夏威夷2013

The Bottom Line
A house-sitter wants to get into the pants of the handsome handyman but that's easier said than done in this compelling drama.

The third feature of Argentinian director Marco Berger, a two-hander starring Manuel Vignau and Mateo Chiarino, is a solid home run.

The agony of unspoken same-sex desire is impressively prolonged to feature length in Hawaii, the third and by far most mature feature of Argentinian director Marco Berger.

Though it's a two-hander set primarily in one location for over 90 percent of its running time -- much like Berger’s debut, the low-budget, fluid sexuality-themed talkathon Plan B -- the 36-year-old filmmaker here displays a newfound finesse and confidence as a writer-director. The seemingly off-the-cuff conversations between a house-sitting hipster novelist and the handsome drifter he hires to do odd jobs around the house benefit from a razor-sharp sense of direction and purpose, illuminating character and queer yearning as well as class and other socio-political issues. The increasingly erotically charged atmosphere, which never seems to translate into any action, practically becomes an inverted coitus interruptus, where the actual doing of the deed would interrupt the joy and innocence of the games of almost-foreplay, which is prolonged to almost unbearable length.

Beyond the attention of the LGBT niche circuit of festivals and distribution, which is virtually guaranteed after Berger's Plan B and its follow-up, the Berlinale Teddy award winner, Absent, this is also a good fit for indie-loving festivals such as Thessaloniki, where Hawaii recently played as part of its focus on contemporary cinema from Argentina.

Hawaii most closely resembles Berger's 2012 short El Primo from the anthology Sexual Tension: Volatile. In both films, two young men are thrown together over the summer in someone else's house -- cue little clothing and lots of pool-time -- and the desire of one to make a move on the other is suspended by reticence and apprehension from the interested party; the unclear sexual orientation of the object of desire and, most importantly, the realization that what's truly erotic is not any physical act of but the moments before it, when every dream scenario is still possible.

The bearded and bespectacled Eugenio (Manuel Vignau, from Plan B), a scruffily handsome thirtysomething from Argentina's well-off middle class, has moved into the house of his (unseen) uncle so he can look after it for the summer and at the same time work on his novel in peace. When the younger Martin (square-jawed Uruguayan actor Mateo Chiarino) comes knocking on his door to ask him for some summer yard work, the duo realize they used to play together in childhood in the same neighborhood and Martin's hired straight away to do odd jobs around the house.

What Martin doesn't dare tell Eugenio is that he's actually homeless and sleeping in the park, though by the time Eugenio finds out, the two have spent enough time together for Eugenio to suggest Martin sleep in the house's shed. The house-sitter might have an ulterior motive for keeping his worker close: In an early scene, in which Martin takes a shower in Eugenio's house after a sweaty day of work, the latter's impatiently waiting outside the bathroom door with its translucent window, with its suggestive, flesh-colored shapes behind it, suggesting what will become increasingly clear over the course of the film: Eugenio would like nothing more than being manhandled by the help.

Some gay audiences might describe the film as a 100-minute cock-tease while others might find Hawaii's earnest tone laughable or pretentious, or both, but Berger has to be commended for taking a set-up that would normally be associated with the first minute or two of a porno and spinning it into something of feature length, which allows him to explore ideas of the gay male gaze and desire as well as more complex issues, especially of class (Martin's not only much poorer and a little younger than Eugenio but also foreign-sounding, much less experienced and more prone to being exploited, all conflicting feelings that fuel Martin's hesitation as much as his shyness or worry about Martin's unknown sexual proclivities).

As in Absent, there's a lush orchestral score (courtesy of Pedro Irusta, who also produced) that frequently overstates the case, though thankfully it mostly disappears when the dynamics heat up and Berger allows the pregnant silences to tell part of the story. The rest of the craft credits are unpretentious but slick.

Venue: Thessaloniki Film Festival (Contemporary Argentine Cinema)
Production companies: La Noria Cine
Cast: Manuel Vignau, Mateo Chiarino, Manuel Martinez Sobrado
Writer-Director: Marco Berger

Producers: Pedro Irusta, Marco Berger

Director of photography: Tomas Perez Silva
Production designers: Pedro Irusta, Marco Berger 

Music: Pedro Irusta

Editor: Marco Berger

Sales: Media Luna Films
No rating, 100 minutes.

原因有三：

1. 阻力。虽然这条线很淡，但却是这出“二人电影”最重要的冲突来源——雇佣关系造成障碍：雇主表白会显得伪善和霸道（欧亨尼奥哥哥一针见血）；雇工表白会显得像是出来卖的。所以两人一直都按兵不动，悄悄试探。欧亨尼奥拒绝马丁的吻，还问了句：“是因为那些画吗”，大约是感情迎面而来时本能的一种困惑不安（尤其是听了哥哥那番话以后）但又不想放弃；但这成了一个打到马丁脸上的耳光，接受衣食住行各方面施舍所积累的感激，因为主动出击的失败，统统转化成了无限的卑微感，无地自容。

2. 动力。童年共同回忆是冲破障碍的引子：一同游泳、射击，故地重游，将两人的好感越牵越远。而“两个菠萝”的幻灯片记忆，则在无言之中蕴含了所有的心思，冲破了最后一道隔阂。（结尾的挽回，你能想象到任何说辞能够比这解释得更透彻又不至于损害感情吗？）寻找、温习、修补幻灯片的过程，暗示着欧亨尼奥对马丁的眷念和对两人关系质变的认可。（p.s. 最后一段有没有让你想起05年的傲慢与偏见？）

3. 牛顿第八定律：physical attraction. e.g. 欧亨尼奥第二天焦急盼望的神情；马丁坐在汽车里时的尴尬脸红；以及两人各自的撑帐篷和背景虚化的丁丁


雇佣关系+童年回忆+相互吸引——这个搭配的巧妙之处在于，同性异性观众均能产生共鸣，但故事必然只可发生在两个男人之间。试想以下情况：
1. 男雇主+女雇工：强弱立判，更可能是恶俗的霸王硬上弓或曼哈顿女佣类型的chick flick；
2. 女雇主+男雇工：似乎更应该是“白人少女抛弃阶级划分与黑人奴隶私奔”或者包法利夫人之类的美式主旋律或女性主义故事。
3. 女雇主+女雇工？：想不出来...（还是出门右拐去看阿黛拉或指匠情挑吧）

配乐很古怪，但与电影的独特韵味相得益彰。管弦乐（？）带来一种复古、严肃、排外的感觉，如天空般罩在整个电影上方，调和了绿色、燥热与肉体可能产生的轻佻；迎合感的缺失反而将两人的感情发展凸显得更为难能可贵与值得回味。

前半段略带压迫感与紧张感的音乐似乎正好配合着雇主的性格与地位（欧亨尼奥眼里总带着一丝神经质的游离和恐慌）；后半段开始显得柔和深情，有一小段钢琴伴奏如画龙点睛，更有阳光入境，好像冰山在融化。

标题是幻灯片斑驳标签一般的“Hawaii”, 似乎照应着电影营造的封闭隔绝、宁静平和的“fairy wonderland”，两个男人的关系在童年纯真回忆的基础上越走越远。欧亨利奥为什么会喜欢上马丁？不知道是否是因为那双小鹿般的眼睛让他能抛弃过往经历的负担（扔掉的相册），重拾孩童的真诚与无畏（正如他创作中的小说）？

总之，这是一部格局不大，但值得细细品味的好电影。and god, I wanna be in a relationship!

夏日，蝉鸣，小庄园。聒噪与宁静的平衡。

不得不说这是孕育暧昧之对的时间和对的地点、以及对的人物：多年未曾谋面的发小。

马丁小时候应该就已经对欧亨尼奥有些许莫名的好感，从他第一眼就认出欧亨尼奥来看，再加上后面提到他儿时一直穿着欧亨尼奥的毛衣。他回这里除了暂时投奔姨妈可能有一部分原因也是欧亨尼奥：在去布宜诺斯艾利斯前再回顾看看当年的记忆吧。俩人同处一车时马丁的紧张和湖边他看到欧亨尼奥丁丁时候的咽口水，好像断背山里的一幕，Ennis对着果体的Jack咽口水。另外欧亨尼奥对他真的非常体贴关心照顾，没有理由不爱上这样的男人。

一个细节，欧亨尼奥离开一天，回家后给马丁买了新的内裤和衬衣，那衬衣和当时欧亨尼奥穿的衬衣情侣装的既视感啊，还有一盒内裤是空盒子？真的是欧亨尼奥的朋友开他玩笑吗？那空盒子里的内裤已经在欧亨尼奥裤裆里穿着啦！情侣内裤情侣衬衣有木有！傲娇眼镜的小心思！

另外，欧亨尼奥好几次对着电脑打字时电脑都没开！而这些时候几乎都是在他情欲高涨之时，不知该如何面对这位他认为是“直男”的马丁的时候，他用写作掩饰他的慌乱。这种误判一直煎熬欧亨尼奥，直到那次马丁主动亲吻让他方寸大乱，难道像哥哥说的那样，这是肉偿？是报答？但也许是爱？抑或其他？不自信的欧亨尼奥不断质疑自己。好在最后欧亨尼奥在马丁的“住所”找到了他丢弃的《海底两万里》以及其中夹着的他的照片。才知道马丁早就也已经喜欢他了。这才想起了那次泳池边马丁提到的属于他们的记忆，幻灯眼镜里的夏威夷俩菠萝。这两个菠萝是两人儿时看幻灯片的记忆，马丁对那个和潜水眼镜形似的幻灯片眼镜记忆深刻，也是描述两人青梅竹马关系最有力的意象。

一点愚见，在看了四五遍电影后终于抒发出来了，第一次写评论献给鹿眼和眼镜的爱，也破了我在豆瓣6年的处。。

      很多同志电影常常是两个男人以性开始相恋。夏威夷这部电影却是一部表现两个男人在不清楚对方的性取向的情况下，逐渐相恋的故事。这部电影拍得非常的细腻，整部电影对话极少，人物主要就两人，影片通过看似平淡的情节，不断互相的试探和微妙的表示，最终由两棵菠萝的连接达到了心灵的相通。
      两人的相遇是马丁到欧亨尼奥家找临活，马丁先认出了欧亨尼奥，当欧亨尼奥认出马丁时，脸上马上漾起了笑容。在泳池边，欧亨尼奥恍惚出神像在回忆，而马丁在那里不停的说着，但是电影这时却没有声音，这里让人禁不住会想象他们小时的情景。直到马丁说到两颗菠萝，才有声音，才突然把欧亨尼奥唤醒。影片在这里很巧妙的埋下了一个以菠萝作为童年情愫的象征。
       两人已分别最少十几年，再度相逢时，一个是作家，一个是居无定所的临时工。时间的隔离以及身份的差异，使两人有着很大的生分和距离，但是这些都不能阻止欧亨尼奥对马丁的日渐好感。趁马丁换衣服时偷看，借喝醉躺在马丁身边，而马丁也趁欧亨尼奥不在，偷穿欧亨尼奥的衣服，躺在欧亨尼奥的床上。当马丁腿上被铁丝划破时，欧亨尼奥极度的关心，并仔细的给马丁上药包扎带他去打针。在跟马丁比赛跑步时，欧亨尼奥故意让马丁摸他急促跳动的心脏。借口到布宜诺斯艾利斯办事，实际是去给马丁买了很多衣服，其中应该还有情侣短裤。这一系列的情节都让马丁明白，欧亨尼奥关心他，喜欢他。但是欧亨尼奥一直犹豫，因为他不能确定马丁是否也是同志，另一个原因就像他对他哥哥说的，他不能给了马丁一个工作就要马丁委身于自己。所以当马丁主动吻了他时，他拒绝了，他怕马丁是知道他是同志而讨好他，因为马丁看到了欧亨尼奥画的很多男性裸体画。
       当马丁生气离开后，欧亨尼奥却受不了了，他懂得了马丁的真心。他坐卧不安，没法工作，到处去寻找，不知该怎样找回马丁。突然耳边回响起马丁说的两颗菠萝，他才醒悟了，他立马翻箱倒柜地找出小时候的幻灯片，含有两颗菠萝的幻灯片把马丁召唤了回来，他们两人都明白了，他们要做一颗菠萝相伴在对方身边。这一刻，他们才微笑着亲吻在一起。
        这部电影非常耐看，两个男人之间的爱情也是这样的磨叽，充满柔情。每看一遍都会被那些小细节感动。其实同性之爱跟异性之爱没有什么差别，都是爱，都是那么美好。

连续看了两部电影，《夏威夷》和《B计划》，同一个导演的作品，其中《夏威夷》看了两遍，暧昧阶段的感情真美，就像阳光照在草地上。
无论是年少时一起玩耍埋下的情愫，还是追回前女友的心机恶作剧，在两人相处时，真正爱上对方。互相试探，各自揣摩，最终拥抱亲吻。
照片梗很有共鸣。原来自己喜欢的人早已喜欢自己，悄悄藏起的照片就是证据。高中时，暗恋同班的一个男生，后来分文理，便不在同一座教学楼了。我把军训时的大合照剪了，做成他的单人照贴在日记本上。多年以后，我们已是夫妻，也曾给他看过这个日记本，原来第一年相遇时便已相爱。
喜欢电影中的缓慢和冲淡，静物、色彩，不动声色流淌的情感。这些比床上的肉搏更能打动人心。
最近两年，看了不少同性恋情的电影，比如《蓝宇》《断背山》《欲盖弄潮》《周末时光》《闪亮的日子》等。我不是腐女，也从不标榜自己对同性恋情的支持或反对。自然发生的，就让他自然发生。不要刻意。
一直思考，为什么突然喜欢看这种类型的电影了。是因为猎奇吗？还是主角颜值？其实，是因为他们的生活中只有爱，没有柴米油盐。电影中的他们，无论是暧昧阶段还是热恋阶段，除了家人、世俗等对爱的阻拦，没有什么其他对感情的消耗。在开放的国家，比如阿根廷，甚至连世俗的压力也没有，自己内心坚定后，亲朋都是助攻。
多少风花雪月败在了柴米油盐。自己虽是初恋修成正果，每天在家庭的琐事中，伤感时也会想要一拍两散。可是在电影中，他们的世界里只有爱，没有婆媳关系，没有工作与家庭的矛盾，没有孩子教育的焦虑……
现实未必如此，但电影，确实提供了另外一种生活的可能。