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520愛的鼓勵 11訂閱站台

險路勿近 (喬柯恩、伊森柯恩，美，2007)
No Country for Old Men (Joel Coen, Ethan Coen, US, 2007)

以黑色犯罪電影「血迷宮」、「黑幫龍虎鬥」聞名的柯恩兄弟，早已是美國、甚至是國際影壇舉足輕重的電影創作搭檔，除了以「巴頓芬克」罕見地在坎城影展勇奪最佳影片及導演兩項大獎，其後更以「冰血暴」和「不在場的男人」三度獲得坎城影展最佳導演殊榮，其中「冰血暴」更被視為黑色電影經典。

這回再度角逐金棕櫚獎的本片雖鎩羽而歸，在面世後極佳評價蜂擁而至，不但幾乎橫掃美國各大影評人協會年度最佳影片，更風光入圍八項奧斯卡成為入圍最大贏家之一，得獎呼聲也是最高，柯恩兄弟更是雙雙獲得四項個人提名，和影壇傳奇奧森威爾斯以經典名作「大國民」的紀錄齊名。

通常柯恩兄弟的作品都是原創故事，但在「真情假愛」、「快閃殺手」接連在票房及口碑上失利後，蟄伏許久的他們在名製片史考特魯汀的強力提議下選擇改編柯馬克麥卡錫這本廣獲好評的小說「沒有給老人生存的國度」，雖比利鮑伯松頓曾改編他的「所有漂亮的馬」(中文片名為「愛在奔馳」)卻惡評如潮，柯恩仍深信自己能駕馭這個他們擅長並熱愛的故事類型。

故事中三個主要角色，盜獵人路威倫摩斯、殺手安東奇哥和貝爾警長的塑造皆十分成功，當然這是麥卡錫創作的功勞，但柯恩兄弟加上他們獨特的黑色幽默感，相信和原著中的形象有著截然不同的趣味性。喬許布洛林第一次有如此傑出的表現，湯米李瓊斯也是繼得獎但沉寂多年後，於今年以本片及「震撼效應」的演出東山再起，西班牙影帝哈維爾巴登的詮釋更是出神入化，腔調、動作和神情都極為完美，甚至令人忘記他其實不是個美國人，本屆奧斯卡男配角早已註定是他的囊中物。

除了緊湊精采的劇情並佐以柯恩式黑色幽默外，這個看似簡單的故事其實蘊含眾多層面，人性的貪婪是否越來越永無止盡，或是這種無盡的貪婪本就是人類的天性，自以為堅強的人卻因為好強而顯得虛偽，極端邪惡的人卻也有套堅定不移的原則，雖然故事背景設於七零年代末，仍像是現今社會中隨時都在發生的事。

或許這個故事沒有提供一個令所有人滿意的結局，貝爾警長任職以來第一次奮勇投入危險中，不像他祖父或父親曾有偉大的功勳，他終究還是選擇退出，在他夢中的父親比他年輕二十歲，而他弄丟父親給的錢、騎馬又趕不上父親，卻是唯一繼續變老並對死亡充滿希望的人。

Well-known by the crime film noir “Blood Simple” and “Miller’s Crossing,” the Coen brothers are already highly respected filmmakers in the US, even worldwide. Except “Barton Fink” rarely won both Best Picture and Director at Cannes Film Festival, the following “Fargo” and “The Man Who Wasn’t There” also won them three Best Director Awards at Cannes in total. “Fargo” is even considered a film noir classic.

Though they only got selected in competition for Palm d’Or again but didn’t win this time, the excellent reviews keep coming intensively after released. Not only that it swept almost every critic association’s best picture of the year, but it also got nominated for 8 Oscars to become one of the frontier nominees and is the most likely winner. The Coens are even nominated for 4 personal categories each, tied with the legend Orson Welles’s record for the ultimate classic “Citizen Kane.”

The Coens works are usually created originally, but after failed on both critics and box office continuously with “Intolerable Cruelty” and “The Ladykillers,” under the high suggestion by the famous producer Scott Rudin, they decided to adapt this widely acclaimed novel by Cormac McCarthy after resting for a while. Even Billy Bob Thornton got terrible reviews with “All the Pretty Horses” which was adapted from another McCarthy’s work, the Coens were very confident that they can manage this genre that they love and are good at.

The three main characters in the story, Llewelyn Moss the illegal hunter, Anton Chigure the Killer, and Sheriff Bell, are successfully formed. Of course it’s the credit of McCarthy’s creation, but the Coens added their unique black humor so they could have the total different funny images from those in the original. Josh Brolin gave such a brilliant performance for the first time. Tommy Lee Jones returns to the top after several years of downward after winning with the performances in this film and “In the Valley of Elah.” The interpretation of the Spanish best actor Javier Bardem is incredible, the accent, the motions and the looks are simply perfect, even makes you forget that he’s not an American. Oscar’s Best Supporting Actor this year has already been meant to be his since long ago.

Except the intense and entertaining plot with the Coens’s black humor on the side, this seem simple story actually contains variety of levels. Does the greed of humanity get more and more endless, or the endless greed is originally a human nature. People who are tough become hypocrite of being competitive, and people who are extremely evil could have very solid principles. Though the background was set at the end of the 70’s, it still seems like what happens any moment in modern society.

This story may not provide an ending that everyone is satisfied with, Sheriff Bell devoted himself in danger for the first time ever since he took the job. Unlike the great achievement his grandfather or his father made, he finally chose to drop out. Father is 20 years younger than him in the dream. He lost the money his father gave him, and he couldn’t catch up his father on a horse back. But he’s the only man who is still getting old and has hope for death.