人造色素 Fall In Love Too Easily (2002)

*香港獨立電影節選映*

*台灣/新竹/高雄三地獨立電影展*

*Hong Kong Independent Film Festival*

*Taiwan/HsinChu/KaoHsiung Independent Film Festival*

電影預告片 Movie Trailer http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9KnYBXLH6Gs

監製：張偉雄

編劇/導演：林震宇

音樂：湯惠德

主演：盧家威、吳月霞、駱維、郭茵玄

HK/2002/Color/DV/90min

故事：2001年九月，香港中環。

小號手William跟蹤了性感的Sin多天，一直不敢相信的，是個人慾望竟然鋪天蓋地溶化理智。他在宗教信仰與情感之間糾纏自責，性是牛油和麵包，唯有在浴室對鏡自憐，才能看清自己。壓抑的城市壓扁了年青的愛，扭曲了尋常的慾。

Sin也不好過，情心種在荒土上，米舖伙記阿維心如止水，Sin主動示愛，阿維卻溫溫吞吞不明不白，對Sin來說，是否香港每個男人都是如此罪過？

阿維其實心有所屬，只是愛不出口。籃球場偶遇失落的William，二人努力地打球，還談到理想、生活與愛情。二人在燈影下嘻哈大笑，忘記了昨日、明天。

三人的感情遊戲，原來被神秘的Rain暗中監視。苦悶的辦公室女郎Rain，自得其樂偷看三個癡男怨女事態進展，甚至搗亂搞破壞。可是愈看愈捲入漩渦，不能自拔。看與被看，不過一線之差，迷局當中冷不防原來自己都變成主角。

一個突變的晚上，時代廣場仍然人流如鯽，城市依舊滾動，只是，兩男兩女同時要面對年青生命中不能承受的失落。

導演的話:

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關於理解愛，最先是少年維特。

我試過代入他的處境，愛一個不愛自己的人。完全地竭斯底理，跟對方糾纏了兩個晝夜，然後，凌晨聽到收音機在唱陳奕迅的《黃金時代》。睜大眼睛守望第三天的清晨來臨，突然，我獲得解脫。在餐廳跟她說，過了今晚，或者再沒機會坐在一起。她的眼淚，跟著奪眶而出。

非常香港的俗套愛情生活經歷。

我嘗試去理解這種愛的本質：是因對方而存在，還是一種自我沉溺。如果真正愛一個人，為什麼又會有期限，期限一過，愛就流走。

羅蘭巴特的《戀人絮語》如是說：「受挫感以情人在眼前為具體形式(我天天看見對方，但我又不因此而滿足：戀愛對像就在眼前，但在我心中的形像而言，她又不在眼前)。情人不在身邊是失卻的具體形式；我有慾望又有需要。慾望被需要所擠壓：這便是所有戀愛情感中無法擺脫的事實。」

對了，慾望被需要所擠壓。

――我似乎觸摸到一種以成就自我為目的的沉溺心態。

流連中環酒吧的日子，聽到不少有趣的愛情故事：有男人喜歡收集女人留在床上的體毛，有女人專偷取所有前度男友的手表――這種戀物投射，不難理解。

後來想起Chet Baker一首歌《I Fall in Love Too Easily》：

I fall in love too easily / I fall in love too fast

I fall in love too terribly hard / for love to ever last…

不斷重覆的歌詞，似有還無，令我對「我這麼容易愛人」的脆弱感受揮之不去。

故事劇本續漸成形了：我常自問，如果未見過一個人，可以就愛上嗎？我答：為什麼不能？城市有很多浪族，遊走日與夜，他們都感性又性感，充滿含意的目光，睥睨著每段擦身而過的偶遇。於是主角都把經歷幻代成主觀情感，編織故事，自製「色」素，期待發生。

少年維特、羅蘭巴特、Chet Baker、關於擠壓的慾望、戀物投射，一切準備就緒…

忽然來個911。徹夜難眠。

翌日，跟監製張偉雄在Starbucks喝咖啡，他問感覺如何，要不要回應？但他說可能會幾老套。九月三十日開鏡，我惱了幾天，得監製啟發，劇本改了又改，想起活地亞倫曾在《Manhattan》說過：「I’m old fashioned!」，也就心安理得老老套套拍下去。

因為，我感到自己都是處於遺失的一代。

911之夜，問自己，如果真的世界末日，會做什麼？

我有了答案。

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2001年夏天，好像失去了些什麼。但又難以言喻，總的就是處於一種離心狀態，盲目地嚮往城市蕩遊，愁城自困，聽首情歌都會哭。沉溺至此，相信是身體髮膚面對現時社會氛圍的反應――然後有了《人造色素》。兩男兩女的感情追逐故事，熟口熟面，根本就是你與我擦身而過的拾遺。天崩地裂，人面依舊，現實本是如此。最偉大的愛情，是永不能圓的愛情。911後，我有世界末日的感覺，愛情還應該發生嗎？或者，這就是處於遺失的一代的告白。

Producer: Bryan Chang

Screenplay & Director: Pierre Lam

Music: Janet Tong

Starring: Spencer Lo, Amy Ng, Wai Lok, Sini Kwok

HK/2002/Color/DV/90min

Story: We are the generation of lost – we lose hope and love. After the devastating incidence of Sept. 11, who can bear with losing love again? First-time director Lam Chun-Yue comes up with a love story of 2 boys and 2 girls - a story of stalking, peeping, rejecting and seducing - with links to his depressive feelings towards Hong Kong at that disastrous moment. Trumpeter WILLIAM loves his instrument as well as the sexy object SIN. He has blamed himself for puzzling between his religious belief and spiritual desire. Sin is a surprisingly pure yet sexy girl who only wishes to share her first love with a colleague, WAI. Wai chooses to walk out of this relationship as he had a secret commitment with a trumpeter named Vi. All these interwoven relations have been eyed by a lonely office lady, RAIN. She enjoys being an outsider without realising that she herself has become deeply a part of the game until one night. That night, all these youngsters have to face the unbearable lost of their fragile love.

Director's Statement:

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My journey to comprehending love starts with Young Werther.

I’ve once experienced a similar situation of falling unflinchingly for an un-requited love. The struggling indulgence had drowned me for two full days. Sheer spiritual exhaustion and sleepless nights had drained every bit of me until I heard Eason Chan’s Golden Times on the radio late at night, then I came to a sudden relief at dawn. We met in a restaurant where I told her, “We may never have the chance to spend time together after tonight…” and then tears rolled down her face.

That is a typical story of a love life in Hong Kong.

I’ve tried to understand the very nature of this kind of love: Does it happen because the object of desire exists, or, is this purely self-indulgence? If love is meant to be sure, why is it constantly labeled with an expiry date? Why can’t it be eternal?

As said in A Lover’s Discourse by Roland Barthes, “Frustration would have presence as its figure (I see the other everyday, yet I am not satisfied there by: the object is actually there yet continues, in terms of my image-repertoire, to be absent for me). Absence is the figure of privation; simultaneously, I desire and I need. Desire is squashed against need: that is the obsessive phenomenon of all amorous sentiment.”

That is the point: desire is squashed against need – from here I seemed to see a drowning attitude of self-fulfillment.

When I used to linger in bars and pubs in Central, I’ve heard many interesting stories of city love; There is a man who collects her hair left in bed; and there is a woman who collects watches from all her ex-boyfriends. Therefore, fetishism is understandable.

Then it came to my mind Chet Baker sang I Fall in Love too Easily:

I fall in love too easily / I fall in love to fast

I fall in love too terribly hard / For love to ever last

The gentle yet repetitive lyrics have further deepened my perspective towards the fragile side of love. Gradually, I saw the story forming into a screenplay in full shape. I kept asking myself the same question, “Is it possible to fall for someone who you never met?” My answer would be, “Why impossible?”

Under the city skyline lives a flock of sentimental yet sexy Bohemians. They wander through the day and night, wearing pairs of eye filled with messages, gazing into each other at every brief encounter. These characters are now transformed into the lead roles of the screenplay. They interpret their experience into private, subjective storylines, and they artificially create every possibility while longing for love to happen.

As a result, I’ve been influenced by Young Werther, Roland Barthes, Chet Baker, with stories of squashed desire and fetishism awaiting.

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Then the disastrous Sept. 11 incidence hit the world with shocking tragedy – adding more sleepless nights for me. The next day I met with producer Chang Wai-Hung, comparing thoughts on the incidence. We thought about responding to the disaster, however, Chang found it old fashioned to do so. The shoot then commenced on Sept. 30 with the inspirations I gained from Chang. Although I kept amending the script until the very last moment, I suddenly remembered Woody Allen’s line in Manhattan

“I’m old fashioned” flashed across my mind and then it clicked! I am happy being old fashioned, as I belong to the generation of lost.

On the night of Sept. 11, I wondered what would I do if that was the end of the world. Now I have an answer for it.