卧虎藏龙英语读后感

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A 19-year-old newcomer and a middle-aged veteran
steal the show from two legends of Hong Kong cinema

BY GARY MORRIS

Director Ang Lee would not be an obvious first choice to direct a Hong Kong martial arts film, even at a time when the genre is practically dead and thus ripe for resurrection by a highly regarded craftsman like Lee. His previous films — Sense and Sensibility, The Ice Storm are two — are careful, thoughtful works but also slow and stately to the point of torpor, traits that seem inimical to the whole HK aesthetic as seen in the work of megastars like Jackie Chan and Jet Li; producers and directors like Tsui Hark and John Woo; and films that cover a vast range of styles from the genderbending histrionics of the Swordsman series (starring the queen of HK androgyny, Brigitte Lin) to the homoerotic bloodbaths of Woo (Hard-Boiled, The Killer) to the sweet everyman epics of Jackie Chan.

Lee’s new film, Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon, is being marketed as both a loving homage and a redemption of the alleged excesses of the HK martial arts movie, a questionable approach since excess — in the larger-than-life characters, stylized violence, and dazzling shifts of tone — is a primary lure of these films. In Lee’s words, "People tend to look down on the genre. Some may have thought it strange that I could just drop what I normally do and make something like a B-movie. And as I was doing it, there was no escape. I had to bring in drama, I had to bring in women, I had to bring in beauty and whatever I feel added quality to it. It became an Ang Lee movie."

The good news is that the attitude behind such patronizing statements — drama, women, and beauty are hardly rare in HK films — is only partly in evidence in this "Ang Lee movie," in the film’s tedious, cliché romantic sequences. When Lee (or was it a gifted second-unit director?) focuses on the martial-arts sequences, the effect is breathtaking indeed and deserving of all the accolades the film is receiving.

Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon is based on a pre-World War II novel about characters who (in spite of Lee’s protests of originality) will be quite familiar to fans of HK’s golden age films. Li Mu Bai (Chow Yun Fat) is a legendary martial artist whose attempts to find enlightenment have left him disillusioned. He gives away his famous sword, the Green Destiny, to signal a move into a new, nonviolent life. His courier is Shu Lien (Michelle Yeoh), another well-known fighter who’s been pining away for him for years. Shu Lien becomes friendly with the aristocratic young Jen (Zhang Ziyi), who is secretly a superior swordswoman, the lover of the desert bandit Lo (Chang Chen), and a disciple of the vicious middle-aged female criminal Jade Fox (Cheng Pei Pei). From this setup, the film details the theft of the Green Destiny, the romantic and political intrigues that ensue, and the major characters’ life quests: Jen for love and power, Li Mui Bai for peace, Shu Lien for Li Mui Bai, Jade Fox for revenge against all men, and Lo for Jen.

The film has a muted, elegant look that works in its favor to transport the viewer to its setting of ancient China, meticulously recreated. But this rich pictorialism has a down side: Lee seems to be so in love with his compositions and conceits that the film slows to a crawl in some sequences. A particular offender in this regard is a seemingly endless diversion in the desert, where the love affair between Lo the bandit and Jen the captured lady begins. Lee exploits the bleak beauty of this setting (shot in the Gobi desert and the Taklamakan Plateau north of Tibet) but eventually loses the viewer in the interminable love scenes.

http://www.brightlightsfilm.com/31/crouchingtiger.html

　　这是一部如此充满中国风情与绚烂怀想的电影，从拍摄手法到人与人之间的爱恨情仇，看的出李安确实有深埋的武侠情怀，从未拍摄过武侠片，却拍出了最浓郁的武侠中国。
    影片第一段武打戏中，李安用长镜头从各个角度跟拍两个女主角在屋顶上施展轻功，追逐跳跃的情景，在这一刻，我竟觉得无比的舒服，摄影机在两个人的后上方不紧不慢的跟随着，连摆动的时候都保持着优美的旋转姿态，仿佛与整个情景融合在一起，说不出的优柔与内在的刚毅，这美感惟有中国人才可以做的出，惟有中国人才能这样在运动与静止之间保持着节制与内敛的速度更是把握着长袖飘舞一般的从容。
    在后来不断出现的打斗戏里，李安更是多用远景来表现人物的轻功，象章子怡从地面飞上墙面，镜头在远处一动不动的将这轻灵飘逸的一刻包囊在整个画面，人在天地间那一刹那间的恣意与轻灵就这么轻巧的溢出画面之外；李安的剪切手法更是让我不得不为之倾倒，在各个角度间的跳荡取舍就如同一个武学名家一样的古朴又时时闪现着让你惊喜的光彩。
    就象是对古典中国的最忠实又最写意的膜拜，这部电影从取景到道具甚至到融环境与人物为一体的构图，无一不体现中国人古典文化中的精髓。说到人物的设置与他们之间的互动，李安依然保持着他中庸又传统的性格：李幕白修为高深而重情重义的中年男人的形象，简直就是中国好男人的典型；俞秀莲外柔内刚，心思缜密，虽然向往真正的爱情却始终恪守妇道，中国传统的礼节在她身上得到了最好的体现也是最悲剧的体现；玉娇龙，任性蛮横，从不知天高地厚，想入江湖，却不知道江湖凶险，为了爱可以抛弃一切。。。但是到了最后，剧情依然推动她反悔自己的过错让她自投山谷――这样的结局表面上看好象有些不能容忍现代中国人无视传统无视礼教的行为方式，其实我倒是觉出了李安在这快意恩仇间一丝对中国社会文化的忧虑：传统的礼教带来悲剧，不服从礼教却又迷茫到不知道正邪何以区分――这样的路究竟往何处走？用怎么样的信仰才可以走出迷雾？李安表面上维护传统，实际上提出了一个中国人自己最棘手的问题。
    中国人爱不爱看自己的电影？我想一定爱看－－我不相信一个生在中国长在中国的人除了听nirvana除了看《猜火车》就没有一点中国人自己的血液在身体里流动。我依然钟情于这样一个我闭上眼都能闻见的人文环境，它虽然古老，但是依然会时刻影响着我们的生活方式，我们思考问题的方式。就好象我一定会把《阳光灿烂的日子》排在我个人最爱的首位――因为他说的是中国人自己的事情，也是中国最出色的电影之一。
    就好象你有没有练过毛笔字？你有没有看过古龙金庸的武侠小说甚至你曾经想象过飞檐走壁的神奇？你有没有背过唐诗，有没有体验过游览中国山水时所感觉到的秀美？？如果你有，那么他们此刻就在你的血液里流淌着，并且就象河水中不断涌起的浪花，飞溅不息，在山谷间拍打出一声声的回响。
    一定延绵不绝。

　　大二.