DISCORD AND HARMONY
Art transcends war and ideologies in this month’s films. By KEVIN MA
Polish director Pawel Pawlikowski has said that his parents are the most interesting dramatic characters he’s ever known. Over the course of 40 years, they fell in love, separated, then reconciled multiple times on both sides of Europe’s Iron Curtain. As if their fates were tied to the Cold War itself, they reunited in Germany late in life and died in 1989, just before the fall of the Berlin Wall.
Inspired by what he calls ‘the mother of all love stories’, Pawlikowski made Cold War. The Oscar-nominated film chronicles the 15-year, on-again, off-again love affair between Wiktor ( Tomasz Kot), a musician, and Zula (Joanna Kulig), a singer. With the Cold War as the backdrop, the two are caught in the turmoil of the era as their music takes them from Poland to Germany, France and Yugoslavia.
Cold War is a lush, devastatingly romantic story about two people passionately in love but pulled apart by politics and ideology. Cinematographer
Lukasz Zal captures the drama in gorgeous, delicately framed black and white images, which are accompanied by traditional Polish folk music (including a lovely jazz cover of Dwa Serduszka), as well as a particularly memorable use of Rock Around the Clock. Kot and Kulig make the perfect ‘opposites attract’ couple, with Wiktor providing a calming force to Zula’s ferociously unstable personality.
Cold War could have been a four-hour epic, but Pawlikowski manages to tell his story in an economical 89 minutes without rushing through a single moment. In an age where two-hour-plus commercial films have become a norm, Cold War is a masterclass in succinct storytelling.
A clash of ideologies also colours the events in Swing Kids, set during the Korean War. In a prisoner-of-war camp in South Korea, five people from different backgrounds are brought together to form a tap dance ensemble. But the group is threatened by tensions among prisoners – divided between those loyal to the North and those who have defected to support the South – and the US soldiers running the camp.
With Swing Kids, director Kang Hyungchul – who turned 1980s nostalgia into box office gold with Sunny – has created a work that’s part Footloose, part Merry Christmas, Mr Lawrence, which is set in a Japanese prisoner- of-war camp during the Second World War. For every exhilarating scene with characters overcome by their love of dance, we also get a brutal reminder of the violence that surrounds them. Amid Kang’s maximalist approach, the two competing tones come together awkwardly, but the film soars when the actors – including Broadway dancer Jared Grimes and pop star Do Kyung-soo – tap their way across the screen, fuelled by an eclectic, anachronistic soundtrack featuring Benny Goodman, David Bowie and The Beatles. Despite its flaws, Swing Kids is a rousing musical fantasy that can go toe-to-toe against its Hollywood counterparts.
波蘭導演 Pawel Pawlikowski 曾說過他，的父母是他認識的人之中最富戲劇性的。在 40年面裡 ，他們相愛又分離，在歐洲鐵的 幕兩端多次上演離離合合的悲喜劇。兩人一生的命運似乎與冷戰不可割分 ，晚年時在德國重聚，就在 1989 年柏林圍牆倒下之前不久，兩人相繼去世。
Pawlikowski 受到他稱之為「所有愛情故事之母」的啟發，拍出了《冷戰戀曲》。這部奧斯卡入圍作品講述音樂家 Wiktor （ Tomasz Kot 飾）與歌手 Zula（Joanna Kulig 飾）持續 15 年不斷分手又復合的愛情故事。電影以冷戰為背，景 兩位主角在動盪時的 代裡，因為音樂事業而走遍波、蘭德國、法國及南斯拉夫。
《冷戰戀曲》講述兩個熱烈相愛的戀人因為政治與理念而分道揚鑣，攝影指導 Lukasz Zal 的黑白攝影構圖精美，加上傳統波蘭民歌（ 括以悅耳爵士翻唱的〈Dwa Serduszka〉）以及巧妙運用搖滾歌曲〈Rock Around the Clock〉，構成一部令人心醉神迷愛的 情電。影 Kot 與 Kulig 分別飾演性情平的和 Wiktor 與性如烈火、喜怒無常的 Zula，將一對性格南轅北轍又互相
吸引的戀人演得絲絲入扣。
《冷戰戀曲》的故事可以拍成四小時長的史詩巨，作但 Pawlikowski 卻在短短的89 分鐘內以不徐不疾、氣定神的閒方式完整呈現整個故事。現在主流商業片大多長達兩小時以上，《冷戰戀曲》以簡潔經濟的方式講故事，堪稱大師級傑作。
以韓戰為背的景 《勁舞 Dancing 癲》同樣講述意識形態的衝突。在南韓一個戰俘收容所裡，五個來自不同背的景 人因緣際會，組成一個踢躂舞團。但是舞團備受營內各個陣營的威脅， 括囚友之中的北韓忠貞分子、投奔南韓的支持者，另外還有管理收容所的美軍。
導演姜炯徹的前作《陽光姊妹淘》懷緬 1980 年代的美好時光，成為票房熱賣之作，新作《勁舞 Dancing 癲》既有像《渾身是勁》的熱舞場面，亦有像以二次大戰某日本戰俘收容所為背的景 《戰場上的快樂聖誕》的情節。片幾中 位主角熱愛跳舞，有不少令人興奮的勁舞場面，但亦同時無情地提醒觀眾，他們身邊的環境充滿暴力。
姜炯徹喜歡將不同元素共冶一爐，跳舞與戰俘收容所似乎格格不入，但是多得演員（ 括百老匯舞蹈員 Jared Grimes 與流行歌手都敬秀)奔放情踢熱 的 躂舞表演，加上將不同時代音樂兼收並蓄的配樂（ 括 Benny Goodman、David Bowie 及披頭四等） ，帶動觀眾的情緒。《勁舞 Dancing癲》雖非完美之作，然而小瑕不掩大 ，這部激動人心的音樂狂想曲，精采程度媲美荷李活同類作品。