如果在冬夜，一個旅人遊走於電影中的城市
Prelude
You are going to listen to Woody Allen.
[Silence]
"Chapter One. He adored New York City. He idolized it all out of proportion." Uh, no, make that
"Chapter One. He was too romantic about Manhattan as he was about everything else. He thrived on the hustle...bustle of the crowds and the traffic. To him, New York meant beautiful women and street-smart guys who seemed to know all the angles." Nah, no...corny, too corny...
"Chapter One. He adored New York City. To him, it was a metaphor for the decay of the contemporary culture. The same lack of individual integrity to cause so many people to take the easy way out...was rapid ly turning the town of his dreams in--"
No, it’s gonna be too preachy. I me and, you know...
"Chapter One. He adored New York City, although to him, it was a metaphor for the decay of contemporary culture. How hard it was to exist in a society desensitized by drugs, loud music, television, crime, garbage."
Too angry. I don’t wanna be angry.
"Chapter One. He was as...tough and romantic as the city he loved. Behind his black-rimmed glasses was the coiled sexual power of a jungle cat." I love this.
"New York was his town. And it always would be."
- Manhattan, Woody Allen
對你來說，如果在冬夜遊走於電影中的城市，實在是一件難事，因為電影中那城市的影像，已教你像活地亞倫般面對Manhattan而語塞起來．
電影中的城市，是永遠love-hate式的教人著迷．杜魯福的四百擊，你從巴黎的市中心的鐵塔不斷向外走，不消兩下子便走到了城市的盡頭，看到了那不屬於城市的海，你第一次看到海，也是唯一的一次，因為已到了城市的盡頭，唯一的出路就是驀然回首回到城市．
四百擊的巴黎洋溢著年青的叛逆味道，東京物語中的東京則富有黃昏的暮色．你又是第一次，和唯一的一次來到了二次大戰後快要澎漲得不能控制的東京，自己老弱的身軀和有限的時光要怎樣迎接世紀城市降臨前那風雨欲來的大變呢？你或許什麼也做不到，只有塞縮於東京那積存著秋刀魚之味的舊酒吧．
所謂電影中的城市，其實並不是一個什麼地方，而只是一大堆東西不知怎地走在一起罷了．楊德昌恐怖份子的台灣，一個莫名奇妙的電話就教同一個人同一時間地死了幾回；因為香港，有了香港製造，一封永不會完成的信，引領不同的人提早來到他們生命的結局．
大自然的生命是有限的，只有電影中的城市才會是永恆．恐怖份子中，任那主角在電影中死多幾多次，也只會有規律地重回台灣日出的時份那本小說的開端．至於因為香港才會有了的香港製造，無論多幾多名像中秋那樣的年輕人提早到達生命的盡頭，第二天的早上亦都會聽見那毛主席的新中國宣言，他們的故事或死亡怎樣也只會是那封無法完成的遺書的一部份罷了．
如果在冬夜，一個旅人遊走於電影中的城市
Fellini: There! It’s Gore Vidal, the American writer. Let’s ask him. Good evening, Mr. Vidal, mind if we disturb you for just two minutes?
Vidal: Well. You ask me why an American writer would want to live in Rome. First of all because I like the Romans. They don’t give a damn whether you’re dead or alive. They’re neutral, like the cats! Rome is the city of illusions. Not only by chance you have here the Church, the government, the cinema. They each produce illusions, like you do and I do. We’re getting closer and closer to the end of the world because of too many people too many cars, poisons, and what better city than Rome which has been reborn so often? What place could be more peaceful . . . to wait or the end from pollution and over-population? It’s the ideal city for waiting to see if it all . . . will really come to an end or not.①t the end!
-Gore Vidal, an improvised speech in Fellini’s Roma.
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