桃紅柳綠﹐生張熟李: 劇作家之死 - Synecdoche, New York (2008)

Minister: Everything is more complicated than you think. You only see a tenth of what is true. There are a million little strings attached to every choice you make; you can destroy your life every time you choose. But maybe you won't know for twenty years. And you'll never ever trace it to its source. And you only get one chance to play it out. Just try and figure out your own divorce. And they say there is no fate, but there is: it's what you create. Even though the world goes on for eons and eons, you are here for a fraction of a fraction of a second. Most of your time is spent being dead or not yet born. But while alive, you wait in vain, wasting years, for a phone call or a letter or a look from someone or something to make it all right. And it never comes or it seems to but doesn't really. And so you spend your time in vague regret or vaguer hope for something good to come along. Something to make you feel connected, to make you feel whole, to make you feel loved. And the truth is I'm so angry and the truth is I'm so fucking sad, and the truth is I've been so fucking hurt for so fucking long and for just as long have been pretending I'm OK, just to get along, just for, I don't know why, maybe because no one wants to hear about my misery, because they have their own, and their own is too overwhelming to allow them to listen to or care about mine. Well, fuck everybody. Amen.

劇作家 Caden Cotard 的人生隨著怪病和妻女的離去而逐日崩解﹐同時﹐他執導的《推銷員之死》卻為他贏得 MacArthur Grant﹐隨之而來的豐厚獎金使他決定著手做出死前最後一劇。他買下一廢棄倉庫﹐在其中建立紐約城﹐找來演員演繹各種真實人生 - 包括他自己的。戲內戲外﹐他和女主角及售票員的情事也逐漸發酵 ...... 。

Charlie Kaufman 的作品總在腦子裡鑽進鑽出。從第一部電影《Being John Malkovich》開始﹐《Adaptation》鑽的是他自己的腦﹐《Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind》則藉手術進腦抹去痛苦回憶。《Synecdoche, New York》是他自己撰寫、執導、製作的作品﹐換來的反應不是極好就是極壞。一方說他走火入魔、晦澀難懂﹐一方樂於鑽研其豐富的影像、符號和寓意。最令人感到困惑的是其伸縮的時間概念﹐模糊想像與現實、創作或真相的拍攝法。

如果一般的電影以2D的方法線性前進﹐考夫曼這次就是來了個3D大考驗﹐把主角的人生像魔術方塊一樣一手提起、翻來覆去地詮釋各種可能。自行的邏輯和錯綜的結構讓這部片成了一部從任何一點開始看都可以的電影﹐每個部份皆是主角40年人生中的精華處﹐以“提喻法”演繹他與妻子、情人、女兒、妻子的朋友/女兒的情人、成了妻子的情人、始終錯過的情人、以情人姿態出現的陌生人、夫妻、親情、自我、鏡子對面的想像、人生選擇等種種。片子步入尾聲時更藉由飾演自己的清掃婦更提供一個方便的詮釋法﹕一個已經死去劇作家的靈魂﹐永恆地想像自己已滅的人生。

相較於《Being John Malkovich》的戲瘧、《Adaptation》的自嘲、《Eternal Sunshine of Spotless Mind》的溫柔﹐《Synecdoche, New York》更為嚴肅又詩意 - 不過足足朗讀兩個半小時後﹐難免像生吞吐司一樣生不出唾液。這是媒介性質的問題。作品本身是一首極好極好的長詩﹐每個片斷都足以獨自取出﹐斷章取義。

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我的工作模式是這樣子的 - 在樓下吃完一片吐司和一杯咖啡的早餐以後﹐在樓上房間的大窗前坐下﹐打開電腦﹐就這麼動也不動地直到完成一集。寫作之神秘在於坐下時從不知道幾個小時後會寫出什麼﹐劇情便像神諭般一一爬上﹐像自有自的安排﹐我不過是將它寫上去。有時感覺人生也不過如此﹐所有的走位和情景像每一日交到手上的紙條﹐我們所做的不過是將它演出來。