未来的回忆1992
森田芳光执导的东宝公司60周年特别作,原作为《机器猫》的作者藤子不二雄,是一个类似《回到未来》的故事,获得1993年日本电影学院奖最佳音效奖。影片讲述漫画家纳户游子和从普通上班族变成平凡家庭主妇的金江银子,带着现在的记忆转生回10年前,两人利用未来的“记忆",在工作、恋爱、金钱等各方面随心所欲、如鱼得水。影片中两位女主角是木村拓哉的老婆工藤静香和《赤桥下的暖流》中的清水美砂,另外还有藤子不二雄等多位漫画家以及唐泽寿明、铃木京香等大明星的客串,片尾曲则是威猛乐队的名曲“Last Christmas",温馨感人。      这部影片引人注目点是在剧本原作上。藤子·F·不二雄,一提《机器猫》大家可能立即恍然大悟。创造了那个日本漫画史上最受欢迎的形象的人,是一个头脑中充满着瑰奇想象的作者,这部开创“昨日重来”之风的影片,便是根据他的漫画作品所改变。   也许因为剧本的写作者是漫画作者,两位关键女性中的一位:纳户游子的身份也正是一个漫画家。在她“正常”的人生中,她是一个事业、爱情上皆不得志的女性,十年前曾有一次作品出版的机会,却因地震引起堵车而在与编辑见面时迟到,因此失去连载机会。十年后的圣诞节那天,她与陌生算命女子一见如故,次日身亡,却不料命运就此偏离了轨迹,她如一梦醒来,竟然发现自己回到十年前。   这部可称此类作品“开山鼻祖”的作品,为日后的模仿或超越之作提供了原形,同时定下了“昨日重来”的类型片的几个规则:   ·情人只是配角,一起转转才是同伴   ·“未来的记忆”可能带来名利,却不会带来真正的幸福。   游子在第一次“重生”中,选择将他人的漫画先行画出,却发现那样并不能真正达成自己的愿望。她终于明白抄别人的漫画还是不行,只有自己的才能永恒拥有,在最后的那次选择中,她画出“自己真正想画的漫画”——也许这正是作者藤子·F·不二雄的希望和心声啊!   除了主演清水美砂和工藤静香外,“被盗窃的漫画作者们”如高桥留美子小姐,都在片中客串他们本人,也算相当有趣的特色。
正义者
Siddartha (Dhritiman Chatterjee) is forced to discontinue his medical studies due to unexpected and brutal death of his father. He has to now find a job in stead. In one job interview, he is asked to name the most significant world event in the last ten years. His reply is 'the plain human courage shown by the people of Vietnam', instead of the expected - man landing on moon. The interviewer asks is he is a communist. Needles to say that he does not get the job.   He reaches a coffee shop where he is offered to work for the communist party. When he does not show any interest the party leader tells him about an opening for a medical representative. To escape from the heat and have a snooze, he goes in to a cinema. As a government propaganda newsreel is being shown before the feature, a bomb explodes in the cinema hall. In the stampede that follows, Siddartha, breaks his watch. He goes to a watchmaker but he cannot afford the repairs.   Waiting to cross the road, he notices a sexy girl. He drifts back to his days as a medical student in a flashback. The professor is explaining anatomy of female breast. Many flashbacks and dreams occur to Siddartha through the film.   On his way to hostel, he has an encounter with some hippies. Along with an ex-classmate, he goes out to see a porn film but to their disappointment, the film turns out to be not-so-pornographic.   In such constant wandering in a Calcutta, disintegrated relationships with his sister and a Naxalite (militant communist) brother, his friendship with Keya is only thing that keeps him sane.   Keya is a simple girl. They enjoy each other's company but they cannot make any commitment to each other due to the circumstances.   After yet another attempt at a job interview, Siddartha leaves the big city to take a modest job of a salesman in a far off small town. He writes to Keya that he still cherishes their relationship. And that he has heard that bird call again but this time it is for real, and not his mind. After completing the letter, he comes out to the balcony of his modest room. The bird calls again. He also hears the sombre chants of a funeral procession. As he turns to the camera, the picture is frozen.   This is the first film of the Calcutta Trilogy. The other two were and Seemabaddha (Company Limited, 1971) and Jana Aranya (The Middle Man, 1975). All the three films study the effect the big city of Calcutta has on the educated youth and the price it extracts from them.   The seventies were a difficult period for India and West Bengal. The Corruption was rampant; the Naxalite movement had created havoc in Calcutta. In fact, they had turned parts of Calcutta into 'liberated zones'. By the time the Naxalite movement died down, in 1975, Mrs. Indira Gandhi (then, Prime Minister of India) suppressed the fundamental rights and declared "Emergency" for her own political survival. Her son, Sanjay Gandhi became a dictator of sorts without any official designation. The opposition leaders were thrown into prisons.   About his social responsibilities as a filmmaker, in an interview with Cineaste magazine, Ray commented, "You can see my attitude in The Adversary where you have two brothers. The younger brother is a Naxalite. There is no doubt that the elder brother admires the younger brother for his bravery and convictions. The film is not ambiguous about that. As a filmmaker, however, I was more interested in the elder brother because he is the vacillating character. As a psychological entity, as a human being with doubts, he is a more interesting character to me. The younger brother has already identified himself with a cause. That makes him part of a total attitude and makes him unimportant. The Naxalite movement takes over. He, as a person, becomes insignificant."   In a letter to Seton in 1970, Ray wrote that Pratidwandi was the most provocative film he had made till then. The film is said to have evoked extreme reactions. "People either loved the film or hated it", Dhritiman Chatterjee told Andrew Robinson, Ray's biographer.
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