天降財神
(The Man Who Fell To Earth)
尼可拉斯羅吉 Nicolas Roeg
1976|Color|USA|139 min
播映時間與地點
11/10 (二) 20:30
蘇格貓底二手書咖啡屋
這部電影翻譯成「天降財神」說實在有點怪，因為電影裡並未真的讓人感受到「財神」的存在，只有為了拯救自己乾旱的星球與家人，不得不來到地球找水源，並靠高超的外星科技賺錢以建造太空船，帶自己回家的外星人。而這個外星人其實根本不熱衷於商賈，他厭倦地球上的俗世紛擾，同樣地也為隱瞞自己的真實身分而努力喬裝、保持低調，但最後結局仍邁向毀滅的外星人悲劇。
電影改編自沃爾特‧特維斯(Walter Tevis)的小說，導演是英國的尼可拉斯羅吉(Nicolas Roeg)。尼可拉斯羅吉在當導演前曾是攝影師，楚浮(François Truffaut)的《華氏451度》(Fahrenheit 451)就是由他擔任攝影。尼可拉斯羅吉較為人所知的商業電影是他1990年與安潔莉卡休斯頓(Anjelica Huston)合作的《女巫》(The Witches)。《天降財神》(The Man Who Fell To Earth)雖是尼可拉斯羅吉的代表作，但因為其手法繁複、充滿導演自我風格，因此當年雖獲得柏林影展金熊獎的提名，但一般觀眾的接受度不高，影評家對此電影也是褒貶不一。但若要在藝術電影和科幻電影間找尋獨特的模糊美感，《天降財神》則為必看經典。
性愛和電視畫面大量充斥著139分鐘的電影，這兩類都是現在人生的必備品，但在大量執行時卻又充滿荒謬感。中年男子用性愛來證明自己的青春，但同時卻又感到空虛；外星人可同時閱覽大量的電視畫面，但他卻不相信人類，也不讓人類認識他。性愛是最親密的接觸，電視是最直接的傳播，二者理應最貼近生活，但在《天降財神》裡，過度的感官刺激卻顯得諷刺而荒謬。
瑪莉露口口聲聲說愛著湯瑪斯(Thomas)，但當她第一次看見湯米的真面目時卻嚇得尿褲子。湯米愛著他的妻子和家人，但他在地球依然對女性軀體感到渴望與孤寂。湯米寧願一口氣看數十種不同的電視頻道，也不願意和瑪莉露(Mary-Lou)談心。酒精在《天降財神》有點類似亞當與夏娃的禁果，當湯米的外星人本尊不幸被揭發而被囚禁時，他能喝的就只有酒精類飲品。爾後他的地球人偽裝不但再也取不下來，連故鄉也回不去，只能頹廢地酗酒，完全「墜落」在地球上。
尼可拉斯羅吉最擅長的手法就是把時空切割，任意穿插在劇情裡。以及用肉體關係來反映角色的內心變化，這點在1980年的《性昏迷》(Bad Timing)裡被使用得更淋漓盡致。
本片另一個有趣的點是男主角大衛鮑伊(David Bowie)，他和披頭四、皇后合唱團並列為英國20世紀最重要的搖滾巨星，近年最讓人熟悉的電影角色是《頂尖對決》(The Prestige)裡的英國科學家特斯拉(Tesla)，並參與《搖滾世代》(Glastonbury)的紀錄演出。《天降財神》時期的大衛鮑伊已經不再玩華麗搖滾，就在他的興趣逐漸轉向德國樂壇前，他的專輯「Station to Station」給他帶來另一個暱稱：「The thin white duke。」這個暱稱是描述因當時依賴毒品而顯得蒼白且經常穿著白襯衫、西裝背心舞台裝的大衛鮑伊形象。此外，「The thin white duke」也被視為是他在電影《天降財神》角色的延伸，這正好是大衛鮑伊的過度期，而這段過度轉化的時光在某種程度上也影響──或說間接完美──了他在《天降財神》裡的演出。The thin white duke時期的大衛鮑伊徹底把一個陌生而顯得過度小心翼翼的外星人，轉化成對人類、愛情、友誼失望，缺乏信任且酒精中毒的太空墮落者。
（撰文：章聿珩）
Thomas (David Bowie) seems no different from other people, but as a matter of fact, he is a human being from another planet with a highly developed civilization. Thomas has his own family, relatives and friends from his planet. Once he finds that the Earth is a planet full of water, he leaves the waterless planet of his and comes to the Earth out of fascination with water. Here, Thomas uses the advanced technology with which he is familiar to find a company and quickly becomes a millionaire. However, the longer he stays on Earth, the more he misses his home planet. Still, the Earth is too tempting. How will Thomas make his choice in the end?
If we look at "The Man Who Fell to Earth" in today's perspective, the standout characteristic of the film is its avant-garde nature. It has been 33 years since its making, yet the scenes, the characters' costumes, and the storyline are not the least bit out of date. In other words, if not told the release date of the movie, you will undoubtedly consider it to be released recently.
Of course, the focus of the film is mostly on David Bowie, one of the most important figures in the history of rock music, the rock chameleon. It is thus very suitable for him to play a strange alien. Being sickly, eccentric, and a bit nervous are our impression of the extraterrestrial rock star's common characteristics.
An alien, due to his fascination with water, leaves his wife and children behind and comes to the Earth. With all the riches and success he achieves on Earth, he has trouble accustoming himself to many things on Earth while he is attracted to the TV, his lover, among others. On the other hand, he misses his family on another planet. He is lured, attracted, and tortured. Eventually he chooses this well-to-do life on Earth, but his heart is filled with great regret. Precisely, this movie reflects the great suffering of modern people from numerous external temptations.
（撰文：彭中嬿）
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