籠困 Caged (2011)

　　在一個舒適的季節，弗朗西斯科（艾邦·摩斯·貝克許 Ebon Moss-Bachrach 飾）和懷有身孕的妻子貝絲（凡妮莎·肖 Vinessa Shaw 飾）來到墨西哥某個海濱小鎮度假。適值狂歡節期間，小鎮四周歌舞升平，紙醉金迷，多少青年男女流連忘返。弗朗西斯科渴望尋覓一個安寧的所在，他找到當地的漁夫，從對方手中租下一艘船，打算在附近某個僻靜的小島安然度過五六天。次日，他和妻子抵達目的地。那里寂靜無聲，幾乎看不到一個人影。島上的孩子們偶爾逡巡四周，但無一例外臉上都掛著猙獰冷漠的表情。　　未過多久，令他們毛骨悚然的事情接連發生。島上的孩子手執兇器獵殺成人，期間更發出令人不寒而栗的笑聲。孩童的殺戮仍在繼續，弗朗西斯科夫婦能否逃離……

　　一個年輕女子被一個背木邪教綁架和她的報復。

　　在近未來的反烏托邦社會，電視真人秀《過關斬將》（The Running Man）以血腥的生存競賽霸占收視榜首。參賽者被稱為“跑者”（Runners），必須在職業殺手的追獵下存活30天，一舉一動皆被實時直播給嗜血的公眾觀眾；每多活一天，便能累積更高額獎金。　　工人階級的本·理查茲（格倫·鮑威爾 飾）為拯救重病女兒孤注一擲，被節目魅力十足卻冷酷無情的制作人丹·基利安（喬什·布洛林 飾）說服，以“最后希望”的身份踏入這場死亡游戲。　　然而，本的叛逆、求生本能與堅韌意志，竟讓他意外成為全民追捧的偶像——同時也成了整個體制的致命威脅。 隨著收視率飆升至巔峰，危險指數同步暴漲。本不僅要智勝步步緊逼的獵人，更需對抗整個國度對他“慘敗”的瘋狂期待。　　影片改編自史蒂芬·金的同名小說。

　　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.