《一代宗师》:王家卫的优雅回归

It’s more than fair to say that Wong Kar-wai’s movies are not easy to understand. The Hong Kong director rarely focuses on narratives in his works. Yet, he is undeniably an excellent storyteller who always feeds audiences with a visual and emotional feast.

说王家卫的电影难懂，这一点都不夸张。这位香港导演在其作品中很少强调叙事手法，然而不可否认的是，他是位优秀的叙事大师，总是能够为观众带来一次又一次打动人心的视觉盛宴。

His latest effort, The Grandmaster, is another of Wong’s typical movies: light on narrative, but full of his trademark elegance, the movie weaves the director’s familiar themes of love, loss and the corrosive nature of time around gorgeous martial arts sequences.

他的最新力作《一代宗师》又是一部典型的王氏电影：对于叙事轻描淡写，却充满了王氏特有的优雅印记。该片用一系列美轮美奂的武打片段，编织出王家卫所驾轻就熟的主题——爱与失去，以及岁月无情。

When Wong first announced his intention of creating the movie in 2002, it was described as a biopic of Ip Man, a real-life master of the Wing Chun school of martial arts. Even though we know that Ip will eventually prosper, Wong’s version of Ip (Tony Leung) is a portrait of a sad, isolated figure, and much less accessible than director Wilson Yip’s portrayal of the same character in the Ip Man series.

2002年，当王家卫首次宣布将拍摄这部电影时，该片被称为咏春拳一代宗师叶问的传记片。尽管我们清楚叶问势必大火，但王家卫版本的叶问（梁朝伟饰）却刻画出一个孤独的悲情人物形象，比导演叶伟信在《叶问》系列影片所刻画出中的那个叶问形象要难懂得多。

In The Grandmaster, the narrative is framed by Ip’s perception of the world, outlined in voiceovers explaining his background and his observations of life and the people around him.

《一代宗师》以叶问对世界的认知为叙事框架，画外音则解释了叶问的背景，以及他对生活和周围人的观察。

The movie, however, also dedicates a lot of screen time to Gong Er (Zhang Ziyi), the daughter of Gong Yutian, a martial arts master from northeastern China. Other masters weigh in with their philosophical and physical presence as well.

而本片也将大量镜头对准了由章子怡饰演的宫二（章子怡饰）这个角色。宫二是中国东北武术大师宫羽田的女儿。其他几位武术大师也凭借各自的武术精神和造诣现身片中。

Wong is a fan of recurring themes and The Grandmaster is no exception. For example, time proves once again to be the greatest enemy, causing people not only to grow old but also to forget the things they hold dear. In this movie particularly, the idea that age makes them weak and less able to defend themselves troubles the martial arts masters.

王家卫钟爱重复使用的主题，而《一代宗师》也不例外。比如片中再次证明了时间是最大的敌人，不仅令韶华老去，还让人们遗忘了那些曾珍视的东西。时间让人变得脆弱，无力自护，该片尤其表现了这点是如何令一代宗师身陷困境的。

Ultimately, the movie poetically delivers the wisdom of martial arts tradition in which Ip was deeply entrenched. But it’s not always easy for the audience to understand what Ip is thinking or what the story is trying to convey.

最终，影片用诗意手法传达出对叶问影响深远的那份传统武学智慧。而对于观众而言，要明白叶问的想法或电影所要传达的内容并非易事。

As a line in the movie goes: “They say, live without regrets. But how boring life would be if there was no regret.” The culture of martial arts is entrenched in a profound philosophy of life. Its interpretation by Wong cannot be embodied in exquisite action sequences and breathtaking visuals just to make it “easy to understand” — that would be boring, too.

正如电影里的一句台词：“说人生无悔，那都是赌气的话。若真无悔，那人生该多没趣啊!”武术文化深植于对人生哲学之中。对于这点的诠释，王家卫并未动用精良的动作场面或令人惊叹的视觉效果来使之“浅显易懂”——若真那样，也太无趣了。