寻找小糖人

记录片英国2012

主演:Stephen 'Sugar' Segerman,罗德里格斯,马利克·本德杰鲁,Dennis Coffey,Mike Theodore,Dan DiMaggio,Jerome Ferretti,Steve Rowland,Willem Möller,Craig Bartholomew Strydom,Ilse Assmann,Steve M. Harris

导演:马利克·本德杰鲁

 剧照

寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.1寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.2寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.3寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.4寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.5寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.6寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.13寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.14寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.15寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.16寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.17寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.18寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.19寻找小糖人 剧照 NO.20
更新时间:2024-04-11 16:02

详细剧情

  罗德里格斯在上世纪70年代发行过两张专辑《Cold Fact》与《Coming From Reality》,在南非有超过50万的销量且知名度可与滚石乐队相提并论。但与其他知名的美国歌手不同,南非的歌迷得不到任何一点关于罗德里格斯的信息,除了专辑歌曲之外唯一能了解的只有专 辑封面上一张并不清晰的相片。两张专辑后,他好像也就此销声匿迹。  对于在南非的辉煌成绩,罗德里格斯其实并不知情,他在美国过着截然不同的生活,没有知名度,专辑销量不佳,被唱片公司抛弃,曾经一度做着装修屋顶的体力活…… 南非开普敦一家唱片店老板斯蒂芬与音乐记者克雷格听到罗德里格斯在舞台上奇特自杀的传闻后展开调查,寻找小糖人之路就此开始,一段神秘的传奇故事就此展开……

 长篇影评

 1 ) 传奇是制造出来的,是他耕种的一生让我感恩

往常看到这样的电影肯定会第一时间感叹罗不可思议的故事,感叹一个用音乐温暖人心的艺术大师与众不同的生活。但今天看到结尾,穿插着一首《你的苦恼》,于是反复沉吟歌词中,他告诉你揭示你但一点都不难接受,他的从容也让你从容,他接受生活,接受不愉快,接受音乐才华的结束也接受回味式的分享,就算和多年来从未蒙面的无数激动不已的粉丝见面,也依然没有显露灼人的星光。天知道那个时代的南非人们是有多感激这位身世迷奇的大师,连他自己也不知道。就算后来这么意外的知道了自己作品的影响,有那么多人为他而惊叹, 甚至将他捧至猫王之上,也并未让他的生活从此万象更新,他还是一样,乐意分享过去的自己,也乐意回到自己现在的生活。于是比起音乐才华更让人感动的是他的朴实与从容。他只是踩着生活的节拍在释放自己,用音乐或者双手,他都乐于感受。 想想却发现,其实这样性格的人身边也有。
所以,我是想起我爷爷了,才会有这么多想写的。回想起爷爷的时候会发现他让人心酸的善良,他对待我们时的慈爱和罗是那么相似。罗曾经写出自己再也不能超越的音乐,也从不放弃自己劳苦的生活;而我的爷爷,也养大不再属于他的子女,耕种了几十年的田地,直到七十多才肯停止对儿女们的输送,后来加入花鼓队全心去追求他自己的爱好,但也只持续了两年不到就结束了整段人生。我不只一次崇敬的回想爷爷,他的不假外求他默默却又几十年如一日般耕种生活的热情,是任何时候的我都不曾有的,我真是幸运能有这么一个爷爷。所以,咀嚼到电影结尾的时候,我才恍然觉得这样传奇的一个人物,其实也就是一个父亲,一个蓝领工人,一个持续的默默的热爱自己生命的人。我们的身边也有这样的人。虽然越发难得。而音乐,让罗的热爱也温暖了无数人。包括现在的我。

 2 ) 《寻找小糖人》:来自民间的力量

(这是份作业,加之我近来似乎也在重度压力下患上了语死早,所以……)
 
《寻找小糖人》的主人公罗德里格兹在南非的知名度超过滚石乐队,他于上世纪70年代发行的《Cold Fact》与《Coming From Reality》曾于这个人口仅4000万的国家获得了超过50万的销量。然而能读到无数滚石乐队相关报道的南非歌迷却得不到任何有关罗德里格兹的信息,唯一掌握的只是歌曲本身和一张并不清晰的专辑封面。这引发了他们的无限遐想,从而造就了无数流言——有人说他在监狱里服药过量自杀,还有人说他在舞台上当众给自己浇上汽油后点火。实际上,罗德里格兹对自己在南非的辉煌战绩毫不知情,作为一名被公司解约了几十年的过气歌手,他的真实身份是底特律某装修工人。直至开普敦的唱片店老板斯蒂芬与音乐记者克雷格在机缘巧合之下开启了寻找罗德里格兹之旅,这段不为人的传奇才渐渐浮出水面……
 
受限于影像资料的缺失,本片全部由事件相关人士的回忆访谈以及老照片、旧报纸构成,由此,第85届奥斯卡最佳纪录片奖得主《寻找小糖人》成了一部不折不扣的诞生于剪辑台上的电影。然而影片的临场感却因导演对音效的灵活应用而大大增强了——如开场处的访谈中,配合着两位受访者所回忆起的初遇罗德里格兹当日的酒吧内外景象,背景音中亦响起了“身后的货轮”、“嘈杂的酒吧”以及“自烟雾墙中凸显而出的吉他”。反复出现的驾驶场景,即“纵向运动串场”这一简单技法,连缀了开普敦与底特律、七十年代与当今世界,很好地凸显了影片的“寻找”氛围。成长于盗版时代的中国乐迷想必会对此深有共鸣:在一个相对隔绝的发行体系中,只消一篇热情洋溢的乐评文章,辅以音像发行者(即盗版碟制作者的喜爱),部分冷门音乐便得以重新被“发现”,从而在新的国度获得更为热烈的反响——最典型的例子莫过于Lacrimosa;不过随着互联网与英文的普及,小糖人这类大红大紫却浑然不知的传奇恐怕将与实体唱片一同消亡了。从这个意义上讲,《寻找小糖人》不仅是对罗德里格兹这位音乐隐士的致敬,更堪称是对过往时代的追忆。
 
另一方面,罗德里格兹人生的各个阶段,则由“横向运动串场”完成,即几段他的“踽踽独行”:如自第6分钟起,动画中形单影只却年轻气盛罗德里格兹走过底特律街头,镜头伴随着他的步伐自右向左接连扫过贫民区的唱片店、酒吧和墨西哥人开在中产阶级社区的杂货铺,接着转向了当代底特律的奥林匹克钢铁公司,充分强调了“底特律”这一元素及其背后的意味:工人阶层、少数族裔、大型公司——空荡孤寂的底特律寒夜,倒是与该城破产后的肃杀当下十分契合。然后是第52分钟,当罗德里格兹回忆至自己音乐生涯结束、重新做回了工人后,镜头紧接着转向老态龙钟的他于雪地中的跋涉;第63分钟处罗德里格兹一家来到南非巡演,导演用动画展现了他们下飞机后一路走向体育场的景象;最后是“寻找小糖人”结束后,“American zero , South Africa Hero”的罗德里格兹于春暖花开时再次前行于底特律街头。四段漫步不仅点透了时代与空间的变迁、令罗德里格兹与底特律彻底融合,更暗喻了无论境况如何变化,这位歌者兼智者都一如既往地一往无前。
 
在美国籍籍无名的他缘何能在南非收获如此巨大的影响力?依鄙人愚见,这多少与罗德里格兹的墨西哥裔身份脱不开干系——七十年代美国种族歧视现象尚还十分严重,偏偏“罗德里格兹”是一个墨西哥色彩浓郁的姓氏。对美国乐坛有所了解的观众都清楚,黑人有黑人音乐,白人有白人音乐,在老年代二者井水不犯河水,罗德里格兹却玩起了白人专属的民谣摇滚。另一方面,其与其所出身的底特律,就音乐文化而言,也可谓是相当不契合——同为底特律出身的Jack White曾在另一部纪录片《It might get loud》中坦言:“在我家那个周围全是墨西哥人的街区里,弹吉他是你所能做的最尴尬的事情——那里流行hip hop、DJ和说唱歌手。琴行和唱片店都没有,玩乐器一点都不牛逼,也没人喜欢摇滚乐和布鲁斯。”
 
与周遭氛围格格不入的风格趣味,昏暗阴冷、烟雾缭绕的创作环境,以及作为工人阶级少数族裔贫乏的物质条件,促成了遍布罗德里格兹作品每个音符间的冷漠、疏离、玩世不恭与遗世独立。我想,相较于谈情说爱的猫王与纵情声色的滚石,这样的作品显然与南非的社会现实更加贴合(至于同罗德里格兹最为接近的鲍勃迪伦,他那诗化的歌词于南非听众而言显然有些晦涩)。在南非,占人口总数13%的白人常年压制着实为多数派的“少数族裔”(与之相对,西班牙裔在美国也可谓是“实为多数的少数派”),无论铁路、公共洗手间还是学校、街区,全社会皆全方位地贯彻着种族隔离政策,数以百万计的黑人被迫远离城市,只能从事矿工一类的高风险工作,由此导致了持续不断的国内抗争和国际谴责,待到1989年,深陷危机中的南非已经处于无政府状态。直至1994年曼德拉上台,全国仍有1/4人口生活极度贫困,近一半人没有电力,随时有可能爆发内战。
 
在这种情况下,罗德里格兹的音乐不仅抒发了南非人的自身情绪,更代表了他们对自由世界的向往——一如影片所介绍,南非政府的言论管制措施极为严格,禁止媒体报道任何国内外异见消息。由于臭名昭著的种族隔离措施,南非遭受了严重的国际制裁,导致国内音乐人无法出国表演、国外乐队也无法前来巡回,使得南非成为了与世隔绝的孤岛。习惯了军事戒严与间谍监视的南非人不仅难以了解外面的世界,甚至有相当一部分人都意识不到现状理应是被努力改变的——而罗德里格兹的作品恰恰给了他们一个宣泄的渠道。《anti-establishment blues》令南非人意识到“体制”所呈现的并非一切,《set it off》则鼓励他们关掉电视、拒绝节目中咄咄逼人的总统。由于罗德里格兹的代表作《Searching for the sugar man》暗示了“嗑药”,有关部门将唱片上的该首曲目用刀彻底刮掉,使之不可能在公开场合播放。这反而为罗德里格兹的传奇增光添彩——毕竟老话早就有云,“如果你想推广什么东西,最好的方式就是禁了它”,小糖人反而影响了一代又一代的青少年。
 
导演牢牢扣合“寻找小糖人”这一主线,注重戏剧性的突出,故并未对美国唱片界、南非政治和底特律作为工业之城的背景做太多交代,只是在与情节交融之处加以渗透——如第30分钟的唱片店老板访谈一段,便可看到唱片架上贴有曼德拉的头像。乍看之下,这种做法似乎大大增加了影片的叙事密度、使内容更加丰满,却在实质上对观众形成了误导。片中的制作人虽然在接受采访时反复强调罗德里格兹的专辑在美国只卖出了六张(这个段落确实极为煽情),却对他曾在澳大利亚和新西兰走红、巡演乃至推出现场专辑决口不提,这难免有刻意隐瞒关键以增强煽情性的嫌疑。
 
此外,导演在通过资料录像介绍了南非民众对抗种族隔离的历史之后,迅速切入到了对几位南非音乐界从业者的访谈。他们的叙述皆紧紧围绕罗德里格兹在南非白人中产阶级间的巨大影响力展开,这就导致许多观众很容易将两件事联系起来(窃以为是导演有意为之),误以为罗德里格兹的乐迷群体、即中产阶级白人学生才是促成社会变革的主要动因、而罗德里格兹的作品于他们有若圣歌——可这与事实是不相符的。“罗德里格兹传奇”的真正核心其实在于唱片店老板在第23分钟所指出的:影响到了许多南非音乐人。这显然是件虽然关乎政治、却更多隶属于文化层面的事情。
 
然而不可否认的是,尽管在深度乃至真实感上有所欠缺,《寻找小糖人》对罗德里格兹的塑造仍然相当成功。影片先用前半部分描摹出了他风华正茂时的激烈与炽热,经由一个颇有暗示意味的场景——年迈的罗德里格兹于明媚春光中拉开窗户(第48分钟)——之后,忽然转向了他红尘看破后的平和与淡然。罗德里格兹的歌词平实、有力,简洁的用语背后渗透着太多哲理,这与他出身工人阶级、看淡名利物质、追求精神享受不无关系。正如他的女儿与同事所回忆,罗德里格兹纵使一生大部分时间都在做工人,却从未将自己局限于“工人”的身份。他会身穿燕尾服去连做8至10小时的脏活,对任何事情都抱以极其认真的态度;他热衷于阅读,常常带三个女儿去博物馆(值得注意的是女儿首先提及的画家中就有德拉克洛瓦),并将弹吉他、看演出的习惯一直保持了下来;他也热衷于参加抗议和游行,乐于为了无法发声的弱势群体摇旗呐喊。枯燥的工人工作并没有影响到丰富的精神生活,他甚至曾尝试竞选市长。
 
音乐诚然是种产品,它的销量在某种程度上可以说明音乐人的“业绩”;音乐也诚然是种事业,“走红”恐怕是绝大多数音乐人的理想;但音乐更是一种精神、一种艺术与一种生活方式,它的“价值”决不能单纯地用金钱来衡量——特别是在消费社会中,文化艺术走入市场,“受欢迎”往往与“有品质”是彻头彻尾的两码事。反过来说,物质的富足也并不能替代精神的愉悦——不妨下一个稍嫌武断的定论:人往往在精神上无法满足也无可追求时才会沉溺于物质的攀比。实现人生价值有多种方式,名车豪宅不过是其中之一;然而在我们这个浮华年代,以之为奋斗目标的人总会莫名认定自己的选择才是最为正当的,想当然地嗤笑满足于老婆孩子热炕头者“胸无大志”,更无法理解“愿为超功利的事业献出生命”究竟是怎样一种追求。
 
人类之所以前进,很大程度上要归功于对物质富足的追求;但过于膨胀的欲望也往往是人性堕落的根源。影片第50分钟,当被导演问及“你如何看待从未收到南非方面的消息一事——而这件事本可彻底改变你的生活、很有可能是朝好的方向改变?”时,面对镜头极为拘谨的罗德里格兹平静地答道:“我并不知道这会不会让我的生活变得更好。”——在见证了太多天才音乐人于酒池肉林中自我毁灭后,不得不说,逃过物欲横流、勾心斗角的名利场,未尝不是件好事。罗德里格兹显然是纯粹的,纯粹到会向一体育场将他奉若神明的乐迷给出这般的开场白:“Thank you for keeping me alive.”音乐人的灵魂终归是寄托在作品中的,作品的价值被重新挖掘之时,也便是灵魂得到认可之日了;这之外的报偿,反倒不甚重要了。
 
有趣的是,影片尽管反复强调了罗德里格兹的工人阶级属性,他的南非乐迷却大多来自受过良好教育的中产阶级——这使人不得不思考起了“平民文化”与“精英文化”之间,是否真的存在严格的界限?显然,所谓“文化”,特别是“艺术”,皆不应该是“自上而下”的宣传品,而应是“自下而上”的“有感而发”。底层平民或许缺乏了知识与智识,却具备着孕育“感受”的肥沃土壤;正是影片中形形色色的底特律酒吧,造就了罗德里格兹作品中鲜活的生命力。阿多诺曾担心大众文化的代表——流行音乐——会用重复的节拍与简洁的旋律使人们头脑越发简单,但好在还有罗德里格兹这样的创作者存在。艺术终究要根植于生活的,杜甫与柳宗元等人也是在远离了浮华的权力中枢后才渐悟到了生命的真谛——歌手、诗人与思想者的身份,正是沿着这般清心寡欲、红尘看破的方式循环往复着,或许古今中外,概莫能外吧。

 3 ) 一年从奥斯卡到自杀:追寻《寻找小糖人》导演之死的最后几日

翻译练习
//ca.movies.yahoo.com/news/oscar-to-suicide-in-one-year--tracing-the--searching-for-sugar-man--director-s-tragic-final-days-123437558.html
Oscar to Suicide in One Year: Tracing the 'Searching for Sugar Man' Director's Tragic Final Days
一年从奥斯卡到自杀:追寻《寻找小糖人》导演之死的最后几日
The Hollywood Reporter
好莱坞报道
Jun 12, 2014
2014年6月12日

This story first appeared in the June 20 issue of The Hollywood Reporter magazine.
本文第一次发表在6月20日发行的《好莱坞报道》杂志
By Scott Johnson
作者 斯科特•约翰逊

In the late afternoon on May 13, a young man with a mop of soft brown hair and a delicate frame stood on the platform of the Solna Centrum metro stop in Stockholm, Sweden, waiting for the Blue Line.
5月13日下午晚些时候,一个有着一头蓬松柔软的棕色头发、轮廓精致的年轻人站在位于瑞典,斯德哥尔摩,索尔纳中心地铁站的站台上,等待蓝线地铁。

It was rush hour, and the station, one of the deepest in Stockholm’s rail system, was filling up with commuters leaving the city. At the bottom of a long escalator, cave-like tunnel walls had been painted with elaborate pastoral scenes from the 1970s: 现在是高峰时间,斯德哥尔摩地铁系统最远的车站之一,塞满了正要离开这个城市的通勤乘客。在一段长长的扶梯底部,像洞穴一样的隧道墙壁上描绘着20世纪70年代的田园景色:
lush green hillsides studded with fir trees and a giant yellow moon rising against a vast, dark red sky. Vignettes of Swedish life were overlaid against this Nordic backdrop — chain-saw-wielding loggers presiding over a recent clear-cut, a twin-engine prop plane taking flight, and a solitary violinist standing in a field pondering the city’s encroachment. At one end of the platform was a sign. “Stop!” it warned. “Unauthorized people prohibited on the tracks.”
苍翠繁茂的绿色山坡点缀着冷杉树,一轮巨大的黄色的月亮在一片广阔而黑暗的天空中升起。瑞典生活的片段被北欧的背景覆盖——拿着链锯的伐木工人正在指挥一架近代的外形干净利落,双引擎螺旋桨飞机起飞,一个站在田里的孤独的小提琴演奏者思考着城市的入侵。在站台的最后端是一个标志。“停!”这个标志警示着,“未授权人员不得踏入轨道”。

It was just the type of place that the young man, a 36-year-old Swedish journalist and Oscar-winning film director named Malik Bendjelloul, might have found intriguing.
这儿就是这个年轻人喜欢的那种地方,36岁的瑞典记者及奥斯卡获奖影片导演,马利克•本德杰鲁可能会感兴趣的地方。
The Stockholm metro system is reputed to be the largest display of public art anywhere in the world — 68.3 miles of paintings, mosaics, installations and sculptures. The station was an artistic, humane endeavor, an urban fairy-tale landscape that might have piqued his curiosity and fueled his imagination.
斯德哥尔摩地铁系统因成为全世界最大的公众艺术展所而出名——68.3英里的绘画,镶嵌画,装置和雕塑。这个艺术的,人文奋进,都市童话风景的车站可能激起了他的好奇心,助燃了他的想象力。
But on that day, as the train neared, the picturesque station was transformed into a devastating scene of the director’s final moments. With a crowd of Tuesday-afternoon commuters looking on from benches or standing against walls, Bendjelloul flung himself into the path of an oncoming train.
但是在那天,当火车靠近的时候,这个如画的车站变成了一个导演最终毁灭的现场。一大群周二下午坐着长椅或者靠着墙的通勤乘客都看到,本德杰鲁跳进了一辆正开进来的列车的轨道。

Almost immediately, Bendjelloul’s suicide, just over a year after his 2013 Academy Award for the documentary Searching for Sugar Man — a soulful, wrenching account of a forgotten Detroit folk musician named Sixto Rodriguez — threw Sweden and much of the rest of the world into stunned disbelief. How could such a talented artist choose to take his life at the height of his creative powers, when anything seemed possible and probably was? And how did a positive, happy person fall into the depths of despair with almost no one being the wiser?
几乎是他凭借《寻找小糖人》——一部充满灵魂的痛苦的再现被忘记的底特律民谣音乐人西斯托•罗德里格斯的纪录片,获得2013年奥斯卡金像奖后刚好一年,本德杰鲁的自杀,令瑞典和这个世界都感到错愕。一个如此充满天赋的艺术家怎么会在他创造力如此巅峰的时候结束自己的生命呢,一个任何事都将成为可能可以办到的时候?一个积极,快乐的人怎么会跌进绝望的深渊,却没有一个人知道为什么呢?
The first press reports from Swedish media outlets repeated the police’s initial statements that Bendjelloul had died in an “incident” of indeterminate nature. “The police do not suspect any foul play in his death,” said Mats Eriksson, press officer of Stockholm’s western police district. On that Wednesday, Johar Bendjelloul, a radio journalist and the director’s older brother, clarified that it indeed had been a suicide, the result, he said, of the recent onset of mental illness. Stockholm police officials later confirmed to THR the details of Bendjelloul’s death on the tracks. 最初来自瑞典媒体的报道大量重复着警察初步判断本德杰鲁死于一场性质不明的“事故”。“警方排除死于他杀的怀疑”,斯德哥尔摩西警区新闻发布官马茨•埃里克松说道。那个周三,电台记者及导演的哥哥乔哈尔•本德杰鲁澄清了事实,他说,根据最近开始的精神疾病方面的检测结果,的确是自杀。斯德哥尔摩警方官方稍后向《好莱坞报道》证实了本德杰鲁在铁轨上死亡的细节。
“He jumped in front of a fast-moving metro train,” one police official said. “It traumatized both the train conductor and witnesses. The SL [Metro Co.] is working with trauma and crises handling with the train conductor.” Johar Bendjelloul, meanwhile, went further. “He had been depressed,” the elder Bendjelloul told reporters, adding that he had been by his brother’s side “almost constantly” in the days before his death. “I know he had been depressed for a short period, and depression is something you can die from,” he said. “But the question of why, no one can answer; it will ache in my chest the rest of my life.”
“他跳在一辆快速行驶的地铁前”,一位警官说。“这让列车员和目击者都受到心理创伤。处理创伤和危机的SL(地铁有限公司)正在负责列车员的创伤。” 同时,更进一步,乔哈尔•本德杰鲁说道:“他很抑郁,”本德杰鲁哥哥告诉记者,他在死前几乎一直在哥哥身边,“我知道他已经抑郁了一段日子了,而抑郁是一种会让人死亡的东西。”他说,“但是问题是为什么,没有人能回答;这会让我的余生都很痛心。”
The sense of bewilderment was no less acute among the people who had worked alongside Bendjelloul for years and called him a friend. “If I think of every person I’ve met in my whole life, he was the least likely to take his life — the least,” said Karin af Klintberg, a producer for a Swedish arts and culture program called Kobra and the first person to encourage Bendjelloul to turn Rodriguez’s story into the film that would become his abiding passion for five years. “He was the happiest person I knew.”
这种困惑的感觉在和本德杰鲁曾经一起工作多年并称他为朋友的人中也丝毫没有减少。“如果我比较下我这辈子认识的每个人,他是最不可能结束自己的生命的——最不可能的。”卡琳•阿芙•克林伯格,瑞典艺术与文化项目眼镜蛇的制片人,她是第一个鼓励本德杰鲁将罗德里格斯的故事拍成电影从而使他充满热忱持续工作了五年的人。“他是我认识的最快乐的人。”
Many of his friends struggled to accept it. Simon Chinn, who co-produced Searching for Sugar Man and shared an Academy Award with Bendjelloul, snapped at a reporter from the Associated Press for even asking about suicide because the idea seemed so preposterous and out of character to him.
他的许多朋友都难以接受这个事实。西蒙•钦,与本德杰鲁一同分享了奥斯卡奖的《寻找小糖人》联合制片人,训斥了来自美联社记者关于自杀的询问,因为这个猜测看起来如此荒谬,根本不是他的性格。
When someone updated Bendjelloul’s Wikipedia page to reflect his death that Tuesday, Klintberg just stared at it, thinking the author had made a mistake. When the truth finally sunk in, she stayed home from work for four days and wept. “I just made up with him for a few days,” she said.
当有人更新本德杰鲁的维基百科页面反应出周二那天他的死亡时,克利伯格盯着看着,觉得编者犯了一个错误。当终于了解这是真相,她留在家里哭泣,四天没去上班。“我和他吵了才和好几天。”她说。
Death, especially when it is violent and unexpected, often leaves a hazy, and sometimes unwarranted, glow around the deceased. But Malik Bendjelloul, by all accounts, stood out as exceptionally talented, creative and for the most part also happy and well-adjusted. Over the course of the past several months, however, friends say he also had become increasingly lonely and isolated.
死亡,特别当其是猛烈和意外的,通常留下朦胧的,有时是没有根据的光芒笼罩着逝者。然而,马利克•本德杰鲁,根据大家所说,因天赋秉异富有创造力而杰出,而且大多是时候都是快乐且适应力强的。经过了几个月后,也有朋友说,他也变得越来越孤独和隔离。
The Oscar win had catapulted him into the upper reaches of the New York and Los Angeles art worlds, away from his best friends and family.
赢得奥斯卡将他送上了更高一层的纽约和洛杉矶艺术世界,远离了他最好的朋友和家人。
For the past several months, he had been living in New York, writing a script for a feature-length film about a South African conservationist named Lawrence Anthony, who had traveled to Baghdad in 2003 to rescue wounded and abandoned zoo creatures. However, writing for movies was harder than Bendjelloul had anticipated, and he apparently had grown frustrated and anxious. He developed insomnia while in New York. He also had lost touch with some of the people he had been closest to in Sweden and confessed to at least one close friend that he felt lonely.
在过去的几个月,他住在纽约,写一部关于南非自然资源保护者劳伦斯•安东尼的长篇电影手稿,描述了他在2003年到巴格达救治受伤和被抛弃的动物园动物。然而,为电影写作比本德杰鲁预想的困难,他明显为此越来越挫折和焦虑。在纽约的时候他开始失眠。他和一些在瑞典时曾经亲密的人们失去了联系,并且至少向一位好友坦陈他觉得很孤独。
Experts in the psychology of celebrity say that the sudden onset of stardom of the type Bendjelloul experienced can be traumatic, akin to a physical accident or violent encounter. “Fame is experienced as an impact, like a car crash,” says Donna Rockwell, a Michigan psychologist who did her doctoral dissertation on the effects of celebrity, interviewing A-list actors, sports figures and others for her research. “For a person who has lived an ordinary life, to all of a sudden be thrust into a world of the spotlight, it can be quite overwhelming.”
名人心理学方面的专家认为本德杰鲁突然变成明星的这种经历是一种创伤,近似于一种身体上的事故或者遭受暴力。“名声带给人的影响,就像一场车祸。”唐娜•洛克威尔,密歇根心理学家,其博士论文是名声的影响,采访过一流的演员,运动界名人和其他人进行研究。“对一个过着普通生活的人来说,突然被扔到聚光灯下,会是非常难以应付的。”
Bendjelloul had poured every ounce of energy and artistic flair he had into Sugar Man, and now that it was over, he was struggling to find a new passion, say his friends. In the final weeks, he told those closest to him, a fear had taken hold that somehow, inexplicably, he had “lost his creativity.” So, when spring arrived, Bendjelloul decided to travel home to Sweden. The dark Nordic winter was lifting, and the days soon would grow longer and lighter. He wanted to see old friends. And there was something else: Bendjelloul’s mother, painter and translator Veronica Schildt Bendjelloul, would be turning 70 on May 20.
他的朋友说,本德杰鲁已经将他每一点能量和艺术天分投入到了小糖人中,现在这一切结束了,他不得不努力找到新的热情。在最后几周,他告诉那些他亲近的人,一种莫名的害怕抓住了他,说不清楚为什么,他“失去了他的创造力”。因此,当春天到了的时候,本德杰鲁决定回家去瑞典。北欧阴沉的冬天就要走了,白天会变得越来越长越来越亮。他希望看看老朋友。还有一些事:本德杰鲁的妈妈,画家和翻译维罗妮卡•希尔特•本德杰鲁在五月二十日就七十岁了。
Bendhelloul was born in Ystad, in the south of Sweden, the second of two sons. His father, Hacene, was a physician who emigrated from Algeria; his mother a Swedish artist and translator of books.
本德杰鲁生于瑞典南部的伊斯塔德,家里两个儿子中的第二个。他的爸爸哈桑是一位从阿尔及利亚移民的医生,他的妈妈是一个瑞典艺术家和书籍翻译者。
As a child, Bendjelloul acted in a popular Swedish television drama called Ebba and Didrik, about two siblings whose idyllic family is upended by domestic disputes and romantic intrigue.
还是孩子的时候,本德杰鲁参演了非常出名的瑞典电视喜剧《艾巴和迪德里克》,一部讲述两兄弟田园般的家庭生活被内战和浪漫阴谋颠倒的故事。
After high school in Angelholm, Bendjelloul enrolled in a visual media program at Kalmar University. During the late ’90s, television producer Per Sinding Larsen visited the school to give a talk and review the students’ work. Bendjelloul’s clips immediately jumped out at him.
在安格赫尔姆读完高中后,本德杰鲁参加了卡马尔大学的一个可视媒体项目。90年代后期,电视制作人佩尔•辛丁•拉森访问该校进行演讲,在看过学生们的作品后,本德杰鲁的片子一下就吸引了他。
They demonstrated a creative power and tenacity he never had seen before. Bendjelloul was using tools that even professionals hadn’t yet mastered. “I couldn’t figure out how he [did it],” says Larsen. “He didn’t have the money or the means to do the things he was doing already at the time.”
这些片子展示了一种他以前从未见过的创造力和韧劲。本德杰鲁使用的工具是专业人员都没有完全掌握的。“我说不出他怎么(办到的)”,拉森说,“他没有资金或者手段去做他当时已经完成的事情。”
A few years later, Larsen ran into Bendjelloul at a production company in Stockholm where the young man had gotten a job. “There were quite a few talents, but he was something special,” recalls Larsen during an interview in Stockholm. “I think I was a bit jealous — he knew the media in a way I didn’t.” Larsen was so impressed with Bendjelloul and liked him so much, he kept in touch.
几年后,拉森偶然在斯德哥尔摩本德杰鲁工作的制作公司遇到了他。“有天分的人不少,但他有一些特别。”拉森在斯德哥尔摩接受采访时回忆:“我承认我有点嫉妒——他以一种我办不到的方式理解媒体。”拉森对本德杰鲁印象深刻,也非常喜欢,因此保持着联系。
In subsequent years, Larsen would become a casual mentor to Bendjelloul, helping him develop professionally in the rough-and-tumble world of deadline journalism but also personally. Bendjelloul, in turn, befriended Larsen’s family, regularly attending birthdays and family events. Often late at night, in the studio or out in Stockholm, the two would have long, meandering conversations. Bendjelloul often questioned his own life path, wondering whether he should settle down and with whom; whether he should have kids.
接下来几年,拉森成为了本德杰鲁的导师,帮助他在这个新闻业末日混乱的世界成为行家也在生活上帮助他。本德杰鲁,相应的,成为拉森家的朋友,定期参加生日会和家庭聚会。经常是深夜了,在斯德哥尔摩的工作室或外面,两个人进行长时间的漫谈。本德杰鲁经常询问他人生的道路,会想他是否该和谁安定下来,是否该生孩子。
More passionately than most, he thought about the ideas that went into his work; he wanted to change the way that television was made. Sometimes, it seemed to Larsen that his sensitive young friend risked being swallowed up by the frenetic, fast-paced environment of the world of media. He wanted to protect him.
比大多数人更充满热情,他思考那些进入到他工作中的灵感;他试图改变电视制作的方法。有时候,拉森觉得他这位敏感年轻的朋友冒着被媒体所在的疯狂的,快速的世界环境吞噬的风险。他试图保护他。
But if Bendjelloul was worried about something more serious, Larsen never attributed more than a passing importance to it; everybody, concluded Larsen, needed to grow up, and Bendjelloul was no different. “We had talks regularly, and I tried to tell him you can’t separate those two sides,” recalls Larsen. “You can’t just forget what you have at home. Or you can, but you’ll have to deal with it.”
但是假如本德杰鲁对什么问题更加担心,拉森从未认为它不重要。每个人,拉森认为,都需要成长,本德杰鲁也不例外。“我们会定期的讨论,我试图告诉他你不能把两边分开。”拉森回忆着:“你不能忘记你在家有什么,或者你能,但是你不得不去应付它。”
During the early 2000s, Bendjelloul went to work for Kobra, which aired on publicly funded Swedish TV (SVT). From the start, he established himself as the in-house creative wizard and set the bar for other reporters to meet. 2000年早期,本德杰鲁为眼镜蛇项目工作,通过瑞典电视台(SVT)向公众播出。从那开始,他已经成为了内部创造的奇才并为其他记者设定了标准。
He had a spirited, frenetic energy and often would bounce up and down from one foot to the other as he excitedly pitched story after story to his editors. They reciprocated, giving him plenty of room to explore his passions.
他精神饱满,有着疯狂的精力,经常兴奋地一步一步上下蹦跳着把他的故事一个接一个扔给他的编辑。作为报答,他们给他更多的空间释放他的激情。
During work lunches, he would order huge salads accompanied by sandwiches and ferociously nibble his way through them, consuming little but leaving a detritus of crumbs and shredded napkins on the table — like Fantastic Mr. Fox, says one friend.
他的一个朋友说,工作午饭时间,他会点一份巨大的沙拉配三明治,极其小口的从中间吃掉,吃的很少却留下了一大堆面包碎屑和撕碎的餐巾纸在桌上,就像《了不起的狐狸爸爸》。
His energy was infectious, his ideas wild and exciting. Reporting trips took him all over Sweden but also abroad. He traveled to Iran, Ethiopia and South America.
他的活力充满感染力,他的想法狂野而令人振奋。报道的旅行带他走遍了瑞典也去了国外。他去过伊朗,埃塞俄比亚和南美。
Back in the vast hallways of SVT, he would disappear down a long hallway and into a cavernous editing vault called R6, where he would remain for days and sometimes weeks, perfecting his work.
回到SVT的巨大的门厅,他消失在一条长长的走廊末端,进入了像洞穴一样的R6编辑室,他会在这儿带上几天有时甚至几周,完善他的作品。
Bendjelloul relied on paper, glue, scissors and a huge appetite for endless hours of work. He knew his way around a computer, but he much preferred the more antiquated methods and being able to see his work in front of him, to play with it in a tactile way. Few people bothered him in the editing vault. “We always knew that whatever he came back with would be perfect,” says Jane Magnusson, a Kobra colleague. “We called him our genius-in-residence.”
本德杰鲁靠的是纸张、胶水、剪刀和对无数个小时工作的欲望。他知道使用电脑的方法,但他更偏爱这种老方法,能够看到他的作品展现在他眼前,一种可以触摸得到的方式。几乎没有人会去编辑室打扰他。“我们都知道无论他带什么回来都会是完美的。”简•芒努松,眼镜蛇项目的同事说到:“我们把他称为我们的常驻天才。”
Many of these early short films showcased Bendjelloul’s burgeoning artistry. He could be fascinated by ominous signs and strange portents and fashioned a clever piece about the brief 1960s obsession with clues in Beatles paraphernalia alluding to Paul McCartney’s imminent death — only to debunk it all later.
这些早期短片都展示了本德杰鲁艺术的迅速成长。他陶醉于把各种预兆和奇怪的迹象构成一条巧妙的线索,用一个简短的20世纪60年代痴迷的披头士用品的线索暗指保罗•马卡特尼将要死亡,——直到后来才全部揭穿。
He loved the French analog master Michel Gondry and spent hours cutting, pasting and fashioning cardboard cutouts into miniature sets in R6.
他喜欢法国模拟大师米歇尔•冈瑞,花了好几个小时剪辑,粘贴,加工了一个硬纸板的剪纸图案做成微缩模型里放在R6编辑室。
He stunned his colleagues with a movie short that would be played at the beginning of each Kobra episode; it had been shot in one very long, very carefully orchestrated take, with actors jumping in and out of scenes on Bendjelloul’s cue.
他用一个电影短片震惊了他的同事,这个短片可以放在眼镜蛇项目片段的任何一个章节的开始;拍摄成了一个非常长,非常精心编制的镜头,演员可以在本德杰鲁的线索里跳进跳出。
In another short piece from those days, a Swedish-Hungarian designer ruminates on the beauty of dead stuffed animals versus live ones. Bendjelloul interjects a question: “Is death more beautiful than life?”
同时期的另一个短片里,一个瑞士裔匈牙利设计师对一个美丽的死亡动物填充和一个活着的进行比对思考。本德杰鲁插入一个问题:“死亡比生命更美吗?”
Bendjelloul then edited it in such a way that as the designer responds, saying that a photograph is “like a picture of a hero … the best representation,” a mirror slides across the frame and Bendjelloul himself appears — thin and smiling — nodding placidly in agreement.
然后本德杰鲁做了一个对设计师的回答,一个镜像的幻灯片穿过画面,本德杰鲁本人出现了——很瘦并且笑着——平静的点头表示同意,他说那照片“像一个英雄的画像……最好的代言”。
Skeptical that Bendjelloul was harboring any thoughts of suicide at the time, another SVT producer, Emelie Persson, nonetheless recalled that very clip several times in the days after Bendjelloul’s death, wondering, as those left behind by suicides often do, if she had missed something.
有人怀疑本德杰鲁那时候就抱着关于自杀的想法,尽管如此,另一个SVT制作人,艾米丽•佩尔松,在本德杰鲁死后几天好几次回忆这个片段,思考着,就像那些自杀者死后人们通常做的那样,想她是不是漏了什么。
Faced with the overwhelming suddenness of his death, others wondered the same thing. But again and again, the answer came back a resounding no. Bendjelloul’s zest for life had been huge, his enthusiasm infectious and all-encompassing. In 2006, after several years working at Kobra, Bendjelloul grew restless and decided to travel. 面对他压倒性的突如其来的死亡,其他人也在想同样的事情。但是一遍又一遍,这个问题的答案总是得到一个响亮的否定。本德杰鲁对生活的热爱是强烈的,他的热情是那么的具有感染力那么的无所不在。在2006年,经过在眼镜蛇项目几年的工作,本德杰鲁越来越无法满足决定去旅行。
Reluctant to lose his talent, another producer secured him some money and asked him to send in reports from abroad. It was during a trip to South Africa in 2006 that he walked into a record store off Kloof Street in Cape Town and met the owner, Stephen Segerman, who told him a story that would change his life. It involved an American musician named Rodriguez, who had shaped an entire generation of South Africans with his mournful, rebellious ballads during the long years of apartheid only to disappear without a trace. People assumed he had died. 不愿失去这个才华横溢的人,另一个制作人付给他一些钱请他从国外发回报道。2006年在南非旅行期间,他走进开普敦峡谷街的唱片店见到了店主斯蒂芬•瑟吉曼,店主告诉他一个改变了他人生的故事。故事关于一个叫做罗德里格斯的美国音乐人,用他悲伤的,反叛的民歌在长年的种族隔离时期影响了南非整整一代人,却突然消失得无影无踪。人们以为他死了。
Rodriguez had been a megastar in South Africa, where his hit song “Sugarman,” off a debut album titled Cold Fact, was a staple for hundreds of thousands of young people. The singer was all but unknown at home in the U.S. Bendjelloul sent the idea to Klintberg, who very quickly realized that seven short minutes on Kobra wasn’t going to be nearly enough. She encouraged him to make a movie.
罗德里格斯已经成为南非的巨型,他首张专辑《冷酷的事实》主打歌曲“小糖人”,是成百上千年轻人的最爱。这个歌手却在美国的家里毫不知情。本德杰鲁把这个想法发给了克林伯格,她马上意识到眼镜蛇项目的七分钟短片远远不够。她鼓励他拍一部电影。
Bendjelloul leapt at the chance, knowing he had stumbled onto the story of a lifetime. He had no money, but he made do. He stayed at Segerman’s house, and they drove around Cape Town in a cheap car. They listened to one of Bendjelloul’s favorite groups, Slow Dive, as they drove along the picturesque cliffs of Chapman’s Peak one day, waiting for the perfect shot. And as the months passed, they bonded; with each revolution of the unfolding tale, they often said to each other, “This story always has happy endings.”
本德杰鲁抓住了这个机会,知道他遇到了一个千载难逢的故事。他没有钱,但是他要做。他留在瑟吉曼的家,他们开着便宜的车在开普敦到处转。他们听着本德杰鲁喜欢一个乐队,慢潜乐队,沿着查普曼峰陡峭如画的峭壁开一天,等着拍摄最美的瞬间。几个月过去了,他们连在了一起。每一次对这个故事展开的探讨,他们常常向对方说:“这个故事总是会有一个圆满的结局。”
Bendjelloul’s ensuing search for the mysterious “Sugar Man,” which took five years, all of his money and a considerable part of his emotional energy, went on to become one of the most celebrated films of the year, garnering Bendjelloul every significant award of the season and culminating in the Academy Award for best documentary feature.
接下来本德杰鲁搜寻神秘的“小糖人”花了五年,他所有的钱和他相当大部分的感情精力,转变成了当年最著名的电影之一,让本德杰鲁获得了该季度每一个重大的奖项,最终获得了奥斯卡最佳记录片。
During the early editing, he had told Klintberg, “I don’t understand why I wouldn’t aim for an Oscar.” Responded Klintberg, “Are you crazy?” But Bendjelloul knew what he wanted and set about making it happen with a passion that soon took over his life.
在编辑的早期,他告诉克林伯格:“我不知道我为什么不以奥斯卡为目标。”克林伯格回应道:“你疯了吧?”但是本德杰鲁知道他想要什么并且用一种占据了他全部生命的热情去促使这一切发生。
It was a mark of his generosity that he brought along everyone who had helped him. Segerman recalls a dinner at the 2012 Sundance Film Festival, just before the premiere, where Bendjelloul’s sensitivity was on full display. “He stood up and thanked everyone, and he talked about each person in particular who helped him get there. There is not one person who had any problems with that guy.” When he took the stage to accept his Oscar, the drive that had gotten him there was replaced in an instant by the characteristic charm and innocence that had endeared him to so many. “Oh, boy,” he said, with a huge grin.
他慷慨的一种表现就是带来所有帮助过他的人。瑟吉曼回忆2012年圣丹斯电影节的一场宴会,在首映前,本德杰鲁的敏感表现得淋漓尽致。“他站起来感谢了每一个人,他特别谈论了每一个帮助他走到这一步的人。”当他走上台接受奥斯卡奖的时候,那种驱使他到达这一步的动力瞬间变成了一种吸引人的特色,变成一种让惹人喜爱的纯粹。“哦,天哪。”他说,咧着嘴大大的笑着。
Bendjelloul’s mind, like that of so many artistic geniuses, also had an obsessive quality. As creative as he was, he also could be rigid and uncompromising — “anal,” in the words of several friends who knew him well. He created elaborate routines and rituals that helped channel and direct his creativity.
本德杰鲁的心智,像许多艺术天才一样,也带有一种强迫的特质。如他拥有的创造力一样,他也非常的严格和固执——“直肠子”了解他的几个朋友这么形容。他规定了精细的日常活动规则和固定程序帮助他开发和直达他的创造力。
While editing Sugar Man at his Stockholm apartment, for instance, he began work only once he had completed one full lap walking around his apartment; he signaled the end of the work day with the same single loop.
比如,他在斯德哥尔摩的公寓编辑小糖人的时候,他只在完整绕公寓散步一圈后才开始工作;他也用同样的一个圈来标志一天工作的结束。
He gave himself exactly 1,000 days to edit Sugar Man and held himself close to it. He could be quirky and fun with his self-imposed rules.
他给自己整整1000天去编辑小糖人并帮助自己接近这个设定。他非常古怪而有趣的给自己强加规则。
Last summer, during a radio series called Summer Talks in which prominent Swedes take to the airwaves and speak about their lives, Bendjelloul informed listeners that they would hear only songs whose titles began with the letter “I”: “I Am the Walrus” and “I Hate You Forever.”
去年夏天,在一档叫做夏日闲谈的电台广播系列节目里,瑞典名人会参与讲述他们的生活,本德杰鲁告诉听众他们只听歌名开头是“我”的歌曲,比如“我是海象”和“我永远用恨你”。
He said his favorite film was Lars von Trier’s The Five Obstructions, in which one director challenges another to make “the perfect human” five times with a different obstruction each time.
他说他最喜欢的电影是拉斯•冯•提尔的《五道障碍》,在这部电影里一个导演向另一个导演提出挑战要求在五种不同的障碍下分别重拍《完美的人》。
More recently, he concocted an elaborate work schedule for writing, which involved four hours of uninterrupted work, from 8 a.m. to noon. But sometimes he would begin later, in which case he would set his clock back to the 8 a.m. hour so that no matter the actual time of day, he would be able to work in the time he allotted himself.
最近,他精心制作了一个写作时间表,包含了四个小时不受打扰的工作,从早上八点到下午。但是有时候他开始的晚了,他就把钟调到早上八点不管那天实际上是几点,他才能在他分派给自己的时间里工作。
These habits extended to his personal life as well. He would, for example, force himself to eat exactly the same breakfast for six months straight simply for the joy of, finally, one day changing breakfasts.
这些习惯也延伸到他的私人生活。比如,他会强迫自己在六个月里吃一模一样的早饭就为了终于有一天换了早饭的欢乐。
There was, for a long time, a particular brand of canned tomato sauce in Sweden that he loved, and when he learned that it was going out of production, he called up every single shop in Stockholm and bought out their remaining stock. He was perfectly happy to eat pasta with this particular brand of tomato sauce every night.
有很长一阵子,他都喜欢吃瑞典某一个牌子的罐装番茄酱,当他听说这个牌子要停产了,他就给斯德哥尔摩的每个店打电话买光他们的库存。他就是超级喜欢每天晚上沾着这个牌子的番茄酱吃意大利面。
One day he told Klintberg that he had decided to break up with a girlfriend because they had been going out for exactly four years, four months and four days. “It always seemed totally reasonable when he said it,” recalls Klintberg. “He was very convincing.”
有一天他告诉克林伯格他决定和女友分手因为他们已经约会了刚好四年四个月四天。“他说的时候就好像这是非常合理的,”克林伯格回忆着,“他非常具有说服力。”
To Klintberg and others, these eccentricities seemed like the harmless, even charming quirks of an artist for whom life itself was a tableau that could be played with or manipulated to enhance its power — or perhaps dull its ability to inflict pain.
对克林伯格和其他人来说,这些怪癖看起来没什么坏处,对一个艺术家来说反而有点迷人的小古怪,生活就像一出可以玩耍的戏剧或者可以通过控制强化能力——或者变得麻木可以减少痛苦。
“It was like he was creating ways to not be disappointed,” says Klintberg, “so he wasn’t disappointed, until now. And when it came, it struck him so hard because he wasn’t used to it. I think that this [depression] was a total shock for him and very unexpected. He didn’t have the tools to handle this situation. It was like a psychosis, I think.”
“就好像他在创造不失望的方法,”克林伯格说,“因此他不会失望,直到现在。当真的来了的时候,给他的打击太大了因为他根本不习惯。我认为这个(压抑)对他来说完全是个打击而且是意料之外的。他没有处理这种情形的方法。这就像精神错乱,我觉得。”
He also was sensitive and, like many artists, complicated. To the people closest to him, Bendjelloul sometimes showed a temper. While working on Sugar Man, Bendjelloul often was broke, or nearly so. His old friend and mentor Per Larsen offered to get him a job to help with the bills. It didn’t pay much, but Larsen figured something was better than nothing.
他还非常敏感,就像其它艺术家,非常复杂。对那些亲近他的人,本德杰鲁有时候会发脾气。在摄制小糖人的时候,本德杰鲁常常身无分文,或者近乎如此。他的老朋友和导师佩尔•拉森给他一份工作可以付账单。工作的收入不高,但是拉森觉得有点总比没有好。
Bendjelloul thought otherwise and exploded over the phone, berating Larsen for thinking such an ill-paying job was worth it and making it clear that he felt patronized. It did no lasting damage to the friendship, but it belied another, deeper level to the man “everybody loved.”
本德杰鲁却不这么想,还在电话里发飙,骂拉森觉得这么低廉的工作也值得去做,说这让他觉得被施舍了。这对他们的友谊没有遗留什么损害,但是这证明了其实这个人内在其实不是一个“人见人爱”的类型。
When Bendjelloul first applied to the Swedish Film Academy for funding, a consultant there viewed an early version of Sugar Man and told Bendjelloul it was “s—-.” This episode understandably provided the grist for repeated late-night sessions with Larsen in which Bendjelloul raged against the established arbiters of culture and taste. “What kind of films do they fund?” he lamented.
本德杰鲁第一次申请瑞典电影奖的赞助,咨询顾问看了小糖人的早期版本后告诉本德杰鲁这个片子是个“S——-”。这件事成了本德杰鲁和拉森深夜会议发火的原料,他指责审查员的文化和品位:“他们到底赞助的都是什么电影?”
Over the years of their friendship, Larsen had begun to probe gently into Bendjelloul’s past and his family. Bendjelloul often told Larsen stories about his father. They were almost as fantastical as some of his short films — fairy tales about his roots and land and perhaps a lost family fortune, a bygone nobility to which he nonetheless felt a certain attachment. In the end, Bendjelloul never told Larsen anything that was cause for major concern. And Larsen, like so many of Bendjelloul’s friends, was in the dark right up until the last moment, at which point it was too late.
有着多年的友谊,拉森开始试探的了解本德杰鲁的过去和他的家庭。本德杰鲁常常告诉拉森一些关于他父亲的故事。这些故事就跟他的短片一样不可思议——关于他的根源和故乡的神话故事,也许还有失去的家庭财富,失去了但是他仍能感觉到流淌的贵族血液。到头来,本德杰鲁从未告诉拉森任何需要关心的事情。而拉森,像本德杰鲁其他朋友一样,一直不明实情直到最后一刻,已经为时过晚。
Looking back now, many of his friends wonder what combination of factors — genetic, professional, artistic — collided so violently to cast Bendjelloul into such an abysmal despair. “In depression, it’s the darkness, it’s completely like there’s no hope,” says Larsen. “I was wondering if there was something that made him go up and down, with his family or his genes, but which he dealt with through his work, his movie — and suddenly there wasn’t anything. So the darkness comes up.”
回过头来,他的许多朋友都在想到底是什么因素——遗传,专业,艺术——猛烈的碰撞在一起将本德杰鲁扔进了绝望的深渊。“绝望的时候是一片黑暗的,完全毫无希望的感觉。”拉森说,“我在想如果有什么让他忽上忽下,他的家庭或者他的天性,但是他通过他的工作,他的电影解决,突然什么都没了。于是黑暗完全笼罩了他。”
By all accounts, Bendjelloul tried his best to keep the flush of success in check. Segerman recalls how, at Vanity Fair's Oscar party, he and Bendjelloul stood off to the side taking everything in while everybody else seemed, on the face of it, to be working, planning the next thing, making the next big deal. Bendjelloul wanted to remain connected to his friends.
据说,本德杰鲁试图保持不断的成功。瑟吉曼回忆,他如何和本德杰鲁在奥斯卡名利场派对上带着所有远远呆在一边而其他人看起来,表面看来,都有工作,计划下一件事,有下一件大事要做。本德杰鲁想要和他的朋友们保持联系。
When reporters asked Johar whether success had contributed to his brother’s demise, Johar replied, “He was a very straightforward person when it came to success,” he said. “Admirably earthy and relaxed. Unimaginably relaxed about [his] successes, I cannot see any such links.”
记者问乔哈尔他弟弟的死是否跟成功有关系,乔哈尔回答:“说到成功他是一个非常坦率的人。”他说:“非常朴实和放松。他对成功难以想象的放松,我不觉得这个是原因。”
But while Bendjelloul might have put on a good face, the toll of success might have been greater than even he had realized. “To achieve such widespread and unparalleled acclaim and then to have to ask yourself, ‘Now what?’ ” says Rockwell. “In that world of Hollywood and New York, you really have to keep producing. You can’t just have a work of art. It’s always, ‘What’s next?’ And the pressure, coupled with the onslaught and impact of fame, can be quite challenging terrain to navigate.”但是可能本德杰鲁只是看起来不错,成功的代价可能比他意识到的还要大。“获得了如此广泛和空前的喝彩,接下来你就不得不问问自己‘现在呢?’”洛克威尔说到:“在好莱坞和纽约,你真的不得不一直创造。你不能只有一个艺术作品。总是‘接下来呢?’。压力和名声的猛攻和影响,是一个需要克服的巨大挑战。”
In hindsight, several of his friends wondered whether achieving such massive success at such a young age might have placed Bendjelloul in an uncomfortable quandary.
事后看来,他的一些朋友觉得那么年轻就获得了如此巨大的成功可能让本德杰鲁处于一个非常不适的困境。
 “After a huge success, maybe the best way is to produce something small,” says Klintberg. “Instead of aiming even bigger, he could have come and worked for me and made small things instead of aiming to make a bigger film.”
“巨大的成功之后,最好的方式就是做点小事情。”克林伯格说:“不要找那些更大的目标,他可以为我工作,做一些简单的事,而不是去做一部更大的电影。”
By early May of this year, Bendjelloul had returned to Sweden and already was contacting friends. He texted Klintberg with a message: “Karin, I miss you and how are you?” On May 2, he and Klintberg met for lunch. Bendjelloul seemed happy. They spoke about his script; his girlfriend Brittany Huckabee, an American documentary filmmaker; where he was going to live — the usual things. Meanwhile, however, his sleeping problems had continued and were leaving him anxious and depressed. He told people close to him that he was convinced that he had lost his creativity and would never get it back.
今年五月份上旬,本德杰鲁回到瑞典已经联系了朋友。他发信息给克林伯格:“卡琳,我很想你,你好吗?”五月二日,他和克林伯格见面吃了个午饭。本德杰鲁看起来很开心。他们聊了他的手稿;他的女友布列塔尼•赫卡比,一个美国的记录片电影制作人;他打算搬到哪儿去住——都是些日常的事情。不过同时,他也还是失眠,这让他很焦虑和压抑。他告诉亲近的人们他觉得他已经失去了他的创造力,并且可能再也没有了。
To Klintberg, Bendjelloul had said he wanted to get to work right away, and she happily had obliged and offered him a project to take on. When she asked how long he would stay in Stockholm, he told her that “if and when Hollywood called,” he would have to go. She immediately wished he had just said “when Hollywood called” and wondered to herself whether the sudden rise to fame was too much for Bendjelloul.
对克林伯格来说,本德杰鲁说过他想马上开始工作,她很高兴的给他了一个项目去做。当她问他能在瑞典呆多久时,他告诉她“如果好莱坞什么时候要我,”他就不得不走了。她立即就希望他说的是“好莱坞什么时候要我”并心里想着突来的名声对本德杰鲁来说是不是太多了。
On Monday, May 5, Klintberg was out of town, and Bendjelloul showed up to work anyway despite her assurances that he could take his time getting back into his rhythm. But by Tuesday, May 6, Bendjelloul had changed his mind. He called Klintberg and told her he didn’t want to be part of the project. He didn’t like the approach they were taking, he explained: It was too repetitive. “I can’t come in to do this,” Bendjelloul told her. “I want to have a small challenge, not too big a challenge.” She said she understood and, in a sad irony, later realized he had been right about the show’s faults. They agreed to meet up again soon. But Klintberg never saw him again.
五月五日周一,克林伯格出了镇,本德杰鲁露面出来工作尽管她说他可以根据自己的情况回来工作。但是五月六日周二,本德杰鲁改变了他的主意。他打电话给克林伯格说他不想参与这个项目。他不喜欢他们做事的方式,他解释说:这太重复了。“我不能来做这个,”本德杰鲁告诉她:“我想做一些小点的挑战,不要太大的挑战。”她说她理解,讽刺而又令人难过的是,她后来意识到他对这个秀有错的看法是正确的。他们说好不久再见一次。但是克林伯格再也见不到他了。
Klintberg looks back on their encounters and remains convinced that her friend, the former childhood actor, was not acting at all, but that his happiness was genuine and his commitment to life authentic. But in the shadow of his death, every little thing now has taken on a greater significance. All those arbitrary, live-by-numbers rules now, in hindsight, leave her with an uneasy feeling. “Now, with this end? No, they seem more serious,” she says. “What was a small, little joke or a small thing — now it feels bigger.”
克林伯格回头看看他们的相遇还是相信她的朋友,前儿童演员,没有在演戏,他的快乐是真的,他对生命的承诺是可靠的。但是在他死亡的笼罩下,所有的小事现在都变得更加重大。所有那些武断的,生活的那些准则,现在看来,都给她留下了难受的感觉。“现在,这样的结局?不,他们看起来更严肃,”她说:“不论多小的笑话或者小事——现在都变得更严重了。”
While still in New York, Bendjelloul had invited Larsen to come for a visit. He missed talking to his mentor and in a phone conversation had expressed his desire to get Larsen’s advice on several projects. But family obligations kept Larsen from traveling, and in any event, the news of Bendjelloul’s impending return to Sweden meant the two could reunite at home. But Larsen never saw him, either.
还在纽约的时候,本德杰鲁邀请拉森去探访。他想跟他的导师谈话并在电话里说他希望在一些项目上得到拉森的建议。但是家里的事情让拉森走不开,而且不管怎样,本德杰鲁即将回瑞典的消息意味着两人可以在家见面。但是拉森也再没能见到他。
The void left by Bendjelloul’s disappearance is such that Larsen has found himself looking in the oddest places, like astrology, for answers to his endless questions. Every day, he casts himself into abstractions as a way to try and find his friend. He wonders whether the messiness of life without a movie like Searching for Sugar Man to keep Bendjelloul’s attention focused contributed to his death. The director had grown up a lot under Larsen’s careful gaze, evolving from a happy kid to a mature, developed artist. But there still were so many unanswered questions.
本德杰鲁的离开留下了如此一大片空白令拉森觉得他自己总是在看奇怪的领域,比如占星术,为了回答他无尽的问题。每一天,他把自己投进抽象里试图寻找他的朋友。他想知道是否因为没有了像寻找小糖人这样让本德杰鲁专注的电影,混乱的生命导致了他的死亡。这位导演在拉森的关心下已经成长了很多,从一个快乐的孩子变成了一个成年人,成熟的艺术家。但是仍然还有那么多未解答的问题。
By the second week of May, only a few people in the very inner sanctum had access to Bendjelloul — his brother, his girlfriend, another female friend and some of his extended family. To distant friends like Stephen Segerman in Cape Town, Bendjelloul responded to emails and texts with enthusiastic but short replies. “Wow!” he replied to an email Segerman had sent him about a recent lawsuit that had emerged as a result of the movie and Rodriguez’s record sales.
五月的第二周,只有几个人能在非常内部场所见到本德杰鲁——他的哥哥,他的女友,另一位女性朋友和他家里的亲戚。像史蒂芬•瑟吉曼这样在开普敦的遥远的朋友,本德杰鲁回复了热情但是简短的电子邮件。他给瑟吉曼发给他最近因为电影的结果和罗德里格斯的唱片销售而发生的一场诉讼的回复是:“喔!”
The news of Bendjelloul’s death hit Segerman with brutal force. Bendjelloul always had seemed so centered. But there was no way to know what was roiling underneath. “We said this story always has happy endings, but unfortunately we can’t say that anymore,” says Segerman. “It’s been a wonderful journey, but this is just too sad; it’s absolutely shocking.”
本德杰鲁死亡的新闻十分打击瑟吉曼。本德杰鲁总是一切的中心。但是不知道现在下面涌动着什么了。“我们说这个故事总是有个圆满的结局,但不幸的是我们再也不能这么说了。”瑟吉曼说:“本来是个很精彩的履行,但现在太难过了。实在是太震惊了。”
There is a small shrine of sorts for Malik Bendjelloul in the downtown Stockholm offices of Swedish Television, near a blue neon sign that says Kobra — a memento that Bendjelloul himself bought for his colleagues years ago. 瑞典电视台在斯德哥尔摩市中心办公室有一个小小的马利克•本德杰鲁纪念处,靠近一个蓝色的霓虹灯牌写着眼镜蛇项目——一个本德杰鲁自己几年前为他的同事买的纪念品。
The shrine consists of two small pictures, three candles and a black condolence book whose pages are empty. “Nobody dares sign it because we all think he’s going to come back,” says his former colleague Magnusson. But the real shrine is elsewhere — in that massive, soundproofed room at the end of a series of hallways that feels more like an airline hangar: the R6 editing vault.
纪念处有两个小画组成,三根蜡烛和一个黑色的空白的哀悼簿。他的前同事芒努松说:“没有人敢在上面写因为我们都觉得他会回来的。” 但是其实真正的纪念无处不在——在那一串更像是一个航空公司的飞机棚的门廊尽头的巨大的,隔音的房间:R6编辑室。
Inside there are two pianos, a table with an editing suite in a corner, a large mirror and a mortarboard where pictures can be tacked and hung. Once the doors close, the room is utterly silent, a womb for creativity and reflection. It was here that Bendjelloul spent the years of his apprenticeship as a visual artist, perfecting the craft that ultimately would allow him to undertake his epic search for “Sugar Man” and, because all great art is a reflection of the artist, too, the search for himself with such force of will and unerring exactitude. The silence and isolation of R6 was both Bendjelloul’s refuge and his inspiration. And as soon as time permits, the staff of Kobra, many of whom accompanied him on his journey, will place a single brass plaque there with the room’s new name.
里面有两架钢琴,角落里放着一张右编辑设备的桌子,一个大镜子和一个钉放悬挂图片的灰板。一旦把门关上,房间就完全的安静,创造力和沉思的温床。就是在这儿本德杰鲁做了数年的视觉艺术学徒,练就了他最终可以制作史诗般的寻找小糖人的技艺,因为所有伟大的艺术也都是艺术家的映像,用这种意志的力量和不容偏差的精准寻找他自己。安静和隔绝的R6是本德杰鲁的避难所也是他的灵感所在。只要时间允许就和他一起旅行的眼镜蛇项目的员工,将会给这个房间放一个黄铜色的小牌上面是这个房间的新名字。
It will say, very simply: Studio Malik.
牌子上写的是,很简单:马利克工作室。

 4 ) 小糖人的平行世界

1. 小糖人是谁
小糖人是谁?你在南非的任何一个角落问这个问题,一定都有人答的上来。他其实本名是Sixto Rodriguez,美国上世纪七十年代的一位墨西哥裔作者型歌手,小糖人只是他第一张创作专辑《Cold Fact》里的一首歌。小糖人的唱片销量在南非至今仍是奇迹,他们挚爱他。

上个世界七十时代的南非几乎是纳粹德国的翻版,南非的年轻人知道一切正在发生的自由运动,却没有人知道南非正在发生什么,那里是精神孤岛。对于美国人民来说,南非真就像另外一个星球。 谁也无法确定小糖人的歌是如何传到南非的。被广泛接纳的一种说法是,一个来探望男朋友的美国姑娘随身携带了一张《Cold Fact》的唱片,无意间在聚会中播放了几首歌。也许是歌词的大胆坦率和对底层生活的关怀,Rodriguez让南非的青年们望见了生活的另一种可能性,这恰恰吻合了种族隔离时期他们的心情。越来越多的人开始自发的翻录唱片,抄写歌词,在没有媒体和网络的帮助下,拥有同样反抗意志的人们因为Rodriguez的歌聚在了一起。

每一场革命都必然有自己的圣歌,就像东德的乐迷们想方设法偷听Beastie Boys和Public Enemy,南非的年轻孩子高唱着Rodriguez的歌展开了激烈的反种族隔离运动。滚石、猫王、披头士……这些风靡全球的流行乐旗手在南非人的心目中全是Rodriguez的手下败将,他们星火相传,拥他为王。当今南非流行乐坛的歌手和乐队,无不自称师承Rodriguez, 世间却遍寻不到Rodriguez的任何背景信息,甚至他的模样也被帽檐和墨镜遮挡,影影绰绰的印在唱片封面上。这个神秘的精神领袖,引导了一代人,开启了一个时代。

2.寻找小糖人
当人们开始寻找小糖人的时候,他们笃定他已经死了。或许是对着脑袋轰了一枪掀翻头盖骨,或许是全身浇满汽油把自己点燃,总之,他必是死在了演唱会的舞台上,万千瞩目,轰轰烈烈。
寻找小糖人有两个核心人物。Stephen Segerman,音像店胖老板,江湖人称“老糖”。他为Rodriguez的第二张专辑《Coming From Reality》撰写文案时广发英雄帖,“有没有音乐侦探来帮帮我们?”揭榜的是一位叫Craig Bartholomew Strydom的记者,Craig彼时刚出道,正需要一宗特稿来奠定地位。这哼哈二将都是Rodriguez最忠实的粉丝,他们想要找到已逝偶像的真实生平用以追忆和缅怀。
寻找的过程远比纪录片能展示的要繁杂漫长。先是追查唱片公司的现金去向,逐一排查每一个出现在歌词中的地名,建立起“寻找小糖人”的网站,不放过任何蛛丝马迹。毕竟他们也是和你我一样的普通人,若不是全然出于对Rodriguez音乐的爱,很难十年如一日的坚持下来,直等到Rodriguez的女儿在网站上留言:我爸爸还活着,在底特律。

老糖与记者怎么也无法想象的是,他们的偶像虽然尚在人间,竟然在美国早己被流行乐坛淘汰,成了一个平凡的屋顶维修工!他在南非家喻户晓的两张白金专辑在美国的销量一只手就能数的过来。世间竟有这样的道理。同样想不通的不止这两个南非人,还有美国大唱片公司老板和名制片人。虽说娱乐行业的生存法则就是以成败论英雄,但在真正的才华面前,他们还是诚恳服气。“我一生合作过的大腕无数,Rodriguez的声音绝对能排进前五,就这么简单。”“没有人能把歌写到他的程度,Bob Dylan 跟他比起来太柔了。”每一个和他合作过的专业人士都给予了极高的美誉。时至今日,他曾经两张唱片的制作人Dennis和Mike还在捶胸顿足的问天问地,为什么他的唱片不卖?是不是该改个艺名?难不成主打歌选错了?配乐中的小提琴换成大提琴则如何?封面换成紫色会不会成功? 反倒是Rodriguez本人平平淡淡的,“我现在还是很喜欢弹吉他呀,也经常去听现场表演。”

最近国内有一档电视节目叫《我是歌手》,请的都是一些专业歌手来比赛,其中有一位被观众惊为沧海遗珠的中年女歌手因这节目重新火了起来。功夫自然还在身上,黄琦珊唱:“我俩,太不公平。爱与恨,全由你操控。” 大开大合,肝肠寸断。她声泪俱下的对着镜头说,唱的就是她和音乐的关系——被辜负,离不开。
相比黄女士,Rodriguez 对音乐则是爱到深处无怨尤。在默默无闻几十年泥瓦匠人生涯之后,他受邀来南非开演唱会。演唱会的消息铺天盖地,所有的南非歌迷都以为这是诈骗集团。但大家还是来了,拥挤的看台上满是早已不再年轻的革命青年,还有五颜六色的十几岁孩子们,大家搭肩高喊Rodriguez的名字,哼着再熟悉不过的前奏。等到Rodriguez站在舞台中央一开口,所有人的灵魂都被瞬间点燃,没错,不可能是别人,就是他。这场跨了半个地球的首场演唱会,真可谓是他们和Rodriguez之间的久别重逢。Rodriguez在从未踏足过的南非热土上受到万千粉丝的顶礼膜拜,也只是站在舞台上认真歌唱,没有恸哭,没有咆哮,鞠很长时间的躬,微笑感谢。他甚至在主办方准备的豪华套间里只睡在沙发靠椅上,并没有动卧室中间的大床,因为觉得没有必要。
最让人慨叹的是巡回演唱会结束之后,创下多项南非流行音乐史上纪录的他又回到了底特律。回到自己熟悉的世界,住老旧的公寓,继续从事他的日常工作,帮别人修理破损的屋顶和地板。人世间的起起落落与己无关,真正的荣辱不惊。

寻找小糖人,这个犹如神谕般的故事还有一个温馨的尾巴,Rodriguez的其中一个女儿在跟随父亲南非巡回演唱会的过程中,与随行的保镖相爱结婚,于是小糖人现在有了一个一半美国一半南非的混血外孙。


3.最寒酸的小糖人电影
36岁的瑞典人Malik Bendjelloul在电视台工作期间和许多优秀的音乐人合作过,例如比约克和王子乐队。他自然是识货的,所以当他06年辞职和当时的女朋友一起去非洲背包旅游,在开普敦第一次听到Rodriguez的歌就惊为天人。

原本计划拍一条七分钟的短片在电视上播出,光是埋头整理资料就是好几个月,Malik一遍又一遍的告诉自己:这是一个更大的故事,这应该是一部电影。Malik决定留在开普敦,通过Rodriguez的女儿Eva和他成为了朋友。不过是到第三年Malik飞到底特律,两人才见上了面。起初Rodriguez不愿意入镜,后来看到Malik在零下20度的底特律清晨抢拍雪景,被那冻得通红的年轻面孔所感动,才录了极短的一段访谈。
最难的还在于资金。如果你是投资方,你会不会投给一个首次执导的年轻导演的关于一位没人知道的艺术家的纪录片?瑞典电影研究所曾给予的电影扶持基金,也在影片投入拍摄的第三年撤出了。Malik最初用Super 8摄影机拍摄,后来连Super 8都用不起的时候,兴奋的发现苹果App store里有一个super 8的app,他用这个售价1美金的app拍了本片的大部分素材。挨到2011年,实际拍摄的部分已经基本完成,还差后期剪辑和声音配乐,还有最重要的过场动画。为了《寻找小糖人》弹尽粮绝的Malik,这时真的到了揭不开锅的地步。他开始自己拿起画笔做一些简单的插图,在斯德哥尔摩家里的餐桌上和剪辑软件死磕,就这么哆哆嗦嗦的做完了成片。

我在今年的奥斯卡提名座谈上看到美国纪录片领军人物Michael Moore对小伙子说:“说来真有点尴尬啊,这个故事居然让外国导演拍成了。”Malik忍俊不禁的告诉业内大拿一个小秘密:其实十年前老糖他们给Michael Moore写过信,希望他能把这个故事拍成纪录片。大胖子抱头痛苦的嚎叫:“天啊!一定我每天收到的信太多了!”继而又恢复了严肃赤诚的神情,“我不可能拍的比你这部更好。”最寒酸的,也是最好的。

4. 小糖人的平行世界
从圣丹斯独立电影节开始,《寻找小糖人》乘风破浪,拿遍国际大奖, 越来越多的人知道了Rodriguez的故事,和当年那些热血的南非年轻人一样爱上了他的音乐。就连Ben Affleck都特别买了原声碟,Bob Dylan也致电索尼经典公司,说非常欣赏这部电影。最终本片荣获了第85届奥斯卡最佳纪录片,然而电影里的主人公Rodriguez并没有出席颁奖典礼。《寻找小糖人》的制片人Simon Chinn (他制作过另一部著名纪录片《走钢索的人》)说:“Rodriguez不愿意出席,他说不想抢了风头,执意将全部荣耀归于剧组。这也正是他的伟大之处。”

当Rodriguez的音乐在奥斯卡舞台上响起,我忍不住开始想一个问题:如果Malik没有咬牙坚持完成《寻找小糖人》纪录片,如果老糖和音乐侦探Craig没有足够的运气找到他,如果 Rodriguez至死也不知道在另一片土地上自己的壮阔作为,再进一步假设,如果当年那个犹如天使般的美国女孩去南非度假的时候并没有随身携带《Cold Fact》这张唱片,Rodriguez的歌声并没有在机缘巧合下播种到南非大地,那么他是谁?他是一个失败者吗?
不,他还是一个永远热爱音乐的城市游吟诗人;一个穿着整洁西装干工友都不愿干的脏活累活,兢兢业业的金牌屋顶修理工;一个生活拮据却尽最大努力带着女儿们去艺术展和博物馆,从小告诉她们与在最顶楼用餐的人没有任何区别的好父亲。如果这电影中的一切从来没有发生过,如果我有幸在底特律能认识他,我依旧会认为他是一个卓越的人,一个大写的人。

每一个被这尘世拒绝过的灵魂,也许都在另一个平行世界中得到了拥抱。《寻找小糖人》的结尾,Rodriguez一个人背着吉他走在底特律破败的老街上,这时隔夜的雪刚刚开始消融,他有些踉跄着,姿势略微古怪的保持平衡继续沉默前行。也许这就是他的人生。就这样在世间沉默行走的他,在另一个平行世界里,获得了上帝的冠冕。

 5 ) 小糖人 你没化

那年你应该岁数不大 背个吉他像个游魂 徜徉在底特律某条街道上
大雪遮住了一切 那些丑陋的建筑 破败的街区 肮脏的勾当 遮不住你的穷困与希望
你忙着讨生活 你去给人修屋顶 你还得做些粗活累活混口饭吃找个地儿睡觉
可你还有梦想 你得玩吉他 你要创作 你想写点自己的东西说点想说的事儿
你是否经常饿着肚子弹琴唱歌 就像我和哥们吃着拉面谈着理想一样可笑

你乐意去各种各样的地儿演出 哪怕是同志酒吧 招妓酒吧 摩托车手葬礼
你是否在等待一个机会 成为真正的艺术家 去做一张刻着自己名字的CD
对于这个世界 你是否也会感到失望
你看到冰冷的政治 爱情的谎言 可耻的背叛 人类无止境的贪欲
音乐是你批判的堡垒 吉他是你愤怒的枪
可你大部分时间默默无闻 渐渐被人遗忘 甚至人们以为你自杀

你经常失业 朋友很少 你似乎只能在下水道对耶稣倾诉 不止是教皇连酒保也会说管他屁事
你爱过一些姑娘 可那些姑娘不爱你 她们也许更爱慕钻石豪车和高级酒店的超级大床
只有音乐是你的朋友 是你的精神伴侣 只有吉他是你最忠诚的狗 它陪你喝酒
那个走入生活死胡同的街头男孩其实并不孤独 因为你内心本身便充满爱与包容

你没成Bob Dylan 可你是Sixto Rodriguez
你在美国是个销量6张的蹩脚歌手 可你在南非比猫王还牛逼
你的东西在美国无人问津 可你的思想漂洋过海影响了一个国家的政治和音乐
你没有千万巨款 可你是个精神世界的超级富豪
你在某个破烂不堪的酒吧被人嘲笑 可在地球的另一端你享受了无冕之王的礼遇
你不是一个电视里的完美人物 可你是个低调谦逊努力的好爸爸好丈夫
你奇迹复活功成名就 可你还是那个超级大床都不敢睡的蓝领工人
你是真正的艺术家

这个世界不是所有的人都追求名利
这个世界也不是所有追求梦想的人都能成功
可我们得去相信 有些人 他们依然在默默努力
他们是成功的 因为成功并不单单靠数字评判的
他们在用一种超然的心态活着 活在可能随时融化他们的现实世界里
他们可能是修自行车 可能是搬砖的 也可能就在你身边吃着拉面
可他们没有扔下吉他 没有丢掉画笔 也没有放下笔
他们仍然在用生命去做他们所钟爱的一切
他们是伟大的 因为他们尽力了

而他们又都是小糖人
他们都不会被这个世界融化
他们依然像爱人的吻一般甜蜜
他们仍旧纯洁无暇悄悄的活着地球上的某个角落

他们也会像你一样 在某个被人遗忘的午后动情的唱着
小糖人/轻快一点/因为它一切让我疲惫/给你这没蓝色硬币/你能不能把我带回/我五彩斑斓的梦境

向Sixto Rodriguez致敬
祝福所有梦想的朋友梦想成真





 6 ) 戏剧不只他一人

昨晚看到rodriguez于1998年3月6日第一次登上南非舞台,眼眶中微含热泪,因为他说了一句开场白:thank you for keeping me alive,这句话道出了音乐人和乐迷之间所谓的牵绊,几十年的牵绊。

这部纪录片经过精心设计,有一点点悬疑片的手法,rodriguez本身也确实有很强烈的戏剧性,在美国是zero,在南非是hero。但像他这样的音乐人,像发生在他身上的这出戏剧,在音乐圈那就是一把沙,若学柴静蹲下来观察沙粒,我们根本没有那么多情感和泪水去挥霍。

就拿片头现身的dennis coffey来说,论戏剧性论反差度,他弱于rodriguez,但其遭遇与rodriguez如出一辙。在funk乐迷心中,或者稍扩大一圈,在groove乐迷心中,dennis coffey是牛逼闪闪的吉他手,其知名度不逊色于jimi,public enemy当年出道单曲【you're gonna get yours】中虎虎生威的guitar riff便采样自dennis coffey的名作【getting it on】。70年代之后,dennis coffey从音乐圈抽身而出,说难听点,也是被这个行业抛弃,后来他一直在底特律的福克斯汽车厂打工为生。几年前有记者问:你就用你弹吉他的手组装零件?dennis coffey淡淡的回一句:

是啊。

我手上有一长串名单,若细分的话,可分为乐手,编曲人,制作人。都在默默无闻的活着,经他们之手诞生的groove经典,那演奏那编曲那制作,那厉害啊!每次听完我都发愣:有必要把一首歌曲玩成这样啊?他妈就是一首歌啊!只要六十分啊!为什么六十分中会藏着氧气瓶,散发着纯氧?我不知道H.B barnum等人碰见这种傻逼问题会怎么回答,是职业素养使然?是放不下自尊心?我无法猜透。

音乐圈有一个典故。某美国制作人艳羡牙买加dub制作人名声显赫,站在聚光灯下,而非幕后。牙买加dub混音师在暗处幽幽道:在牙买加发行作品,我们混音师很难被署名。

这是典故吗?我觉得是高级冷笑话,音乐圈此类糊涂账数不胜数。在影片中,记者问rodriguez:当年专辑卖不动,你吃惊吗?他答道:这是音乐产业,所以没有没什么保证。

而如今这个产业与rodriguez所处的时代相比,更加没有保证。

影片中sussex唱片公司老板不屑一顾的态度被很多人嘲笑,诟病,其实老爷子的反应太正常太理所当然。50万算什么?连区区1白金销量都没到。rodriguez的专辑由sussex发行,其本身就是一次错位,sussex在五六十年代以发行老迈等爵士乐专辑为生,由它发行一张民谣专辑,更何况还是一张非白人民谣专辑,在强手如林的70年代被人遗忘,不冤啊。

至于rodriguez美国不亮南非亮,这一影片中的最大卖点。。。。。。我不妨举出一个挺三俗的例子:1997年任贤齐的【心太软】在台湾发行后遭遇零反响。南京音像出版社引进了这盘磁带,【心太软】一气从南京红开来,直至北京上海新疆西藏。我猜任贤齐看完此片,绝壁心有戚戚焉。^_^

说到底,这部纪录片最动人心肺的还是那些南非乐迷,寻找你因为爱你,爱你所以寻找你。乐迷其实跟音乐人一样,一样可爱一样不容易。2012年7月24日下午,当我抵达香港亚洲展览馆,看见馆内the stone roses的海报,立马就捂住嘴站在边上抽泣。想必1998年3月6日的南非乐迷也跟我一样,我们年少时握着rodriguz的翻版碟,the stone roses的打口带,做梦也没梦见终有一天能身处他们的演唱会。

我梦想,有一天能诞生一部拍摄东德乐迷的纪录片,告诉世人在柏林墙倒塌之前,那些东德孩子(比如jazznova的成员)是如何听音乐,是如何央求在政府机关担任要职的爸爸妈妈,爷爷奶奶,公公婆婆乘出国的机会带回public enemy,beastie boys的唱片。


 短评

你永远无法理解一个乐观的悲观主义者看了这片后会有多么的激动。就算对全世界悲观,对全人类绝望,也无法阻止我对生活的热爱。世界上有一种人,他就是可以活得像电影一样精彩。不,远远地比电影还要精彩。他的心中永远怀揣着梦想,不管这个梦想被现实操得如何七零八落。推荐给所有我爱的人和爱我的人。

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同一个人,此处默默无闻,彼处如日中天,真是传奇。

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说实话音乐一般好,而这正是吊诡所在。听说这个导演为拍片子倾家荡产,如果他没拿奖片子默默无闻,他又会怎么样呢?这个世界有无数的艺术家竭尽才华却一无所有。。在对彼岸的消费中,歌手传奇式的点火自杀来圆满神话。establishment‘s blues这首不错,激进而又没有现在的网络传播,就只能埋没了。

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高潮真感人,看完这个的第一念头就是重看Anvil,那片子有更棒的角色

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了不起的灵魂,神奇的故事。Rodriguez并非是“拿得起,放得下”,或许他是未曾拿起,谈何放下。面对一切,他从容和接受,面对物质,他宽容和无私,他有他的音乐,却从未想过要靠它们过得更好,从而使得他本身成为一个传奇,造就不可思议的奇迹。

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东边不亮西边亮,造化弄人最传奇,太他妈励志了,文艺青年们不要妄自菲薄,加油加油。

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American Zero, South African Hero. 难以描述的感动,大过于音乐本身,大过于完美的叙事,大过于名誉、财富的诱惑:因为它本是这样的一段人生传奇,起落沉浮,终归于平和淡定的人生态度,平凡的人坐拥传奇的人生,不平凡的人格。

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大概就是一觉醒来发现被点了50万个赞的感觉吧。

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线索安排和与音乐的结合都可圈可点。传奇本人在镜头前是安静内敛的。他的确是个了不起的吟唱诗人,拥有强大的精神内力,在命运的起伏前不卑不亢。这就是文艺的力量。

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这个故事告诉我们大学万万不能选哲学专业,不然只能去搬砖了!“Jumpers, coke, sweet mary jane.”

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一个国家的神,引领几代人的精神领袖,三十年来,却对此一无所知,默默无闻的在另一个国度里忍受贫穷,颠沛流离,卖苦力,挣扎在社会最底层,却又生活的充满诗意。当年迈的他终于站上舞台,开口唱歌,我也好想同台下的歌迷一起站起来,为他尖叫,为他跳跃,为他流泪,那歌声真的太美好。

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不少人还在继续追寻那些版权费最终流到了谁手里;Rodriguez的妻子也成了一个谜,很多人想一探究竟;拍这个片子的导演居然也因为抑郁症自杀了……感觉围绕这个纪录片发生的一切,可以另外再拍一个纪录片了。

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纯是一个不可思议的故事,热爱音乐的人看的热泪盈眶

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这五星其实是想打给上帝的……您老人家真能弄……

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是不是也该拍一部《寻找班得瑞》?

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