HEISTS FOR DUMMIES奪寶奇兵
Two great capers veer from the typical formula. By KEVIN MA
In 2001, Steven Soderbergh was hired to direct Ocean’s Eleven, a star-studded remake of a 1960 Rat Pack film. The director infused it with a retro ’70s vibe (funky jazz score included) and an on-the-fly energy that was unlike anything studios were making at the time. Ocean’s Eleven was at once a nostalgic film geek’s dream and a true audience pleaser.
Four years after announcing his retirement from filmmaking, Soderbergh made a comeback this year with a return to the heist genre. Set in North Carolina, Logan Lucky is a comedy about two unlucky brothers (Channing Tatum and Adam Driver) who scheme to rob the Charlotte Motor Speedway during the biggest Nascar race of the year.
Soderbergh recently admitted that the making of Che (his grandiose, twopart biopic about revolutionary Che Guevara) killed his interest in making prestige films – that is, Oscar-level or high-brow work. With Logan Lucky he’s gone in the opposite direction, creating an unpretentious, fun genre exercise, produced by his own company without the involvement of major studios. The actual heist in Logan Lucky doesn’t try to outdo other films in the genre, including the over-the-top methods in Soderbergh’s own Ocean’s trilogy. In fact, the stripped-down, almost homemade mechanics of the theft are part of the film’s charm. It’s a down-to- earth, hilarious, well- constructed caper that marks a much-welcomed return by one of the best independent directors in American cinema.
Another heist film onboard this month comes from Thai director Nattawut Poonpiriya, who boldly reinvents the formula with Bad Genius. While adults of the genre go after high-value loot, the high-school students in this hit thriller are after something that can’t be bought or obtained with high-tech gadgets: exam grades.
The brains behind the operation is Lynn (Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying), a scholarship student at an elite school who makes money by helping her rich classmates cheat on exams. But she might be in over her head when she takes on the always tricky ‘one last job’: stealing the answers of the standarised test for university admissions.
Brilliantly conceived and slickly directed, Bad Genius is a smart genre bender. The stakes seem low compared with robbing casinos, but Poonpiriya knows how to build suspense in every cheating sequence. Yet the film is more than just the story of kids stealing stuff: it’s also a morality play about unfair systems that widen the disparity between the haves and the have-nots. Living up to at least half of its title, Bad Genius is one of the smartest films you’ll see this year.
導演 Steven Soderbergh 於2001年受聘執盜情導《 海豪，》這部卡士星光熠熠的電影，其實是重拍 1960 年的《銷金窩劫大 案》（卡士有當年「鼠幫」成 員 Frank Sinatra、Dean Martin 與Sammy Davis Jr等）。導演在重拍版中加入1970年代的懷舊氣息和節奏強烈的爵士樂配樂，節奏流暢輕，快 跟當時其他公司的同類製作截然不同。《盜情但海豪 》不 讓沉迷懷舊電影的影迷夢想，成真 同時討得廣大觀眾的歡。心
Soderbergh 在宣佈退休不再拍電影之後四年，今年捲土重來，再次回歸盜寶片類型。以北卡羅萊納州作背景的《盧急根轉彎》是部惹笑喜劇，講述一對頭頭碰著黑的倒霉兄弟（ Channing Tatum 與 Adam Driver 分飾） ，計畫於舉行 Nascar 全年最大型的賽車活動時打， 劫 Charlotte Motor Speedway 賽車場的金庫。
不久之前， Soderbergh 曾經承認，拍攝捷華《 古 拉》（這位革命家的傳記電影，氣魄宏大，共有兩集後）之 ，沒再也 有 興趣拍那些所謂名片，那就是有資格競逐奧斯卡或是格調高雅的影片。今次復出， Soderbergh 帶給觀眾的是一個充滿趣味的類型練習，沒有自高鳴清 的意圖《。 盧急根轉彎》裡的搶劫場面，沒並 有打算令其他同類電影相見，形 絀括 Soderbergh 本人執導那三部浮誇得過分的《盜情海豪 》三部曲。事實上，片中的打劫場面樸實無華，近乎家庭式業餘製作的風格，正是影片迷人的地方。這部影片腳踏實地，結構嚴謹但笑料處處，證明這位優秀的獨立導演寶刀未老。
本月機上放映的另一部盜寶電影是泰國演導 Nattawut Poonpiriya的《出貓特攻，隊》大膽地將盜寶電影的公式改頭換面，注入新意。盜寶片裡的大人想掠是奪的巨款或稀世珍寶，但是這部電影的主角是高中生，想他們 得到的是考試分數，那是無法用錢高技或 科儀器取得的。
Chutimon Chuengcharoensukying 飾演作弊的主腦Lynn，她家境一般，靠獎學金進入名校就讀，靠考試時幫助富裕的同學出貓作（ 弊）來賺外快。她的生意愈做愈大，信心愈來愈，強 最後答做更應 「最後一單生意，」盜取大學入學試的答案。《出貓特攻隊》的劇本構思巧導妙，演手法純熟，以聰明的手法將類型改頭換面。與其他盜寶目標相，比 例如打劫賭場，盜考答似取 試 案 乎水平太低了；可是Poonpiriya 在每一場出貓戲，懂中都 得如何推進懸疑，緊扣觀眾的心弦。可是這部電影並非只是講小孩盜子 竊麼那 簡單，骨子裡它是一個道德故事，述講 不公平的制度讓貧與富之間的差距進一步拉遠。本片的英文片名「Bad Genius」意即劣質天才，然而本片當然並非劣質，而天才之名則當之無愧。