I'm Your Man: "Came So Far For Beauty"向 Leonard Cohen 致敬

Leonard Cohen，加拿大蒙特羅，詩人、作家、歌手、畫家，他的低語、他的沉默、他的凝視。稱他為當代最有才情卻又難以定義的人，當之無愧。

年輕時的他英俊瀟灑、多愁善感、迷戀女人、“詩”是他與三五好友生活中最重要的事，於是他將一段段的韻事幻化成一個個字，字組成了詩。詩，就這麼懸浮在情愛與生命之間。之後，他又為詩加入音符，一首首憾動靈魂的情愛詩歌於焉誕生。生長在猶太家庭的他，教堂裡的禱告詞，成了他文字、情感、與詩的啟蒙；幼年喪父的經歷，讓他被迫提早用沉重的靈魂去看待人、看待世界，這個由人打造的虛假世界。正當同年齡的年輕人放縱於同儕間的嬉笑怒罵、Pub舞廳的流連忘返時，身為"垮掉的一代"的年輕Cohen將自己獨自放逐地中海岸邊的公寓，在女人的體香與藥物的彌留之際、在陽台邊海風輕撫與烈陽直射之中，以打字機逐字逐句的敲出了“Beautiful Losers(美麗失敗者)" -- 一本艱澀難懂的情慾革命彌留巨作。

I'm Your Man，是一部從多重角度切入瞭解Cohen的半傳記式電影。主軸是一群才華洋溢的歌手，於2005年一月在澳洲雪梨歌劇院向已經年邁的Cohen先生致敬的一場演唱會"Came So Far For Beauty"，參與的歌手有澳洲Nick Cave、加拿大Wainwright兄妹Rufus Wainwright and Martha Wainwright、前英搖團Pulp主唱Jarvis Cocker、民謠歌手Teddy Thompson, Beth Orton, Brit rock god , Antony Hegarty, Perla Batalla, Julie Christensen, Kate and Anna McGarrigle, The Handsome Family and Linda Thompson。一字排開不同領域的天才樂手們，各自以獨特的風格詮釋著Leonard Cohen一首首的經典名作，只因為他們的生命中都曾被Cohen所打動，在他們的心靈深處烙下無法抹去的痕跡。影片的中間，則穿插了這些演出歌手、導演的談話，以及最讓我深受感動的Cohen老先生自己對於自己的回顧與自述。

影片接近尾聲，在Cohen以沙啞性感的嗓音與U2合唱完一曲Tower Of Song後，他自己緩緩說道: "我對大部分的人都相當和善，但我卻厭惡大部分的人..." 面無表情，緩緩地，性感且沙啞。

* 眾多歌手的演出都相當精彩，其中我最喜歡Martha Wainwright所演出的這首"The Traitor"，看著披頭散髮的她對這首歌的投入與忘情，聽完後總覺得我的某部分似乎改變了...

Now the swan it floated on the english river
Ah the rose of high romance it opened wide
A sun tanned woman yearned me through the summer
And the judges watched us from the other side

I told my mother mother I must leave you
Preserve my room but do not shed a tear
Should rumour of a shabby ending reach you
It was half my fault and half the atmosphere

But the rose I sickened with a scarlet fever
And the swan I tempted with a sense of shame
She said at last I was her finest lover
And if she withered I would be to blame

The judges said you missed it by a fraction
Rise up and brace your troops for the attack
Ah the dreamers ride against the men of action
Oh see the men of action falling back

But I lingered on her thighs a fatal moment
I kissed her lips as though I thirsted still
My falsity had stung me like a hornet
The poison sank and it paralysed my will

I could not move to warn all the younger soldiers
That they had been deserted from above
So on battlefields from here to barcelona
Im listed with the enemies of love

And long ago she said I must be leaving,
Ah but keep my body here to lie upon
You can move it up and down and when Im sleeping
Run some wire through that rose and wind the swan

So daily I renew my idle duty
I touch her here and there -- I know my place
I kiss her open mouth and I praise her beauty
And people call me traitor to my face


* Antony那孱弱卻具穿透性的聲音，"If It Be Your Will" 也讓我為之一顫...

#1 聽說Cohen先生有機會受邀來台演出，光聽著這項"傳聞"，我已激動不已...

#2 Leonard Cohen 與 Philip Glass 兩位當代音樂傳奇的合照