1
中国人有一句话,叫理解万岁。
想理解一个人太难了。片中的爸爸酗酒,天天在外面进行演出,深更半夜不着家。尽给孩子和妈妈许诺一些空头支票。但在他酗酒失足去世以后,无数的人到他目前来哀悼,因为他把欢乐带给过他们,他是如此用心,每个人都记着他,也记着他的好,好像缓解了他们生命的悲惨。
片中的妈妈豆腐心刀子嘴,这也不让做那也不让做。甚至乖女儿学习那么有天赋,也想让她辍学给家里挣工分。更不要提她从来不看女儿的作文了。但我们发现这样的妈妈太伟大了,又当爹又当妈,甚至连自己要生产的时候为了节省家用都不去医院,自己在家生产。为了孩子和家人,她牺牲了一切。
当然还有我们的小女主角,这个女儿学习太用功了,发誓要把区图书馆的书从 a到Z全读一遍。有一天他借了一本忧郁的解剖,这恰好是我最爱的一本书,16 17世纪写当事人的生活方式的。图书馆员说,你怎么能读这么枯燥的书?但这个女孩子就是如此爱学习,家里花尽钱财买了一本莎士比亚全集,所有人都读不懂,但是他还是要从头读到尾。这使人非常感动,因为在那样淳朴的岁月,大家对于文学是那样的尊重。买一本莎士比亚全集,是一个非常了不起的家庭大事。一本圣经也是那样。
在我们这个年代,往往感到怀念的就是那种淳朴。那种暖暖的人情味儿。
即使你的小姨是做女招待的,三天两头换个男友。突然有一天发现他的前丈夫现在在当救火英雄,已经生了4个孩子,他会气的要死。
即使你的外婆是个欧洲移民,但是他会很用心的告诉你,在我们那个岁月一个人干死了,也不会超过自己的父亲,而我们费尽心力来到了美国就是为了追逐美国梦在这里你只要想干,你就能获得自己想要的理想生活。
卡赞就是想表现这一点。 2
想起了妈妈真不易。为了节省家用,他们搬到了这栋出租公寓的最顶楼。其实省的也不多。
但是上一任老太太因为付不起从窗口搬钢琴的费用,就是让他们托管。爸爸就弹了一首劳瑞的曲子。
似乎每个人都能在这个片子里找到自己生活的影子。
片中的圣诞节让我想起了卡博特的少年。他们等待卖冬青树的人把最大的那一颗送给他们 ,前提是两个小朋友能把它接在手上。他们攒了所有的积蓄,给妈妈买了一小瓶玫瑰香油,有点那个时代的护手霜的意思。而给他们热爱的爸爸呢,就用男孩子的鞋带扎了一个怀表带儿。虽然爸爸没有怀表,但是他也开心极了。
物资越匮乏的时候,人们越能记得他们的欢乐。
因为那是,人们最有爱。
"if one claims A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN is Kazan’s best work, most likely, it is not an overstatement."
Elia Kazan’s reverberating if under-celebrated debut feature, adapted from Betty Smith’s 1943 eponymous novel, A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN takes a closer look on a second generationIrish-American family in the year of 1912, dwelling in their cramped tenement apartment in Brooklyn, struggling with immiseration and bereavement.
If the synopsis sounds depressing, conversely, the film is nothing if not life-affirming, Kazan attests to be a top-drawer storyteller with his unobtrusive camerawork, snaking dexterously within a two-by-four space,the narrative is unfolded from the POV of Francie (Garner), a sensitive, studious and impressionable 13-year-old girl, who develops a quasi-Electra complex towards her buoyant father Johnny Nolan (Dunn), at the expense of a small chasm between her and the more matter-of-fact, diligent housewife mother Katie (McGuire). The Nolans is a happy family, Francie also has a younger brother Neeley (Donaldson), except for their hand-to-mouth existence, because Johnny is anything but an adequate breadwinner, his forte is to bring contagious elation to those around him, with his chirpy singing and devil-may-care spirit, a pipe dreamer afflicted by intemperance, he is more contented in dreaming up what he will do when his ship comes in, than actually actuating it, alas, Johnny's American dream never actualizes, but this doesn’t make him a lesser human being, on the contrary, he is a generous giver, lading out merriment whenever, wherever, spontaneously, only the sad truth is that he is not up to raise a big family, which flags up why contraception is more an imperative than an immoral contraption for humans. James Dunn wins an Oscar (beggar belief this is the film’s sole Oscar nomination!) for his brimful, simpatico earnestness beautifully corroded by a telling patina of pathos.
Katie, on the other hand, is the hinge of the household, husbanding every cent (but regularly ponies up their weekly premium nonetheless), and her disenchantment of a rosier future starts to gnaw at her when it clocks to her that it might never occur, yet, it is the thought that she loves Johnny for who he is, conciliates her and puts her on her mettle, in the end of the day, it is the bonhomie the family basks in really matters, Dorothy McGuire wholeheartedly avails herself of Katie’s plain demeanor and modest rig, and pours out her ambivalent emotion with unrivaled assurance and veracity, the final reconciliation between her and Francie strikes such a profound chord that it is an oceanic remiss her low-key brilliance is stiffed by the Academy here, among many an awards-worthy achievement of this refined gem.
Serendipitously, child actressPeggy Ann Garner is conferred with a special Oscar for her central performance, in fact, the whole movie is her Bildungsroman and Garner makes good in both those emotion-charging demands and those plumbing into Francie’s more infantile dispositions, as in completing for parental attention from Neeley,Ted Donaldson also shines with a naturally cavalier mien that largely countervails Garner's more precocious headspace. Last but not the least is aunt Sissy, Katie’s elder sister, played by Joan Blondell with snazzy verve and pizzazz, thrice married and naming all her hubbies Bill, she is by any rate, a different kettle of fish from Katie, yet the exemplar of a kid’s favorite aunt, a happy-go-lucky counterpart of Johnny, but free of livelihood worries, a bonus to be a woman of its time, isn't it?
A humane, unassuming drama inculcating precious wisdom of growing up, of calibrating one’s life aspect and of finding hope and sunshine in one’s darkest moments, if one claims A TREE GROWS IN BROOKLYN is Kazan’s best work, most likely, it is not an overstatement.
referential entries: Kazan’s ON THE WATERFRONT (1954, 8.1/10), A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE (1951, 9.0/10), GENTLEMAN’S AGREEMENT (1947, 7.8/10).