Darkly or Clearly?

《A Scanner Darkly》剛在影院上映的時候就想去看，應該是受到實拍之後又染色成動畫片這件新鮮事兒外加李維斯的吸引。之前沒看過介紹，以為是一部感情片，結果是充斥毒品文化的科幻小說改編的。

跟毒品有關的電影也看了不少，但是這部片子對於人吸毒後的言行、產生的幻覺以及清醒後內心的掙扎等等一切的刻畫特別與眾不同。由於小說原著作者有過一段使用毒品的經歷，這部作品被認為是半自傳體的。再加上演配角Barris和Luckman的兩個生活中也使用過毒品，我倒樂意相信電影裡表現出來的比較接近真實。

李維斯算得上形象百變了，留了鬍子把頭髮弄亂就顯得邋遢又強悍，穿上襯衫就儼然一個居家男人，電影最後他穿上戒毒所的制服，颳了鬍子，一副神智遲鈍的樣子。電影裡他的角色具有雙重身份，既是一個吸毒者（Arctor），又是一個匿名臥底警探（Fred）。他從監視器裡面觀看另一個自己的生活真實又虛幻，搞得他迷失了方向；而毒品的作用讓他左右腦競爭上崗，精神分裂之日可待。電影裡他有這麼一段獨白，也是小說裡面的原文：

    What does a scanner see? I mean, really see? Into the head? Down into the heart? Does a passive infrared scanner … see into me — into us — clearly or darkly? I hope it does see clearly, because I can』t any longer these days see into myself. I see only murk. Murk outside; murk inside. I hope, for everyone’s sake, the scanners do better. Because if the scanner sees only darkly, the way I myself do, then we are cursed, cursed again and like we have been continually, and we』ll wind up dead this way, knowing very little and getting that little fragment wrong too.

好像事關子孫後代，說出來就顯得尤其高尚。電影最後，女主角Donna因為Arctor的遭遇飽受良心的譴責，而他的同事就義正詞嚴地說，他們所作的是為了子孫後代，哪怕並不能留名青史。這讓我想到了《MGS2: Substance》最後Snake的一段獨白，曾另我感慨不已：

    Life isn』t just about passing on your genes. We can leave behind much more than just DNA. Through speech, music, literature and movies… what we』ve seen, heard, felt …anger, joy and sorrow… these are the things I will pass on. That’s what I live for. We need to pass the torch, and let our children read our messy and sad history by its light. We have all the magic of the digital age to do that with. The human race will probably come to an end some time, and new species may rule over this planet. Earth may not be forever, but we still have the responsibility to leave what traces of life we can. Building the future and keeping the past alive are one and the same thing.

這是一部悲傷的電影，小說作者也試圖讓人們關注吸毒人群。他說：「有些人因為他們的所作所為受到了過多的懲罰」，「濫用毒品不是一種疾病，而是一種決定。」

一個驚喜是，電影裡用了好多Radiohead的歌，還有Thom Yorke的《Black Swan》。