"The first and the latest", a double-bill viewing of a filmmaker's very first and newest features, here the subject is Ira Sachs, USA-born queer-cinema vanguard for almost 30 years.
His debut feature THE DELTA is shot in 16mm, in his hometown Memphis. Lincoln Bloom (Gray), a handsome young man from a WASP family, unsatisfied with his girlfriend Monica (Huss), secretively explores homosexuality in the shady haunts, curb-crawling in the cruise area, or loitering in the video arcades. His initial encounter with John (Chan), a gay black Vietnamese immigrant, is followed by an intimate excursion in his family's cabin cruiser. But a privileged, bi-curious Lincoln is too lackadaisical to take John seriously, their incipient transitory bond, symbolized by the evanescent fireworks, fizzles out like a damp squib.
While Lincoln can blithely revert to his normal life as if nothing has ever happened, a dejected John becomes disenchanted to his piteous status quo. He is miserable because he cannot find someone who wants to share a deeper connection than the casual carnal satisfaction with him, which induces another hookup in a gay bar to go terribly awry and the film ends abruptly on a note of shock, leaving behind some unfinished business. Could John's crime passionnel be reckoned as a spur-of-the-moment revenge to Lincoln's heartlessness (the crime scene is the same cabin cruiser, there would be some implication), and/or a radical cri de coeur to protest a marginalized life with no light in sight? But that's all THE DELTA wrote.
THE DELTA is wanting in focus, maundering in a scattershot fashion that becomes a norm in 1990s indie sphere and later the "mumblecore" in the noughties (often in default of a scintillating script and/or munificent funds). For instance, the passages depicting Lincoln's social life with his entitled friends feel wretchedly slack, totally disengaged from the film's theme. It is also not helping by the fact that Gray is a pretty but empty vase, a polite smile of condescension is his only expression regardless of what happens. However, Sachs shows more promise in his attempt to probe John's intersectionality (black, Asian, gay and immigrant constitute a gold mine, which is a rare sight). John's dialogue hews closely to the subculture vernacular and Chan pours out enough raw emotion into John's dysphoria-turned-cynicism-and-resentment, which poignantly projects a sharp political angle to elevate the film slightly above its ilks.
Sexual fluidity again plays a pivotal role in Sachs' latest offering, his eighth feature, PASSAGES, contrasting THE DELTA's grainy, low-light texture with a milky, luscious luster. An eternal triangle unfurls in Paris, a German filmmaker Tomas (Rogowski) oscillating between his husband Martin (Whishaw), a British printer and Agathe (Exarchopoulos), a local primary school teacher.
To Tomas, relationships, like his satin crop top, can be bunged off and put on at will. Getting a short shrift from Martin in his film's wrapping party, he reacts by having the hots for Agathe, who is strangely reactive in handling her affair with Tomas until the final kiss-off. After a steamy night with her, Tomas has the effrontery to flaunt it in front of Martin, he wants to make a scene, which is temporarily quelled by the latter, but a scar is opened and the damage is done.
Like KEEP THE LIGHTS ON (2012), PASSAGES continues to show Sachs's audacity in disclosing the most personal, cruelest facet of a modern relationship, the toxic symbiosis, the petty jealousy, how sex is manipulated to gain advantages over the other and the aftermath where all three parties are covered with pus-oozing wounds.
A relationship is rarely rational for an egotist like Tomas, who has no tact in concealing his feelings. Agathe is a new adventure, a possibility of fatherhood for him, and Martin is the cushy ballast where he can find shelter and warmth whenever he fancies, even a ménage à trois sounds like a perfect fit, for him that is. Only when all of these options are rejected, Tomas must face the music as a lone soul streaks on his bicycle in the City of Light, destination unknown.
In the central role, Rogowski is a marvel to behold, with his cleft lip, throaty mumbling, wiry physique and sinuousness, his Tomas is an unconventional but passionate lover one finds very difficult to resist, also Sachs's camera really loves him, sexing him up in various tantalizing angles, customarily in the buff. The sex scenes are bold and riveting, with Whishaw vehemently shattering one's preconception of the designated roles in a gay couple, which is also very fluid. As the two supporting stanchions, both Whishaw and Exarchopoulos hold on their own staunchly, even the script doesn't purvey them any chance of upstaging (still, one must hand it to Whishaw's snot for the amusement).
To my light, a major issue in Sachs's vivisection of such complicated affaires de cœur is that he has yet found an apt way to evoke strong emotion out of their banality. Too absorbed by the caprices and idiosyncrasies of his characters, he is oblivious that empathy is in short measure. No matter how true-to-life his characters purport to be, few people can be arsed to watch a film about the wages of a horrible human being doing detrimental things to others, not enough hot sex scenes can be hyped to achieve that. Alas, from THE DELTA to PASSAGES, 27 years in between, Sachs's boldness unabated, his preoccupation undeviating, however, his feet of clay is also clear as day.
referential entries: Sachs's KEEP THE LIGHTS ON (2012, 6.8/10); Yen Tan's PIT STOP (2013, 7.5/10); Hong Khaou's LILTING (2014, 7.0/10); Camille Vidal-Naquet's SAUVAGE/WILD (2018, 7.3/10).
温情与激情首鼠两端，合德与背德踟蹰不前…nn第一遍看这个故事的时候，自己的目光和想法集中在"新锐导演"托马斯身上，毫无疑问，他是故事的核心，他与自己的丈夫(最开始的时候自己还以为只是男友，其实如果是男友而已的话，他后续因为的背德感就要少很多)的不温不淡明显出现问题的关系，他遇到一个女孩子，也就是儿童教室阿加特，以后的想法，要知道，并不是阿加特执意要和他在一起，托马斯前后两次与阿加特的相处，是费了他自己一些脑细胞的，所以，他觉得与丈夫马丁关系出现了问题，他觉得自己新的爱情很美好，但是当他发现新的爱情要进入下一阶段，怀孕，见家长，他忽然又退缩了，甚至得出一个"我果然还是更喜欢男人"的结论，用怀孕女友的孩子"引诱"自己的丈夫抛弃其新情人与自己重归于好，甚至还不惜用自己的身体作为赌注，(阿门，本老师这次终于top了)而马丁也被蛊惑了，也许会被很多人诟病，但是对于下一代对于孩子的执念，根植于很多人心中，自己并不觉得这是某一个群体特有的，本片中最为讽刺的一幕出现了，自己的女友在隔壁床上躺着，然后自己硬是与丈夫在隔壁情谊缱绻(不出预料本老师round two再次bottom)，也就是在听着隔壁的呻吟声，阿加特忽然醒悟了，事毕之后爬到她床上来睡觉的托马斯再也没有吸引人的光圈了…她毅然决然的放弃了未出生的孩子，与托马斯分了一个彻底，而马丁也在得知自己的丈夫的行径与拥有孩子的愿望落空之后放弃了托马斯，就这样，这个新锐导演的新片在艺术节将要大放异彩，他自己却没有丈夫，没有女友…n本老师饰演的马丁，个人倒是觉得是一个"典型性"同志模板，有着自己的期待，一个甜腻的婚姻，一个完整的家庭，同时他也有着自己的疯狂的，他对于自己在丈夫离开后找到的情人到底有几分爱呢，他想要与丈夫复合又有多少是因为可能会有小孩呢，他对于情人呼之则来挥之则去，甚至他对于托马斯还有几分爱意呢，这个角色本老师塑造的十分深刻，让人理解却难以同情…n阿加特，估计很多人会觉得这个角色在这段三角(甚至四角)恋情中，是一个看不见的，工具人的角色…不可否认，在这段情感中，她确实是爱的最深爱的最真付出最多的，但是个人却觉得，比之前两个人，她也是成长的最快的人，"年轻时候谁还没有遇到过几个渣男"这句话被很多人说过，当然我们不希望自己的爱情错付，不希望自己的期待落空，但是，事情一旦发生能够及时清醒，能够看清现实，能够知道自己要的在这里得不到，这就已经超越了世界上百分之九十五的人了呢…n总得来说，个人觉得剧本也算是巧夺天工但是也值得推敲，我们有多少人面对情感的时候能够理智到底呢，在激情与温情之间的首鼠两端，在欲望与责任之间的举棋不定，在轻松与爱意之间的得陇望蜀，在合德与背德之间的反复横跳，托马斯只是身体力行的把自己内心的所有欲望放大付诸实践甚至临近结尾依旧不知道自己错在哪里，而马丁也在自己的私欲与期许中故步自封，只有阿加特在一段感情中付出了真心收获了清醒，感情之中没有对错，只有愿意不愿意，愿意的时候买定离手，不愿意的时候及时抽离，托马斯与马丁贡献两场床戏，个人评分8.6分，推荐指数五颗星。
"The first and the latest", a double-bill viewing of a filmmaker's very first and newest features, here the subject is Ira Sachs, USA-born queer-cinema vanguard for almost 30 years.
His debut feature THE DELTA is shot in 16mm, in his hometown Memphis. Lincoln Bloom (Gray), a handsome young man from a WASP family, unsatisfied with his girlfriend Monica (Huss), secretively explores homosexuality in the shady haunts, curb-crawling in the cruise area, or loitering in the video arcades. His initial encounter with John (Chan), a gay black Vietnamese immigrant, is followed by an intimate excursion in his family's cabin cruiser. But a privileged, bi-curious Lincoln is too lackadaisical to take John seriously, their incipient transitory bond, symbolized by the evanescent fireworks, fizzles out like a damp squib.
While Lincoln can blithely revert to his normal life as if nothing has ever happened, a dejected John becomes disenchanted to his piteous status quo. He is miserable because he cannot find someone who wants to share a deeper connection than the casual carnal satisfaction with him, which induces another hookup in a gay bar to go terribly awry and the film ends abruptly on a note of shock, leaving behind some unfinished business. Could John's crime passionnel be reckoned as a spur-of-the-moment revenge to Lincoln's heartlessness (the crime scene is the same cabin cruiser, there would be some implication), and/or a radical cri de coeur to protest a marginalized life with no light in sight? But that's all THE DELTA wrote.
THE DELTA is wanting in focus, maundering in a scattershot fashion that becomes a norm in 1990s indie sphere and later the "mumblecore" in the noughties (often in default of a scintillating script and/or munificent funds). For instance, the passages depicting Lincoln's social life with his entitled friends feel wretchedly slack, totally disengaged from the film's theme. It is also not helping by the fact that Gray is a pretty but empty vase, a polite smile of condescension is his only expression regardless of what happens. However, Sachs shows more promise in his attempt to probe John's intersectionality (black, Asian, gay and immigrant constitute a gold mine, which is a rare sight). John's dialogue hews closely to the subculture vernacular and Chan pours out enough raw emotion into John's dysphoria-turned-cynicism-and-resentment, which poignantly projects a sharp political angle to elevate the film slightly above its ilks.
Sexual fluidity again plays a pivotal role in Sachs' latest offering, his eighth feature, PASSAGES, contrasting THE DELTA's grainy, low-light texture with a milky, luscious luster. An eternal triangle unfurls in Paris, a German filmmaker Tomas (Rogowski) oscillating between his husband Martin (Whishaw), a British printer and Agathe (Exarchopoulos), a local primary school teacher.
To Tomas, relationships, like his satin crop top, can be bunged off and put on at will. Getting a short shrift from Martin in his film's wrapping party, he reacts by having the hots for Agathe, who is strangely reactive in handling her affair with Tomas until the final kiss-off. After a steamy night with her, Tomas has the effrontery to flaunt it in front of Martin, he wants to make a scene, which is temporarily quelled by the latter, but a scar is opened and the damage is done.
Like KEEP THE LIGHTS ON (2012), PASSAGES continues to show Sachs's audacity in disclosing the most personal, cruelest facet of a modern relationship, the toxic symbiosis, the petty jealousy, how sex is manipulated to gain advantages over the other and the aftermath where all three parties are covered with pus-oozing wounds.
A relationship is rarely rational for an egotist like Tomas, who has no tact in concealing his feelings. Agathe is a new adventure, a possibility of fatherhood for him, and Martin is the cushy ballast where he can find shelter and warmth whenever he fancies, even a ménage à trois sounds like a perfect fit, for him that is. Only when all of these options are rejected, Tomas must face the music as a lone soul streaks on his bicycle in the City of Light, destination unknown.
In the central role, Rogowski is a marvel to behold, with his cleft lip, throaty mumbling, wiry physique and sinuousness, his Tomas is an unconventional but passionate lover one finds very difficult to resist, also Sachs's camera really loves him, sexing him up in various tantalizing angles, customarily in the buff. The sex scenes are bold and riveting, with Whishaw vehemently shattering one's preconception of the designated roles in a gay couple, which is also very fluid. As the two supporting stanchions, both Whishaw and Exarchopoulos hold on their own staunchly, even the script doesn't purvey them any chance of upstaging (still, one must hand it to Whishaw's snot for the amusement).
To my light, a major issue in Sachs's vivisection of such complicated affaires de cœur is that he has yet found an apt way to evoke strong emotion out of their banality. Too absorbed by the caprices and idiosyncrasies of his characters, he is oblivious that empathy is in short measure. No matter how true-to-life his characters purport to be, few people can be arsed to watch a film about the wages of a horrible human being doing detrimental things to others, not enough hot sex scenes can be hyped to achieve that. Alas, from THE DELTA to PASSAGES, 27 years in between, Sachs's boldness unabated, his preoccupation undeviating, however, his feet of clay is also clear as day.
referential entries: Sachs's KEEP THE LIGHTS ON (2012, 6.8/10); Yen Tan's PIT STOP (2013, 7.5/10); Hong Khaou's LILTING (2014, 7.0/10); Camille Vidal-Naquet's SAUVAGE/WILD (2018, 7.3/10).
本来并不想再抒发对电影的看法但下面有用最多的几条短评都在瞎子打拳就气不打一处来 什么‘欲望投射的对象’，‘偷子宫’ 让我怀疑看的是不是同一部电影 如果黑白分明的一刀切那女主明显是最有自主意识的角色 爱了可以义无反顾 一开始明知导演有老公主动邀舞 不爱了快刀斩乱麻 和前男友分手 和导演分手可以说是头也不回不会拖泥带水 自己身体自己做主不想和导演继续下去果断拿掉孩子不犹豫 这和ben的角色的优柔寡断没法把前男友剔除自己的生活被拿捏形成强烈对比 导演这个角色看起来渣实则是最可怜 对自己的爱情生活茫然无法掌握 像只飞蛾横冲直撞 电影最后导演骑车穿梭在巴黎大街小巷 要穿过多少岔路 才会踏上对的那条路 又或者哪条路都不重要 它们都是passages 就像电影第一幕说的那样
美国独立电影导演艾拉·萨克斯一向以细腻的同志题材著称，《点亮灯光》和《爱恨怪》均给人留下深刻印象。不过，他一旦他转变风格尝试新题材就会令人大跌眼镜，上一部明星荟萃的家族大戏《弗兰琪》败走戛纳就是失败的证明。今年，他终于回归最擅长的同志情感故事，再次于欧洲拍摄完成。近日在美国上映时因电影分级掀起一阵争议，影片被列入NC-17级，而他却坚持以未定级的标准上映，以维持艺术的完整性。
萨克斯这部新电影有一个令人迷惑的片名——《过道》（Passages），显然是戏中戏的名字，不过根据导演的说法，可解释为人生中的某个阶段。这个剧本起点高，似乎深得阿莫多瓦真传，以狗血情节剧去书写欲望与情爱的本质。一名自恋的男导演想要给原本稳定的同性伴侣关系找点佐料增加情趣，于是他选择与一个女教师发生关系，结果却发现不知不觉陷进去……这种主动作死的三角恋故事并不罕见，而其性向流动与开放关系的情节则是最为高明之处，一举打破了同性恋与异性恋的分界，也狠狠揭穿了一个事实真相：在欲望的面前，没有性别与性倾向的差别，同性恋和异性恋一样会出轨，而且对象也未必是同性恋者！
这个可爱可恨的核心人物可谓极端的自恋主义者，从开场第一幕指导演员走下楼梯的戏中戏情节已奠定其性格基调。他与女教师一夜情后的第二天，向同性伴侣炫耀分享此事的对白，更将这种个性渲染放大，尽管是通过略带喜剧的刻画方式。其后，他在两个情人之间摇摆不定、朝秦暮楚的表现让观众捧腹不已。由此，剧本渐渐超越了现实的意义，使其具有人性隐喻的色彩。我们生活中难免遇到过自恋的人，他只顾自己的享受愉悦，却罔顾身边人的感受，甚至亲手将一段段关系毁掉而不自知。
这部作品不妨当作是一部典型的人物个案研究来看。导演花去不少篇幅描写他骑单车在路上横冲直撞的情形，这种标志性的行为实则暗示了他对待欲望的贪婪追求、不顾一切，而这正是人性中极具破坏性的一面。在我看来，自恋狂未必是不成熟的孩子，而很可能是情商方面有严重缺陷。而像他这种性格的人，究竟能否会有自省的一刻，相信看到结尾他着骑车陷入迷惘的镜头会有不同的答案。
三位主演都奉上了一流的演技，尤其是德国演员弗兰茨·罗戈夫斯基，他献出了迄今为止最大胆出色的演绎。多段自然主义风格的裸露性爱戏份在主流电影、特别是好莱坞电影中是罕见的，上映后自然引起争议。然而，导演的重点并非以窥淫的眼光去展示这段不堪入目的三角关系，而是在于挖掘出人性中自私自利的阴暗面，让观众以此为镜，反映（省）我们每个人身上都存在的弱点。
唯一不足在于这个剧本仍侧重于同性恋人的关系，这也许带有导演萨克斯自况的意味。相比之下，剧中女主角摆脱不了男性凝视下的刻板印象，像生孩子、组织家庭、依赖丈夫这种传统观念出现在当代法国女性身上实在有点不可思议。当然，这个故事的重点并不在此。
短评写不下了，
一开始很兴奋，但失望地走出了电影院。同样的故事埃里克·侯麦和伍迪·艾伦已经讲过很多次了，但他们很幽默，故事也很有趣。你可以谈论同样的话题，并将它们与一些现代观点结合起来。然而，只是一个令人作呕的模仿者。男同性恋者发现自己是双性恋的设定更像是电影的一个噱头，而不是为整部电影服务。对现代性情结的可怕展示，对新形式的关系、爱或欲望、生活或生命的探索。空洞而空虚。一场令人兴奋的赛车变成了一场丑陋的车祸。对实验有一个有趣的假设，但糟糕的技能只会得到一些不重要或根本没有帮助的数据。我喜欢最后一幕，但仅此而已。
演员本身都很不错，但大概是剧本原因角色呈现出来的效果就是个个像无头苍蝇一样，不知道干嘛，颇有一种青春疼痛文学少男少女们爱来爱去混乱不堪的感觉
能看到导演想要讲的是什么，但是故事本身配不上话题的野心。看得让人觉得乏力，不过确实也呈现出了现代人对关系探索中的迷茫和尝试，就好像当今许多人都选择了非传统的关系模式如开放关系，poly，但有的时候却总是混乱不堪，电影里也呈现出了像现实生活一般的混乱，但这是远远不够的，也没有触及到这些关系模式的内核。就好像这部电影本该激发起对亲密关系形式的讨论最后却只是沦为了刺激的感官体验。
如果说Thomas这个角色是导演表现对欲望的探索，在比喻的形象上，我只看到一条发情的公狗。而Agatha的父母更像是是传统文化中强调的责任的化身，传统一夫一妻制的捍卫者，他们的责问也显得不痛不痒，