乌云背后的幸福线

Amazing performance by De Niro and Jacki Weaver, simply amazing. Despite all the rave surrounding Silver Linings Playbook, to me this is still a rather typical romantic comedy with a rather predictable storyline. There are a few laughs here and there, and having Chris Tucker in it is also refreshing, the storyline is also sincere and meaningful, perhaps with better crafted characters than a typical rom-com, but nothing really jumps out. Nevertheless, it was an enjoyable experience, but one that I will forget rather quickly.

小猫和小狗的心智都不太健全。在一个夏日的午后，这俩小家伙呆在庭院里面很无聊，然后小猫说：我们来玩游戏吧。小狗问：“我们玩什么呢？”小猫说：“你猜猜我手里有几块糖。”小狗又问：“猜对了，你给我吃吗？”小猫爽快地说：“猜对了，这三块糖都给你吃！”小狗咽了下口水，说：“我猜有四块糖。”小猫摊开手把糖送到小狗面前：“嗯，猜对了，我还欠你一块糖！”

我第一次听起别人说这个笑话，没有反应过来它到底哪里好笑，我反而觉得它有一种很粗粝又平淡的人情味，这种粗粝和平淡令我感动不已。在这个虚华而喧嚣的世界上，恐怕没有多少东西比两个善良的傻瓜相濡以沫更让人动容了。《silver linings play book》中的Pat和Tiffany就像是笑话里的两个小家伙，不过他们的故事是成人版的。

在进入精神病院之前，Pat一直生活在自己精心编织的幸福骗局中，美貌的妻子，有着美式幽默感的双亲，和一众热心肠的狐朋狗友。这一切看起来好极了，实际上，这只是他希望生活看起来的那种样子，因为他的乐观天性，他有意识屏蔽了生活中那些可能令他感觉不那么好的部分。比如美貌的妻子对他的感情和忠诚度正在逐日下降，但由于Pat的乐观天性，他或许宁可选择视而不见。于是，终于有一天，他回到家发现她妻子的内裤被丢在地板上，然后就是一对赤裸的男女在热气腾腾的浴室里颠鸾倒凤。（他能撞见这样的事情足以说明他是个十足的缺心眼）那个偷腥的秃头竟然还大大方方地向他要求：“能给我们一点私人空间吗（你没看我们还没完事吗）”1米85的Pat听到这句话之后脑袋炸开了锅，抡起拳头把那秃头揍了个半死。从此之后，Pat的精神奔溃了，他进了精神病院。而他漂亮又精力充沛的妻子正好趁此机会离开了他。经过很长一段时间的治疗，Pat回到家中，继续维持着自己"every cloud has a silver lining"的乐观天性，为自己编织一个破镜重圆的美梦。他每天套上垃圾袋跑十英里减肥、废寝忘食地阅读、努力要把自己改造成妻子喜欢的样子，全然不顾周围人善意的阻挠。

Tiffany的经历也非同寻常。她的片警老公有三年时间没怎么和她好好做过爱了。一天，那倒霉蛋兴致勃勃的带着从"Victoria's Secret"买来的情趣内衣，脑海中正幻想着Tiffany穿上它的撩人模样，突然一辆汽车飞驰而来，将他年轻的生命终结。至此以后，Tiffany也发了病，开始和公司里的各种同事胡搞，结果被老板炒了鱿鱼。每一个人都对Tiffany的精神状况保持警惕，甚至连初次见面的Pat也是如此。而最后，Tiffany用她的勇气和坚持获得了所有人的认同，包括Pat执拗的父亲，在一场圣诞节的舞蹈比赛后，Pat在父亲的鼓励下冲上街头，将默然离去的Tiffany紧紧拥入怀中。镜头围绕着这一对恋人不停地旋转着，仿佛要将全世界的幸福都给予他们。就像Pat一直在重复着的格言："every cloud has a silver lining"。两个缺心眼的人深爱着彼此，携手将生活曾经的阴霾荡涤地一干二净。

这是只有天性明朗的美国人才能拍出的爱情片。即使是不再相信爱情的人也会被它的真挚与纯净所感染。就像我一直钟爱的《breakfast at tiffany`s》，没有轰轰烈烈的背景，也没有多么荡气回肠的情节，只是将生活的真实与细碎缓缓铺陈，从中萃取出一个粗粝而平淡的爱情故事。然而这份粗粝和平淡却能深入人们的内心，经历时光的磨砺依然魅力依旧。

多少年后，生活的记忆都会变得支离破碎，同我们钟爱的那些电影镜头胶着在一起，很多事情的来龙去脉都已模糊，只有一个个瞬间被不断地忆起，也许在我们走过一条熟悉的街道、听到一首老旧的歌、在喧嚣归于沉寂的苍凉中，在午夜梦回时分，我们会记起那些面孔、那些触碰、抵达心灵的悸动。我们曾经想要山盟海誓的冲动、面对溢满泪水的双眸，缓缓地说出：

I knew it the minute I met you. I`m sorry it took so long for me to catch up.

在那一刻，我是如此坚定······

我看它提名奥斯卡硬是压着自己看完了，结果完全看不进啊。。好多剧情莫名其妙，该多表现的戏份又不够充分，就2个神经病（美国这年头随便个夫妻问题造成男女自个儿唠唠叨叨就算是神经病了。。那个被婚姻事业压迫的男配角都比他们更像有精神问题），你答应帮我送信，我答应和你一起去跳舞（跳舞？？？什么剧情啊！），还有他爸赌球，导演硬是硬生生把这2件事扯一块了。
剩下唯一的一点期待『他俩怎么还不上床』导演都没满足我。。这种片怎么能提名奥斯卡？硬生生地表现那么一点美国社会精神问题的现实？失望啊。

分了三次才艰难地看完。就算没看过原著小说，这都不能算是一部好电影；看了小说再看电影，我想说：total crap! 且不说Jennifer Lawrence演女主这个寡妇是否合适，就凭那蓬乱的大妈盘发和张牙舞爪的肢体语言就想狠扇她两耳光（何况我以前完全不讨厌她）。而且为什么电影里的几个人物都变得如此nice：女主没有私心没有诱骗男主一步步上当；男配成了慈父；女配没和男配闹脾气；男主病情好转太快，煽情处明白得太早；前妻在结尾前还送来祝福……倒是男主的兄弟成了bitch，还加了个费力不讨好的警察角色，也不知道意义何在。最有意思的可能就是看小胡子Bradley Cooper跳舞了。总之，这部言情片能得奥斯卡简直没天理。。。

What is normal? Behave like everyone else? Talk in a way that makes sense to the person you're talking to? What if the other party is too normal to make sense with?

I think this film comes from the wool carpet laying on the bottom of David O'Russell's heart, the director. Somehow he, as a father of a bi-polar son in real life, I assume may be the semi-bi-polar father played by De Niro in the film, trying so hard to "make sense"/normalize his son by throwing his very own way of thinking directly at him, wishing he could just swallow it and become healthy again like taking medicines, effective swiftly and immediately. He, personally, must have experienced that phrase, yelling desperately to have his ill son make sense to him until he ends up tired. It is those little threads whistling in the film that inspire me of the conclusion above.

I love the scene where Tiffany made a dramatic scene on the street with Pat after storming out of the diner having been pissed by Pat's accusation of her sluttishness. At that moment, among the noise and finger-pointers, she came to him and amazingly tuned down the provocative song in his mind to a stop. SHE JUST MAKES SO MUCH SENSE TO HIM, and that's amazing. Who are we that define what is normal or what is not? And how do we do that, by quantity? Like 10 of us here, if one behaves differently from the rest 9, that makes him/her abnormal?Have you ever wondered if there's something wrong with yourself that makes you impossible to fit in a certain group or circumstance? If yes, that scene might be your scenario, but do believe there's a Tiffany in there or elsewhere hanging as well.

Truth be told, I've been dying to see this film for months ever since a bird sending good words about it from the Cannes film festival where it was debuted to the world. So, as you may have guessed following the trend, it turns out not as high as my damn expectations. Those hilarious parts have mostly been revealed in trailers, and the storyline as a whole doesn't really give me much a vibe - I was looking, staring, ready to be amazed yet I was also wondering the whole time, not being turned on most of the time. In other words, I was not as excited. BUT, tears were coming down spontaneously towards he end and it's warm-hearted.

Performance, by the two leading actors but not limited to, is really great, for sure being the brightest lining of this film. I'd say Bradley Cooper surprises me even more since he's always been in my mind the pothead who looks incredibly good. God, he still looks good consistently in this film but managed to convince me of the role with his performance. Jennifer Lawrence, known for her exceptional beyond-age maturity, has claimed her name again in the battle confronting the veteran De Niro. So, in my assumption, this Silver Linings Playbook would pin down most of its nominations into awards in the performance categories just like its predecessor The Fighter yet without the Best Picture trophy. Genuinely, I'd give it a 3.5 rating based entirely on the output but rounded it up to 4 given to my own hard work in expecting to see it so long.

Among the Best Picture nominees of the Academy Awards I've personally checked so far, 5 titles (Life of Pi, Amour, Argo, Djangle Unchained, and Silver Linings Playbook) with another 4 to complete the list (Lincoln, Beasts of the Southern Wild, Zero Dark Thirty, and Les Miserables), I'd go between Life of Pi and Argo, the later of which is a sophisticated and surprisingly funny thriller that reaches up to my contentment. I'd lean onto Pi a bit more given specially the spiritual reason, but I bet the academy would chop it down for as traditions they just simply hate high-tech package (references are Avatar and Inception).

Anyway, to Jennifer Lawrence, good luck to your second nominations in the Academy and hopefully a much-deserved Oscar.