蒙娜丽莎 Mona Lisa(1986)
简介：
- 《哭泣的游戏》的导演尼尔·乔丹名声大躁之作。鲍勃·霍斯金斯凭本片囊括戛纳、金球、英国学院奖等的男主角奖。
演员：
影评：
Featuring the late Bob Hoskins’ only Oscar-nominated performance, Neil Jordan’s third feature MONA LISA is a heady dissertation of the unrequited love complex.
Hoskin plays George, a forty-odd, uncouth small-time gangster freshly out of the joint after a seven-year stint, assigned by his old boss Denny Mortwell (Caine) to chauffeur a West End dark-skinned call girl Simone (Tyson), with their initial mutual aversion petering out in the progress of time when they realize both are indeed good people, quite naturally, George falls in love with Simone, a hard-hitting, drop-dead gorgeous princess mired in a seedy business, but is her feeling reciprocal?
Before soon George will pull his back into looking for an underage prostitute Cathy (Hardie), Simone’s friend when she was a streetwalker soliciting near the dank and murky vicinity of King’s Cross, which directly pits him against both Denny and Cathy’s ruthless pimp Anderson (Peters), after he rescues Cathy from an odious senile punter, the three of them escapes to Brighton, but blood must be drawn to settle the score once for all in the purlieu of Brighton West Pier.
Burrowing into London’s tenderloin of kinky sex service and underage prostitution ring, which would not be scandalous to today’s audience, MONA LISA’s most valuable asset lies in Hoskins’ lived-in performance, a walking dynamo spectacularly running the gamut from garish swagger to heartfelt compassion. Hoskins’ dumpy figure casts an almost comical contrast with the svelte Tyson when they stand or walk cheek by jowl (an inverted PRETTY WOMAN scenario occasions when Simone drags George into a posh store to buy him some decent clothes, to his bewilderment then contentment), George professes “I’m cheap and God made me this way”, but his slow but thorough transformation makes a persuasive case which is universally vicarious, the salient message is that love can change a person to the better, regardless of his/her background, even it is an unrequited one (the sapphic attraction only circumspectly alluded to), as George’s awakening moral compass proves, he also has a teenage daughter Jeanne (Nathenson), with whom he has many missing father-daughter time to catch up, so we know fairly well what makes him tick.
Newcomer Cathy Tyson is also a revelation, her Simone is a spitfire case-hardened by a cynical and callous world, only recapitulates to the last purity residing in her, she isn’t a damsel-in-distress, but someone who thrives on a sharp sense of self-preservation, even manipulation, what’s more admirably refreshing, she doesn’t put out to show her gratitude, although audience might have various reasons to expect her to do so. A spiffy Michael Caine takes the villain’s place with his usual coolness, confidence and a detestable soupçon of vulgarity.
As in his chef d’oeuvre THE CRYING GAME (1992), Jordan’s humanistic propensity constructs a vigorous backbone in a dark tale, introducing us an unlikely hero, driving in his spick-and-span Jaguar with Nat King Cole’s titular oldie piping up, MONA LISA only can be admired and worshipped from its pedestal, so just let that myth plume.
referential entries: Jordan’s THE CRYING GAME (1992, 8.6/10); John Mackenzie’s THE LONG GOOD FRIDAY (1980, 7.6/10).
第十章 意识形态-同性恋解放：
【缘起】来自20世纪60年代许多革命性团体的启发：女性主义、黑人解放运动。这之后同性恋主题电影逐渐普遍，尤其是美国和欧洲。部分愿意你是因为好莱坞工业界的制作法规被新的分级制度取代而废除，这类同性恋电影都把同性恋视为歇斯底里、性执迷和自我鄙夷的角色，结尾常不外乎是自杀。当然，也有如《热天午后》、《歌厅》、《另一家园》、《血腥的星期天》、《 我美丽的洗衣店》、《上班女郎》、《 迷幻演出》、《一笼傻鸟》、《蒙娜丽莎》、《长久伴侣》和《费城故事》等片。此外，法斯宾德和阿莫多瓦的电影对同性恋角色有多层次塑造。
- 但凡沾点黑色氛围的电影，屏幕里的城市和生活似乎比自个儿过得还要原汁原味。毕竟学生生活就是泡在消毒水里，月供到手遛街放风，无非也是漂亮又平民的场所。路人（因为是路人）亲切可爱，就算没太阳，世界也是白粉粉的，对身心友好，既不会被物欲闪闪的金光迷花眼，也不会被赤裸裸的人欲吓到。
托Neil Jordan的福，小民有幸窥得伦敦几处销金窋：West end Hotel, Brighton的Royal Albion Hotel... 午夜King‘s Cross游荡的妓女，二十多年前的Piccadilly Circus（被称为meat rack）和soho。当然，主角George是论卖相论立升，素质连我都不如的前流氓，看他被以“衣”取人的酒店侍应冷遇，立时产生共是沦落人的痛快感。雇他当司机兼应急陪客的Simon看不下去了，给他钱去买衣服，他一转身花衬衫加橘色皮夹克，一副皮条客的扮相，气得Simon破口大骂，“你干脆套双连裤袜（fishnet tight），在脸上写‘卖淫’得了”。
对白还是英国佬一贯的拿幽默当饭吃。有时候觉得英国男人对女人挺sharp，削尖了嘴说话，不留余地，吃相低级而且毫无所谓（I'm cheap, I can't help it, God make me that way），不过gentleman原来就是上层阶级，有财有身份就有必要摆点样子。片中George也先是对Simon大放厥词，后来动情了为她糟受的苦楚湿了眼眶（不过次数未免多了点），冒死救情敌，总算给英国男人加分了。
有几处场景（电梯遇险，Royal Albion Hotel外廊上假装随便的真心求婚）架构地相当好，镜头调度紧追主角行动，极富动感，虽然败笔也不少。但整体情节还是弱了点，对Simon的妓女生涯及其黑暗内幕挖掘不到位，最后压箱底的原来是S&M和同性恋（八十年代还是想当然的”暴力“的同义词），太简单不像真相更像噱头，给人浮浅的感觉。除了Bob Hoskins超水平发挥的演技外－－最多加上他的推理小说迷死党Thomas，其他演员不值一看，连英国演员的一般水平都不到，这点我挺纳闷。
总之，看的过程很投入很享受。喜欢英国drama film的人不可错过。 - 五六年前看的片子，剧情已经不太记得了。但是那首片头曲却依旧萦绕耳际：
Mona Lisa, Mona Lisa, men have named you
You're so like the lady with the mystic smile
Is it only cause you're lonely they have blamed you?
For that Mona Lisa strangeness in your smile?
Do you smile to tempt a lover, Mona Lisa?
Or is this your way to hide a broken heart?
Many dreams have been brought to your doorstep
They just lie there and they die there
Are you warm, are you real, Mona Lisa?
Neil Jordan的蒙娜丽莎到底是Simon还是夜色迷离的伦敦呢？无论她们中哪一个，都用神秘美丽、却又带着一丝浮华堕落的微笑诱惑着那些在黑暗的城市夜晚徘徊的迷茫灵魂。光辉圣洁的东西总是如耀眼的阳光，仿佛要揭去我们的一切遮蔽，嘲笑我们的软弱与自卑，让人不敢抬头直视；而赤裸的肉欲又仿佛从我们灵魂中最想要掩埋的黑暗角落爬出的老鼠，让人唾弃与憎恶。
但只有她，仿佛是神圣与欲念交织的结晶，迷离的微笑调和了光与暗、高贵与低贱，永远在伸手可及却碰触不到的距离绽放醉人的芬芳。然而这种魅力却是致命的，正是因为它不在天国或地狱，正是因为它太近、太让人以为能够去企及，于是人就会禁不住伸手，禁不住去为它破例，禁不住去犯那些以前绝不会犯的傻。
但是梦永远只能是梦，碰触它却只能带来幻灭与痛楚。如同鱼仰慕天空，但妄想去飞翔而跃出水面，下一瞬间却只能被现实无情地抛回冰冷的水面。
梦醒之后，世界依旧，但失去的已经一去不返，生活却还在继续。蒙娜丽莎的微笑没有变，但却少了一个为她倾倒的人。