Big Fish (2003)

患了失語症的我，平常講話顛三倒四，更不用指望能在 blog 隨便寫點什麼了，除非看了好看的電影，才有可能擠出一點點想法。我一直希望能把看過的電影簡單做個紀錄，今年決定開始寫電影筆記，不過是很私人、很隨性、不成篇的，《大智若魚》Big Fish (2003) 篇幅比較長，所以收在 blog。

IMDb rating: 8/10

Top 250: #233 



其實多年前我看過書，但是讀到一半就放棄了，因為奇幻風格並不是我喜歡的題材。不過衝著這部電影風評不錯，決定放下自己的偏見試試看。



電影開頭和書一樣，有點讓人摸不著頭緒，人人都愛唬爛王爸爸 Ed Bloom，但偏偏我和他兒子Will一樣，並不是頂欣賞他的奇幻故事，因為故事處處不合邏輯，我腦中總浮現數不清的問號。

直到女巫出現，有似曾相識之感，我在腦中快速掃過一遍，詭侷童話色彩簡直和《剪刀手艾德華》Edward Scissorhands (1990)出如一轍，拿起DVD 封面確認，果真是大導演 Tim Burton 的作品。有了這層心理準備(ㄜ... 看怪片的準備？)，索性拋開理智專心看電影，一開始有點抱著看好戲的心態，看 Tim Burton 怎麼玩創意，畢竟這麼瘋狂的劇本，也只有他拍的出來，不過後來隨著劇情鋪陳，也漸漸看出興味，餘韻無窮。  Time Burton 風格強烈，除了天馬行空的想像空間和他獨特的幽默感，「卡卡的佈景道具」應該也算特色，哈哈！不知道是礙於當時的製作條件或是導演刻意要求的不真實感，我總覺得特效可以再加強。

好，跳回來講劇情，Ed 總是滔滔不絕講述自己年輕時的奇遇，縱然精采萬分，但在Will 眼裡看來卻一點也不真實，記者身份的他實事求是，非但不相信他父親所言，還認為Ed活在自己的幻想世界，甚至以另一種身分外遇、另組家庭等等，父子之間有很深的鴻溝與誤會。



Will Bloom: You know about icebergs, dad?

Senior Ed Bloom: Do I? I saw an iceberg once. They were hauling it down to Texas for drinking water. They didn't count on there being an elephant frozen inside. The wooly kind. A mammoth.

Will Bloom: Dad!

Senior Ed Bloom: What?

Will Bloom: I'm trying to make a metaphor here.

Senior Ed Bloom: Well you shouldn't have started with a question, because most people want to answer questions. You should've started with "the thing about icebergs is." 



Senior Ed Bloom: I've been nothin' but myself since the day I was born, and if you can't see that it's your failin', not mine. 



Senior Ed Bloom: I've told you a thousand facts, Will, that's what I do. I tell stories.

Will Bloom: You tell lies, Dad. 



Senior Ed Bloom: What do you want, Will? Who do you want me to be?

Will Bloom: Just yourself. Good, bad, everything. Just show me who you are for once. 



Will Bloom: Dad, I have no idea who you are because you have never told me a single fact. 



Will Bloom: You're like Santa Claus and the Easter Bunny combined - just as charming, and just as fake. 

Ed 多彩多姿的人生真假難辨，與其爭辯虛實，不如說Ed 篤信自己非池中之物，不甘願平凡也不屈就於現實，如果他誠如Will 所說只活在自我的幻想裡，那他就不會是眾人口耳相傳的傳奇。Ed 的確在僅有的條件下去衝撞最大的可能性，可以說他膽識過人，或者說他很明白自己人生要追求的是什麼，不願意任命運擺佈隨波逐流。當然，Ed 轉述他的經歷時不免加油添醋，我想聽眾其實都了然於心，平凡無趣的故事誰要聽呢？他們憧憬Ed 源源不絕的勇氣與熱情。

Young Ed Bloom: There are some fish that cannot be caught. It's not that they are faster or stronger than other fish, they're just touched by something extra. 



Young Ed Bloom: It occurred to me then, that perhaps the reason for my growth was I was intended for larger things. After all, a giant man can't have an ordinary-sized life. 



Karl: I don't want to eat you. I just get so hungry. I'm just too big.

Young Ed Bloom: Has it ever occurred to you that maybe you're not too big? That maybe this place is just too small? 



Amos Calloway: You were a big fish in a small pond, but this here is the ocean and your drownin'. Take my advice, go back to Puddleville; you'll be happy there. 



Senior Ed Bloom: There's a time when a man needs to fight, and a time when he needs to accept that his destiny is lost... the ship has sailed and only a fool would continue. Truth is... I've always been a fool. 



Young Ed Bloom: There comes a point when any reasonable man will swallow his pride and admit he made a mistake. The truth is... I was never a reasonable man.



Senior Ed Bloom: Most men, they'll tell you a story straight through. It won't be complicated, but it won't be interesting either. 



Josephine: I'd like to take your picture.

Senior Ed Bloom: Oh, you don't need a picture. Just look up "handsome" in the dictionary. 



親子冷戰三年隨著Ed 病危而解凍，Will抽絲剝繭主動找出Ed年輕時的軌跡，才發現父親待人慷慨溫暖，對妻子用情之深，終究認同了父親。替父親送最後一程時，將心比心編了一個完美結局把故事說完，我很受感動。當Will 也做了父親，他把Ed的故事繼續傳承下去。



Will Bloom: That was my father's final joke, I guess. A man tells his stories so many times that he becomes the stories. They live on after him. And in that way he becomes immortal. 



Will Bloom: In telling the story of my father's life, it's impossible to separate fact from fiction, the man from the myth. The best I can do is to tell it the way he told me. It doesn't always make sense and most of it never happened... but that's what kind of story this is.

  

馬戲團和結局是這部電影的兩大高潮，我好喜歡好喜歡馬戲團那段，讓我笑不可抑。Ed 在馬戲團撞見自己夢寐以求的神祕女子，一轉眼卻失去了她的芳蹤。我們常用「時間凝止」來形容一見鍾情的剎那，一回神時間猶如快轉般讓人無法思考，天才導演 Tim Burton 把這句形容詞完全具象化，非常有意思的拍攝手法。



Senior Ed Bloom: They say when you meet the love of your life, time stops, and that's true. What they don't tell you is that when it starts again, it moves extra fast to catch up.



癡情Ed 為了取得認識神秘女子的機會，自願無薪替馬戲團長工作，每個月的回報就是換來「一點一滴」女子的資料：



Amos Calloway: Her favorite flower is daffodils

Young Ed Bloom: Daffodils. 

[smiles]



Amos Calloway: She likes music.

Young Ed Bloom: [smiles] Music. She likes music.

Ed 年輕時曾經誤闖與世隔絕的秘密小鎮，彷彿世外桃源，我把這段奇遇解讀成「命運」的隱喻，苦戀Ed 多年的Jenny 自然就是Ed 命中注定的妻子了。願意受命運支配的人在小鎮中怡然自得，甚至終老一生，但Ed 不是一般人。如果按照老天的劇本，小鎮的居民多以破產結尾，反觀 Ed，憑著自己的力量闖出一番作為。劇中的Ed 老是口渴，因為他說了太多太多話的緣故，還是因為他真的是條魚呢？我認為魚是虛構的，但是Ed 的意志和水中的魚一樣自由。中文片名翻譯的很好，「大智若魚」。