这其实是三个帖子,合三为一。
一:最近收到很多影迷来信,问我为什么不写《看电影》专栏了。
我没有停,只是暂停。“你是我爷爷”是大地震前写的最后一篇。地震后,我完全没有心情写跟地震无关的文章,停了两期。多谢杂志社的谅解。最新一篇已经交稿,题目叫做“灾难片,一边去”,依然无法走出地震的阴影。
将来会不会停,关键看读者的反应。我一直在尝试新的角度、新的体裁、新的内容,跟电影渐行渐远。读者怨声载道乃意料之中。哪天编辑部一声怒吼:“我们受够了!”那我就真的停了。
二:今年我将出版一本影评集,按照现在的趋势,应该是我最后一本“纯影评集”,即针对单部影评做评头论足。其实,我只出过两本这样的影评集,一本是1999年的《好莱坞名片透视》,另一本是2002年的《好莱坞现场报道》。之后的单篇影评都没有机会合集。这回挑选了52篇,分成四个部分,每部分13部,有些在正文后跟了一至两篇附加文章(目录中搁在括号里),属于卖一送一。
选择这个结构(4章、13篇),是因为我偏爱这些不太吉利的数字。
现在需要大家帮忙,想一个书名。我最不擅长的就是书名,所以我对标题党是既恨又爱。已经有人推荐的候选书名有:《北京的最后探戈》等。
下面是书的目录。目前仍在排版中,您若有不同意见,请尽管提,还来得及改。有些影评收了进来,是因为要凑13篇;有些没收(比如《芝加哥》),是因为太长,搁不进现在的框架。
一面楚歌:大家的大片
《英雄》:一半是杰作
《满城尽带黄金甲》:可能暗藏杀机
(《黄金甲》的“老谋深算”)
(《黄金甲》的七层面纱)
《无极》:等待冬天紧接春天
(美国影评界如何看待《无极》)
《夜宴》:冯小刚的一道新菜式
(《哈姆雷特》的影子)
《色,戒》:假作真来真亦假
(误读《色,戒》只因文化鸿沟)
(你会因为喜欢梁朝伟而去出卖国家吗?)
《功夫之王》:一场没有胜负的友谊赛
《黑鹰坠落》:让细节更清晰,让背景更模糊
《蜘蛛侠》:少年蜘蛛精,替天把道行
(现实痛苦需要电影麻痹)
《天兆》:忽悠多于内涵
《绝地战警2》:对豪宅靓车绝不手软
《古墓丽影2》:野性美眉再闯天下
《耶稣受难记》:梅尔的致命诱惑
《达芬奇密码》:影像未必擅长智力游戏
两面楚歌:自己的经典
《公民凯恩》:最伟大的电影?是的!
(“凯恩学”初步)
《小城之春》:什么叫清淡?什么叫隽永?
(田壮壮版:充满京腔的吴侬软语)
《外星人》:给人性一剂返老还童的灵丹
(给想象力丰富的人开一家糖果店)
《窃听风暴》:始于通俗剧,终于悲剧
《松子被嫌弃的一生》:松子的悲剧
《时时刻刻》:从一天管窥一生
(电影音乐可以当“主角”)
《断背山》:不仅仅是断袖之舞
《撞车》:碰撞前后的火花
《高斯福庄园》:高雅的背后藏着无穷的秘密
《改编剧本》:似是而非的人生,异想天开的叙述
《衰仔失乐园》:一个人的少年和一个国家的少年
《半梦半醒的人生》:等待清醒
《太阳照常升起》:中年男人的怀旧春梦
(《太阳》意象诠释)
(我心目中的姜文)
三面楚歌:佳片不必约
《三峡好人》:一个被迫励志了的悲剧
(《三峡好人》必须为《黄金甲》殉情吗?)
《盲山》:不仅是一个人的悲剧
《十七岁的单车》:17岁的烦恼与憧憬
《我叫刘跃进》:小偷继续疯狂
《面纱》:异国背景下的先结婚后恋爱
《女王》:一个端着的女人
《阳光小美女》:疯狂选秀热
《巴别塔》:纵隔千山万水,命运总是相联
《冰河世纪》:史前动物与人的回归之旅
《逍遥法外》:真实比杜撰更离奇
《少数派报告》:50年后无悬案
《关于施密特》:酸酸涩涩夕阳红
《钢琴家》:我要活下去!
四面楚歌:烂片烂如泥
《星战前传II:克隆人的进攻》:龙尾续貂
(影评人的进攻:写在该片公映前夕)
《终结者3:机器之起义》:终结阿诺的时候到了
《风语者》:白鸽还下蛋吗?
(外国大导演 梦碎好莱坞)
《缘分天注定》:缘分编导定
《神奇西服》:神在哪里?倒是很西
《吸血鬼女王》:一堆漂亮的垃圾
《黑衣人2》:好莱坞抢钱大行动
《蜻蜓》:凯文·科斯特纳再度为你催眠
《狼族盟约》:五味俱全的法国大杂烩
《天脉传奇》:复制品的进攻
《凶宅幽灵》: 当全场观众的智商都超过编导时
(夸夸《大电影2.0》)
《海神号》: 翻船,但不在阴沟里
《蓝宇》: 毫无魅力的匆忙叙事
访谈:我为什么要写影评
三:最后,有一事相告。今年六月我出版了两本英文书,一本叫做《美哉中国》(China the Beautiful),其中介绍了十多个省市自治区的风景、名胜、文化和人物,另一本叫做《透视中国》(X-Ray: Examining the China Enigma),是我的时评政论集,共收录了99篇。
在此,我含泪奉劝大家,不要买这两本书,因为定价很坑人,属于抢钱行动,行文也不照顾国内读者。不过,你若认识老外,让他们上当受骗,我当做鬼也幸福。《美哉中国》是针对刚来中国仍不太熟悉中国的读者,《透视中国》需要读者对中国有一定的了解。
以下是相关资料:
X-Ray: Examining the China Enigma is a collection of 99 columns Raymond Zhou wrote for China Daily in the past few years. It is one man’s adventure into the murky world of mostly mundane changes – progress and frustration that make up the tableau of a country in breakneck growth.
Zhou shies away from the big issues that everyone is familiar with; instead, he focuses on controversies that cannot be explained away with broad black-and-white strokes. His keen insight, sometimes infused with biting humor, adds a multi-dimensional hue to what would otherwise be regular issues of the week.
What makes Zhou stand out is his unique perspective and his acute rationality. He refuses to join in crowd-pleasing choruses, and he does not take any preconceived stands. He appreciates complexity and encourages the reader to do the same.
Vast and sweeping changes are made up of many smaller ones – some expected, others more difficult to digest. By dissecting some of the befuddling happenings of the past few years, Zhou has put a personal mark on cracking the codes – cultural and otherwise – that run the emerging power that is China.
China the Beautiful is Raymond Zhou’s paean to his motherland, written after returning home following a long absence, which provided him with new perspectives and new opportunities to travel to places he had previously only read about. It is anything but a guidebook for roughly half of the country’s provinces, autonomous regions and municipalities.
Zhou takes a multifaceted approach to each place he writes about. His real interest is always in ordinary people – their joys, concerns and anxieties, the breath-taking beauty of the sceneries, and the quandaries between economic growth and ecological preservation.
The book is a kaleidoscopic view of a country on the cusp of change – a country always yearning for something new, yet constantly reminded of its past glory; a country caught between the need for improving living standards for all and the hard decisions of what has to be given up in the process; a country where everything is happening so fast it’s a blur and capturing it with words and images amount to sculpting in time.
Besides portraying everyday lives on the ground and up close, Zhou makes one exception by examining the Great Wall from in an international space station. With the help of an astronaut, he busted, once and for all, he urban myth about the Wall as the only man-made structure visible from outer space.