五部電影和張艾嘉的非凡人生
A Sylvia Chang Primer: 5 Films From an Extraordinary Career
MARTIN TSAI
2018年5月23日
Sylvia Chang, Taiwan’s answer to Barbra Streisand, is lauded equally for her singing, acting and filmmaking. With a career spanning four decades and encompassing more than 100 movies, she has collaborated with masters like King Hu, Edward Yang and Tsui Hark, and starred alongside the likes of Chow Yun-fat and Samuel L. Jackson.
張艾嘉堪稱臺灣的芭芭拉·史翠珊(Barbra Streisand)，作為歌手、演員和導演取得了同樣的讚譽。在40年的職業生涯裡，她參與了100多部電影，曾與胡金銓、楊德昌和徐克等大導演合作，亦曾與周潤發和塞繆爾·傑克遜(Samuel L.Jackson)等影星一同演出。
As the Metrograph in Manhattan begins a retrospective on Friday of her work both in front of and behind the camera, I asked Ms. Chang, 64, whether she was driven by ambition or challenge. “Honestly, I don’t have great ambitions,” she said by WhatsApp, speaking in Mandarin from Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. “I really adore the cinema. I admire creative types. I venerate talented people. If I can be of any help, I want to support them. That’s my sole conviction.”
曼哈頓Metrograph影院於週五對她主演及導演的電影進行回顧展映，值此之際，我問64歲的張艾嘉，她的動力是野心還是挑戰。“老實說，我是一個沒有什麼野心的人，”她在馬來西亞吉隆坡通過WhatsApp接受採訪時用國語說。“我其實就是很喜歡電影。我很喜歡有才華的人。我很尊敬所有有才能的人。如果能幫忙的話，我很希望支持他們。這個就是我唯一的想法。”
She added that she didn’t know what she was capable of. “If I can think up something, I’ll follow through. Even when everyone else deems it impossible, I’d say give it a try,” she said, adding later, “Even in failure, you can still learn something in the process. That’s important to me.”
她還說，她不知道自己能做到什麼程度。“想到什麼我可以去做，我就去做了。甚至有的時候，大家都說不能做的時候，我都還會講說試試看嘛，”她說，“失敗中間也還是可以學到一些東西。這個對我來說是比較重要的。”
For a primer on this extraordinary career, try these five films, including some in the series and some available to stream.
如果還不甚瞭解她非凡的職業生涯，可以從下面五部電影開始嘗試，其中一些屬於展映系列，還有一些可以在流媒體上觀賞。
‘The Dream of the Red Chamber’ (1977)
《金玉良緣紅樓夢》(1977)
Now a lost art, Huangmei opera adaptations steadily filled the Hong Kong studio-system pipeline for two decades. Adapted from Cao Xueqin’s classic 1791 novel, this Huangmei opera features Brigitte Lin (“Chungking Express”) as the male lead opposite Ms. Chang. Gender-bending turns were prevalent in Huangmei, but “people nowadays don’t have the expertise to properly stage Huangmei opera,” Ms. Chang said. The director of “Red Chamber,” Li Han-hsiang, was typical of the era’s filmmakers, she added. “Regardless of the genre, they evinced their affinity, prowess and mastery,” she said. “We don’t get that kind of training nowadays.” (Metrograph)
改編自如今已經衰落的黃梅戲的電影，曾在20年時間裡持續佔據著香港製片廠生產線。這部黃梅戲電影由曹雪芹1791年的經典小說改編而來，男主角由林青霞（《重慶森林》）飾演，女主角由張艾嘉飾演。張艾嘉說，在黃梅戲裡，性別倒錯是很普遍的，但“以現代的人來講，已經沒有什麼人真的懂得或者是能夠處理黃梅調的了，”她補充說，《紅樓夢》的導演李瀚祥是那個時代電影人的典型。“他們對於京劇也好，對於各種不同的戲劇也好，都有某一種的熱愛、認知，跟技巧，”她說。“像我們已經沒有這樣的訓練了。”(Metrograph)
‘That Day, on the Beach’ (1983)
《海灘的一天》(1983)
An early example of the Taiwanese New Wave, this first feature from Mr. Yang (“Yi Yi”) reflected a generational quandary facing the island’s boomers: familial obligations versus personal fulfillment. It is a coming-of-age story told through flashbacks: Ms. Chang’s character recounts her maturation from love-struck student to desperate housewife. “The shadow of Taiwan during that era loomed large over the film in terms of its baby boomer generation and the divide between the islanders and the mainlanders,” she said. Ms. Chang, who had commissioned Mr. Yang to direct two episodes of a TV series she had produced in 1981, initiated “That Day” as a studio executive. “Taiwanese New Wave filmmakers used to hang out and exchange their ideals and aspirations. They were all helping each other out,” she said, adding, “To me, that truly was our golden age.” (Metrograph)
該片是臺灣新浪潮電影的早期例子，是楊德昌（《一一》）的第一部長片，反映了島上嬰兒潮一代面臨的世代困境：家族義務與個人價值的實現。這是一個通過閃回敘述的成長故事：張艾嘉飾演的角色講述了她如何從墮入愛河的學生轉變為絕望的家庭主婦，並在這個過程中走向成熟。“這部電影有臺灣那個年代的影子，不管是講嬰兒潮一代，或者是講到我們本省人和外省人的一個隔閡，”她說。張艾嘉曾委託楊德昌執導她在1981年製作的一部電視劇中的兩集，她以製片廠高管的身份啟動了《海灘的一天》的製作。“幾乎這些所有新導演都常常聚在一起談自己的理想啦、抱負、想拍什麼戲啊，然後大家都很幫助對方，”她說，“對我來說，那個真的是我們的黃金時代。”(Metrograph)
‘My Favorite Season’ (1985)
《最想念的季節》(1985)
Ms. Chang said this is one of her favorite films. “For its time, the subject matter was very fresh and very modern,” she said of this dramedy about a go-getter seeking a temporary marriage so she can fill out the birth certificate of her unborn child, conceived in an affair with a married man. “We think we all have an ideal type, but in real life and in a marriage that’s not so practical. I really like the film’s treatment of this.” The director, Chen Kuen-hou, struggled to cast the male lead, she said, because most actors were too handsome and possessed too much star quality to play the earnest simpleton who was also a bit of a cheapskate. The part ultimately went to Jonathan Lee, the songwriter and producer behind many of Ms. Chang’s hit records. The film seemed like a natural extension of their musical collaborations, anthems among women in the Taiwanese work force. (iTunes)
張艾嘉說這是她最喜歡的電影之一。“在那個年代來講，那是一個非常新，非常現代的主題，”這部充滿戲劇色彩的電影講述一個有上進心的女孩和已婚男子發生了關係，懷上了他的孩子，為了給腹中的孩子填寫出生證明，她想找個人臨時結婚，“我們自以為我們最理想的男人是某一個類型的，可是在真實的生活當中，還有婚姻（當中），那個是不實在的。所以我很喜歡他整個戲的處理。”她說，導演陳坤厚費了很大力氣尋找男主角，因為大多數男演員太帥了，太有明星氣質，演不出片中那個有點摳門的熱心傻瓜。這個角色最後給了李宗盛，他也是張艾嘉許多大熱唱片的詞曲作者和製作人。這部電影似乎是他們音樂合作的自然發展，為臺灣的職場女性獻上一曲頌歌。(iTunes)
‘Xiao Yu’ (1995)
《少女小漁》(1995)
This New York-set, Ang Lee-produced movie directed by Ms. Chang centers on a marriage of convenience between a writer mired in gambling debt (Daniel J. Travanti of “Hill Street Blues”) and a Chinese sweatshop worker in dire need of a green card (Rene Liu, a singer, actress and director in her own right). It’s a quintessential New York story about city dwellers too often overlooked by filmmakers. Ms. Chang was no stranger to the city, having spent three years in Riverdale, in the Bronx, as a teenager. “Films about intercultural and interracial relationships often struck me as bogus. I dreaded that inauthenticity,” Ms. Chang said. “I kept thinking of how two people from disparate cultures could reach common ground. They might have different attitudes and approaches, yet they must share the same humanity. What drew them closer wasn’t something facile, but mutual understanding and respect. That’s what I set out to capture.” (Metrograph, iTunes)
這部影片由李安任製片人，張艾嘉執導，故事發生在紐約，講述了一位深陷賭債的作家（《山街藍調》[Hill Street Blues]的丹尼爾J·特拉萬提[Daniel J. Travanti]飾）和急需綠卡的血汗工廠華人女工（劉若英飾，她本人也是歌手、演員兼導演）之間的交易婚姻。這是一個典型的紐約故事，關注這座城市裡那些經常被電影人忽略的居民。張艾嘉對這座城市並不陌生，十幾歲的時候，她曾在布朗克斯的裡瓦戴爾住過三年。“我常常看很多人拍中國人和外國人生活在一起（的電影）、或者是講兩個不同種族的人在一起的戲的時候，我都覺得有點假。我很怕那種假的感情，”張艾嘉說。“我就一直不停地想說，這兩個不同文化的人碰在一起，可是他們一定有相同的地方。他們就算可能態度、做法是不一樣，可是他們的心、他們對人性的東西，一定是有相同的地方。所以那個東西是讓他們可以接近的、可以感受到對方，然後最後變成那麼親密的人的時候，並不是來自於很表面的東西，而是來自於對對方的某一種認識和尊重。這個是我想抓到的。”(Metrograph，iTunes）
‘Murmur of the Hearts’ (2015)
《念念》(2015)
Fully establishing herself as a visionary, Ms. Chang invoked magical realism in this tale she directed about Taiwanese millennials haunted by childhood trauma at the hands of absentee parents. “To me, filmmaking is soul searching,” she said. “I feel there’s a void among people today, and it’s my wish to fill it.” In her view, in a world “overloaded with information, there are lots of anxieties,” she said. “We don’t know how to mollify ourselves. Some resort to therapy. Some numb themselves with vices such as drugs and alcohol, but those provide only temporary escape. Ultimately, one must face oneself.” (Metrograph)
張艾嘉導演的這部影片關注了父母缺席的童年給臺灣千禧一代造成的創傷，已經證明了自己的超前意識的她，在片中採用了魔幻現實主義手法。“拍每部戲對我來講是一個自我反省，”她說。“我覺得現代人就是少了這一塊東西，所以我一直很想填補。”她認為，在一個“信息非常多，引誘也特別多，所以很不安”的世界裡，“我們有的時候不知道怎麼樣去讓自己安靜下來。那很多人就去看心理醫生，或者很多人吃藥、或者會酗酒，用很多東西來讓自己麻痺，可是那個並不是一個最好的方式，只能帶給你暫時的逃避。那我覺得一個人還是要面對自己。”(Metrograph)
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