与往事干杯

　　BBC一口气续订《天堂岛疑云》第13、14季，以及两集圣诞节特别篇。

　　一个三十多的男人Jung Woo，为了治疗他严重的嗜酒成瘾症，找到了一个在江原道深山的疗养院。在那里遇到了一个深深吸引他的美丽年轻的修女Maria。但他的酒精成瘾症让他整日地在山林里游荡并陷入了被攻击的幻觉，直到遇见了一位常常拜访疗养院的中年猎人。为了猎人背包里的白酒，他加入了猎人的狩猎之旅。没想到却被暴风雪困在了深山里的小屋中。更遭的是，猎人威胁他对自己开枪，否则他们两人都将无法逃出升天。

　　一个靠开出租车勉强维持生计的小商贩，在和银行顾问的会面中得知，自己为了挽救作坊获得贷款而准备支付给银行顾问的一笔贿金翻倍了，道德监管委员会在审查他对银行家敲诈的投诉时，竟然也要从中分一杯羹。被逼迫至理性边缘的商贩，开枪打死了银行家，紧接着饮枪自尽。这个事件在广播上引起了全国上下关于公民社会的讨论。与此同时，六个出租车司机和他们的乘客正在黑夜中行驶，每个人都希望找到美好生活的方向。
　　整部影片发生在24小时之内，人们坐着出租车，去偷情、去谋杀，抑或去奔赴自己生命的未知……每个故事都是手持拍摄的一镜到底。为了实现这一技术，导演带着剧组人员开车驶遍了保加利亚首都索菲亚的大街小巷。每年保加利亚出品的影片极少，电影产业缺乏国家资金投入，然而这并没有减弱这部小成本电影的艺术成就。导演史蒂芬•柯曼达瑞夫正在用身体力行的方式，为保加利亚电影产业和现实生活寻找着方向。

　　Fraught with over obvious symbolism, Hartley's early feature is nonetheless a joy to watch. Hal here shows us his uncanny ability to cast his characters perfectly came early in his career.
　　Adrienne Shelley is a near perfect foil to herself, equal parts annoying teen burgeoning in her sexuality (though using sex for several years); obsessed with doom and inspired by idealism gone wrong she is deceptively – and simultaneously – complex and simple. Her Audrey inspires so many levels of symbolism it is almost embarrassingly rich (e.g., her modeling career beginning with photos of her foot – culminating her doing nude (but unseen) work; Manhattan move; Europe trip; her stealing, then sleeping with the mechanics wrench, etc.)
　　As Josh, Robert Burke gives an absolutely masterful performance. A reformed prisoner/penitent he returns to his home town to face down past demons, accept his lot and begin a new life. Dressed in black, and repeatedly mistaken for a priest, he corrects everyone ("I'm a mechanic"), yet the symbolism is rich: he abstains from alcohol, he practices celibacy (is, in fact a virgin), and seemingly has taken on vows of poverty, and humility as well. The humility seems hardest to swallow seeming, at times, almost false, a pretense. Yet, as we learn more of Josh we see genuineness in his modesty, that his humility is indeed earnest and believable. What seems ironic is the character is fairly forthright in his simplicity, yet so richly drawn it becomes the viewer who wants to make him out as more than what he actually is. A fascinatingly written character, perfectly played.
　　The scene between Josh and Jane (a wonderful, young Edie Falco . . . "You need a woman not a girl") is hilarious . . . real. But Hartley can't leave it as such and his trick, having the actors repeat the dialogue over-and-over becomes frustratingly "arty" and annoying . . . until again it becomes hilarious. What a terrific sense of bizarre reality this lends the film (like kids in a perpetual "am not"/"are too" argument).
　　Hartley's weaves all of a small neighborhood's idiosyncrasies into a tapestry of seeming stereotypes but which delves far beneath the surface, the catalyst being that everyone believes they know what the "unbelievable truth" of the title is, yet no two people can agree (including our hero) on what exactly that truth is. A wonderful little movie with some big ideas.