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May 1, 2009


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FILM OF THE WEEK (AND INTERVIEW): The Limits of Control
Jim Jarmusch, THE LIMITS OF CONTROL Who knew that a Jim Jarmusch film could be the most divisive of the year thus far? I'm not ready to address The Limits of Control and all the knee-jerk, unconstructive naysayings I've read that don't actually engage with what the film is or how it does (or doesn't) work, at least until I see it a second time, since I was too mesmerized by the experience to take many notes. In lieu of that, I present to you the extended version of an interview I did with Jarmusch for IFC.com, the first part of which can be found here.

GREENCINE DAILY: Wong Kar-Wai once told me that when working with cinematographer Christopher Doyle, they share a largely unspoken, instinctual shorthand with one another. Was your relationship with Doyle similar?

JIM JARMUSCH: We were more the opposite, man. We talked and talked and talked incessantly. When I was preparing, he would come to New York for a week and a half at a time, maybe three times. We spent every day together for eight hours, just talking about the film, not about the film, about things we saw on the street, about photographs Chris had taken, looking at unrelated things, and listening to music. I've known Chris quite a long time, 12 or 15 years. I love just talking to him about anything. He's very quick, so sometimes he'll say things to me, philosophical things we're discussing that I don't understand what his point is, and then a few days later when I'm not with him, I'll be thinking it over and be like, "Oh! I see what he meant." I don't know if I'm just slow, or if his ideas are hard to enter sometimes.

Isaach De Bankolé, THE LIMITS OF CONTROL Speaking of music, I'm a big Boris fan, who is all over the soundtrack. I read that you had already planned to fill the film with this conceptual Japanese noise-rock while still sketching it out. What's your process of matching image to music?

When I'm writing or trying to think up an idea for a film, I hone in on music that seems to open up my imagination for that particular world in my head. That happens very early over and over, like Neil Young for Dead Man, or [for Ghost Dog,] RZA's beats and instrumental tracks on the B-sides of vinyl Wu-Tang stuff I was collecting. Or Mulatu Astatge in Broken Flowers was inspiring me, and I was like, "How the hell do I get Ethiopian music in a film about a guy in the suburbs?" So then it led me to have Jeffrey Wright's character be of Ethiopian origin. In this case, it was Boris and Sunn 0))), and that electric feedback-y soundscape stuff they make that I love so much. Those things came very early, while I was even just writing the 25-page treatment—well, it was more like a prose short story that we started from. So they were sort of in a little boat I was in, going down the river. I had them inspiring me. Then I got Earth in the movie and a lot of great stuff. I love the Black Angels, but I only used a little instrumental piece at the end of their song, "You on the Run." Anyway, those things were there very early, but the music always leads me. That's always happened.

Tilda Swinton, on the set of THE LIMITS OF CONTROLI stay abreast of new music by geeking out on music blogs, but how do you find all this cool music? Do you still go to a lot of record stores, or do friends keep you tuned in to new artists?

I'm not a Web guy because I don't have a computer, although I often ask people to look stuff up for me. I don't know, it's sort of a general antenna because I love music. You know, there are music stores that in the past I depended on a lot, like Final Vinyl, that used to be great to order things anywhere in the world that were in print, or what's his name, that little shop on Bowery just south of 8th street. Damn, I love that guy. He's always been really cool. There's Other Music, and in New Paltz, there's Rhino Records that is really run unlike any kind of Rhino chain—the guy there, Rick, is amazing. Those record stores are important, but they've been less so for me recently, maybe because I haven't stopped in very much. I always read the British music press, and I try to listen to what underground radio exists, or college-type radio. I'm just always scanning, and I've always been that way, like, music, music, music. I love to get playlists off of [Jersey City's] WFMU or WVKR in Poughkeepsie—Vassar has a good radio station. WFUV has a good morning show in New York, and there's some underground hip-hop shows on WKCR, the Columbia station. There's the beautiful Sunday morning country shows that I listen to, classic country.

I love radio, and I love finding things randomly. Like, I don't have TiVO for TV because I keep thinking, "Well, then I'll just program everything and I won't scan," and scanning is when you find things you weren't expecting. Not that TV isn't, for the most part, a big wasteland of garbage. But you do learn things if you scan around, more than if you have a programmed idea of what you're going to watch. I don't watch that much TV. I watch Turner Classic Movies, science shows and Antiques Roadshow, you know this one? I love Antiques Roadshow. I have this thing I always imagine. Okay, they think suddenly, they have some vase and it's worth $8,000, you know? I always equate it to: what kind of a used car could they buy with it? [Jarmusch makes a sad horn noise] "You can buy a 1986 Honda Civic!" I don't know why I do that... I'm going off in stupid places.

Bill Murray, surrogate Dick Cheney No, I appreciate it. Now, I know why Bill Murray is so great in your films, but what's so great about working with him? In the press notes for this film, you mentioned that you two liked to "talk around the character."

Yeah, we like to talk about it in the past. What's really fascinating about Bill is that, since I've known him, his procedure is always evolving. When I first worked with him in Coffee and Cigarettes, he wanted to pretty much improvise everything, and he didn't want to talk about it or rehearse it. Then with Broken Flowers, no rehearsing, no specifics, but we would take long, long walks for hours at a time, and talk about things that eventually affected our idea of that character. I thought he would improvise a lot, and he said, "I want to stick close to the script." Then in this film, he said, "I want to rehearse, and I want to do the dialogue as written. I don't want to add anything." So that was even a different step. He's just an interesting work in progress. I'm always a little surprised, like, "How does he want to approach it this time?"

That's fun, and I learn a lot from Bill about a lot of things, especially human nature. His capacity to observe and feel what people are feeling, even strangers, is uncanny. I've seen him numerous times run out of his way to help somebody try to get something out of the trunk of their car, or help with their luggage at the airport, or in a restaurant, talk to someone he doesn't even know that looks sort of down. He'll go over and respond to that: "Hey, the world hasn't ended yet, what's going on?" Amazing. He's really observant with compassion, so I love to just hang out with Bill and see how he's going to react to what we encounter in the world. I learn more from that, maybe, than anything specifically about acting, preparing or filmmaking, because it's all intertwined in the end. I really liked having him play somebody with not an ounce of humor this time, which might be frustrating for people's expectations. I don't know, that's not my problem. I choose the actors I want for the best collaboration to create something, and I really liked him being nasty and condescending. Every fucking school principal or authority figure I've ever had in my life has always, at some point, said, "You just don't understand how the world really works." Hearing Bill's character say those lines for me, I don't know. I certainly heard that a lot in my life.

The Limits of Control opens today in New York and Los Angeles, then expands to more cities beginning May 8. For more information, visit the official website.

晚上在家里看贾木许的《控制的极限》，电影很好，但不推荐，因为慢的连我都要看睡着了。片子里除了厚嘴唇的黑人男主角不认识以外，其他的配角都是大明星。男主角是一个练太极的杀手，他在电影开始的时候接受了一个杀人的任务，然后就出发了，他一共去了三个城市，每到一个城市就配合着城市的颜色换上不同的西装，在粉蓝色的城市里穿蓝灰色的西装，在淡黄色的城市他就穿棕色的西装，他穿他的西装到处溜达，却不知道要杀谁，不知道要怎么做，不知道要碰到谁，他在艳阳下走来走去，去美术馆看画展，在露天咖啡馆喝咖啡，每次都要两杯浓缩咖啡，然后一个神色慌里慌张，打扮夸张的接头人就会出现，跟他说几句心里话，再给他一盒火柴，火柴盒里装着一个纸条，他看完纸条就把它吃掉，用咖啡冲服下去，就像冲服一片药丸一样，然后他再到下一个地方去，再做一遍同样的事。

有人给他送来枪，有人给他送来姑娘，他把抢扔掉，姑娘也没搞，他说他工作的时候不搞，姑娘很无奈，姑娘说no gun，no cellphone，no sex，it's boring。姑娘叹了一口气，她鲜脆欲滴的身体粉白得好像刚摘下来的水蜜桃，每夜赤裸着在他面前晃来晃去，伴着他入睡，但是他既不搞，也不睡，他整夜整夜的醒着，一个城市一个城市的醒着，看日出日落，从电影的开始倒最后，他一直醒着，从来不睡。

BILL MURRY在哪呢？我在演员表里看到他的名字写的比谁的都大，可两个小时过去了，这老家伙还没出现，后来我意识到他一定是那个要被杀掉的人。当杀手接受任务的时候，大佬就告诉他为什么要去杀那个人——因为他认为自己比别人都重要的人，他必须死。这样他才会知道生命的真相。他会知道，生命只是一抹尘土。BILL MURRY就是那个觉得自己比别人更重要的人，他将在电影的最后，化为一抹尘土，负责知道生命的真相。

我看到这句话的时候就乐了，那只是电影的开头，我还不知道他要晃悠这么长时间，吃这么多纸条，喝这么多咖啡呢。所以每当他吃完一个纸条，喝完一次咖啡，我就想，BILL MURRY快来了吧，可是BILL MURRY 还是没有出现，杀手还是在城中游荡，我发现他有点O型腿，但是他走路的姿态摇摇晃晃的很有趣，电影慢慢的进行着，慢的我要睡着了，于是我抽了根烟还吃了一块话梅糖，我已经很久不抽烟也很久不吃话梅糖了，可是我被这电影搞得实在太无聊了我得找点事儿干，BILL MURRY，那个必须死的人还是没有出现，于是我又无聊的想起了曾经和一个男人的对话，男人给我讲他泡妞的心得，他说你可以把那些女人想象成一棵棵树，泡妞就好像砍树。如果你不动，时间就静止在某一刻，然后你就可以任意的砍树了。后来我和男人一起吃过一次饭，我看着他修长的手指握着一把叉子和一把刀把一块鸡肉翻过来调过去，调过去翻过来，就莫名其妙的又想起了砍树的事。我想树一定很郁闷，树说，你到底是要砍啊还是要砍啊还是要砍啊？求求你砍了我吧，你再不砍我都要睡着了。

追求速度不是控制的极限，所谓控制的极限，就是慢。贾木许是这个意思吗？也许吧。慢速的运动最需要控制力，这个我到是知道的，是因为这个，贾木许才让他的黑人杀手在电影里足足晃荡了两个小时，从一个城市晃到另一个城市，一个城市比一个城市荒凉，到最后，只剩下一片荒野，男人穿着银灰色的西装，看着山谷里的壁垒森严的别墅。手里只有一根从旧吉他上摘下的琴弦作为杀人武器。可是他怎么进去呢？

BILL MURRY终于出现了，他发现他把自己和一个杀手锁在了一起，第一句话问的也是和我的同一个问题，你是怎么进来的？他生气的问。男人说：靠想象。然后我就笑得不行了，心里想贾木许你是个神经病啊，你能不能别闹，你太不像话了不带你这么玩的，你带着我晃悠了这么大半天最后给我来了这么一句话，还是黑泽大爷厚道啊，椿三十郎那神奇的一招我以为他使不出来接过最后他真的老老实实的给我们演示了一下，你这也太赖了，简直是逗你玩啊。

好吧，你们都好有境界，我佩服你们都是大师好啦，杀人的极限，泡妞的极限，都是控制的极限，导演迷恋的也是这一份控制的极限，而最后如何杀人，到了那结果的时候，反倒不重要了。而我这种没啥控制力的人呢，就跟着没事瞎看看热闹，我迷恋的是胡思乱想无极限，你们游荡，你们静止，你们控制，我就在这里胡思乱想无边无沿，大佬说：宇宙没有界限，现实是由主观思维决定的，大佬的翻译就直瞪眼儿：这句也要我翻译？我都不知道是啥意思。我乐得歪歪的，就想到我也可以编出很多听上去很玄的话，比如我听过一句话，有人问登山爱好者，为什么要登山，得到的回答是：因为山在那里，我想这句话也可以改编成：

为什么要泡妞，因为妞在那里。

怎么样，听上去很唬人吧。一下子就上升到哲学境界了吧。我是没啥控制力，可是我会瞎扯，要不怎么说，精神病人思维广呢。最关键的是，你在看这么一个神经病电影的时候，你几乎无聊的啥都能胡嘞嘞出来。不过我还挺喜欢它的，不知道是不是因为它到了无聊的极限，好像这无聊的生命的缘故。


最后，再次果断的不向每个人推荐这个电影，除非你失眠的话。

《控制的极限》才是原意的合适翻译

与其说片子整体在虚幻和现实交织 不如说整个片子都是落在虚幻的时间或臆想的空间

是思想的争斗或生活的选择
主角的两杯咖啡表现着 主角对争论结果确定的渴望 但是每当有人想要喝另一杯咖啡 总是被主角的态度制止了 说明他还不能接受这样的观点 他还要继续争斗哪个才是正确的

最终的杀人任务 是一个强迫的结果 是一个现实 不管你的选择有多么艰难 现实生活过程中你必须选择一个方向 否则你只能停步不前

结尾不表明哪个选择占了上风 只是表明无论多艰难的选择 你还是一定要选择 不断的衡量和思想争斗在行动面前显得并不是最重要了 选择了你才能向前走 才知道到底是对是错 和行动相比较 思想争论和结果的对错都显得微不足道了 主角最后脱下正装 换上便装 也是这种情绪解脱一种表现

片子的主题表现大概是生命中的一种常态现象 控制的极限就是要突破这种仅是停留在思想争论控制阶段 只有行动才是能让生命继续前进的真实动力 生命的意义在于实践的过程

这点主题导演倒是做到了 不过表现的手法上显得有些生硬和单调 荒诞的情节和对话只是想表现思想斗争的复杂 这点让我觉得满遗憾的

 

Jarmusch的這本片子，在我看來，是一則寓言，也猶如一樁禪宗公案。

刺客，深居簡出。
日復一日，喝著同樣的兩杯espresso, 聽著陌生人同樣的對話，交換火柴盒和點滴訊息，然後繼續上路。日子如同他每日修煉的太極短式，平淡枯寂，波瀾不驚。念一句阿彌陀佛，也就隨遇而安。

終於一日，風起，劍出鞘。

人生，其實亦如是。從一地到另一地，看似簡單重複，而動物本能般收取過濾相關信息，有時蜇伏，有時躍起，有時轉向，回頭看樣樣自有真意。

它像一列你偶爾登上的火車，不知沿途風景如何，你只有繼續，行至雲深水窮。接近內核的時候，一切會瞬間透徹澄明。

Jarmusch這本片子，也是對王家衛的致敬。經歷風塵滄桑的杜可風，鏡頭運用得隱忍而流暢。Boris的音樂。那一小段掠去人靈魂的flamengo。

“要參透人生真諦，那麼去看墓地。到最後一日，我們都是一小捧塵埃。”

等著看今晚記錄此片拍攝幕後的紀錄片"Behind Jarmusch", Léa Rinaldi在Sevilla跟班拍了三天。