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本帖最后由 moozi75 于 2009-11-16 11:42 编辑
The movie is worlds removed from another making-of concert doc, Madonna's calculatedly scandalous Truth or Dare, and closer to old let's-put-on-a-show musicals like the Busby Berkeley 42nd Street, the Judy Garland–Mickey Rooney Babes in Arms and the Broadway standard A Chorus Line. It has all the elements: the big star (Jackson), the guiding impresario (Ortega) and, supporting them, a whole retinue of gifted, ambitious singers and dancers. The movie opens with the prospective dancers' declarations of the inspirational impact that Jackson has had on them. (O.K., they really need this job, but the effusions sound genuine.) Later, the men have to rehearse one of Jackson's more notorious dance figures. Apparently, grabbing your crotch while gliding across the stage is more difficult than it looks.
（正文）
There are only two differences between This and the old musicals. Instead of the star breaking a leg, he dies after we see the fruit of his labors. And in This Is It the emphasis is not on love affairs — though Jackson proclaims a tender "I love you" to everyone in sight — but on the energizing, exhausting business of making a spectacle spectacular.
Ortega and Jackson had some Berkeley-size production numbers in mind. A version of "Smooth Criminal" interpolates Jackson into antique movie clips with Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart and Edward G. Robinson. "They Don't Care About Us" sends 1,100 CGI soldiers marching down a kind of Champs-Elysées whose Arc de Triomphe is bent into an M for Michael. "Thriller" was to boast 3-D effects. And "Earth Song," the rain-forest-message number, has a dewy child (a girl, if you're wondering) facing down a bulldozer, which was then to motor toward the front of the stage, ready to devour the star. "Save Michael," he seemed to be saying, and save the planet.
But the coolest moments show Jackson unadorned and unplugged. He sings "Human Nature" nearly a cappella, blending vocal virtuosity and a choirboy's clarity; there's nothing false about his falsetto. His Terpsichore leads viewers through how-the-hell-does-he-do-that? astonishment into a mute appreciation of Jackson's ability to channel Fred Astaire's nonchalant elegance and fit it to the percussive drive of R&B. He gives dancing class and sex.
Jackson also plays well with others. There's a splendid duet with Judith Hill on "I Just Can't Stop Loving You" that's both a call-and-response act of communion and a little contest over who can show more soul. He urges his lead guitarist, the petite, blond Orianthi Panagaris, to release all the wildness her fingers can express. He's determined to get the best from everyone, and to think the best of them. Near the end, just before a powerful rendition of "Man in the Mirror," he thanks members of his family: "Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Tito, Randy ..." Then, remembering his mother, he adds, "I should also say Katherine. I love you." He's got a lot of love he needs to express.
No question that Jackson, deeply in debt to Sony and other creditors, needed the money that the concerts would generate. But his heroic effort and attention to detail suggest that this was no take-the-money-and-run greatest-hits scam. He saw This Is It as a career retrospective that would re-establish the value of his music and prove he still had the strength and the moves of 20, 30, 40 years ago. At times he tries to husband his resources: stinting on the vocalizing of one song, he apologizes, "I'm just trying to save my voice." Then the beat or the melody gets to him, and he helplessly transforms into the full-throttle kid.
For a modern entertainer who dies before his time, immortality is measured in residuals — the money from commemorative projects like this. Michael Jackson will have no resurrection — in the end, that was that — but the movie does earn him a redemptive legacy. It proves that, at the end, he was still a thriller. Fans and doubters alike can look at the gentle, driven singer-dancer at the center of this up-close document and say admiringly, This was him.
（译：moozi75）
Foreword：
这部世界性的电影是由演唱会的幕后排练剪辑而成的，相比麦当娜那做作和令人反感的《Truth or Dare》像一场古老又装样子的音乐秀，这就像是Busby Berkeley 的《42nd Street》，Judy Garland–Mickey Rooney 的《Babes in Arms》 和以《A Chorus Line》标准的百老汇。This is it 有全部的要素：巨星（Jackson），舞台导演（Ortega）以及支持他们的那一大批有才华的，有抱负的歌手和舞者。电影的开场伴随着舞者无限的期盼，他们道出了Jackson在他们身上所给与灵感的巨大影响（好吧，他们的确需要这份工作，但是他们流露的情感是如此的真诚）之后，他们不得不排练Jackson许多众所周知的舞蹈动作之一。很明显的，要流畅的在舞台上滑行时抓裆看上去比什么都难。
Body：
This is it和旧的歌舞影片只有两个方面是不一样的，不是这位明星破坏了计划，而是在我们看见他的劳动成果之前他离开了我们。以及在This is it中强调的不是关于爱的事情——尽管Jackson被看到对每一个人温柔的说出了“I love you”——但在精力上，却令人疲惫的制造了商业上的一场盛大场面。
Ortega 和Jackson有一些伯克利风格的特别节目在构思。Jackson将《Smooth Criminal》的版本修改进Rita Hayworth, Humphrey Bogart 和Edward G. Robinson的老电影片断中。《They Don't Care About Us》利用电脑影像合成了1100个士兵行军在像是香榭丽舍大街上的凯旋门前，因为“Michael”而弯曲成“M”的形状。《Thriller》有值得夸耀的3D效果。《Earth Song》来自热带雨林的讯息中有一个纯洁的孩子（一个女孩，如果你感到奇怪）勇敢的面对推土机，然后就有推土机开进了舞台前方，准备吞噬这位巨星。“拯救Michael”，他也像是在说，“拯救这个星球”。
但最酷的一刻表演是Jackson未经修饰的，原始朴实的演唱。他唱《Human Nature》几乎是无伴奏的演唱，糅合了声乐高手和唱诗班少年歌者的清澈。他的假音没有丝毫的错漏。他的歌舞之神引领着观众，像是通过“他妈的他怎么能做到这样”惊奇的进入一个无声的世界，欣赏着Jackson的天资，去引导Fred Astaire冷漠的优雅和适合它的R&B撞击器。他的舞蹈带给我们了优雅和性感。
Jackson与别人合作的很棒。有一个与Judith Hill 特别棒的二重唱《I Just Can't Stop Loving You》，就像是一呼一应的的交流行为和对谁可以彰显更多情感的小竞赛。他鼓励他的首席吉他乐手，这个娇小的金发女子Orianthi Panagaris去释放她手指所能展现的所有野性。他坚决的从每个人身上获得最棒的东西和思考他们的优秀。接近尾声，在充满力量的《Man in the Mirror》表演之前，他感谢了他的家庭成员：“Jackie, Jermaine, Marlon, Tito, Randy ...”之后，记起了他的母亲，他加上“我同样也要感谢我的母亲，我爱你。”他有着他需要表达的大量的爱。
毫无疑问Jackson，负债累累的SONY和其他债权人需要钱才使这场演唱会举办。但是他英雄般的成就和关注细节的特点都暗示了这终将不可能是拿了钱就跑的诓骗大众的精选集。他明白This is it作为一个职业生涯的回顾，势必重新建立他在音乐上的价值和证明他仍然具备的二十，三十，四十年前舞步的实力。有时他试图去省下他的才华：节制于一首有声的歌曲上，他道歉，“我只是试图去保护我的嗓子”而之后节拍或旋律赋予了他，他只好轻松的变成了像是加足马力的小伙子。
对于当今时代的表演艺人他过早的离去了，不朽的盛名在残留的时间里被衡量——钱像这样从各种纪念方案中获得。Michael Jackson无法像耶稣一样复活——最后，就是这——但在电影中他获得救赎的遗产。这证明，在最后，他仍然是一个颤栗者。乐迷和怀疑者都能看见这个高尚的，受到驱策的歌手和舞者在当今潮流记录的舞台上，钦佩的说，这就是他。 |
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