相信大多数人都看过《阿甘正传》,这部包揽当年6项奥斯卡奖的影片。以下两篇关于《阿甘正传》的影评,一篇写于1994年,一篇写于2014年。
Roger Ebert
July 6, 1994
I've never met anyone likeForrest Gump(阿甘)in a movie before, and for that matter I've never seen a movie quite like "Forrest Gump." Any attempt to describe him willrisk making(冒险做某事)the movie seem moreconventional(平常)than it is, but let me try. It's a comedy, I guess. Or maybe a drama. Or a dream.
The screenplay by Eric Roth has thecomplexity(复杂)of modern fiction, not the formulas of modern movies. Its hero, played by Tom Hanks, is athoroughly(彻底的)decent man with an IQ of 75, who manages between the 1950s and the 1980s to become involved in everymajorevent(重要的事件)in American history. And he survives them all with only honesty and niceness as his shields.
And yet this is not a heartwarming story about a mentallyretardedman.(这并不是一个关于智障人士的暖心故事。)Thatcubbyhole(本意指小房间,暗指前一句的评价)is much too small and limiting for Forrest Gump. The movie is more of a meditation on our times, as seen through the eyes of a man who lacks cynicism and takes things for exactly what they are. Watch him carefully and you will understand why some peopleare criticized(因为什么而被批评)for being "**too cleverby half(一半)**." Forrest isclever by just exactly enough.(阿甘的聪明刚刚好)
Tom Hanks may be the only actor/who could have played the role.
I can't think of anyone else as Gump, after seeing how Hanks makes him into a person sodignified(有尊严的), sostraight-ahead(简单的,直截了当的). The performance is abreathtakingbalancing act between comedy and sadness, in a story/rich in big laughs and quiet truths.(他的表演成功的平衡了喜剧和悲剧,这个故事充满了欢笑和沉默的真理)
Forrest is born to an Alabama boardinghouse owner/(Sally Field) who tries to correct his posture/by making him wear braces, but who never criticizes his mind. When Forrest is called "stupid," his mother tells him, "Stupid is as stupid does," andForrestturns out(结果是,证明是)to be incapable of doing anything less thanprofound(具有深远意义的). Also, when the braces finally fall from his legs, it turns out he can run like the wind.
That's how he gets a collegefootballscholarship, in a life story that eventually becomesa running gagabout his good luck. Gump the football hero becomes Gump the Medal of Honor winner in Vietnam, and then Gump the Ping-Pong champion, Gump the shrimp boat captain, Gump the millionaire stockholder (he gets shares in a new "fruit company" named Apple Computer), and Gump the man who runs across America and thenretraces(原路返回)his steps.
It could be argued/that with his IQ of 75 Forrest does not quite understand everything that happens to him.Not so. He understands everything he needs to know, and the rest, the moviesuggests(文中指,表达出), is justsurplus(多余的).He even understands everything that's important about love,although(引导让步状语从句)Jenny(主语), the girl he falls in love with in grade school and never falls out of love with, tells him, "Forrest, you don't know what love is." She is a stripper by that time.
The movie isingenious(巧妙的,足智多谋的)in taking Forrest on his tour of recent American history. The director, Robert Zemeckis,is experienced with(对什么很有经验)the magic thatspecial effectscan do (hiscredits(功绩)include the "Back To The Future" movies and "Who Framed Roger Rabbit"), and here he usescomputerized visual legerdemainto place Gump in historic situations with actual people.
Forrest stands next to the schoolhouse door withGeorge Wallace, he teaches Elvis how toswivelhis hips(扭屁股), he visits the White House three times, he's on theDick Cavettshow withJohn Lennon, andin asequence(结果)thatwill have yourubbing your eyeswith its realism(你将会揉你的眼睛去考虑事情的真假), headdresses(对谁讲话)a Vietnam-era peacerally(大型集会)onthe Mall in Washington. Special effects are also used in creating the character of Forrest's Vietnam friendLt. Dan (Gary Sinise), aRon Kovictype/who quiteconvincingly(令人信服,有说服力的)loses his legs.
Using carefully selected TVclips(声音或影像的片段)and dubbed voices, Zemeckis is able to create somehilariousmoments, as when LBJ examines the wound in what Forrest describes as "my butt-ox." And the biggest laugh in the movie comes after Nixon inquires where Forrest is staying in Washington, and then recommends the Watergate. (That's not the laugh, just the setup.) As Forrest's life becomes a guided tour ofstraight-arrow(传统的,正直的,循规蹈矩的)America, Jenny (played by Robin Wright) goes on aparalleltour(平行的道路)of thecounterculture(反主流文化). She goes to California, of course, anddrops out, tunes in, and turns on.She'sintopsychedelicsandflower power(对迷幻等感兴趣), antiwar rallies(参加反战集会)and love-ins, drugs and needles.Eventually it becomes clear that between them Forrest and Jenny have covered all of thelandmarksof our recent cultural history, and theaccommodation(住所)they arrive at in the end/is like a dream ofreconciliation(和解)for our society. What a magical movie.本段主要讲了,虽然阿甘和珍妮走过了美国文化的地标性事件,走了两条不一样的道路,但最后以他们两在一起为结局。
...
James Berardinelli
September 05, 2014
Since itstheatrical(戏剧的,剧场的)release in the summer of 1994, Forrest Gump has become one of those movies seemingly everyoneis familiar with. It's a culturaltouchstone(试金石)with lines like "Life is a box of chocolates(生活就像一盒巧克力)" appearing everywhere from tee-shirts to greeting cards. The film's popularity wasitalicized(强调的)by the way itrampaged(横冲直撞的)through the 1995 Oscars, winning six awards (including the "big three" of Best Picture, Director, and Actor).(1995年横扫奥斯卡,包揽了6项大奖)Now, for its 20th anniversary, the decision has been made to do something Hollywood almost never does during thehome videoera(家庭影院时代): a big screen re-release(大屏幕出现了).
How to get people into theaters to watch (or re-watch) Forrest run when it's a lot easier to do it at home? Enter the IMAXgimmick(小把戏). Calling it anything lesscrasswould be dishonest/since(引导原因状语从句)there's no inherent reason/why Forrest Gump should be bulked up for IMAX没有内在的原因说为什么阿甘应该被搬上大荧幕(orpseudo-IMAX, depending on how one views the smaller AMC version of the product). Still, commercial considerations aside, there's something majestic about watching this tall tale unfold on a larger screen than one can find in the average family room. The IMAX format is a nice way toentice(怂恿)some viewers to see the movie in a theater while maintaining the originalcomposition.(构成,组成)//20周年了,IMAX出来了,《阿甘正传》作为一部经典,值得去影院支持。
The original review holds up today because, unlike somedecades-old(几十年老的了)motion pictures, this one doesn't seemdated(过时的). Itwears its age well(永葆青春的感觉). Here's what I wrote in 1994/when the movie was first released:
Ever find thegrindof life getting you down? Is the day-to-day struggle threatening to drag you under? If so, there is a movie out there that canreplenish(补充,重新装满)your energy andrefreshyour outlook(满血复活并能拥有全新的世界观). Passionate and magical, Forrest Gumpis atonicfor theweary(疲倦的)of spirit(是疲惫灵魂的一剂补药).For thosewho限定性定语从句(feel/that being set adrift in a season of action movies is like wandering into a desert, the oasis lies ahead.)
Back when Tom Hanks' movie career was relatively new, the actor made a film called Big, which told the story of a young boy forced to grow up fast as a result of anill-advised(不明智的)wish made at a carnival. In some ways, Forrest Gump represents a return to the themes of that earlier movie. In this case, the main character remains a child in heart and spirit, even as his body grows tomaturity(成熟的). Hanks is called upon yet again to play theinnocent.
Forrest Gump (Hanks), named after acivil war(内战)hero, grows up in Greenbow, Alabama, where his mother (Sally Field)runsa boarding house(经营家庭旅馆). Although Forrest is a little "slow" (his IQ is 75, 5 below the state's definition of "normal"), his mentalimpairment(残缺,不完整)doesn't seem to bother him, his mother, or his best (and only) friend, Jenny Curran (played as an adult by Robin Wright). In fact, the naiveté that comes through a limited understanding of the world around him gives Forrest a uniquely positive perspective(观点,看法)on life. Across the span of the next thirty years, Forrest becomes a star football player, a war hero, a successful businessman, and apop icon(一个流行标志). Through it all, however, there is one definingelement(因素即珍妮)in his life: his love for Jenny. She is never far from his thoughts, no matter what he's doing or where he is.
Atrioofassetslifts Forrest Gump above the average "life story"(melo)drama: itsoptimism, freshness, and emotional honesty. Though the movie does not seek to reduce every member of the audience to tears, it has moments whose power comes from their simplicity. Equally as important is laughter, and Forrest Gump has moments of humorstrewn(洒满,充满)throughout.
During the 60s and 70s, no topic moreinflamed(激怒)theturbulent national consciousness(震荡的全国性的思潮)than that of Vietnam(越南)and those who were sent overseas to fight.(在60到70年代,没有什么事比越战更能引起人们震荡的全国性的思潮)Forrest, as might be expected, has a singular viewpoint/on his time spent there: "We took long walks and were always looking for this guy named Charlie." This observation emphasizes theessenceof the title character's nature.
Through the miracle ofvisual effects, Forrest meets his fair share of famous people - George Wallace, Presidents Kennedy, Johnson, and Nixon, and John Lennon. While mixing the realfootage(影像,录像的意思)of thesenotables(显眼的)with new imagesfeaturing(由谁主演)Hanks is not aseamless(流畅的)process, the result isneverthelesseffective. (This is aprecursorof what would become commonplace in future films as the effects work employed here becamerefined.)
Forrest Gump has several messages, few of which require muchdigging intothe subtext tounearth. The most frequentlyrecurringtheme is anadmonitionnot to give up on life. Whysurrender(投降)when you don't know whatlies ahead?By contrastingForrest's life with the lives of those around him,and by showing/how the passage of time bringssolace(慰藉)to even the mostembittered(满心怨恨的)earts, the movie underlines this point.对比别人和阿甘的生活,说明时间是如何慰藉一个愤世嫉俗的人的。
Tom Hanks won 1994's Academy Award for Philadelphia, but his performance here is morenuanced(细致入微的). [With Forrest Gump, he would become only the second man to win back-to-back Lead Actor Oscars, joiningSpencer Tracy就是与奥黛丽赫本一声错过的那个男银,看了这个我才知道.] The Alabama accent may seem a littleawkward(尴尬)at first, but it doesn't take long for the acting(但不会花很长时间就发现他的表演不会)todwarf(v.使什么相形见绌)thetwang. Hanks fashions a human character free ofguileanddeceit, and barely able tocomprehend(理解)a concept like evil. Robin Wright gives the best performance of her career,surpassing(超过)what she accomplished in The Playboys. Looking and seeming like a youngerJessica Lange(一个早期的美国女演员,也拿过两次奥斯卡), she is believable as the object of Forrest's undying affection. The scene-stealer, however, is Gary Sinise. Arenowned(出名的)stage director and actor(舞台剧的演员), Sinise is probably bestknownto film-goers (to the extent that he is known at all) for hisportrayalof George in 1992's Of Mice and Men (which he also directed). In this movie, his portrayal of Lieutenant Dan Taylor isriveting(引人入胜). The passion and pain he brings to the middle portions of Forrest Gump hold together some of the film's weaker moments.
The soundtrackboastsa variety of sounds of the era - perhaps too wide a variety. Often, music can be useful in establishing a mood, but Forrest Gump rockets into therealm(范围)ofoverkill(过分). There are sequences/when the choice of song is inspired (the use of "Running on Empty" for Forrest's "long run" comes to mind), but the soundtrack could have used a little pruning(修剪). There are times when it seems as much designed to sell CDs as tocement(水泥,引申为加固,加强)the setting.
Ultimately, however, any suchgripesabout Forrest Gump are minor(很小的). This is amarvelousmotion picture -- amint julepon a hot summer's afternoon.
重要词汇:
·Complexity: 复杂性 complicated: 复杂的,纠缠不清的
·Thoroughly:彻底的,完整的
·Major:主要的,重要的
·Be criticized for: 因为…被批评
·Too clever by half: 自作聪明
·Dignified:有尊严的,庄严的
·Straight-ahead:直截了当的,简单的
·Turn out:发生(结果为);被发现是
·Profound:影响深远的;意义深刻的;知识渊博的
·Surplus:多余的,超出的
·Ingenious:精妙的,足智多谋的
·Credit:存款,信誉,功劳
·Convincing:令人信服的,有说服力的
·Clip:(影视/音乐的)小片段
·Hilarious:十分有趣,非常滑稽的
·Straight-arrow:耿直的,坦率的,循规蹈矩的
·Parallel: 平行线,平行的,类似的
·Reconciliation:和解,相互适应
·Italicized:斜体的,重要的(强调的)
·Rampage:横冲直撞,暴怒
·Pseudo-:假的
·Entice:诱使,怂恿
·Replenish:补充,重新装满
·Weary:疲倦的,十分厌倦的(多用于书面语)
·Ill-advised: 不明智的,欠考虑的
·Strewn: 撒满的,散播的,strew的过去分词(常用被动态)
·Inflame:激怒,使加剧
·Seamless:流畅的,浑然一体的;无缝的
·Admonition:告诫,警告
·Solace:安慰,慰藉
·Embittered:怨愤的,满腹牢骚的
·Nuanced:细致入微的
·Dwarf:使…相形见绌,使矮小
·Twang:有着鼻音的口音
·Guile:狡猾
·Deceit:欺诈
·Comprehend:理解,领悟
·Renowned:有名望的
·Portrayal:描绘,扮演
·Riveting:令人着迷的,引人入胜的
·Realm:领域,范围
·Overkill:过分,过火
·Cement:加固;水泥
·Gripe:所抱怨的小事;抱怨
·Marvelous:非凡的,令人惊异的
长难句:
1) Its hero, played by Tom Hanks, is a thoroughly decent man with an IQ of 75, who manages between the 1950s and the 1980s to become involved in every major event in American history.
由汤姆汉克斯饰演的主角是一个绝对的大好人,但智商只有75,他参与了上世纪50年代到80年代,美国每一个重要的事件。
2) The movie is more of a meditation on our times, as seen through the eyes of a man who lacks cynicism and takes things for exactly what they are.
这部电影更像是对我们所处的这个时代的一个反思,而这个反思,是从一个没有戾气,就相信他所看见的就是真实的,这样一个人的角度出发。
3) Forrest turns out to be incapable of doing anything less than profound. Also, when the braces finally fall from his legs, it turns out he can run like the wind.
结果发现,Forrest是一个有能力去做很多具有重要意义的事情的人。而且,当支架从他腿上滑落下去的时候,你会发现,他可以跑得像风一样快。
4) It could be argued that with his IQ of 75 Forrest does not quite understand everything that happens to him.
有人可能会说,Forrest作为一个智商75的人,是很难真正理解他身边所发生的一切的。
5) He even understands everything that's important about love, although Jenny, the girl he falls in love with in grade school and never falls out of love with, tells him, "Forrest, you don't know what love is."
他甚至明白所有那些关于爱至关重要的事儿,尽管那个他从小学就开始爱,一直爱到最后的妹子Jenny跟他说“Forrest, 你根本不懂什么是爱。”
6) As Forrest's life becomes a guided tour of straight-arrow America, Jenny (played by Robin Wright) goes on a parallel tour of the counterculture. She goes to California, of course, and drops out, tunes in, and turns on.
正如Forrest的一生变成了美国传统正直的旅行,Jenny(由Robin Wright饰演)走的是一条平行空间的道路,是一次反主流文化之旅。她去了加利福尼亚,当然,她逃避现实社会,去融入那个团体,而且内心的激情被点燃了。
7) The film's popularity was italicized by the way it rampaged through the 1995 Oscars, winning six awards (including the "big three" of Best Picture, Director, and Actor).
从电影横扫1995年奥斯卡,赢得了6项大奖来看(包括最重要的三个奖项,最佳影片/最佳导演/最佳演员),无疑彰显了它的受欢迎程度。
8) Still, commercial considerations aside, there's something majestic about watching this tall tale unfold on a larger screen than one can find in the average family room.
但是,商业考虑先放在一边,比起在普通的家里看,这部巨制童话在宽银幕上展开确实有一下直的期待的东西。
9) For those who feel that being set adrift in a season of action movies is like wandering into a desert, the oasis lies ahead.
对于那些感觉被放逐在这一整季动作片里,就像是走进了沙漠一样的人,绿洲,就在前方了。
10) Back when Tom Hanks' movie career was relatively new, the actor made a film called Big, which told the story of a young boy forced to grow up fast as a result of an ill-advised wish made at a carnival.
回到那个时候,汤姆汉克斯的影视生涯才刚刚开始,他拍了一部电影叫做“Big”,这部电影讲述了一个小男孩,因为在一个嘉年华里去了一个不明智的愿望而被迫迅速长大的故事。
11) In fact, the naiveté that comes through a limited understanding of the world around him gives Forrest a uniquely positive perspective on life.
事实上,正是因为对身边的世界有限的认识所带来的天真,给了Forrest一种独一无二积极的世界观。
12) Though the movie does not seek to reduce every member of the audience to tears, it has moments whose power comes from their simplicity. Equally as important is laughter, and Forrest Gump has moments of humor strewn throughout.
尽管这部影片没有刻意去让观众泪眼婆娑,但正是这种简约的手法是的其中的一些场景极富力量感动。同样笑声也是同等的重要,而且,阿甘这部电影中贯穿前后都充满了幽默。
13) During the 60s and 70s, no topic more inflamed the turbulent national consciousness than that of Vietnam and those who were sent overseas to fight.
在上世纪60年代和70年代,没有什么话题比越南和那些被送到海外去打仗的人,更能够激起全国性的动乱的思想了。
14) By contrasting Forrest's life with the lives of those around him, and by showing how the passage of time brings solace to even the most embittered hearts, the movie underlines this point.
电影通过对比阿甘和他身边的人的生活,以及通过展示时间是如何给那些充满怨恨的心灵带来慰藉的方式,向我们再次强调了这一点——not to give up on life.
15) The passion and pain he brings to the middle portions of Forrest Gump hold together some of the film's weaker moments.
Lt. Dan这个角色所带给阿甘这部电影中部的激情和痛苦,很好的整合改善了这一阶段电影中的薄弱情节。
16) There are times when it seems as much designed to sell CDs as to cement the setting.
有的时候,你觉得电影配乐(用力过猛)就好像是要出CD专辑一样,而不是简简单单的去烘托加强电影场景。