《一步之遙》:脱靶的子彈

In Gone With the Bullets, director Jiang Wen defines film as follows: “Movies are a kind of art to be commonly appreciated by the world.” But ironically, many who saw Gone With the Bullets left theaters unsure of what the director intended to convey.

在《一步之遙》中，導演姜文對電影的定義是“全世界人都看得懂的藝術”。但諷刺的是，《一步之遙》卻讓很多觀眾觀影后一頭霧水，不明白導演到底想表達什麼。

The storyline is straightforward. The movie is based on the true story of Yan Ruisheng, a middle class playboy who plotted the murder of a renowned prostitute in 1920s Shanghai. The narrative revolves around Ma Zouri (Jiang Wen) and his relationship with two women, beauty queen Wanyan Ying (Shu Qi) and Wu Liu (Zhou Yun), a filmmaker and warlord’s daughter.

這部電影故事情節並不複雜，改編自真實事件“閻瑞生案”。歷史上，二十世紀二十年代，洋場惡少閆瑞生在上海密謀殺害了著名妓女（王蓮英）。影片裏，故事則圍繞馬走日（姜文 飾）和與其關係密切的兩個女人——選美皇后完顏英（舒淇 飾）與（上海）大軍閥之女、電影製作人武六（周韻 飾）展開。

The film unfolds in Jiang’s signature style, featuring elements of satire, fantasy and comedy. The first 30 minutes of the film are more like a musical, as we are shown highly decorated sets with garish lighting and scantily clad women dancing sexily.

影片的敍述方式仍是標準的姜氏風格，諷刺、奇幻、喜劇元素一樣也不少。電影的前30分鐘更像是一部音樂劇，在花哨炫目的燈光下、金碧輝煌的舞台上，一羣衣着暴露的舞女跳着性感的舞蹈。

Ma holds a lavish beauty contest in which Wanyan is chosen by the audience as winner for the third time after a stirring speech.

在馬走日舉辦的奢華選美比賽上，完顏英因為一段鼓舞人心的演講第三次被觀眾們選為花國大選的冠軍。

The turning point is Wanyan’s mysterious death. Ma, the only one at the crime scene, becomes the most likely suspect. The second half of the movie is all about Ma’s struggle to prove his innocence and Wu Liu, the heroine, trying to rescue her beloved man.

而完顏英的離奇死亡則成為電影的轉折點。唯一身在犯罪現場的馬走日成為頭號嫌疑人。電影的後半部分自此展開，講述了馬走日如何試圖證明自己的清白，以及傾心於他的女主武六如何想方設法拯救愛人的故事。

The movie defies what you would expect from a talented film auteur. Jiang’s last work, 2010’s Let the Bullets Fly, was highly regarded for keeping audiences on the edge of their seats and thinking about plot details long after the movie ended. Gone With the Bullets, however, fails to do that.

這部電影也許會辜負你對才子姜文的期待。他的上一部作品——《讓子彈飛》——在2010年上映時，情節懸念叢生、口碑甚佳，更是引發了一輪觀眾們解密電影的高潮。但是，《一步之遙》卻有些令人失望。

Like a child, Jiang puts everything he likes into the movie. During the 140-minute runtime we see newsreel footage, musicals, film noir, stage plays, operas, and not to mention elements from better films like The Godfather and Chicago.

在《一步之遙》裏，姜文像個孩子一樣，將各種自己喜愛的元素堆砌其中。140分鐘的電影裏，我們看到了新聞影片式的連續鏡頭、音樂劇、黑色電影、話劇、歌劇，甚至還有經典影片《教父》與《芝加哥》的身影。

In an interview with Mtime, the director said that the movie is a tribute to audiences with curiosity. But what most audiences want, probably, is a good story with emotional drama, not a pile of unnecessary baggag.

在接受時光網採訪時，姜文曾説這部電影是對充滿好奇心的觀眾們的致敬。但是，大多數觀眾所期望的，應該還是一個有感情戲的好故事，而不是不必要的元素的堆砌。