crash英文影评.doc

一：Crash is an ensemble film with several intersecting stories, all of them about people who cant quite seem to understand how things turned out the way they did or how they themselves turned out the way they did. Most of them find out, in the course of the movie, that they are capable of more - or less - than they thought they were. Paul Haggis, the screenwriter for Million Dollar Baby has co-written and directed a devastating movie about people who are very much like us, with one important difference. Its as though the drinking water in Los Angeles has been spiked with some mild de-inhibitor that makes people say what they are thinking. In this film, everyone says the most horrifyingly virulent things to everyone else: family members, people in business, employees, and strangers, reflecting a range of prejudice on the basis of class, gender, and, above all, race. These comments are sometimes made angrily, sometimes carelessly or thoughtlessly, but often, and more unsettlingly, matter-of-factly. As vicious as the insults are, the part that hurts the most is that people dont care enough, dont pay attention closely enough, to know the people they are insulting. When did Persians become Arab? asks an Iranian, who cannot understand how people can hate him without taking the time to know who he is. A Hispanic woman explains to a man she is sleeping with that she is not Mexican. Her parents are from El Salvador and Puerto Rico. He tells her that it doesnt matter because they all leave cars on their lawns anyway. The movie is intricately constructed, going back and forth between the characters and back and forth in time. We get a glimpses of moments that create a mosaic in which we see the pattern before the characters do. The movie has big shocks but it also has small glimpses and moments of great subtlety. A black woman looks at her white boss while he talks to his wife on a cell phone and we can tell there is more to their relationship than we have seen. The daughter of immigrants we have only seen in one context shows up in another and we see that her professional life is very different from what we might have imagined, reminding us that racism may be inextricably intertwined with America, but so is opportunity.Like Altmans classic Short Cuts, and Andersons Magnolia, Crash, by writer/director Paul Haggis weaves a tale of multiple characters through the web of streets we have come to know as Los Angeles. Unlike those other two films this one has a very specific theme to explore. From the opening line uttered by Don Cheadle we know this is to be a film about how people relate, and from the interchange that follows between Jennifer Esposito and Alexis Rhee (pretty sure she plays the Korean female driver who rear-ended her) how people relate tends to be ruled by first impressions or prejudice.Race is paramount in this film, and all our preconceptions of who people are get twisted and turned through the intricate plot. With each new additional character we find another assumption, another stereotype, and then watch as that preconception is obliterated as the character develops. It is a credit to the deftly written script, tight direction and exceptional acting talent that every one of these many characters is fully realized on screen without ever feeling one-dimensional.I would love to discuss some of the details of what happens to explain how well it is done, but part of the magic of this film is allowing yourself to be taken on this ride. Mind you, this isnt a ride of pleasure. The first half of this film is unrelentingly in its ferociousness. I could literally feel my rage at some of the characters forming to a fever pitch. The fear and hatred I was confronting wasnt just on the screen, but in the pit of my stomach. And in one absolutely brilliant moment I was literally sobbing at the expectation of horror unfolding, only to be cathartically released in a most unexpected way.Mr. Haggis was in attendance at the screening I saw and explained that the idea for this film came to him one night sometime after 9/11 at about 2a.m. when his own memories of a car- jacking experience from 10 years before wouldnt leave him alone. Clearly this film was his way of relieving those demons of memory, using the catharsis of his art to unleash them and in doing so has given to all viewers of cinema an opportunity to examine our own preconceptions about race relations and how we treat each other and think of ourselves. He mentioned in the discussion after-wards that he likes to make films that force people to confront difficult issues. Films that ask people to think after the film has ended and not just leave saying: that was a nice film.This isnt a nice film, and I would expect that it will provoke many a discussion in the ensuing weeks when it opens nation-wide. Its a discussion long overdue for this country, and it took a Canadian to bring the issue to the fore in this brilliant, thought provoking film.三：Ensemble features can be daunting, yet some filmmakers embrace the challenge, and their results reward an audience. A lot of characters are woven into the tapestry of Crash, the feature directing debut of TV veteran Paul Haggis. (Haggis was also Oscar nominated for writing the screenplay of Million Dollar Baby.) The story unfolds in Los Angeles, where hostility is often a barrier to intimacy, and hatred and fear cloud judgment. Don Cheadle plays Graham Waters, a police detective investigating what may be a racially-motivated killing. Graham is having an affair with his Latina partner (Jennifer Esposito), whom he variously refers to as a white woman and Mexican, neither of which is accurate. Matt Dillon is LAPD officer Jack Ryan, a 17 year veteran of the force whose actions often cross the line. When he fondles a woman (Thandie Newton) during a routine traffic stop, his partner (Ryan Phillippe) wants to sever their professional relationship. Meanwhile, the D.A., Rick Cameron (Brendan Fraser), and his wife, Jean (Sandra Bullock), become crime victims when their car is stolen by a pair of thieves (Chris Ludicris Bridges and Larenz Tate). The best ensemble films are the ones in which the characters are given an opportunity to breathe (Magnolia, Short Cuts, and Nashville come to mind). With Crash, 105 minutes is barely enough time to let the numerous participants begin to inhale. The movie runs for long enough to allow Haggis to present the story, but were left wanting a little more - a few extra scenes and an added conversation or two (especially between Newtons character and her husband, played by Terrence Dashon Howard). But I suppose its always best to leave an audience hungry, rather than feeling overstuffed. Crashs strength is that it deals intelligently with serious subjects. Racism is a hot-button issue, yet Haggis manages to approach it in a universal, reasonable manner. We dont feel like were being preached to, nor does this seem like a sanctimonious message movie. The films numerous stories are tied together by a web of coincidence. Af first, theres a sense that so much contrivance invites criticism. However, on a second viewing, I was aware of the balance and symmetry in the way the characters tales connect, sometimes only tangentially. Haggis has created a microcosmos, so its only right for plot-lines to criss-cross. The director has assembled a large, accomplished cast that includes Matt Dillon, Don Cheadle, Sandra Bullock, Thandie Newton, and Ryan Phillippe. Amongst other things, this group virtually assures that the film will be seen. All are more than competent in their roles - with Cheadle, Dillon, and Newton being especially memorable - and each does his or her best to enhance the two-dimensionality of the characters as they are presented in the screenplay. The most powerful scene in Crash has Dillon and Newton confronting mistrust on the cusp of mortality. The principle subject matter is racism and its manifestations, and how it is often as much the result of social conditioning and anger as of hatred and intolerance. In addition to the usual white-on-black manifestation of discrimination, we are confronted with black-on-Latino, Latino-on-Asian, white-on-Middle Eastern, and other permutations. Wherever cultural differences exist, there is room for tension. However, by depicting bigoted characters as otherwise caring individuals, Crash asks us to consider the causes of racism as much as to examine its effects. In doing this, Crash sets itself apart, at least to a degree, from other, similar motion pictures. Although an expanded running time would have afforded us the opportunity to get to know the characters better, Crash is long enough to permit the films themes to strike a responsive chord.四：Screenwriter Paul Haggis made such an impression with his treatment of F.X. Toole?s source material for director Clint Eastwood?s ?Million Dollar Baby?, the best film of 2004, that I was eager to see what he was cooking up next. Thankfully, he strikes gold again with his directorial debut Crash, which is not to be confused with the 1996 David Cronenberg movie of the same name. Where that film was about people who were turned on by car crashes, here Haggis takes a turn into the realm of human collision in the decaying world of Los Angeles through many connecting and disconnecting characters. It is a location where Robert Altman (Short Cuts) and Paul Thomas Anderson (Magnolia) once told their own stories about healing and redemption.We first happen upon an accident outside of the city, where a detective (Don Cheadle) and his partner (Jennifer Esposito) arrive on the action. The film then goes back about 48 hours to introduce us to several connecting characters, all of which have different racial backgrounds. We first happen upon a wealthy white couple (Brendan Fraser playing a district attorney and Sandra Bullock playing his wife) whose car is stolen by some merciless car thieves (Chris ?Ludacris? Bridges and Larenz Tate). This leads to Bullock?s character suffering a breakdown and fearing everything around her. We also meet a Persian man who is insistent to purchase a gun to protect his store, ignorant of the fact that a Mexican locksmith (Michael Pena) is telling him to replace his door. (?I replaced the lock, and it works, but your door does not.?) The locksmith, who looks like someone recently sprung from jail and was also suspected by Bullock?s character earlier on when her house locks were changed, is a loving family man who has moved on with his daughter after a violent shooting. Down the road, we also meet a black film director (Terence Howard) whose wife (Thandie Newton) is harassed and fondled by a seemingly dirty cop (Matt Dillon) while his nicer partner (Ryan Philippe) looks on. The director husband is enraged by this violence but refuses to do anything much to the anger of his wife, and Phillipe?s cop finally decides that he wants to get a new partner, or possibly a solo car job. I have only brushed the surface of the characters and their set-up, and it is up to each individual viewer to connect to the story and discover how all of these people bounce off one another and lead back to that opening in the city outskirts. The thrill of watching Crash is not just the telling aspects of racism in our society, and it is there, but also to instinctive fear and how that can drive us to silent anger and insecurity. The film somewhat reminded me of Lawrence Kasdan?s great 1991 film Grand Canyon where several characters were at their wits end by a changing society, and here Mr. Haggis tells a story of select kinds of people who are battling to find themselves in a world that is tearing them apart.Funny, isn?t it, how you can live in a town or large city and yet somehow you can feel disconnected with those around you. With that said, everyone has a story and everyone is connected, and the pleasure of a film like Crash, a wonderful story, beautifully performed and written, is that there is hope in this world, and there can be a future where all is redeemed and all is right. We crash into each other for a reason.五:OK, so the cleansing shower at the end of Crash features snow instead of frogs, but there are still too many similarities between this film and Magnolia for comfort. Like Magnolia, this ensemble drama features multiple intersecting story lines that seek to expose the lack of intimacy and warmth between residents of Los Angeles. Theres even a showy supporting turn by a big-name star (in this case, Sandra Bullock instead of Tom Cruise). On the plus side, Crash is a much shorter film by nearly an hour. But it doesnt have nearly the lingering emotional punch of Magnolia. Although this one