击浪青春

 三个截然不同的主角与他们的家庭，正用幽默与勇气面对生活困境。成功广告公司主管彼得·菲舍（海内克·切尔马克饰）从不相信“不可能”这个词，他以为自己能想出拯救家庭的方案；古怪教练罗伯特·“鲍勃”·克鲁利奇（伊万·特罗扬饰）因'他的世界"濒临崩塌而终结职业生涯；前途无量的运动员拉迪姆·穆西尔（托马斯·哈夫利内克饰）因保护受袭者被利刃刺伤。这个在非凡全球事件背景下展开的励志故事告诉我们：只要带着豁达与幽默，生命中的任何战役都能赢得胜利。

　　白赖仁（李子雄 饰）野心勃勃，一心想控制人类，差仁者领袖虎大介杀死了菊池博士，抢走了万能的“赤盒”，伹他却打不开。得知音乐家高比（黄子华 饰）能打开盒子，他遂派人将其生擒。与此同时，菊池的学生女忍者香也在追杀高比，而令一面，芭蕉先生派爱徒小灵（黄圣依 饰）则暗中保护高比。三路人马狭路相逢，展开龙争虎斗，最终小灵杀出重围。芭蕉夜入白府盗赤盒不成，反被虎大介取走性命，并连累村民惨遭屠杀，于心不忍的高比以自刎相威胁，总算中止了白赖仁的屠夫行径。高比以乐曲为钥匙打开了赤盒，白赖仁惊喜万分，以为掌握了控制人类的秘笈。但小灵、女忍者香能就此罢手吗......

　　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.