夜半卖豆浆

 派拉蒙和尼克宣布“降世神通”系列开发三部新的电影，仍是动画形式。第一部由《降世神通：最后的气宗》导演Lauren Montgomery执导，《最后的气宗》主创Bryan Konietzko和Michael DiMartino担任制片人。

　　热爱摇滚乐，一心想赢得大赛的阿比阿弟不小心被另一对长得一模一样的阿比阿弟机器推冥界。在他们大闹阴曹地府、畅游天堂之后还拖著死神回到阳世，拯救女友的性命···节奏强烈的热门歌曲、地狱游历的惊险怪谭，还有一对胡搞蛮缠的活宝兄弟，就已经使「阿」片够新鲜热闹了，再加上导演创新的拍摄手法，许多趣味的桥段串连，使本片不论在视觉效果、技术处理上皆比上集精进，娱乐效果更有过之而无不及。

　　Set in an underground dungeon inhabited by bundled, ragged human beings, after the nuclear holocaust. The story follows the wanderings of a hero through the situations of survival. People wait for the Ark to arrive and rescue them while their habitat falls apart.　　Delving deep into the dusty and long abandonded vaults of b-cinema in search of lost gems always leaves me with a bittersweet taste. On one hand the discovery of unexpected gems where no one would think them possible is a rewarding experience. On the other hand though it makes one wonder how many of these remarkable low-budget oddities, personal love affairs of directors never quite famous and now all but forgotten, have almost forever slipped from memory?　　n any case what we have here is a little post-apocalyptic gem from Poland that is really better than it has any right to. The dystopian near future of O-BI, O-BA finds a group of survivors of the nuclear war that ravaged the Earth inhabiting an underworld concrete bunker and biding their time as they wait for the mysterious Ark, an air ship of some kind that will come and save them. The Ark proves to be an elaborate hoax, carefully designed to give hope to the malnourished and desperate denizens of the bunker, while in the meantime the dome that separates their miserable existence from the nuclear winter outside is slowly caving in.　　What first striked me about the movie is the design of the bunker and the depiction of the survivors. The survivors are gaunt, filthy and terrible-looking penitents, dressed in rags and aimlessly wandering the neon-lit halls of the bunker like automatons. The bunker is a rundown, seedy place, with bright neon lights peering from all sides like the eyes of malignant beasts.　　On one hand it is a slightly 80's depiction of the dystopian future but the movie never stoops down to MAD MAX cheese. Instead it combines biting political satire with the bleak outlook of a world with no future, black comedy with barbs on apathy, religion and power. The survivors, for example, are fed some kind of flour dropping from a tube that hovers in the air - later on we discover the food supervisor uses books and the Bible itself as filler for this meagre meal. There are many such short symbolic touches, perhaps not life-changing or faith-restoring, yet playful, clever and inspired.　　One thing is for sure; O-BI, O-BA is not your run-of-the-mill sci-fi schlock. It overcomes its modest budget with creativity and has genuine artistic aspirations both from a writing and directing perspective. My opinion is that it should have been filmed in black and white instead of colour though. The director uses atmospheric light and shadow to great effect and it would have registered even better in stark black and white. The blue-green neon on the other hand outstays its welcome after a while. Just a minor gripe in an otherwise solid b-movie with its heart set in all the right places.　　Imagine a less bleak THE ROAD (Cormac McCarthy) being injected with the satire and humour of DR.STRANGELOVE and you're getting there. See it if you can find it.

西南偏南电影节剧情片竞赛。                                                                      　　Nellie and Daisy attempt to escape the institution for delinquent girls in 1954 New Zealand, however not only are they caught, it triggers a relocation to a facility on a remote island. The duo become a trio as well-to-do Lou joins them, and life on the island takes shape under the command of devout Matron. The trio rail against the system, dubious of the benevolence of the bible and taking refuge in their blossoming friendship. It’s hard to reform girls who don’t believe they need reforming. However, a sense of doom settles in when experimental forms of punishment take place in the dead of night. Nellie and Daisy plot rebellion, but unexpectedly find themselves at odds with Lou, who is afraid to break the rules.