天魔无缝

This is a curious little film."Little", because that is the kind of movie it seems to aim to be. The plot is tightly wound like a David Mamet film; likewise the manifest restraints of the acting, deliberate and disciplined. Is it plausible? That question is not the point, since from the very beginning the film-maker has asked us to suspend disbelief, by way of having a black and a white actor, who share no physical resemblance at all, as identical twins whom neither their mother nor the plastic surgeon can tell apart (the surgeon actually comment on the black twin's Greco-Roman physiology). The contruct of events is highly stylized, in a quitessentially"American" way that is of the schools of Mamet, Lynch or Wim Wenders. But this detachment from plausibility is matched with painstaking attention to details, so that it feels like life in its smallest minutia: yes, just the way we experience our nightnmares, those encounters of familiarity AND strangeness. For instance, the nurse's precise and deliberate articulation, or the psychiatrist's freshening up his mouth before entering the patient's room, or the surgeon's digressions on target shooting., all adding up to a measured precision. Also as in nightmare, our observations seem omnipresent: we can see how a"character" enter our room from behind his back, and how ourselves get up from the couch to greet him. A well-constructed nightmare, indeed. The strangely fitting soundtrack of folksy rock-and-roll contrasts ironically with the intelligent lines and tight acting (for instance, the black homor in the country singing:"love is a burning pain", when the hero is packed off in an ambulance, suffering 95% burn from an almost-fatal explosion). Or the atmospheric touches like the ominous jazz tempo leading up to the twins' re-union, or the wonderful, nightmarish noise of someone running a baton across iron rails. For me, thoroughly enjoyable. When I call the film"curious", I am referring to its odd yet plaudible boldness in its intellectual wrappings. How often do you hear a movie character quoting Auden,"learn from your dreams what you lack", or Shalespeare's"fatherful remembrance", as the psychiatrist does? And the surgeon's digression on the origin of plastic surgery in 15th-century Italy. And the frequent use of Bel Canto arias in the soundtrack: what's the last time you see on screen a birthday gift given in the form of a live oratorio (Gluck?) in the hospital? All the characters, the doctor, the widow mother, and even the cops, are not afriad of speaking with a precision of vocabulary that is, well, shocking to hear in an American film. People casually toss off words like"tumultous" or"thwart his compulsion", and the words don't sound out of place, either. The film-makers are admirably indifferent to the American mass's knee-jerk anti-intellect sentiments, and obviously nonchalant to the worries of turning away the mainstream audience with their high-brow"excesses". I love them! To round up this review, let me pay tribute to the dream references in this film, and fend off critics, with another quote (from Apopcrypha, Ecclesiasticus 34:2.):"Whoso regardeth dreams is like him that catcheth at a shadow, and followeth after the wind." Enjoy.

豆瓣8.1，圣丹斯最佳摄影，独立精神奖提名——《天魔无缝》的头衔挺唬人，但说白了，就是个穷弟弟被富哥哥炸飞后整容寻仇的故事。可这片子妙就妙在，它压根没想拍成爽片。开场葬礼那场戏，两兄弟隔着一口棺材对视，穷的穿旧夹克，富的戴劳力士，基因一样，命运天壤。后来汽车爆炸，克里面目全非，导演斯科特·迈克吉不急着推剧情，反而用大量镜头拍他缠满绷带的脸，像在拍一件正在重塑的雕塑。绷带揭下那一刻，新面孔出现——他从“克里”变成了“文森”。身份置换的悬疑外壳下，藏的是阶级爬梯的残酷寓言。穷弟弟想活成富哥哥的样子，可当他真的顶替对方身份走进豪宅、握住遗产，却发现这套富贵生活背后是更深的空虚和算计。摄影Greg Gardiner拿圣丹斯大奖不是没理由的，他把贫民窟的灰冷和上流社会的鎏金都拍得像浸了石油，黏稠而危险。不过别指望它能一直绷着神经。这片子节奏奇慢，慢到不少观众打哈欠——豆瓣评论区有人说“文艺晦涩，情节推进偏慢”，我举双手同意。但它慢得有道理：你盯着克里一点点恢复记忆的过程，就像看一个人慢慢捏碎自己的旧壳。最后那个反转，不是惊天大阴谋，而是他第一次照镜子时，对着新面孔露出的诡异微笑。有人说它剧本单薄，可我觉得，单薄才够劲儿。它把所有力气都砸在了“自我认同”这根钉子上，疼得你坐不住。穷人爬上来的代价，是连脸都得换成仇人的。这片子不是给你讲故事的，是给你摸骨头的。