon Voight. 1969

Mishima: Scorsese describes this Paul Schrader film about the great Japanese author as a “masterpiece.” 1985

Mr. Deeds Goes to Town: In this Frank Capra movie, one of several that Scorsese has screened for his family, Gary Cooper plays a small-town boy who inherits a fortune--and a bevy of big-city sharpies that he can’t quite contend with. 1936

Mr. Smith Goes to Washington: Jimmy Stewart stars in this Capra movie, one of the all-time greats, which features a dramatic filibuster. 1939

Nashville: “Altman had a point of view that was uniquely American and an artistic vision to go with it. All his early work pointed to this movie.” 1975

Night and the City: “It’s the essential British noir film. Harry Fabien, played by Richard Widmark, is a two-bit hustler running through the London underworld at night, and he always oversteps, particularly with the gangster played by Herbert Lom. From the very beginning you know Fabien’s going to fail, because he’s up against a power he doesn’t understand. 1950

One, Two, Three: A classic Billy Wilder comedy, starring James Cagney as a Coca-Cola exec in West Berlin. The dialogue crackles. 1961

Othello: "It took (Orson Welles) years to finish this. There were tons of quick cuts, and there’s a wonderful sequence where two people are attacked in a Turkish bath, and it works beautifully. They’re wearing towels, and one is dispatched under the boards. It has a strange North African whiteness. It turns out that he was ready to do the sequence, and the costumes didn’t show up. So he said, let’s put it in a Turkish bath. He had the actors there! He had to shoot it!” 1952

Paisa: “This is my all-time favorite of the Rossellini films.” 1946

Peeping Tom: “Michael Powell himself gambled everything on Peeping Tom and lost in such a way that his career was really ended. The film was so shocking to some British critics and the audience because he had some sympathy, sort of, for the the serial killer. And the killer had the audacity to photograph the killing of the women with a motion picture camera, which of course tied in the motion picture camera as an object of voyeurism, implicating all of us watching horror films. He was reviled. One critic said this should be flushed down the toilet. He only got one or two more movies done. He really disappeared. And now in England there are cameras watching everyone all over the street.” 1960

Pickup on South Street: Richard Widmark picks the wrong purse in this classic noir, unwittingly setting off a series of events that come to a violent climax. 1953

The Player: “In the years before this movie, the age of the director who had a free hand came to an end. And yet Altman kept experimenting with different kinds of actor, different approaches to narrative, different equipment, until finally he hit it with this movie, which took him off onto a whole other level.” 1992

The Power and the Glory: “Directed by William K. Howard and written by Preston Sturges, it had a structure that Mankiewicz and Welles used for Citizen Kane.” 1933

Stagecoach: “Welles drew from everywhere. The ceilings and the interiors in John Ford’s classic western inspired him for Citizen Kane.” 1939

Raw Deal: NOT the Arnold Schwarzenegger pic. This one’s a noir directed by Anthony Mann, starring Dennis O’Keefe and Claire Trevor. 1948

The Red Shoes: “There’s something so rich and powerful about the story, and the use of the color, that it deeply affected me when I was nine or ten years old. The archness of the approach, and how serious the ballet dancers were … When they say, “The spotlight toujours on moi,” they mean it! The ballet sequence is almost like the first rock video. It’s almost as if you’re seeing what the dancer sees and hears and feels as she’s moving. It’s like in Raging Bull, where we never went outside the ring for the fighting sequences.” 1948

The Rise of Louis XIV: “In the third part of his career, Rossellini decided to make an encyclopedia, a series of didactic films. This is the first film in that series, and it’s an artistic masterpiece. He shot it in 16mm for TV, and called it anti-dramatic. Yet, I screen it once every couple of years, and when you look at frames of it on the big screen there are shots that just look like paintings. Rossellini couldn’t get away from it, he had an artist’s eye. There’s nothing like the last ten minutes of that film to show the accumulation and the display of power. It’s not done through the sword or the speech, it’s done through the theatre he created around him with his clothes, his food, the way he eats. It’s extraordinary.” 1966

The Roaring Twenties: James Cagney and Humphrey Bogart star in this homage to the gangsters of the 1920s. It was one of the many great films made in 1939 (like Gone with the Wind, The Women, Mr. Smith Goes to Washington, Goodbye, Mr. Chips, Stagecoach and many many more.) 1939

Rocco and his Brothers: “This Visconti film was also a major influence on filmmakers.” 1960

Rome, Open City: “I saw Italian movies as a 5-year-old, on a 16-inch TV my father bought. We were living in Queens. There were only three stations. One station showed Italian films on Friday night for the Italian-American community, subtitled, and the family would gather to see the films. My grandparents were there—they were the ones who moved over in 1910. So it became a ritual. [Director Roberto] Rossellini had an intellectual approach.” 1945

Secrets of the Soul: “This was a silent movie whose flashback structure was unlike anything else. Secrets of the Soul looked almost experimental.” 1912

Senso: “An extraordinary film by Visconti, another Neo-Realist masterpiece.”

Shadows: “I saw Shadows at the 8th Street Playhouse [in Manhattan], and when I saw such a direct communication with the human experience, of conflict and love, it was almost as if there was no camera there at all. And I love camera positions! But this was like you were living with the people.” 1959

Shock Corridor: A wild Sam Fuller movie about a journalist who enters an insane asylum to try to break a story. 1963

Some Came Running: This Vincent Minnelli melodrama is definitely not a musical. It’s a tough story about an alcoholic Army vet returning home. It stars Frank Sinatra, Dean Martin, and Shirley MacLaine. 1958

Stromboli: “This too was a very important film of Rossellini’s second period. Very beautiful.” [During the shooting of Stromboli, the star, Ingrid Bergman, who was married to an American dentist, got pregnant with Rossellini’s child. She divorced the dentist, and became persona non grata in America]. 1950

Sullivan’s Travels: “Billy Wilder told me, you’re only as good as your last picture. Sullivan, played by Joel McRae, is in the studio system, under that kind of pressure. He makes comedies, but one day he decides he really wants to make ‘Oh, Brother, Where Art Thou?’ He puts it all on the line to learn about the poor. The resolution of the movie is very moving.” 1941

Sweet Smell of Success: Like Ace in the Hole, this classic noir is about an unethical journalist who will stop at nothing to get his way. Burt Lancaster plays the journalist. 1957

Tales of Hoffman: “This was a great risk for Powell and Pressburger. In fact, they lost it on that. He had in mind a composed film like a piece of music, and played the music back on set during the shooting, so the actors moved in a certain way.” 1951

The Third Man: “Carroll Reed made one of those films where everything came together. It made me see, with Kane, that there was another way of interpreting stories, and another approach to the visual frame of the classical films…all those low shots, and the cuts.” 1949

T-Men: Another Anthony Mann noir with great cinematography, this one’s about Department of Treasury men breaking up a counterfeiting ring. 1947

Touch of Evil: “Welles’ radio career with the Mercury Theater made him a master of the soundtrack. Just listen to this movie--you can close your eyes and imagine everything that is happening. (Young people should listen to the radio soundtrack of War of the Worlds, which was so effective that people got in their cars and started to drive away, because they really believed that Martians were attacking.)

The Trial: “This is another film that gave us a new way of looking at films. You’re very aware of the camera, like when Anthony Perkins came running down this corridor of wooden slats and light cutting the image, blades and shafts of light, talk about paranoia!” 1962

Two Weeks in Another Town: The Vincente Minnelli movie stars Cyd Charisse, Kirk Douglas, and Edward G. Robinson. It’s a classic 1960s melodrama. 1962

Correction: Raw Deal was amended to reflect its release date of 1948.
Orson Welles directed the stage version of Julius Caesar; Joseph Mankiewicz directed the film.

Close up 張虹 紀錄片難做

2011年6月30日
紀錄片一向不好做，一來資金和觀眾都相對少，二來在不民主的社會裏更有很多掣肘，三來紀錄片很容易惹事生非，四來是有使命的爭論。很多人（包括有些導演）認為紀錄片該「文以載道」，要以改變社會、為民請命為任務。這本來是無可厚非的，但有些人往往認為這是紀錄片的唯一任務，視之為規條，故此對非「載道」的影片批評，甚至排斥，這種情況，令本來已困難的製作環境更雪上加霜。

到底紀錄片該只是「為民請命」，還是也可以有別的功能呢？這值得我們再仔細想一想。

第一點很容易解釋，香港只講市場不講其他，紀錄片觀眾少，自然投資少，結果是惡性循環；少投資就少作品，少作品就少觀眾。在內地，獨立製作不能作公開放映，所以不涉市場的問題。而台灣算有個紀錄片市場，但經營亦不容易，只有少數作品能在戲院上映。

關於第二點的政治問題，香港暫時不算太嚴重，但在內地，照中國政府的看法，獨立製作都是不合法的，隨時可以取締。台灣的情況當然好點，但也有藍、綠營，以及台灣人和外省人等不能隨便碰及的題材，否則就麻煩大了。

第三點是紀錄片易惹來爭拗。紀錄片拍真實的人和事，其中一個爭論的問題是製作人用一個什麼態度去看待這些人物；是平等的、卑躬屈膝的，還是高高在上的，這都是很重要。有些惹爭論的電影，被人批評剝削片中人，出賣他們的不幸和痛苦。這些看法有時是言之成理的，但無理取鬧的例子也不少。

認清製作人態度

周浩的新作《差館》，是關於廣州火車站附近形形色色的小人物，有小偷、流浪漢、精神病患者和討薪的農民工等。影片風格平實，但幽默有趣，觀眾邊看邊笑。 在映後討論會上，有觀眾警惕導演要特別小心處理這些小人物，因為他們是窮人。我想這位朋友發現觀眾一邊看一邊笑，擔心他們是在嘲笑片中人的奇趣行為，這是過慮了。我們都看過差利的影片，他常常碰釘子，又常給人欺侮，觀眾也邊看邊笑，但這笑不是嘲笑，而多是訝異的笑，就像看見朋友踩蕉皮，滑了一交，我們也會不禁笑出來，這裏面沒有惡意，沒有看不起人的意思。周浩的《差館》也是一樣，不管是警察或是普通百姓，他都用平等的態度對待所有人，並沒有嘲弄的意思。

相反，有些影片的確有取笑的意味，例如一向「正義凜然」的美國導演Michael Moore，在他的成名作Roger & Me中，帶觀眾去探訪失業工人，對工人用各種方法（如賣白兔或推銷化妝品）謀生，他擺出了一副嘖嘖稱奇、不可思議的表情。影片讓觀眾處於一個高高在上的位置，像有錢人看到窮人「奇怪」的生活，露出一副驚訝的樣子，這種態度甚為可惡。Moore紅了很多年，被視為「人民英雄」，其作品經常為小市民伸張正義，為此，當有些人知道他在影片中弄虛作假，採用大量假資料，也表示毫不介意。當年，在大家一片叫好聲中，影評人中只有The New Yorker的Pauline Kael獨排眾議，指出Moore的偽善，她是一個勇敢的影評人。

觀眾能否認清製作人的態度，是善意還是惡意、是嘲諷還是同情，頗視乎大家的觀賞能力，但在今日的香港，不要說知識分子了，連讀書、看報的人也買少見少，我們欣賞電影的水平當然也大打折扣了。許多年前，我讓一班大專生看張愛玲的少作《天才夢》，他們的反應是：張實在太自大了，覺得自己是個天才，卻沒有一個人看得出其中的自嘲和悲涼，令我啼笑皆非。看紀錄片的觀眾中，也有不少人有這種情況，真是可惜。

第四點關於紀錄片的使命問題，這其實與第三點息息相關。

紀錄片內容往往是關於社會問題，如揭露政府的無能、法律的不公或弱者的不幸遭遇等等，所以它很容易被用作「載道」的工具。用影片來推動社會改革，是紀錄片界中一大派別，歷史悠久，自三十年代已在西方興起，如由John Grierson領導的British Movement，其中大部分作品就是為了改善社會民生。另一方面，亦有很多製作人利用紀錄片來抒情或言志，如美國Robert J. Flaherty的Nanook of the North或荷蘭Joris Ivens的名作Rain等。

作品該是「載道」還是抒情言志，這個爭論由來已久。二戰期間，國難當前，文藝界都響應以文救國，紛紛創作抗戰作品，而張愛玲卻沒有理會，她寫的仍是小市民日常生活、男女感情轇轕的故事，故被批評思想不夠「前進」，漠視人間疾苦。我明白她為什麼會被批評，因為當時戰亂，大家生活在水深火熱中。其後，她寫了一篇文章回應，大意是戰爭是一時一地的現象，而人情世故、男女感情卻是無處不在及永遠都有的現實。七八十年後的今天，回頭細看，我想我是明白她的理由的。也正正是為了這個原因，她的作品是永恆的，到今日仍舊能引起我們的共鳴，相信五六十年後，她的作品仍然會風行。

載道抒情可以並存

對於「載道」與否，我認為兩個做法可並存，你可以搞創作救國救民，人家也可以日常生活和個人感情做題材，沒有必要二擇其一。有時同一個作者也會在不同時期，創作「載道」和「抒情」的作品。杜甫就是一個好例子，他的《兵車行》，《春望》都是憂國憂民，批評時政的，他亦有很多描述山水或文物的作品，如《望岳》和《畫鷹》，而兩類作品都是我們文化中的瑰寶。

我想能感動人的就是好作品，而能感動人的，是有真實感情的作品。綜觀紀錄片歷史，能成為經典的、世代相傳的，似乎較少是「載道」的作品，可能是看這類影片有點像上課，老師教導學生，令思想較為獨立的觀眾不耐煩，此外，它的另一個缺點是，其內容往往是黑白分明，例如警察一定是兇惡的，平民一定是善良的，其實世事並不一定這樣簡單。另外，這種作品常是主題先行，即製作人預先下了定論，故有時碰到相反的事實，不得不犧牲這些資料，這就有欠公道了。

我想對創作而言，最重要最寶貴的是自由，在沒有民主的社會，政府設下很多限制，這是我們應該抗拒的。但如果在民主自由的地方，我們自己去加上許多規條，我想這是對創作紀錄片最大的傷害。

王家卫电影：恋旧调子里的都市人 文/孙孟晋

当一个人在奢华与孤寂的天平上无法平衡时，他会追求某种影子里的快感。断断续续的独自回忆、夸张变形的漫游、错开的相交，王家卫的电影始终在催化他骨子里的那份浪漫与悲观。

永远是情人般的迷惘，永远是不能到达目的地的寂寞，永远都在寻找各自的身份。王家卫喜欢玩精神的捉迷藏，每一部电影都互相关联，每一个人物都被宿命的游戏网住，他的影片的谜团是——情绪远大于故事的。

这个人酷爱美丽的外衣，包裹起内心孤岛般的不安全感。

漂泊，关于香港的一个寓言

几乎每个人都在寻找着依靠，但每个人都以失败告终。王家卫电影之所以能捕捉到现代都市人的气息，正在于那种处在恍惚之中的漂泊感。他有些固定的拍摄物：一 口大钟、斑驳的旧墙、门牌号码、雨中的路灯……这些都包含了王家卫所需求的心理反映。它们犹如时间流程里的记号，又似人物内心伸缩的心理对照物。它们在主 人公潜意识里的符号是空洞，也是一种流逝。所以，王家卫的都市人完全找不到自己的未来，也找不到永恒的情感。

在香港一流的导演中，也只有少数几个人把握到只属于香港的个人风格。杜琪峰的枪筒里瞬间迸发火光的距离，是香港街巷与街巷之间的距离；许鞍华的市井对话， 则将香港狭窄的地盘分布得非常匀称；而王家卫分明在游离，即使他努力搜寻记忆里辉煌，也是轻轻划开伤口，在缺席的盛宴里捕捉残片的美。

从《阿飞正传》到《春光乍泄》，王家卫把人的无根感描述得淋漓尽致。《阿飞正传》在王家卫早期电影里如此突出，就因为主人公不断地被身份不明而摧毁，从上 海移民而来的阿飞整日生活在焦躁不安的情绪里，他为寻找生母费尽了一切。而阿飞真正珍爱的女人——苏丽珍和他一样的命运，小时候被表姐从澳门带到香港，她 最关心的是什么时候来的，这个问题一直没有解答。王家卫在隐喻特殊人群的失落心态，尤其在1997年之前，它是香港人的一次集体身份的再寻找。

“世界上有一种鸟是没有脚的，这种鸟一辈子只能下地一次，那一次就是它死亡的时候。”这应该是最具王家卫标识性的独白之一，大凡在殖民文化里孕育出来的都 市气质，都有一种华丽的空虚症。人们怀疑他们存在的印记，这种怀疑最终以颓废到达高潮。其实，王家卫不只是消解他电影里的人物的身份，还虚化了空间，更颠 覆了时间上的连续性。所以，王家卫的影片需要大量的旁白，将故事的逻辑关系切割开，留下一些片断式的感受。而他的情节铺展也往往是分裂状的，甚至让几条线 索重叠。这种破碎的美使王家卫骨子里的空虚感格外的强烈，于是，在《阿飞正传》里出现了这样的旁白：“我们认识了一个很短的时间而巳。”如果说漫长代表着 生命的折磨，那么瞬间消逝则是一次又一次华丽的死亡。

对于隐喻而言，王家卫是一个更喜欢找到对应的导演。小卖部里苏丽珍的等待和那口无比空洞的钟的对比，阿飞饮弹时的无终结的眼神和列车前行的对应。这种对应 到了《春光乍泄》更是极端化了，黎耀辉和恋人吵架之后，在河上的那场寂寞无助的情绪渲染，这是近似贾木许式的都市忧郁症在异国他乡的散发，直至在大瀑布前 的剧烈心理对比。《春光乍泄》安排了一个周游世界的配角——张宛，他跑到阿根廷最南部的灯塔前述说人的孤独。这样的角色安排，是王家卫惯用的手法，让一个 人成为另一个人的影子，让一个隐藏的故事成为另一个故事的注脚，让人与人的相交成为永远的错开。

《春光乍泄》未必能超越《阿飞正传》，但它做到了另一种纯粹，那就是关于漂泊的命题，以地球为对应。

恋物，是王家卫时间记忆的一个象征

王家卫每一部电影都是四个字，他喜欢的数字里除了“四”以外就是“六”。他有对物迷恋的情结，甚至是一种习惯的迷恋，恒定而不变，有一种刻进肌肤里的快感，从中我们可以抽离出一些怀旧的因素，包括对异性的幻想。

王 家卫最喜欢的音乐无疑是探戈，那是一种在阿根廷人皮亚佐拉的创作里，要让城市的落叶起舞的抒情。也许是王家卫不可避免的刻意的情调，让观者无法从男女关系 的主题中及时抽身，而错以为王家卫是恋爱学家。其实，所有的王氏故事都存在着两个触角，它既是关于两性之间的，也是人类本身的。

《花 样年华》是恋物的史诗，从旗袍到领带，从拖鞋到一面窥视出形体线条的镜子。这还是一出吸引与克制的身体诱惑的戏剧，在王家卫的影片里，女人身体是一样能歌 唱的物体。包裹在衣服里的，是它如水果一般盛开的状态，而它的枯竭是因为时间的残酷。显然，王家卫的男女关系的第一主题是疏离，他的男女主人公的欲望总是 被人生的残酷性消解，唱机里回响的是孤独。

咖啡馆与酒吧里的留声机，是王家卫的另一个象征性的物体，它标志着时间流转，是王家卫中期电影的一个重要命题。

《东 邪西毒》和古装、武侠都无关，而是关于时间的另一种叙述。同样，在《花样年华》里，有很多被解析的细节，一段话重复两次，一个绝望的情绪也被扩张两次，突 然觉得王家卫是把记忆里的某些东西具像化。这样，就产生了王家卫的弥漫感。《花样年华》就是这样一部可以用高度浓缩的情绪来替代的电影，苏丽珍一直在飘逸 地走动，这样一个重复的动作，因为细节的变化而充满了灵动的气息，弥漫而华丽。

王 家卫还是一个出色的取舍能力超强的导演，周慕云和苏丽珍的配偶都没正面出现过，这种隐型的处理更强化了主题：也就是将一个若即若离的情爱故事更尽情地挥霍 到极致。这看似王家卫的得意之笔，这样的爱情故事不是超脱，而是绝望。一对人一旦离开了背景，那种真空的气息反而给人窒息的感觉。

王家卫的恋物，是有多重意义的，但从他的电影风格来说，那是对逝去的人的伤怀。

机巧，意味着他拍的是同一部电影

王家卫不仅喜欢在一部电影里埋下伏笔，还喜欢在不同的影片里设下机关。比较容易找到的是：同一个房间号码和同一个人名的出现。大约从《阿飞正传》开始，苏丽珍成了一个令人心碎的女人，一直沿用到《花样年华》和《2046》。而专栏作家周慕云也在《花样年华》和《2046》之间蜕变，一个很含蓄执着的男人衍化为一个玩世不恭的男人。这种符号性还可推溯到《阿飞正传》，在那里面，只在最后灵光一闪的梁朝伟，也可以和周慕云挂上钩的，而成为一个前传式的引子。

当然，这样的游戏解析还可列出金城武分别在《重庆森林》和《堕落天使》里的角色等等。当然这只是一个表面上的游戏，对于王家卫而言，他首先要将他的故事变动得相当支离破碎，而在支离破碎的背后，藏着一个无穷幽深的洞，那就是现代人的生存的不确定性，这个概念在《2046》里玩到了很彻底的地步，每一个现实生活里的故事都可以被提炼成未来的故事，每一个温暖的故事背后都有一双冰冷的手。

最后，你也可以把那个无穷幽深的洞想象成一个叫2046的房间，可供回忆，也可以抹去的房间。它一头连接着过去，一头连接着未来。它既是发生的，也是未发生的。

人类的感受，如果到了如此被遗忘所包围的时候，那它 背后的神经是分裂而沦陷的。王家卫把他定义的世界符号化，他本质上不是想抽象什么，而是表达一个具有后现代色彩的导演的感受，仿佛这世界被无形地粉碎了， 留下了一个个终究要产生记忆的肌体，他们注定要在逃避的相遇中销声匿迹。

王家卫是中国导演里少数拥有后现代意念的人之一。相 对而言，同时拥有强烈的时间感和空间感的导演少之又少，蔡明亮属于空间感特别灵敏的，而侯孝贤是属于时间派的。惟有在冰冷耸立的大楼下独守一隅的人，才能 把两头的困境打成一个结，永远在里面困扰，在纠缠关系中发现一些什么秘密。

我们当然不知道王家卫的失落感来自哪里，是一场不可告知的事件，还是一次家庭的错误。但是，无论如何，王家卫的精心设计用足了他的智慧，有时候，他也会被高度的形式感所左右。在艺术的领域，机巧和笨拙也是相对的。

关于王家卫的情调

一样东西反复把玩，会给人腻烦的感觉，尤其对于拍同一个主题的导演。关于王家卫的情调，相信在大多数的判断中是个贬义词。不可否认的是，王家卫还是超脱不了这样的境界：将颓废当作了糖衣炮弹。这在《重庆森林》这样的电影里特别明显。

从王家卫选择的配乐来看，就很能说明问题。他喜欢迷 茫的南美风情——探戈，但他不喜欢悲哀到死的法多音乐。他的电影里的绝情也如此，可以颓废，也可以在楼与楼的缝隙里抒情，但没有绝望到自杀。他们不断地游 离在暧昧的自由里，他们的幻想比他们的身体越过了很多界，他们也紧紧地守着矜持，等候着外部奇迹发生。于是，都市是他们的寄生之处，他们在里面漫游，空间 之小以至于他们偷偷地在对方身上漫游。

王家卫是一个特别注重心理变化的导演，加上他喜欢追求重复的过程，而抛开结果本身。最后，他在自己设计的调子上行走，迷恋着迷恋，诱惑着诱惑。

关于心理变化，我们几乎在每一部王家卫电影里找到某几个特别之处。《花样年华》到了内心激流奔腾的时候，时常出现雨水漫过石板路的景象，还有旗袍美人的几十次的摇曳走动，宛如一次次心灵的微波起伏。

另一方面，王家卫懂得在人的习惯里挖掘出一点味道。 这点味道，换个词就是情调。很多电影里的主人公重复着同一个动作，《花样年华》里的苏丽珍到街上打饭，《重庆森林》里梁朝伟每次到小吃店买同一种厨师沙 拉，还有金城武的凤梨罐头积到三十个。当然，金城武的凤梨罐头还有过期的意味。在同一部电影里，梁朝伟玩玩具飞机，暗示了他等待空姐女友的心理，但到了王 菲玩的时候，就成了一只纸飞机，它提示了闯入者的心理的不同。

最令人觉得王家卫在电影里缅怀的是：相似于他小时候 所住的公寓环境，以及隔壁邻居走动频繁的上海人。上海方言在他的无数部电影里出现，这也可以归结为怀旧，但更多的是王家卫作为移民的一种情结，他从一个曾 经繁华的殖民城市到了另一个曾经繁华的殖民城市。这种在时间上的落差，以及所能带来的遐想，是他人无法想象的。

一代人有一代人的情感标记，当周璇的《花样的年华》想起，王家卫给了他母亲那一代一个老派的空间。而他这一代则在玩世不恭和彷徨迷惑中成长。

过去的与未来的

尽管王家卫电影尤其早期电影里有漂泊无根意识，但像阿飞这样以死为归宿的并不多。那些人物或多或少是有渴望的，他们只是错过了某些辉煌的因素。所以，他的影调以泛旧闻名，以近乎以做作的抽色来制造灰色世界，但时而会出现几丝几刻的绚烂的光亮。

王家卫还喜欢在小空间里使用广角镜头，于是《2046》更像一个在梦呓中存在的世界。在《堕落天使》里的杀手变形的拍摄，则在营造现代都市里小人物存在的荒谬感，而《春光乍泄》里的逆光剪影式的踢足球场面，是一种非常直接的游离感，它像一次发生在过去的，又像是杜撰的心理跌宕。

说来说去，其实我们应该逼视王家卫的六十年代情怀。在《阿飞正传》、《花样年华》、《2046》等一系列影片里，直接点出了发生在上个世纪六十年代的具体年月，那正是五岁的他移民到香港的日子，也是香港焕发出上个世纪四十年代上海繁华一面的岁月。说王家卫怀旧，应该聚焦在这一点上。他把六十年代作为他的那副墨镜的型号，也作为他叙述的某个起点。

人在十几岁里已经发现了自己的某个一辈子要着落的地方，也就是生命的圈。随后就是恪守、摇摆、叛离乃至回归，人是逃不出这个圈的。王家卫的电影围绕着这个圈而展开，他那近乎自恋般的心理独白穿插在每一部电影里，惟有一部例外，那就是他的处女作《旺角卡门》。

王家卫自认为的集大成之作《2046》， 从过去与未来的打通上花了很大力气。但是，在2046年那个虚拟的空间里，我们没有读到更多的未来意义的寓言，而是关于过去的心灵疗伤。那辆列车加深的是 时间的凝固和空间的隔绝，这是不是王家卫的未来哲学也许并不重要，重要的是他试图穿越时间的限制，穿越人际关系的局限。其中有不少人物之间的互相替代，虚 拟与现实的互相替代，其目的也是为了找回失去的感觉。

“一个小时后，十个小时后，一百个小时后，”这是往昔经验过甚的王家卫制造的时间对比，他逃不出去，而那诞生了很多秘密的旅馆正是梦幻滞留的地方。他把个人内心里的含混与吞噬欲望安然地打开，这既是一次怀旧的华丽交响，也是一次欲望的深刻呼唤。

最为彻底的欲望替代，是周慕云在列车上的一次意念漫游，他成了那个叫Tak的日本人，但旅馆老板大女儿的激情被未来世界冷冻了，这里，用冷漠的机器人证明了爱情的错失。相反，红粉知己白玲则成全了周慕云一次欲望的冒险，而他真正的爱情早巳送给了一个在《花样年华》里就消失的女人——苏丽珍。

这就是王家卫对过去的怀恋。人的一世是在自己情感的沦亡里漂流的，各种幻想都是一种补充，各种不同的冒险都是相同的，它们终究要被记忆撕裂。

王家卫已经完成了他的主题，无论是在灯火阑珊的边缘逃匿，还是继续错失，王家卫都是一个游移的人。而他影片里的主人公随着1997年的到来而结束了恐慌感，但多了一点无所适从，多了一点多余的感伤。

最后，王家卫的电影俨然是一节节车厢，到了《2046》，是庞大而空洞的一节。

当然，所有在这列列车上呆过的人，都毫不相干了。

許鞍華 咫尺猶勝天涯 鄭天儀

大城小事一則。

話說導演許鞍華看過編劇張經緯寫《天水圍的夜與霧》的劇本後，就給了以下評價：「劇本的表達手法，像透歐洲的藝術電影，為什麼一點不像港產片？」

「『港產片』評價那麼爛，不像港產片不是更好嗎？」一臉疑惑的張經緯心裏咕嚕。

謎團一直存在，直至二人相處和磨合了好一陣子，張氏才領悟到許鞍華的心意。

是好是歹，港產片畢竟是香港的自家產業，就像敗家子、不俏兒都是自己骨肉。許鞍華這位多年來仍然活躍在香港的「新浪潮」導演，血液裏滲着的是香港情懷。

難怪她從來不希罕蜚聲國際、闖荷里活，無論榮辱崢嶸，都甘願孭着「香港導演」這個身份，拍深水埗的妓女、說天水圍的故事。

「老驥伏櫪，志在千里。」似乎未能恰如其分地形容許鞍華。

貼切的說法應該是：「老驥伏櫪，志在咫尺。」

六十二歲的許鞍華，一襲連二十二歲o靚模都望塵莫及的花哨粉紅白間連身裙，腳踏一對塗鴉的converse布鞋，加一頭bob head冬菇裝，自信非常地乍現我跟前，造型有點像《92黑玫瑰對黑玫瑰》裏的馮寶寶。

相對同齡女士深沉而低調的衣飾配搭，許鞍華顯然沒有「白髮空垂三千丈」的窘態，反而進入「一笑泯人間萬事」的化境，那份難得的少女情懷和赤子之心，顯露一種I don't care的生活態度。

「近年我的心態變好了。初入行時感覺良好，但到了四十歲的時候，大約是拍《女人四十》的前幾年，開始很緊張我的工作、好desperate，怕開不到戲、找不到演員、題材乾塘、無資金，總之不斷否定自己。」說到中年危機的萬劫不復，許鞍華兩眼向上凝視，聲音突然低了下去。

以 前怕失敗會影響自己名聲，人到耳順之年，許鞍華坦言已放開了，懶理分享年輕的吸毒經驗被罵為老不尊，還放膽去嘗試不同的事物，例如首次當舞台導演，導張愛 玲的《金鎖記》，最新又替中國建設銀行拍廣告片，是她最拿手的親情故事。經濟環境比以往差，香港電影市道萎縮，以為她因此而轉型去，原來只是她看開人生的 一環罷了。

「到了我這年紀，就算無嘢做都唔會遭人白眼。」她笑着補充說：「其實我一直無排斥過拍廣告，只是找大明星拍洗頭水廣告這些，我未必識拍。」許鞍華就是有一份藝術家的執着。

許鞍華是少數活躍香港影壇的女性導演，沒有黑澤明的「三段論法」、王家衛的搖晃朦鏡、Quentin Tarantino的狂吼怒叫、法國電影喋喋不休的凌厲浪漫，她總是以淡淡然的手法營造出單純而有力溫情畫面，永遠不會感情泛濫的帶有人道主義。

舞台導演是她的新嘗試，許鞍華絕對是一個誠心誠意求突破的人。電影是角色主導演員，舞台劇剛好相反，加上無NG和剪接，難度更高，許鞍華完全認同。「舞台劇的discipline比電影更純粹，要在有限空間、時間簡潔及深刻地作精練的藝術表達，需要超現實的想像力。」

很 多導演怕演繹張愛玲的作品，以致得失她的「粉絲」。許鞍華卻從不避忌，她說看張愛玲的小說不但不upset，反而很興奮（只是看《小團圓》，令許大導不安 了整整一個星期），故她曾把《傾城之戀》和《半生緣》拍成電影。「我被人罵得太多已免疫，張愛玲作品形式化很適合作舞台表演，應該多做，像《第一爐香》就 應搬上舞台。」她認真地說。

香港情懷

其他表演媒體只是許鞍華的甜點，她的唯一至愛還是拍電影，正確一點是拍香港題材的電影。否則以她在港大的碩士銜頭和智慧，早已搵夠了錢退休嘆世界了，還須看人面色、頻撲去找資金開戲乎？兼且忍受相對演員嚴重underpay的待遇？

其實，許鞍華1997年曾有機會進軍荷里活，但她最後放棄了，推說是不想長時間居住外國怕水土不服、吃不慣西餐，以及外國人歧視吸煙者，其實也是基於那份香港情懷。

我狐疑，拍戲只是她的愛好，潛台詞是：「拍戲是她存在價值。」

老實說，挾着三屆香港電影金像獎最佳導演的江湖地位，許鞍華早應有自己的鐵腳班底，早應進軍荷里活，早應在著名學府執教鞭享俸祿，但所有的「早應」都沒有發生在她身上，如今每開一套新戲，她還是會找來新的編劇、合作夥伴，親力親為找尋投資者。

孑然一身，落得逍遙。

據與許鞍華共事的人說，她是個絕對追求創新的導演，每次使用不同班底就是為了吸收新思維，不願重複自己，因為她認為，每次克服與不同人合作上的難題，是磨練，而許鞍華就是甘於冒險至自虐的人，酷愛挑戰。

像拍《天水圍的夜與霧》，幾經尋覓，找到一名老闆出錢，一切準備就緒，老闆突然撤資。後來，她拍了一些內地片，最後獲王晶首肯出資130萬元，以超低成本完成《天水圍的日與夜》，後來再拍成了《天水圍的夜與霧》，歷時足足五年。可見艱辛和壓力，往往造就驚世創作。

「成 功拍罷天水圍系列是個很encouraging（被鼓勵）和liberating（解放）的經驗。」抽着煙，許鞍華着力地說。被鼓勵基於她證明不一定有星 的戲才會有impact，至於感到「解放」，主要是出於許鞍華至死不渝要拍港產片的心結，那份草根精神，很能感染人。

拍戲一直是妥協

兩 年前訪問過許鞍華，覺得她是一個既現實又不顧現實的人。那時，她曾跟我分享：「生活就是矛盾」，她一直在入世與出世之間游走，妥協有時，不買賬有時，這種 堅持她自問拿捏得宜，起碼這樣她認為活得愜意。現實是她清楚了解到自己的限制，故盡量妥協來換取成功；但同時她為電影卻做了人家認為不切實際的犧牲。許鞍 華無疑對中港電影圈制度有諸多不滿，但人在江湖，也務必遵守遊戲規則，唯有在妥協中堅守底線，不斷走位。

「拍戲一直是妥協，我不覺得遵守遊戲規則有問題，每人每天生活不都是在解決問題？」她反問。

對於一個導演，當下面對最大的難題，是資金。

「多 錢當然搵唔到，原來少錢都未必搵得到，不是你自降身價、『鑒平鑒賤』，別人就肯投資在你身上，如果他覺得唔值，幾平都未必制。現實是很現實的，《日與夜》 攞到獎，拍《夜與霧》就可以多拿一點資金、可以用星、漠視票房。有acknowledgment大家都當然會高興啲！」即是說，如果不是《日與夜》刀仔鋸 大樹，《夜與霧》註定胎死腹中。

「胎死腹中是常事，我的經驗是，五套戲才有一套可以拍成，港產片沒落是有原因的。」許鞍華侃侃而談。

要許鞍華數歷來經歷最大波折的創作，她想也不想就數《夜與霧》和《千言萬語》，因為題材具爭議性，自然難以取悅投資者。「這兩套戲impact不大，或者有人認為我攞投資人的錢『教飛』，但我真的很想拍，而我又真的很用心去拍，對得住自己。」

當一切公共話語都在以娛樂的方式登場，並成為一種文化精神的時代，總有少數人游離鑼鼓喧天之外，以其鮮明的方式發出獨特的聲音，許鞍華是佼佼者。

「像我從來沒有大展鴻圖、闖荷里活的野心，所以就能用平常心看世情。」她解釋。

當然，根據「不是定理」，在這商業社會，沒有必要存在的人，當然也沒有非拍不可的戲了。工作跟抽煙一樣狂的許鞍華，沒有想過退休，她還是每天發掘創作題材，但強調不會為拍戲而拍戲，有感動她的故事才會動心。

導演就是操控的代名詞，很多導演都愛說自己的感覺、自己的心情，很容易變成self-indulgence（自我沉溺）而不能自拔，但在整個花花世界，許鞍華像是唯一的清醒者。無論發生什麼事，她永遠像在事件的外邊，從不會被成功沖昏了頭腦，也不會因失敗喪失理性。

「人家讚你不就等於好，別開心過了頭，睇定啲。」當《日與夜》獲獎，許鞍華跟編劇張經緯這樣說，彷彿耳鳴聽不到掌聲似的。許鞍華又試過當影展評委獲優厚待遇時，坦然說：「太舒服的生活要小心，不能沉迷。」有點苦行僧的味道，但很多人都說，這電影苦行僧確是一個領袖。

由 1979年專職拍攝電影，首部大電影作品《瘋劫》。許鞍華1981至82年分別拍攝越南三部曲中的《胡越的故事》和《投奔怒海》，俱大獲好評。之後拍攝的 電影包括有《傾城之戀》、《書劍恩仇錄》、《客途秋恨》、《女人四十》、《千言萬語》、《男人四十》、《姨媽的後現代生活》、《天水圍的日與夜》、《天水 圍的夜與霧》等電影。

人死留名，豹死留皮。

影壇履歷二十一套戲，我要許鞍華找一部代表作。

「沒有想過，我腦裏只想下一部要拍什麼。」說罷，許鞍華猛抽一口煙，呼呼吐出煙圈。

她的新戲將於10月、11月開拍，現正努力找投資者。

不作無謂的宣傳和應酬，這位「no-bull- shit 的電影人」，只會繼續拍她自己喜歡的故事，她說一切都是選擇。

在這花花綠綠的世界，當電影已變質成為一件商品、一個event等不同形態的時候，許鞍華依然故我、時刻警醒，在她的世界裏，電影就是電影。

純粹得沒有餘地。

文 鄭天儀 攝 黃俊耀

王家衛的眼鏡

来自:馬家輝 稿紙以外作者:馬家輝 (noreply@blogger.com)

終於近距離拍到了!
也有兩條中佬的抽煙照.

----
解讀張叔平的神秘笑容
--- 十五年的<東邪西毒>是其實一個開竅過程


大約三個月前我有一趟非常美好的觀影經驗, 在香港特區, 在九龍某處, 有人租了一間戲院, 就八九個人, 林青霞、劉嘉玲、張叔平、狄龍、龍應台….坐在黑暗裡, 抬頭靜看<東邪西毒終極版>之劍雨刀風。
目迷, 耽美, 我在黑暗裡偷偷望了他們幾眼, 每個人的眼睛都閃動著讚嘆的明亮, 卻又隱隱帶著迷失, 似在光影叢林裡找不到回家的路。
散場後我頗好奇他們眼中的「迷失」是否因為 --- 如同十五年前初看之時 --- 「看不懂」電影內容, 但林青霞的一句話讓我放下擔憂, 離開戲院, 一起吃飯, 她把夾著餃子的筷子停在半空, 忽然, 開心地說, 「這次我看懂了, 以前不懂的, 現在都懂了」。
看懂就好; 那麼今天的「迷失」便應只是為了光影之美。 純粹為了美。
然而這又帶出了新問題: 為什麼當年讓人不易看懂的, 今天卻又忽可一目瞭然?
我沒把這疑問說出口, 倒發現綽號「阿叔」的張叔平望著林青霞, 展露了一個神秘的笑容, 似乎想回應些什麼, 卻又為了某些原因故意不說。
於是我決定找出<東邪西毒>的舊版本 DVD 仔細重溫 (插句題外話: 相對於今天的「終極版」, 十五年前的那個版本應該怎樣稱呼? 舊版? 「初現版」? 「遷就版」? 「妥協版」? ), 為自己找尋解答線索, 看看能否猜中張叔平的笑容意義。
兩個版本的<東邪西毒>其實改動得比想像中少。 增加了一些空鏡, 刪減了一些武打, 林青霞的廣東話配音回復了普通話原聲, 幾乎就是這樣了。 哦, 還有還有, 全片全新配上了馬友友的原創音樂, 那應是最最關鍵的改動了, 蒼涼的氣氛, 落寞的意景, 皆被有如畫筆的音符勾勒出每個精緻的細部, 心隨音走, 觀眾的心情被音符牽著帶著而高低起跌, 幾乎讓人有了錯覺, 以為片中所有影像都是為了音樂而演出而說話而七情上面而喜怒樂怨, 這是音樂的力量, 配樂至此已經不是「配」樂而是「主」樂了。
當然還有經由最新數碼科技修訂的畫面色彩。 鮮艷的更鮮艷, 沉鬱的更沉鬱, 每格影像皆回復了它在導演心中的本來面目, 山是山唉水是水, 故才有令人眼睛迷路的茫然震撼。
但難道就只是這些或增添或減少的情節和音樂和畫面令人忽然把電影「看懂了」? 應該不是吧, 我猜。 不會的, 這都非常重要, 但也應該不僅於此。
別忘了在舊版本到終極版之間有著十五年的遙遠時間啊。 十五年了。 這些年來, 王家衛陸續拍了不少新作品, 觀眾看完一部又一部, 除非是故意關掉頭腦或心靈, 否則總不能不有以領悟有以學習有以長進, 初時或許全部「看不懂」, 其後的, 看懂一些了, 又多看懂一些了, 再多看懂一些了, 一些連一些再連一些, 層層相加, 到了最後自會熬煉出一套「看懂王家衛」的索隱方法。
是的, 這些年來, 電影導演在光影創作上有了顯明的微調變化, 可電影觀眾也不會是原地踏步, 甚至除了王家衛, 他們亦能從其他導演的其他作品裡慢慢摸索和累積出一點看戲的本領。 關鍵字: 開竅。 這就是了, 從十五年前的<東邪西毒>到十五年後的<東邪西毒>, 從彼時到此時, 電影觀眾 --- 包括林青霞以及如我一般的善男子善女子普羅眾生 --- 其實經歷了一段時間不短的開竅過程。
馮小剛最近在香港某公開場合上嘲諷香港觀眾水平不高。 高低基礎先不論, 「開竅」卻是有的, 電影領域除了講究「創作藝術」, 亦不能欠缺「觀賞藝術」,套句大陸慣用語, 凡事總有一個過程。 十五年, 就是這個過程的局部展現。
張叔平當天的神秘笑容, 背後隱藏的是不是就是這個答案?