因为找Don Mclean一首歌的缘故，偶然搜索到一部短片，《Vincent》。 所谓“手气不错”，完全应该随手关闭网页，但是看到了Tim Burton这个名字，便决定把它看完。据说，这是Burton的开山之作。 对于Burton这个名字人们似乎都不够敏感，但是他的几部电影，应该都有听说过，Batman(蝙蝠侠)，Batman Returns(蝙蝠侠归来)，Edward Scissorhands(剪刀手爱德华)，Mars Attacks(火星人玩转地球，我承认这个比较恶俗，但是确实很有名)，今年的新片是Sweeney Todd(理发师陶德)。作为一个导演，不可能风格始终如一，难免要恶俗一下，但返璞归真的故事不仅常发生在电影中，也会发生在它们的导演身上。Sweeney Todd中我看到了Edward Scissorhands的影子。今天找到的Vincent则让我明白，Corpse Bride的人物设定实际上发生在23年前。 说回Vincent。几个关键词：狂想曲，哥特，Edgar Allen Poe，早熟，孤独，隔膜，试验，私人，象征。一部个孩子们的动画短片被填加上这些关键词，又让我想起了Obsession中的中国柑橘，总之，第士尼决定将《Vincent》永久禁播，对于孩子，Vincent显得太危险，太早熟了。我想年轻的Burton在制作这部短片的时候，就没有打算能够成功播出吧，在那个时代《Vincent》如何得以流传我不知道，但是，这样的实验影片在网络上，总是会得到永生。看完第一遍，我只知道是由Jim Burton和Rick Heinrishs制作的，年代不详，不要说八十年代初，即便是今天，《Vincent》也仍旧应当被视为儿童动画的禁区。《Vincent》的制作，完全可以视为非盈利的个人行为，并非迎合饕餮之欲，而是孤独的特立独行，这也是为什么我在关键词中加入了“试验”“私人”。 哥特与象征。短篇一开头的枯树与黑猫便已经毫不隐讳的点明了自身的哥特风格。再看看影片中的其它元素，也多与哥特风格契合，妹妹，蝙蝠，蜘蛛，蜡像，僵尸，艾伦·坡，活埋的妻子，幽闭，逝者的画像……即使对最为愚钝的观众，这些富含象征意义的符号也已经足够说明一切了。当然，如果看到短片的绘画风格，就连这些符号都显得多余了。 狂想曲。影片没有一丝赘笔，着力描写一个名叫Vincent的七岁男孩的内心世界。Vincent有教养，体贴，安静，早熟，在其他七岁男孩还在读《Go Jane Go》的时候，Vincent已经在读Allen Poe了。他充满了诸多古怪的幻想，他希望将婶婶丢进融蜡丰富自己的蜡像馆，希望制造出一个僵尸，至少是一只僵尸狗。他幻想活埋了自己美丽的妻子，甚至掘开妻子的墓穴确认妻子已经死去，承受着Allen Poe笔下每一个杀妻者的精神重压。 当他享受着幽闭古都所带来的满足时，母亲突然破门而入，对他说：“If you want to you can go outside and play.It's sunny outside and a beautiful day.”这句话，可以说是对于幽闭者尊严的践踏，也是男孩与成人世界永远的隔膜，因为这种隔膜的存在，Vincent只好活在自己的鬼魅幻想中。母亲也象征着现实，当Vincent在花圃中挖掘妻子“墓冢”时，母亲罚他关在房间中。当他置身于tower of doom而准备只身长眠时，母亲便说除了上面的那两句话，在后面，母亲又加上了更多：“You're not possessed, and you're not almost dead. These games that you play are all in your head. You're not Vincent Price, you're Vincent Malloy. You're not tormented, you're just a young boy. You're seven years old, and you're my son, I want you to get outside and have some real fun.”成年人的专横让他们永远不可能窥视到孩子心中的一角。Vincent的母亲在成年人中似乎并不算太糟，至少她知道Vincent有the games he plays in his head，虽然她的态度专横，但她意识到了the games的存在。短篇中出现的成年人，Vincent的婶婶和母亲，画面上的处理都是由颈部截断，保留了男孩的全身和成年人的头部以下，这似乎便是隔膜与冲突一种形式上的表现。 母亲是现实的力量的代表，男孩可怜的幻想只能在现实的夹缝中苟且偷生，每当Vincent沉浸于幻想中时，都会被母亲粗暴的打断。这一次，母亲生硬的撂下一番话后愤然离去，Vincent终于可以低吟着Allen Poe的诗句，悄然“死去”，幻想也终于得到“永恒”的解脱。 短片中只有旁白讲述故事，我喜欢旁白的声音和语调，我甚至愿意伴随着他，高声诵读他所诵读的句子。 显然，年轻的Burton熟悉Allen Poe，也必然看过1953年的House of Wax(恐怖蜡像馆)。 嗯，Vincent的造型很像Edward，就连神经质的表情也是一样。 就到这里吧，下面，是旁白Vincent Malloy is seven years old, He's always polite and does what he's told. For a boy his age he's considerate and nice, But he wants to be just like Vincent Price. He doesn't mind living with his sister, dog and cat, Though he'd rather share a home with spiders and bats. There he could reflect on the horrors he's invented, And wander dark hallways alone and tormented. Vincent is nice when his aunt comes to see him, But imagines dipping her in wax for his wax museum. He likes to experiment on his dog Abacrombie, In the hopes of creating a horrible zombie. So he and his horrible zombie dog, Could go searching for victims in the London fog. His thoughts aren't only of ghoulish crime, He likes to paint and read to pass the time. While other kids read books like Go Jane Go, Vincent's favorite author is Edgar Allen Poe. One night while reading a gruesome tale, He read a passage that made him turn pale. Such horrible news he could not survive, For his beautiful wife had been buried alive. He dug out her grave to make sure she was dead, Unaware that her grave was his mother's flower bed. His mother sent Vincent off to his room, He knew he'd been banished to the tower of doom. Where he was sentenced to spend the rest of his life, Alone with a portrait of his beautiful wife. While alone and insane, encased in his tomb, Vincent's mother suddenly burst into the room. "If you want to you can go outside and play. It's sunny outside and a beautiful day." Vincent tried to talk, but he just couldn't speak, The years of isolation had made him quite weak. So he took out some paper, and scrawled with a pen, "I am possessed by this house, and can never leave it again." His mother said, "You're not possessed, and you're not almost dead. These games that you play are all in your head. You're not Vincent Price, you're Vincent Malloy. You're not tormented, you're just a young boy." "You're seven years old, and you're my son, I want you to get outside and have some real fun." Her anger now spent, she walked out through the hall, While Vincent backed slowly against the wall. The room started to sway, to shiver and creak. His horrid insanity had reached its peak. He saw Abacrombie his zombie slave, And heard his wife call from beyond the grave. She spoke from her coffin, and made ghoulish demands. While through cracking walls reached skeleton hands. Every horror in his life that had crept through his dreams, Swept his mad laugh to terrified screams. To escape the madness, he reached for the door, But fell limp and lifeless down on the floor. His voice was soft and very slow, As he quoted The Raven from Edgar Allen Poe, "And my soul from out that shadow floating on the floor, Shall be lifted--Nevermore!"
