愛的語言

毛骨悚然撞鬼經25周年特別篇

爵士之王

 這部在歌舞片發展早期拍攝的影片，堪稱是當時最為奢華的好萊塢巨制。影片由后來被譽為“爵士之王”的保羅·懷特曼領銜主演，還請到了一眾歌舞名手。片中的內容取自百老匯的經典演出，通過名家和管弦樂隊的出色演繹，為觀眾感受爵士年代風情提供了一次珍貴的機會。影片在當年獲得了奧斯卡最佳藝術指導獎。2013年，它還被美國國會圖書館列入國家電影目錄。

步履不停

 “人生路上步履不停，為何總是慢一拍”。位于偏遠小鎮的橫山一家，生活平靜祥和。父親恭平（原田芳雄 飾）是業已退休的醫生，卻時時牽掛小鎮診所內的事務。長子純平繼承了父親的事業，卻在15年前為救落水兒童而溺水身亡。次子良多（阿部寬 飾）與父親意見相左，執意前往異地當起了繪畫修復師。多年的打拼換來的卻是失業，困頓的良多與帶著孩子的由香里（夏川結衣 飾）結婚，相互扶持，繼續生活。又逢純平的忌日，良多和姐姐千奈美（YOU 飾）帶著家人分別趕回家中。平靜的橫山家再次熱鬧起來……本片榮獲2009年藍絲帶最佳導演獎和最佳女配角獎（樹木希林）、2008年報知電影和2009年電影旬報最佳女配角（樹木希林）、2009年每日電影獎最佳男主角（阿部寬）、2008年馬塔布拉塔國際電影節評審團大獎和最佳影片。

開心鬼撞鬼

　　生前是過氣女歌星的女鬼徐半香（張曼玉），算準某名將要臨盆的孕婦會于某間醫院生產，準備投胎重新做人，不想，該孕婦被搖身變作某所高中教師的開心鬼（黃百鳴）送錯醫院，徐半香錯過投胎時機。　　為泄心頭之恨，徐半香開始想方設法捉弄開心鬼，最甚一次，她附身開心鬼班里女班長（袁潔瑩），令她跑到夜總會稀里糊涂地大鬧了一場，結果在該家夜總會尋歡作樂的一群流氓被抓，開心鬼受到無辜牽連，徐半香又得意又擔憂之時，開心鬼卻用愛來感化她，眼看皆大歡喜，出獄后的流氓不請自來。

愛我愛我

朱恩（June）在哥哥去世后搬到意大利，尋求新的開始。在她的新精英學校里，她被詹姆斯（James）吸引，詹姆斯是個勇敢卻危險的人，卷入了非法綜合格斗（MMA）比賽，但她卻開始和詹姆斯最好的朋友威爾（Will）約會，威爾是個完美的模范學生。然而，表象具有欺騙性，朱恩很快發現學校里的人都并非表面那樣，每個人都隱藏著秘密。隨著緊張局勢加劇，隱藏的真相浮出水面，朱恩需要決定自己的心真正屬于誰。

等待方舟

　　Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.　　Delving deep into the dusty and long abandonded vaults of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bittersweet taste. On one hand the discovery of unexpected gems where no one would think them possible is a rewarding experience. On the other hand though it makes one wonder how many of these remarkable low-budget oddities, personal love affairs of directors never quite famous and now all but forgotten, have almost forever slipped from memory?　　n any case what we have here is a little post-apocalyptic gem from Poland that is really better than it has any right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group of survivors of the nuclear war that ravaged the Earth inhabiting an underworld concrete bunker and biding their time as they wait for the mysterious Ark, an air ship of some kind that will come and save them. The Ark proves to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to give hope to the malnourished and desperate denizens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dome that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter outside is slowly caving in.　　What first striked me about the movie is the design of the bunker and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are gaunt, filthy and terrible-looking penitents, dressed in rags and aimlessly wandering the neon-lit halls of the bunker like automatons. The bunker is a rundown, seedy place, with bright neon lights peering from all sides like the eyes of malignant beasts.　　On one hand it is a slightly 80's depiction of the dystopian future but the movie never stoops down to MAD MAX cheese. Instead it combines biting political satire with the bleak outlook of a world with no future, black comedy with barbs on apathy, religion and power. The survivors, for example, are fed some kind of flour dropping from a tube that hovers in the air - later on we discover the food supervisor uses books and the Bible itself as filler for this meagre meal. There are many such short symbolic touches, perhaps not life-changing or faith-restoring, yet playful, clever and inspired.　　One thing is for sure; O-BI, O-BA is not your run-of-the-mill sci-fi schlock. It overcomes its modest budget with creativity and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and directing perspective. My opinion is that it should have been filmed in black and white instead of colour though. The director uses atmospheric light and shadow to great effect and it would have registered even better in stark black and white. The blue-green neon on the other hand outstays its welcome after a while. Just a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-movie with its heart set in all the right places.　　Imagine a less bleak THE ROAD (Cormac McCarthy) being injected with the satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you're getting there. See it if you can find it.