Lizzy's Film Reviews

編劇兼導演Mike Cahill目前的兩部電影作品：2011年的《另一個地球》(Another Earth)與2014年的《I型起源》，獲得的評價雖只算中上，但都很合我胃口。《I型起源》比《另一個地球》概念更成熟完整，執行成果更精鍊，劇本也更力求合理，像片中人物某次上樓時選擇走樓梯的原因，以及將搭電梯的行為拖到最後才發生，都是經過用心鋪陳的。最吸引我的是，《I型起源》像是有某種很浪漫的深海洋流，在片中那些科學研究背後悄悄流動著，非常觸動我心。



這是一部難以預料劇情走向的電影，至少在看前三分之二的時候皆如此。Ian（Michael Pitt）是個年輕的科學家，著重科學與邏輯，對所謂造物主的概念嗤之以鼻。為了一次擺平宗教人士的論點，他希望與助理Karen（Brit Marling）找出「眼睛」從無到有的完整進化過程，證明即使是人身上最有「靈性」的器官，都是由進化而來...但是這理論後續的發展，與他生命中遇到的一雙明眸，卻可能翻轉他的信念......



英文片名I Origins的意義，我猜有兩層，一個是I作為Eye的諧音，代表Ian在尋找的眼睛進化源起；另一方面，或許這個I也同時代表人的自我意識，甚至是靈魂。

乍看之下，可能會誤以為導演的主要用意是想呈現有神論vs.無神論、創造論vs.演化論、科學vs.信仰、機緣vs.命運等等的論點攻防，但並非如此。《I型起源》不是傳教片，也不是貶抑宗教的片，它想講的是一個愛情故事與它真正的完整最終章、一個悲喜交織的"closure"，以及科學與信仰中間的灰色地帶。編導並沒有對宗教與科學選邊站，而是持開放態度，只要有證據，所有可能性皆可接受，在證據出現之前，人們也只能自由心證。



***以下有雷，強烈建議看過電影之後再讀***

《I型起源》的結尾讓我深受衝擊與感動。那樣的感情結局是如此溫暖，對照起之前的遺憾與惆悵，悲喜交織，讓人感慨萬千，我甚至忍不住哭了。這是悲傷的現實裡所能有的最好結果──這回他終於能保護到她了。而且，它完全抓住信仰、信念的本質，以及信仰與科學之間的模糊地帶，因為世上有些東西是兩方都還未能證明的，沒有人能斬釘截鐵地給出絕對答案。本片片尾發生的關鍵事件，代表某個讓人只能自行決定要不要擁抱的信念，畢竟這是個科學也許還要等很久才能驗證或反駁的領域，在這之前，我們都只能在有限的資訊下作一些判斷，這些結果就成了信念或信仰。



除此之外，我也很喜歡片中將Ian與Sofi的感情描述得真實複雜。Ian心裡明白Sofi就跟個小孩沒兩樣，不適合講究理性的自己，但多年後他依舊割捨不下，即使在展開新生活之後依然如此，因為當年他並沒有機會把話好好說清楚。這並不代表他不愛Karen，從Karen對他印度行的支持，看得出Karen也理解這種複雜感受。



比較可惜的是，Sofi（Astrid Bergès-Frisbey飾演）與Karen（Brit Marling飾演）兩個女性角色的特質，比較像把刻板印象全丟進去製造出的光譜兩極樣板人物，一個嚴肅理性認真，是個外表完全不修邊幅的科學家，還要戴一副大大的粗框眼鏡；一個美麗天真爛漫，是個追求宇宙玄秘真理的模特兒，隨時明艷動人。此種人物塑造過於陳腔濫調，顯得不真實。另外，片尾跑完工作人員名單後的驚喜畫面，我認為破壞了整部片帶來的氛圍，就算是為了也許會發生的續集鋪路，依舊很沒必要。



跟之前由編導Cahill兼任攝影師的《另一個地球》相比，本片攝影Markus Förderer將畫面提昇不少（當然另一方面也歸功於預算變多了，從十萬美金跳到一百萬美金），尤其一雙雙眼睛拍得很美，彷彿是一個個小宇宙，從沒想過人類的眼可以如此美到令人醉心。Mike Cahill目前兩部作品題材都很特別，是個很不自我設限、勇於挑戰的導演，我很期待未來他有越來越多的預算之後，是否能帶來更多驚奇。



題外話：
無神論者也是可以很浪漫的，例如Ian對Sofi說的：
"When the big bang happened, all the atoms in the universe, they were all smashed together into one little dot that exploded outward. So my atoms and your atoms were certainly together then, and, who knows, probably smashed together several times in the last 13.7 billion years. So my atoms have known your atoms and they've always known your atoms. My atoms have always loved your atoms. "
也許無神論者不會說什麼你我前世註定那種肉麻兮兮的話，但誰說在極度理性、注重邏輯的思考下，容不下浪漫的想法呢？

***
經典對白：
***

Sofi: Why are you working so hard to disprove God?

Ian: Disprove? Who proved that God was there in the first place?

***

Sofi: How many senses do worms have?

Ian: They have two. Smell and touch. Why?

Sofi: So... they live without any ability to see or even know about light, right? The notion of light to them is unimaginable.

Ian: Yeah.

Sofi: But we humans... we know that light exists. All around them... right on top of them... they cannot sense it. But with a little mutation, they do. Right?

Ian: Correct.

Sofi: So... Doctor Eye... perhaps some humans, rare humans... have mutated to have another sense. A spirit sense. And can perceive a world that is right on top of us... everywhere. Just like the light on these worms.

***

Sofi: Do you know the story of the Phasianidae?

Ian: The... No, what's that?

Sofi: It's a bird that experiences all of time in one instant. And she sings the song of love and anger and fear and joy and sadness all at once. And this bird... when she meets the love of her life... is both happy and sad. Happy because she sees that for him it is the beginning, and sad because she knows it is already over.

***

Ian: I don't believe in luck. I do believe we've known each other since forever, though.

Sofi: Really?

Ian: Yeah. You know how? When the big bang happened, all the atoms in the universe, they were all smashed together into one little dot that exploded outward. So my atoms and your atoms were certainly together then, and, who knows, probably smashed together several times in the last 13.7 billion years. So my atoms have known your atoms and they've always known your atoms. My atoms have always loved your atoms.

***

Ian: It's a false positive, you understand? It's an error. It has to be an error. It's statistically impossible. Data point.

Karen: If I drop this phone a thousand times, a million times... and one time, it does't fall... just once, it hovers in the air. That is an error that's worth looking at.

***

Ian: You know we could be looking forever and find nothing.

Karen: Turning over rocks and finding nothing is progress.

***

Ian: You live in this fairy, magical... fantasy land. It's a fucking lie, and you know it's a lie.

***

Ian: I'm so looking forward to brainwashing this child with you.

Karen: You know what I was thinking? What if we turn the garage into a lab? And the baby could be our first test subject.

***