控制的极限

这是一部反现代化的电影。黑人主人公崇尚东方的太极，不喜欢用手机，用吉他弦作为凶器，永远住在破旧的老房子里，火柴盒是他和同伴联络的媒介。最后，主人公杀死了那个自诩控制了世界的冰冷而森严的大人物，似乎宣告了反抗力量依然存在，以及对现代化的质疑。
音乐，电影，科学，和幻觉分段出现，被描述成一种与这个世界更本质的联系。主人公在漫长的蓄力，以期待最后一击。
这是一个类似于放弃理解真实世界的可能性，并寻求虚无的想象力统治世界的过程。所有的对话是电影的中心，多次出现了被布包住的画，生命是尘土，而世界是不可知的。只有想象力才能自我拯救。
最后，认为能控制世界固然是一种很愚蠢的思路，但认为能够夺回这种控制权同样的简单粗暴，哪怕有虚无主义做武器。
从完全控制到无可控制，现代化只是一个牺牲品，再一次证明了我们的无知。
被虚无主义征服了的现代化，就是后现代。

随着年龄增长，你会发现，控制你的东西变得越来越模糊抽象，即便想起身反抗，却又见不着敌人。讽刺的是，人们偏偏喜欢将这种雾煞煞称为“现实”。

于是，贾木许将“现实”反其道而行之，将思想具象成角色，将反抗具象成情节，一场莫名闷骚的行刺出现了。这可是真闷不是假闷，预告片基本就把本片里的三分之二的台词塞进去了；电影大多数时间，就是在杜可风构图童话的可爱镜头下，跟着整部片不超过十句台词、僵着苦瓜脸的黑哥们主角一道安静过去。或许可以期待些许有趣的悬念，但不要企图通过情节寻找答案。生活本来也没有答案嘛，不过一道又一道例行程序。贾木许不过是在这些例行程序外，创造了另一个阿弥陀佛的理性视觉，剔除掉无形控制者赋予社会人的生活意义，干净利落的用沉默述说思想罢了；而符号化的几个角色和几句台词，更像是这种沉默的延伸。所以，片中悬念，带给人更多的，只是一种对于思想本身的感受。

没有《离魂异客》里的西部风情，没有《鬼狗杀手》中的街头文化，《控制的极限》里，鲜艳空灵的西班牙只是一个被架空的背景，贾木许用更彻底抽象的文学性拼凑了一个思想者心路与现实的矛盾，虽不像柯恩兄弟《巴顿芬克》解构的娴熟，或是大卫柯博南尔《裸体午餐》变异的冲击，但正如本片主角的太极拳般，也许只为求一个平静。

《控制的极限》才是原意的合适翻译

与其说片子整体在虚幻和现实交织 不如说整个片子都是落在虚幻的时间或臆想的空间

是思想的争斗或生活的选择
主角的两杯咖啡表现着 主角对争论结果确定的渴望 但是每当有人想要喝另一杯咖啡 总是被主角的态度制止了 说明他还不能接受这样的观点 他还要继续争斗哪个才是正确的

最终的杀人任务 是一个强迫的结果 是一个现实 不管你的选择有多么艰难 现实生活过程中你必须选择一个方向 否则你只能停步不前

结尾不表明哪个选择占了上风 只是表明无论多艰难的选择 你还是一定要选择 不断的衡量和思想争斗在行动面前显得并不是最重要了 选择了你才能向前走 才知道到底是对是错 和行动相比较 思想争论和结果的对错都显得微不足道了 主角最后脱下正装 换上便装 也是这种情绪解脱一种表现

片子的主题表现大概是生命中的一种常态现象 控制的极限就是要突破这种仅是停留在思想争论控制阶段 只有行动才是能让生命继续前进的真实动力 生命的意义在于实践的过程

这点主题导演倒是做到了 不过表现的手法上显得有些生硬和单调 荒诞的情节和对话只是想表现思想斗争的复杂 这点让我觉得满遗憾的

 

 « TRIBECA '09 PODCAST: Damien Chazelle | Main | TRIBECA '09 REVIEWS: Here and There, Seven Minutes in Heaven »
May 1, 2009


http://daily.greencine.com/archives/007443.html#more

FILM OF THE WEEK (AND INTERVIEW): The Limits of Control
Jim Jarmusch, THE LIMITS OF CONTROL Who knew that a Jim Jarmusch film could be the most divisive of the year thus far? I'm not ready to address The Limits of Control and all the knee-jerk, unconstructive naysayings I've read that don't actually engage with what the film is or how it does (or doesn't) work, at least until I see it a second time, since I was too mesmerized by the experience to take many notes. In lieu of that, I present to you the extended version of an interview I did with Jarmusch for IFC.com, the first part of which can be found here.

GREENCINE DAILY: Wong Kar-Wai once told me that when working with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, they share a largely unspoken, instinctual shorthand with one another. Was your relationship with Doyle similar?

JIM JARMUSCH: We were more the opposite, man. We talked and talked and talked incessantly. When I was preparing, he would come to New York for a week and a half at a time, maybe three times. We spent every day together for eight hours, just talking about the film, not about the film, about things we saw on the street, about photographs Chris had taken, looking at unrelated things, and listening to music. I've known Chris quite a long time, 12 or 15 years. I love just talking to him about anything. He's very quick, so sometimes he'll say things to me, philosophical things we're discussing that I don't understand what his point is, and then a few days later when I'm not with him, I'll be thinking it over and be like, "Oh! I see what he meant." I don't know if I'm just slow, or if his ideas are hard to enter sometimes.

Isaach De Bankolé, THE LIMITS OF CONTROL Speaking of music, I'm a big Boris fan, who is all over the soundtrack. I read that you had already planned to fill the film with this conceptual Japanese noise-rock while still sketching it out. What's your process of matching image to music?

When I'm writing or trying to think up an idea for a film, I hone in on music that seems to open up my imagination for that particular world in my head. That happens very early over and over, like Neil Young for Dead Man, or [for Ghost Dog,] RZA's beats and instrumental tracks on the B-sides of vinyl Wu-Tang stuff I was collecting. Or Mulatu Astatge in Broken Flowers was inspiring me, and I was like, "How the hell do I get Ethiopian music in a film about a guy in the suburbs?" So then it led me to have Jeffrey Wright's character be of Ethiopian origin. In this case, it was Boris and Sunn 0))), and that electric feedback-y soundscape stuff they make that I love so much. Those things came very early, while I was even just writing the 25-page treatment—well, it was more like a prose short story that we started from. So they were sort of in a little boat I was in, going down the river. I had them inspiring me. Then I got Earth in the movie and a lot of great stuff. I love the Black Angels, but I only used a little instrumental piece at the end of their song, "You on the Run." Anyway, those things were there very early, but the music always leads me. That's always happened.

Tilda Swinton, on the set of THE LIMITS OF CONTROLI stay abreast of new music by geeking out on music blogs, but how do you find all this cool music? Do you still go to a lot of record stores, or do friends keep you tuned in to new artists?

I'm not a Web guy because I don't have a computer, although I often ask people to look stuff up for me. I don't know, it's sort of a general antenna because I love music. You know, there are music stores that in the past I depended on a lot, like Final Vinyl, that used to be great to order things anywhere in the world that were in print, or what's his name, that little shop on Bowery just south of 8th street. Damn, I love that guy. He's always been really cool. There's Other Music, and in New Paltz, there's Rhino Records that is really run unlike any kind of Rhino chain—the guy there, Rick, is amazing. Those record stores are important, but they've been less so for me recently, maybe because I haven't stopped in very much. I always read the British music press, and I try to listen to what underground radio exists, or college-type radio. I'm just always scanning, and I've always been that way, like, music, music, music. I love to get playlists off of [Jersey City's] WFMU or WVKR in Poughkeepsie—Vassar has a good radio station. WFUV has a good morning show in New York, and there's some underground hip-hop shows on WKCR, the Columbia station. There's the beautiful Sunday morning country shows that I listen to, classic country.

I love radio, and I love finding things randomly. Like, I don't have TiVO for TV because I keep thinking, "Well, then I'll just program everything and I won't scan," and scanning is when you find things you weren't expecting. Not that TV isn't, for the most part, a big wasteland of garbage. But you do learn things if you scan around, more than if you have a programmed idea of what you're going to watch. I don't watch that much TV. I watch Turner Classic Movies, science shows and Antiques Roadshow, you know this one? I love Antiques Roadshow. I have this thing I always imagine. Okay, they think suddenly, they have some vase and it's worth $8,000, you know? I always equate it to: what kind of a used car could they buy with it? [Jarmusch makes a sad horn noise] "You can buy a 1986 Honda Civic!" I don't know why I do that... I'm going off in stupid places.

Bill Murray, surrogate Dick Cheney No, I appreciate it. Now, I know why Bill Murray is so great in your films, but what's so great about working with him? In the press notes for this film, you mentioned that you two liked to "talk around the character."

Yeah, we like to talk about it in the past. What's really fascinating about Bill is that, since I've known him, his procedure is always evolving. When I first worked with him in Coffee and Cigarettes, he wanted to pretty much improvise everything, and he didn't want to talk about it or rehearse it. Then with Broken Flowers, no rehearsing, no specifics, but we would take long, long walks for hours at a time, and talk about things that eventually affected our idea of that character. I thought he would improvise a lot, and he said, "I want to stick close to the script." Then in this film, he said, "I want to rehearse, and I want to do the dialogue as written. I don't want to add anything." So that was even a different step. He's just an interesting work in progress. I'm always a little surprised, like, "How does he want to approach it this time?"

That's fun, and I learn a lot from Bill about a lot of things, especially human nature. His capacity to observe and feel what people are feeling, even strangers, is uncanny. I've seen him numerous times run out of his way to help somebody try to get something out of the trunk of their car, or help with their luggage at the airport, or in a restaurant, talk to someone he doesn't even know that looks sort of down. He'll go over and respond to that: "Hey, the world hasn't ended yet, what's going on?" Amazing. He's really observant with compassion, so I love to just hang out with Bill and see how he's going to react to what we encounter in the world. I learn more from that, maybe, than anything specifically about acting, preparing or filmmaking, because it's all intertwined in the end. I really liked having him play somebody with not an ounce of humor this time, which might be frustrating for people's expectations. I don't know, that's not my problem. I choose the actors I want for the best collaboration to create something, and I really liked him being nasty and condescending. Every fucking school principal or authority figure I've ever had in my life has always, at some point, said, "You just don't understand how the world really works." Hearing Bill's character say those lines for me, I don't know. I certainly heard that a lot in my life.

The Limits of Control opens today in New York and Los Angeles, then expands to more cities beginning May 8. For more information, visit the official website.

吉姆.贾木许的电影不适合喜欢酒吧嘈杂气氛的人观看，那会挑战你的忍耐极限，他的电影太安静，安静得大多数人会觉得沉闷。看多了所谓大片的观众们，对于电影的定义似乎仅限于“刺激度”，场面是否宏大，情节是否紧张，明星是否耀眼等等。我们在生活中习惯了快，也把这种经验带到了观影的体验当中。其实，就像书一样，有小说，有散文，有诗歌，电影也可也有区别于类型片的分类。贾木许的电影，更像散文。
 
华人电影里也有那么一位：王家卫。所以，当贾木许拍《控制的极限》时，他也选择了杜可风。在一部故事和情节都不重要的电影里，画面或者是影像起到了给整部电影确定基调和节奏主要作用。杜可风证明了，他既可以把王家卫的香港或者上海拍得摇曳迷离也可以把西班牙拍得如梦似幻。区别在于，本片的镜头和主人公一样以静止为主，再无以前令人眩晕的感觉。
 
讨论这样一部电影要表达的东西是费力不讨好的事，我觉得最主要的是影片营造了一种气氛，非常疏离，非常安静非常缓慢。你也可以说，这是贾版的《重庆森林》。
 
两部片子都是犯罪题材，但是有都没有把重点放在案件本身上，都是通过对于杀手这个特殊职业的身份上让观众从熟悉的生活中抽离出来，强调了我们与他人的距离，以及人与人相互了解的困难，另外也给整个旅程找了个借口。不同的是王家卫的线索更多。
 
片中人物，我们看一下蒂尔达.斯文顿的造型就会联想起林青霞的金色假发还有那段著名的：不知道什么时候开始，我变成一个很小心的人，每次我穿雨衣的时候，我都会戴太阳眼镜，你永远都不会知道什么时候会下雨，什么时候出太阳。那个杀手对于两杯Espresso的执着可以对应金城武对五月一号的凤梨罐头的执着。贾木许的裸体女和王菲演得痴情女也可相互对照。区别是：贾木许的人物更安静，杀手完全没有独白，让你无法确定他脑子里想的是什么。但是，如果我们仔细看和他接头的几个人在他面前的自言自语，其实和他的独自一人参观博物馆，听音乐，看弗拉明戈都有联系。也许，这是贾木许式的独白，只不过每一次都从别人口中说出。也许，这一切都是一场梦。正如影片的结尾，他脱下标签似的笔挺的西装，换上最随意的运动服，点明过去一段时间的生活都是非常不真实的。我们看到的一切，也许只是一个很人在一个阳光明媚的下午，发呆神游的幻想。
 
正如杜可风抓住了香港的精髓一样，他镜头里的西班牙可能在很长时间都会成为我们对那个国家的印象。在火车上我们看到了广袤的乡村，绵延的群山，不断变换的林木，或昼或夜；在咖啡馆，我们看到窄小的街道，空旷的广场，惊飞的鸟群；在杀手住过的三个地方，有城市的警笛嘈杂，小镇的稀疏人语，乡间的一派静谧。这倒是比王家卫眼中逼仄的中环和尖沙咀更丰富。
 
把两部片子放在一起看，有当年看朱自清和俞平伯各自写的《桨声灯影里的秦淮河》之感，明明是一种景象，不同的人能生出完全不一样的心情，这就是风格吧。
 
对很多看不下去的人来讲，拿出压箱底的《重庆森林》温习一下，或许会让这部闷片有点意思。
 
Blonde: Are you interested in films, by any chance? I like really old films. You can really see what the world looked like, thirty, fifty, a hundred years ago. You know the clothes, the telephones, the trains, the way people smoked cigarettes, the little details of life. The best films are like dreams you're never sure you've really had. I have this image in my head of a room full of sand. And a bird flies towards me, and dips its wing into the sand. And I honestly have no idea whether this image came from a dream, or a film. Sometimes I like it in films when people just sit there, not saying anything.
________________________________________
Guitar: La vida non vale nada.
________________________________________
Molecules: Are you interested in science by any chance? I'm interested in molecules. The Sufis say each one of us is a planet spinning in ecstasy. But I say each one of us is a set of shifting molecules. Spinning in ecstasy. In the near future, worn out things will be made new again by reconfiguring their molecules. A pair of shoes. A tire. Molecular detection will also allow the determination of an object's physical history. This match box for example. Its collection of molecules could indicate everywhere it's ever been. They could do it with your clothes. Or even with your skin, for that matter. Wait three days until you see the bread. The guitar will find you. Among us, there are those who are not among us.
Lone Man: I'm among no one.
________________________________________
American: How the fuck did you get in here?
Lone Man: I used my imagination.
________________________________________
American: Is this your twisted idea of revenge for something?
Lone Man: No. Revenge is useless.
________________________________________
Mexican: Sometimes for me, the reflection is far more present than the thing being reflected.
________________________________________
Molecules: The Sufi say each one of us is a planet spinning in ecstasy. But I say each one of us is a set of shifting molecules, spinning in ecstasy.

“当我来到无法渡过的河流，
我感到再也没人能指导我如何前进了——兰波”
看贾木许的《控制的极限》。一部西班牙风光片+伪犯罪+伪悬疑+伪情色片，你把它当作任何一种类型片来看都会觉得索然无味。
我不想谈让人头大的隐喻有多深刻，使命与剧情一样毫无意义，只有那些闲扯才是生命的本质，那些音乐、电影、科学、波西米亚、致幻剂……