《圣喬治》是一部關(guān)于失業(yè)拳擊手喬治的電影。喬治面臨著失去家庭的危險(xiǎn)，他需要償還債務(wù)并說(shuō)服妻子留在葡萄牙。為了償還債務(wù)，喬治不情愿地接受了與催收機(jī)構(gòu)合作的工作，結(jié)果卷入了暴力和犯罪的世界。這部電影探討了家庭、經(jīng)濟(jì)壓力和道德困境等主題。

作者公眾號(hào)：如果在澳門(mén)小廢話兒：Marco Martins的《Saint George》曾參加過(guò)2016年威尼斯電影節(jié)的競(jìng)賽單元，并且?jiàn)Z得最佳男主角。而在剛結(jié)束的第一屆澳門(mén)影展，評(píng)審委員會(huì)打破每個(gè)電影只給一個(gè)獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)的管理，頒給了這部電影兩個(gè)重要獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)——“最佳導(dǎo)演”和“最佳男演員”。

本文已以中英雙語(yǔ)刊登于2017年1月《澳門(mén)特寫(xiě)》雜志。

這次您的電影在第一屆澳門(mén)國(guó)際影展暨頒獎(jiǎng)典禮上斬獲兩個(gè)大獎(jiǎng)。請(qǐng)問(wèn)您此時(shí)感想如何？

我們?cè)谧鲭娪皶r(shí)，就沒(méi)想過(guò)拿獎(jiǎng)的事情，我們只關(guān)心電影的觀眾受眾群。但的確，獎(jiǎng)項(xiàng)也很重要，它會(huì)讓更多的觀眾和媒體都注意到這部電影。像這部與政治相關(guān)的電影，媒體關(guān)注會(huì)有很好的效果──因?yàn)樗麄儠?huì)同時(shí)討論電影和電影討論的主題，這其實(shí)很重要。現(xiàn)在的新聞時(shí)效都很短，人們很快便忘記了發(fā)生過(guò)的事情。我認(rèn)為在這是個(gè)非常特別的時(shí)間段，而且人們應(yīng)該從中吸取教訓(xùn)。葡萄牙人居然并不知道自己一直在向歐洲償還債務(wù)，這件事非常奇怪。而且歐債危機(jī)的真正當(dāng)事人，比如說(shuō)居住在Jamaica或Bela-Vista這種地方的窮人從沒(méi)有機(jī)會(huì)出現(xiàn)在新聞里。你只能看見(jiàn)政治家們?cè)谟懻摂?shù)字而已，不管是左派還是右派，他們都一樣的在喝香檳。

《Saint George》其實(shí)是一部非常大膽的電影，內(nèi)容是關(guān)于發(fā)生在葡萄牙的經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)，這是個(gè)特別而敏感的時(shí)刻。你是從何時(shí)決定開(kāi)始做這個(gè)選題的呢？

當(dāng)我開(kāi)始創(chuàng)作《Saint George》這部片子的時(shí)候，周?chē)娜硕几艺f(shuō)拍一個(gè)關(guān)于當(dāng)下正在發(fā)生事情的電影是很冒險(xiǎn)的，因?yàn)槲覀儾荒苡幸粋€(gè)準(zhǔn)確的觀點(diǎn)，幾年之后事情可能會(huì)發(fā)生變化，而你也可能會(huì)對(duì)其有不一樣的看法。

我傾向同意他們的觀點(diǎn)。但是，這是我們歷史上近乎決定性的時(shí)刻，我們失去了很多社會(huì)福利，很多人失去了他們的工作，一切都在改變。我認(rèn)為報(bào)紙上的新聞和電視總是在談?wù)撜魏蛿?shù)字，沒(méi)有人關(guān)注人民的感受和經(jīng)濟(jì)危機(jī)的真實(shí)的一面。所以我覺(jué)得冒這個(gè)險(xiǎn)。我之前從未拍過(guò)社會(huì)議題的電影，這部電影與我之前的作品有很大的不同。對(duì)我們這代人來(lái)說(shuō)，這件事非比尋常，它看起來(lái)像是人人都同意我們向歐洲支付債務(wù)。

這部影片的主演Nuno Lopes拿下了最佳男主角獎(jiǎng)，他之前在威尼斯影展上也同樣拿下了最佳男主角。你覺(jué)得他的表演有何特別之處，會(huì)如此打動(dòng)人心？

我認(rèn)為他在電影中的表演非常有特點(diǎn)。 Nuno是個(gè)情感充沛的演員，也是功力頗深的演員。他有著堅(jiān)韌的個(gè)性，就像一個(gè)一直在出拳的拳擊手。他不光身體壯碩，內(nèi)心也很堅(jiān)韌。人們因此會(huì)被他的性格所吸引。同時(shí)，那就像是個(gè)對(duì)于我們當(dāng)時(shí)所思考之事的隱喻──我們對(duì)于即將到來(lái)的事情一無(wú)所知，正如那個(gè)角色，正如身處暗室里與黑暗作斗爭(zhēng)。很多人都問(wèn)過(guò)，我是怎么讓Nuno的演出可以不露一絲表演痕跡的。我的回答是，我也不知道。當(dāng)我在導(dǎo)演時(shí)，我只想讓演員找到所演出角色的強(qiáng)調(diào)。但是和Nuno我們已經(jīng)合作了那么久，一起做調(diào)研，一起做采訪 ，所以當(dāng)表演那一刻來(lái)臨時(shí)，他其實(shí)已經(jīng)不用想太多了。在澳門(mén)的觀眾和評(píng)委會(huì)不僅理解而且欣賞您的電影，這是否意味著您的作品本身傳達(dá)更多的不分文化差異，大家都能理解的訊息在里面呢？

我覺(jué)得肯定是由這種訊息在里面的。有趣的是，越是本土的故事，其實(shí)越能引起普遍共鳴。我認(rèn)為根本沒(méi)有所謂的本土故事。美國(guó)文化試圖以全球化、趨同性影響我們，但并不其然。我更希望看到一部講述澳門(mén)或中國(guó)的被遺忘的社區(qū)的電影，勝于一部看起來(lái)像是美國(guó)大片的中國(guó)電影，因?yàn)槟莻€(gè)沒(méi)有普遍性，僅僅是中國(guó)或葡萄牙對(duì)于美國(guó)電影的簡(jiǎn)單重復(fù)而已。這種電影語(yǔ)言是可以引起普遍共鳴的，只要你知道自己的觀眾在哪里。畢竟我的這部電影講述了一位父親試圖保護(hù)家庭完整性，不想失去妻子和兒子的故事，這就是我認(rèn)為的普世價(jià)值。

您的電影已經(jīng)賣(mài)給了中國(guó)片方。請(qǐng)問(wèn)您知道它何時(shí)會(huì)在中國(guó)發(fā)行放映嗎？

我其實(shí)不知道它什么時(shí)候會(huì)在中國(guó)發(fā)行。我希望它會(huì)在院線放映，因?yàn)楹芏鄷r(shí)候買(mǎi)家只是買(mǎi)下它出版發(fā)行而已。您的每?jī)刹孔髌分卸奸g隔了不短的時(shí)間。請(qǐng)問(wèn)原因是？

我是花很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間的人，平均每部電影之間間隔5年吧。于我而言，找到一個(gè)合適的題材真的很難。而且有時(shí)候在葡萄牙尋找拍片資金也并非易事，也需要花上時(shí)間。而當(dāng)我有了最終的劇本后，在拍攝之前我還需要和演員進(jìn)行大量的溝通工作。所以確實(shí)會(huì)花很長(zhǎng)時(shí)間。而當(dāng)拍攝結(jié)束時(shí)，比如這部電影，我花了六個(gè)月時(shí)間剪片，又花了六個(gè)月時(shí)間配音配樂(lè)，所以時(shí)間很長(zhǎng)。我有一點(diǎn)點(diǎn)完美主義傾向。您是否考慮過(guò)來(lái)澳門(mén)拍電影呢？

我的電影，要么是關(guān)于我所熟知的事物，要么是關(guān)于我想進(jìn)一步了解的事物。我更容易選擇那些自己熟悉的題材，所以我基本上都在葡萄牙拍攝。而紀(jì)錄片的話，我則更多在國(guó)外拍攝，日本，印度或者巴西。我將來(lái)一定也會(huì)來(lái)澳門(mén)拍攝。對(duì)于我們葡萄牙人而言，澳門(mén)充滿了魅力，它就像是一片丟失在歷史長(zhǎng)河之中的時(shí)間，待你去探索要如何去處理這樣一個(gè)題材。而當(dāng)你覺(jué)得一件事物充滿魅力之時(shí)，正是你以之為電影的時(shí)刻。轉(zhuǎn)載請(qǐng)注明出處、微信號(hào)(@如果在澳門(mén))以及添加原文鏈接。

Q&A with "Best Director" Marco Martins*This article is firstly appeared on the 2017 January issue of Macau CLOSER magazine

How do you feel about receiving these two awards at the first edition of the International Film Festival & Awards Macao?

When we do films, we don’t think about awards, you think about the public and who are you addressing the film to. But actually awards can be important, to make your film more visible to a bigger audience, to have media attention. In a film like this, such a political film, media attention is good both ways, because it talks about the film and it talks about the subject of the film, which is really important.

Nowadays news is so fast that people tend to forget very easily. And I think this was a very particular time and there’s a lesson there. This thing about Portuguese having to pay a debt to Europe, that nobody knew existed, is really strange. And then the real faces of the crisis, the poor people from places like Jamaica, Bela-Vista - those faces are never in the news. You see politicians talking about numbers. They’re left wing, right wing, but they all drink champagne.

Saint George is a risky film in the sense that it's a film about the crisis in Portugal, a very specific and sensitive moment. When did you decide to work with such a topic?

When I started writingSaint George, people kept telling me that there’s nothing more dangerous than to write a film about the present, because we don't have perspective, things will seem different in a few years and when you look back you have a different perspective about it.

I tend to agree with this, but then for us it was a very decisive moment in our recent history, we lost a lot of social privileges, a lot of people were losing their jobs and everything was changing. I think that news and newspapers and TV tend to talk more about politics and numbers, but they don't see the real faces of the people, the real faces of the crisis. So I took the risk. I never did a social film before; all my films are very different from this one. For our generation, this was something different. It seemed that we had to pay our debt to Europe and everybody was accepting that.

One of the awards is for the actor, Nuno Lopes, who also won the same prize in Venice. Why do you think his performance seems to touch everyone so much?

I think it’s very unique what he achieved in the film. Nuno is a very emotional actor, a very profound actor, and here he has this tough personality, he’s a boxer who is struggling. You see this big body but with a big heart as well. People are very touched by the character.

At the same time it’s like a metaphor of what all of us were thinking at that time – we didn't know exactly what was going on, it was just like a character, it was like a dark room in some way, like fighting with the dark. A lot of people asked me how I got to a point with Nuno where it seems that he is not acting at all. The answer to that is that I really don't know, because when you’re directing you just try for the actors to achieve what you think is the right tuning for that character. And with Nuno, we worked so much together, also in the research period, doing interviews in the neighborhoods, that when it came to the time when he had to act, he really didn’t need to think that much.The fact that audiences and a jury on the other side of the world, Macau, can understand and appreciate your film also shows that there's a more universal message in it, correct?

I think there is a universal message, that’s for sure. Ironically, the more local a story is, the more universal it gets. I think there are no local stories. American culture tries to sell us this thing about globalization, and about everything being the same, but it isn’t. I’m more interested in seeing a film about the forgotten society here in Macau or in China, than a Chinese film that looks like an American film, because then it’s not universal, it’s just like a Chinese copy or a Portuguese copy of an American movie. So, this kind of language can be very universal if you find your audience for it. Most of all, the center of the story is a father who wants to keep his family together, he doesn’t want to lose his son and wife, that’s universal I think

The rights of your film were sold to China. Do you have any idea of how it is going to be distributed here in China?

I don’t know when it’s going to be released in China. I hope it will have a theatrical release, because sometimes they buy it and just distribute it directly on video or something.

It seems you take quite a long time between each of your films. Why is that?

I takes a very long, it’s basically a film every five years. For me, to find the right subject is very difficult. Then, sometimes in Portugal to finance your projects it’s not easy, you lose a bit of time on that. And then when I have the final script, and before we start shooting, I have to do a lot of work with the actors. So it’s really a long way. And when the shooting finishes, like in this film, I’ve spent six months editing image and six months editing sound, so it’s a long process for me. In that sense I’m a little bit of a perfectionist.

Would you ever consider shooting in Macau?

My films are always about something that I know very well or that I want to know more about. I tend to choose subjects that are very close to me, that’s why I usually shoot my fictions in Portugal. As far as documentaries, I’ve shot a lot of them abroad, in Japan, in India, in Brazil. And I will shoot in Macau for sure. For us Portuguese, Macau has a bit of a fascination, it’s a bit of history lost in time that you recover, that you don’t know exactly what to do with. It’s really amazing, when you have a fascination for something, it’s great to make a film about it.