美国国家公共电台 NPR Grief Hangs Around At Home In 'A Ghost Story'

 

KELLY MCEVERS, HOST:

The low-budget movie "A Ghost Story" stars Casey Affleck and Rooney Mara. The film, shot for a hundred thousand dollars, was made quickly and in secret just days after Director David Lowery finished the Disney film "Pete's Dragon." Critic Bob Mondello says it's hard to imagine more different films coming from the same director.

BOB MONDELLO, BYLINE¹: The two leads in "A Ghost Story," a married couple, are known only as C and M. Casey Affleck's C is quiet, a composer who's better at expressing himself in music than in words. Rooney Mara's M seems more comfortable saying what she's feeling.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A GHOST STORY")

ROONEY MARA: (As M) When I was little and we used to move all the time, I would write these notes. And I would fold them up really small, and I would hide them.

CASEY AFFLECK: (As C) What did they say?

MARA: (As M) They were just, like, things I wanted to remember so that if I ever wanted to go back, there'd be a piece of me there waiting.

MONDELLO: She loves him, and he her, but their relationship is difficult. She wants to move. He is dragging his feet.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A GHOST STORY")

AFFLECK: (As C) I don't want what you want.

MARA: (As M) 'Cause you want to stay here.

AFFLECK: (As C) Mm-hm (ph).

MARA: (As M) Why?

MONDELLO: Shortly after this conversation, C is killed in an auto² accident. At the hospital morgue, M says her goodbyes and leaves the body on its slab³ in stillness. When no one's around, C leaves, too. He sits up on the slab still covered by a sheet, looking for all the world like a child's Halloween costume with black holes for eyes. He's a ghost in ghost's clothing who begins to wander the crowded halls of the hospital unnoticed.

A portal opens, a chance to move toward the light. Instead, C returns to the house he didn't want to leave to be with his grieving wife. M does grieve - sorting through their possessions with eyes brimming, stress-eating an entire pie in one harrowing, uninterrupted take, listening to C's music, all with the ghost of C unseen, but ever in a corner of the frame.

(SOUNDBITE OF SONG, "I GET OVERWHELMED")

DARK ROOMS: (Singing) Are you running late? Did you sleep too much? All the awful dreams felt real enough.

MONDELLO: And then, as she must, M moves on. C's ghost can't. He's bound to this spot through years, through other residents, even when the home is torn down, gradually slipping away from this world until he's entirely⁴ unmoored in time but still stuck. Director David Lowery started out as a film editor. And you could make the case that "A Ghost Story" proves what good editing can do on its own. After three years spent making the effects-heavy "Pete's Dragon," this almost amounts to a cinematic cleanse⁵ - microbudget, tiny cast, finished in a couple of weeks with no effects, almost no dialogue except for one scene where some partying grad students take up residence in C's house and are stoned enough to articulate what you imagine a ghost might be thinking.

(SOUNDBITE OF FILM, "A GHOST STORY")

WILL OLDHAM: (As Prognosticator) Maybe the whole world will remember you, or maybe just a couple of people. But you do what you can to make sure you're still around after you're gone.

MONDELLO: I should mention that the film is virtually without plot, so it requires some patience. Major stars and that title notwithstanding, "A Ghost Story" is not a Saturday-night date movie, more a provocative⁶ art film in the European sense. Though barely 87 minutes, it unfolds in long, static shots, most of them without faces to hang on to. It's almost a film without genre⁷, and by the end it's become a story untethered from time itself. Still, it manages to be achingly intimate, and somehow optimistic, a meditation⁸ on loss, but also on legacy⁹, on our enduring need to endure. We all hope to leave something behind - children, memories. Filmmaker David Lowery will leave "A Ghost Story." And if my own experience is any indication, it will linger. I'm Bob Mondello.

1 byline   

n.署名；v.署名

参考例句：

• His byline was absent as well.他的署名也不见了。
• We wish to thank the author of this article which carries no byline.我们要感谢这篇文章的那位没有署名的作者。

2 auto   

n.(=automobile)(口语)汽车

参考例句：

• Don't park your auto here.别把你的汽车停在这儿。
• The auto industry has brought many people to Detroit.汽车工业把许多人吸引到了底特律。

3 slab   

n.平板，厚的切片；v.切成厚板，以平板盖上

参考例句：

• This heavy slab of oak now stood between the bomb and Hitler.这时笨重的橡木厚板就横在炸弹和希特勒之间了。
• The monument consists of two vertical pillars supporting a horizontal slab.这座纪念碑由两根垂直的柱体构成，它们共同支撑着一块平板。

4 entirely   

ad.全部地，完整地；完全地，彻底地

参考例句：

• The fire was entirely caused by their neglect of duty. 那场火灾完全是由于他们失职而引起的。
• His life was entirely given up to the educational work. 他的一生统统献给了教育工作。

5 cleanse   

vt.使清洁，使纯洁，清洗

参考例句：

• Health experts are trying to cleanse the air in cities. 卫生专家们正设法净化城市里的空气。
• Fresh fruit juices can also cleanse your body and reduce dark circles.新鲜果汁同样可以清洁你的身体,并对黑眼圈同样有抑制作用。

6 provocative   

adj.挑衅的，煽动的，刺激的，挑逗的

参考例句：

• She wore a very provocative dress.她穿了一件非常性感的裙子。
• His provocative words only fueled the argument further.他的挑衅性讲话只能使争论进一步激化。

7 genre   

n.(文学、艺术等的)类型，体裁，风格

参考例句：

• My favorite music genre is blues.我最喜欢的音乐种类是布鲁斯音乐。
• Superficially,this Shakespeare's work seems to fit into the same genre.从表面上看， 莎士比亚的这个剧本似乎属于同一类型。

8 meditation   

n.熟虑，（尤指宗教的）默想，沉思，（pl.）冥想录

参考例句：

• This peaceful garden lends itself to meditation.这个恬静的花园适于冥想。
• I'm sorry to interrupt your meditation.很抱歉，我打断了你的沉思。

9 legacy   

n.遗产，遗赠；先人(或过去)留下的东西

参考例句：

• They are the most precious cultural legacy our forefathers left.它们是我们祖先留下来的最宝贵的文化遗产。
• He thinks the legacy is a gift from the Gods.他认为这笔遗产是天赐之物。