The Shape of Things A film review by Christopher Null - Copyright ? 2003 Filmcritic.com Neil LaBute, you're a cruel, cruel man.
After the somewhat senseless Your Friends and Neighbors and the bafflingly bad period piece Possession, LaBute has at last returned to his roots with the kind of story that made In the Company of Men such a kick in the nuts.
Not that it seems that way from the start. At first it looks like LaBute is taking us down the usual boy-meets-girl road, when a pudgy Adam (Paul Rudd) encounters Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) in a museum. LaBute quickly starts with the nuance: She's preparing to deface a statue in a museum because she believes it's "false art." More to the point: She's getting ready to spray-paint a dick on the thing because of her concern over old world censorship, which forced the artist to fashion a fig leaf to cover the phallus.
Soon they're a happy, if unlikely, couple: Evelyn's an arty über-feminist, Adam's an awkward and unsure English major. We're introduced to another mismatched pair, old friends of Adam: Perky blonde Jenny (Gretchen Mol) and über-asshole Philip (Frederick Weller), who are soon to be married in what Philip wants to be an underwater ceremony. It soon becomes clear that Adam and Jenny have lingering feelings for one another, though Adam continues to profess his undying love for Evelyn.
Before you stop reading and dismiss this film entirely, rest assured this isn't some bad Sandra Bullock movie. Something wicked is afoot in the relationship between Adam and Eve that goes beyond that fig leaf (yes, the Genesis metaphor is wholly apropos here). Evelyn is gently encouraging changes in Adam -- some good (lose a little weight, cut your hair), some less so (get a nose job). By the time we get to the gut-punch of a finale, Adam will be a changed man. Trying not to give away too much, I'll say that The Shape of Things is vicious but also very humorous. It's a bitingly dark and a lot of fun, even if you aren't looking for depth this weekend.
But depth it has, without being pretentious. By its finale, Shape presents a real moral predicament. Adam is being manipulated, but if it's (mostly) for the better, is that so wrong? This happens all the time in relationships, and no one ever minds. Evelyn's motivations should be beside the point, right? On the surface, the film's answer is obvious, but this is the kind of movie that makes you wrestle with the puzzle as you reveal another layer of psychoses underneath.
LaBute stages Shape much like the play it is based on (written by LaBute as well), often with only two of the principal actors in a given scene. The dialogue is very "play-like" as well, slightly unreal and meticulously deadpan. And so LaBute invites us to ask whether The Shape of Things is performance art -- something beyond a mere movie -- and that answer is an unqualified yes.
My only real beef with Shape is Weisz, who I adore as an actress but who tragically sheds her British accent for a nasal and badly forced American squeak. I'm not that impressed to believe that the off-key voice is meant to be part of the show. Imagine how much more menacing she would have sounded with her wicked, true accent.
Weisz has too much screen time to put it completely aside, but in the end it's not hard to let it go. The Shape of Things is a film about insecurity, appearances, and the perils of modern relationships. It's vicious and disturbing without resorting to shock tactics like Requiem for a Dream. It's clever and mean satire, but it's also one of those stories where you say, "Hey, that could happen."
除了对话就是对话，
场景屈指可数
让我想起了徐静蕾的《梦想照进现实》
而且完全不知道导演要表现什么
长镜头 啊 长镜头
真的完全不知所云
服了……
最后一点只好快进看了，因为真的是看不下去了
应该只有自己深爱的人，才会义无反顾的为他做改变吧。芸芸众生这么多人，自己固有的习惯那么根深蒂固，又何谈改变这件事呢？先开始接受，再慢慢到改变。接受女友的公众拥吻，这是新奇，这是不同。再到接受他们的亲密行为摄录下来，曝光在世人之前，又接受了女友吸烟和大麻，再到最后接受了“女友”很无理的请求，再也不跟自己曾经的好朋友讲话。从发型开始，过度到着装，再到自己的鼻子，自己身体的一部分—纹身。生活中的大多数时候，我们都有可能为这样或者那样的事情去妥协，去为他人改变，改变那些自己固有的生活方式和生活习惯。其实没有一个人能断定这种改变是好是坏。但是，这种改变会让你自己变成什么，这其实很难估量。对于男主来说，最坏的打算不过是重回婚姻市场，增加了撩妹和上床技能，倒也没什么损失。对于女主来说，最坏不过再变态一点，下次的艺术实验再fuck off一点令人惊艳。不过，两人最后相互遇见的时候，身上难免留存着在一起的回忆，就像是被别人深深伤害留下的伤疤，就如同雕塑，怎么可能不用刀呢？
反观艺术与生活，而生活何不是一种艺术品。需要自己在脑中去建构，去雕琢，去刻画。而女主利用感情和人性这个窗口去改造一个“它”，谎言解开那一刹那宛若一个骗局，不管是用什么骗术，等到解开帷幕那一刻却觉得太血腥而难以接受。毕竟，人心也是血肉做的。
对于最后那一幕的fuck off深有同感，你改变不了别人，让别人接纳不了你，那你就先改变自己呗，总有人喜欢你，总会遇到对你俯首称臣的人。
最后，趴在床沿的屁腚儿实在是最戳萌点的一幕了。其他的剧情冗余拖沓，真的是要砸烂番茄了。
The Shape of Things
A film review by Christopher Null - Copyright ? 2003 Filmcritic.com
Neil LaBute, you're a cruel, cruel man.
After the somewhat senseless Your Friends and Neighbors and the bafflingly bad period piece Possession, LaBute has at last returned to his roots with the kind of story that made In the Company of Men such a kick in the nuts.
Not that it seems that way from the start. At first it looks like LaBute is taking us down the usual boy-meets-girl road, when a pudgy Adam (Paul Rudd) encounters Evelyn (Rachel Weisz) in a museum. LaBute quickly starts with the nuance: She's preparing to deface a statue in a museum because she believes it's "false art." More to the point: She's getting ready to spray-paint a dick on the thing because of her concern over old world censorship, which forced the artist to fashion a fig leaf to cover the phallus.
Soon they're a happy, if unlikely, couple: Evelyn's an arty über-feminist, Adam's an awkward and unsure English major. We're introduced to another mismatched pair, old friends of Adam: Perky blonde Jenny (Gretchen Mol) and über-asshole Philip (Frederick Weller), who are soon to be married in what Philip wants to be an underwater ceremony. It soon becomes clear that Adam and Jenny have lingering feelings for one another, though Adam continues to profess his undying love for Evelyn.
Before you stop reading and dismiss this film entirely, rest assured this isn't some bad Sandra Bullock movie. Something wicked is afoot in the relationship between Adam and Eve that goes beyond that fig leaf (yes, the Genesis metaphor is wholly apropos here). Evelyn is gently encouraging changes in Adam -- some good (lose a little weight, cut your hair), some less so (get a nose job). By the time we get to the gut-punch of a finale, Adam will be a changed man. Trying not to give away too much, I'll say that The Shape of Things is vicious but also very humorous. It's a bitingly dark and a lot of fun, even if you aren't looking for depth this weekend.
But depth it has, without being pretentious. By its finale, Shape presents a real moral predicament. Adam is being manipulated, but if it's (mostly) for the better, is that so wrong? This happens all the time in relationships, and no one ever minds. Evelyn's motivations should be beside the point, right? On the surface, the film's answer is obvious, but this is the kind of movie that makes you wrestle with the puzzle as you reveal another layer of psychoses underneath.
LaBute stages Shape much like the play it is based on (written by LaBute as well), often with only two of the principal actors in a given scene. The dialogue is very "play-like" as well, slightly unreal and meticulously deadpan. And so LaBute invites us to ask whether The Shape of Things is performance art -- something beyond a mere movie -- and that answer is an unqualified yes.
My only real beef with Shape is Weisz, who I adore as an actress but who tragically sheds her British accent for a nasal and badly forced American squeak. I'm not that impressed to believe that the off-key voice is meant to be part of the show. Imagine how much more menacing she would have sounded with her wicked, true accent.
Weisz has too much screen time to put it completely aside, but in the end it's not hard to let it go. The Shape of Things is a film about insecurity, appearances, and the perils of modern relationships. It's vicious and disturbing without resorting to shock tactics like Requiem for a Dream. It's clever and mean satire, but it's also one of those stories where you say, "Hey, that could happen."