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Showing posts from February, 2021

孤味 (2021) - 今時往日

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  ★★☆☆☆ 換作昨日的我看〈孤味〉,也許會同悲同喜,甚至淚流滿面,但今日…… 孤味--獨孤一味,原指餐廳只提供一種食物、一種味道,寓意專心一致,把一件事情做到最好。但,一心一意、專心致志、忠心耿耿、不摻雜的做人做事態度,又有幾人能夠貫徹始終、一生秉持?人心就好似一隻坐不定的猴子,整天跳來蹦去、心猿意馬!之所以有〈孤味〉裡面發生的一切,都是因為秀英(陳淑芳飾)老公的勾三搭死、不能「孤味」!秀英那麼賢慧,為何她老公還要選擇離開,堅持逃避?純粹因為錢和尊嚴?後來的那些藉口和解釋會不會牽強了點? 〈孤味〉是一部節奏緩慢的劇情片,故事性不強,追求寫實,所以要「戲精」充場。戲中飾演秀英的陳淑芳憑此片金馬獎封后,其演技當然無容置疑,但個人覺得,比較有感染力的還是飾演大女兒阿青的謝盈萱。阿青像她不能「孤味」的阿爸,追求自由沒束縛的人生。她背後的故事和秘密比較多,伴隨的無奈和煩惱也不少,因此她的發揮也比較有空間。不知是否礙於篇幅或故意為之,各人的故事其實都是講點不講點,有些人物明顯只是過場或點綴,例如三女兒阿眉和小女兒佳佳! 〈孤味〉是一部不折不扣的女性電影,女人站中間,男人全靠邊。別誤會,我不是大男人,我對女性電影無既定立場。我只是不太明白,面對喜歡在外面搞三搞四的老公,秀英為何能夠忍完又忍、不離不棄。最後老公「走佬」,她依然選擇不離婚,好像一個寡婦,獨自養大三個女兒。在老公的喪禮上遇到老公的情人,她也好像沒有絲毫怨恨。最後還跟情婦和解,讓小三「坐正」!而女兒們對此的反應更令人匪夷所思。我不是說人不應該學會「放下」,但這種反應和轉變,不是有點超現實,就是我真的不理解那個年代、那個地方的女性的想法了! 〈孤味〉的味道其實並不「孤」,反而有點「雜」、而失焦,加上很多交代得不清不楚的因果關係,讓我很難有代入感!但我們都應該學秀英那樣,無悔自己的堅持之餘,最後還能豁然放下,雖然現實比較難做到!衡量一個人的成敗,不是看他一生有擁有幾多物質上的東西,而是有幾多的「無愧」與「放下」。放下,除了是放過別人,更是放過自己。因為恨--如佛陀所說--好比自己喝下毒藥,卻希望他人死! 今日的我,經歷過種種傷痛,會時刻提醒自己--不要對任何事物滿懷憧憬,也不應對任何人過份期待,因為那樣會給他人造成壓力和傷害,也會給自己帶來失望和痛苦。或許因為如此,〈孤味〉對我來說,並不催淚,又或者它

Palmer (2021) - What Gets Me Instead!

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  ★★★☆☆ 'Palmer' is easily a must-see if you like emotional stories of troubled souls seeking to straighten things out. There're dramatic elements to either warm or break your heart, depending on what you've been through, and how you associate it with experiences of your own. It's basically not a bleak dark story though Justin Timberlake's short-tempered Palmer does seem to bear a lot of hardship growing up as he considers himself an abandoned kid, like the boy next door named Sam he later has to cope with. Like any other films made to encourage and inspire, the formula for 'Palmer' is apt to be more or less the same, where troubled souls usually with a problematic background, going through phases of understanding, are then saved by some other necessarily or not troubled companions, and finally come to realize some truths that manage to get them peace and help them pull through. Such stories are hard to fail unless the director and the cast are a total