到也门钓鲑鱼

每年夏秋之际，世界各地的鲑鱼会集体逆游，浩浩荡荡穿越偌大的太平洋，回到它们出生的地方产卵。据说这是鲑鱼的基因密码。

半生循规蹈矩堪称是“英国式古板无趣”代言人的Jones博士，打从一开始极力反对这个“也门鲑鱼”计划。
当一力促成计划展开的Harriet决意要退出，这个“荒谬”的计划行将胎死腹中时，本来顺着人群低头而行的Jones博士突然180度转身，逆行了。
Jones博士是一条鲑鱼。在爱情之路上逆行的Harriet也是。在从政之路上逆行的Muhammed也是。

这些人型鲑鱼们相信只要是“理论上可行”的计划，无论乍一听起来多么超现实多滑稽，只要执着认真去执行，最终都是可以实现的。

无论是在也门放养只能在低温水域里生活的鲑鱼，让从世代未出过鱼塘的养殖鲑鱼同野生的一样逆游，或者让醉心垂钓的中年公务员和浪漫风趣的辣妹相爱，让不会钓鱼的英国首相和钓术精湛的中东富翁共渔。亦或者让中东国家接收西方的民主思想，让西方的民众了解伊斯兰的信仰真义。

这些本质上都是一样一样一样的，如果从一开始就排斥就不愿相信不肯尝试，只是想当然的认为“也门很热，旱季没水，养殖场的鲑鱼不会逆游”，那么所有的故事都不会发生。也门很热，但是山上很凉快，旱季没水，但是我们建水坝……这些不是奇迹，只是一种被惯性被定势桎梏住的思维所忽略的荧火。

养殖场的鲑鱼还是会不惜头破血流地跳上石阶，被圈养到麻木的心灵还是会放弃安定的生活选择爱情。
虽然明明是生活在毫无交汇的平行世界里人，“共同性远比我们想像得要多”——诚如Muhammed所言。
亲人远行会寂寞，爱人离去会痛苦，如果这些都写在人类的基因密码里，那么对自由的渴望，对真诚的向往，对美好生活的期待，自然也弗远国界无论民族不关文化。

这个可以说很大做很大弄得玄之又玄的题目，到腐国人手里，就变成大家手拉手到也门去钓鲑鱼。
对“计划可能性”辩论一番（Jones博士的手绘真心可爱），和计划的的赞助者对谈一番，到也门考察一番，男主角中年危机一番，男女主角月夜（半）裸泳一番，纯爱表白一番，圆满大结局一番。中间合理搭配极端分子的暗杀破坏制造悬念，圆滑政客的投机取巧帮助气氛。
人物来头或大或小，细节一针针都要到。Jones博士和Muhammed的姓当然是故意的。Jones跟Harriet的房间布置及穿着打扮是精心设定的。穿针引线的媒体发言人的家庭生活为了人物的鲜活性也是要露一露的（她和英国首相的短信头像和内容亮瞎了！）

鱼是天主教最早的标记，在教徒被追杀的黑暗年代里，用以表白身份取得联系的符号。而鲑鱼大概是最顽固最坚韧的鱼类之一。
钓鲑鱼需要站在河里，迎着水流，耐心等待，无论狂风暴雨，洪水滔天都不放弃（注：片中渔业部长是这么说的，未查知是否夸张），是普世的禅机。
《大河之恋》里闪光的钓线勾出人与自然的应答，在这片儿里抛出的 飞梭穿发过民族，政体，宗教，在人和人之间，用基因密码取得联系

不管这个世界变得多坏，至少，我们这里还有鱼——我小时候偏爱阴暗的邪恶的沉沦的片儿，现在却倒过来喜欢腐国这一味小情小调小品小事温暖治愈又光明，就像伊万小舅十几年不变的孩子气一样。

PS：小舅你肿么可以这么把年纪上还笑得这么纯？！这不科学！这是违规的啊这个！
只穿一条格子四角小内裤的Jones博士，坐在水边，羞涩地问内衣湿答答贴在身上的Harriet说“我和你，我们之间，理论上……“，两人间的气氛暧昧，同时一如他们头顶的月光般纯净——如果剧本里就这么写的话，男主角果真非小舅你莫属！

PSS：为神马在这种片子里演一个这么古板的角色，伊万你都可以找到露点的机会……这是为神马……

这是一部有些诡异的电影，看完之后我真是不知道到底是编剧的问题还是导演的问题还是我看电影的那个网站有问题。总之....其实故事里有不少闪光点，比如那位女的新闻外交官，环保部长，酋长的话等等等等。但是感觉整部电影好像实在是把控得不到位，有点浪费了编剧和台词。
整部电影看下来有点像在参观一个所有家具都罩上白色塑料袋的一个房子。

如果说给这本电影找一个姐妹篇的话，我想《桂河大桥》应该是比较适合的。在几十年后的电影里面，英国人又一次的刻画了他们在专业方面的一丝不苟和执着的信念。虽然不知道鱼究竟在英国人的文化中代表着什么，我想和我们中国的应该相差不远。

本来以为这本片应该是类似《不朽的园丁》一样的影片，但是看完后是满满的希望。伊万已封终身成就，他现在要做的就是好好演电影给我们这些粉丝来看了。

You might not be familiar with the name Lasse Hallström, but if you were once a softie like me who used to fall for eye-candy cinematography, a twist of love and life philosophy and breezy plots, you might have dwelled happily on such films as “What’s Eating Gilbert Grape” (1993), “The Cider House Rules” (1999), “Casanova” (2005) or “Dear John” (2010), all crowd-pleasers directed by him. And just like ABBA, the Swedish pop group with whom he started his career as a filmmaker, Hallström knows a thing or two around the big shots as well: his signature work “Chocolat” (2000) made quite some noise at the Academy Awards, including a second Best Picture nomination cranked by the Harvey Weinstein strategy machine. With “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” Hallström returns with yet another confection, but this time its sugarcoat melts too readily for me to give the film a pass.

The film starts off in typically British character humor: Ewan McGregor stars as Dr. Alfred Jones, whose Asperger’s syndrome as portrayed in the film only highlights his hilarious flair of seriousness not unlike the adoring naivety that he exuded in “I Love You Phillip Morris.” Working as a fisheries expert for the British government, Fred scoffs at the proposal to introduce salmon fishing in Yemen by a wealthy sheikh, represented by Harriet (Emily Blunt). Yet under the pressure from Prime Minister’s press secretary Patricia (Kristin Scott Thomas), who scrambles to concoct a feel-good story to distract the public from the toxic reality in Afghanistan, Fred changes his attitude when his seemingly farcical idea takes flight and transforms into an exciting opportunity that could reshape his career and his love life. Alive with tender cuteness and whip-cream smarts, Blunt’s character is pleasant but about as memorable as the million other female leads in romantic comedies that Reese Witherspoons and Jennifer Anistons have embodied in the past decade. The dynamics between Harriet and the fire-spitting persona Patricia follow a “white-collar woman” archetype similar to the one in Blunt’s breakout, “The Devil Wears Prada.” Thomas is no Meryl Streep, but the sparks in “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” would not fly nearly as high even if she was, for the jokes in the film cut only skin deep and carefully avoid any potential insult. In contrast with other comedies currently in theater, it does not drive you nuts like the emblematic slapstick “The Three Stooges” or gross you out like “American Reunion.” It is sweet. Just sweet.

Yet with every sugar rush comes a crash afterwards. Unfortunately for “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen,” that moment arrives way too soon. More precisely, the film begins to drift apart when it attempts to become “serious” with Harriet’s three-week boyfriend (the miraculous prince-charming who manages to define a significant relationship in three weeks), missing in action in Afghanistan. In part, Simon Beaufoy’s adapted screenplay from Paul Torday’s eponymous novel is to blame: the mind behind “Slumdog Millionaire” and “127 Hours” has a penchant for the grandiose. In those films, the themes that confront contemporary society and identities have justified his tendency and resulted in fruitful attempts. Yet Beaufoy’s ambition to magnify and address absolutely everything agrees with Torday’s dainty, lightweight sarcasm, bombarding the audience in what soon becomes a parade of gimmicks, as if Beaufoy was hastily going over a Hollywood to-do list: terrorism, politics and diplomacy, publicity stunt, action thriller, romance, love triangle, marriage, middle-age crisis, science and faith, humankind against nature and social media. This appetite for overachievement bears so much weight on the nifty original that it crashes, leaving the audience as disoriented as the farmed salmon that first enter the Yemen waters in the film.

The main problem of “Salmon Fishing in the Yemen” is that it tries too hard to be deeper than what it actually is. It could have taken more advantage of the clean, fast-moving dialogues and light atmosphere, or leaned toward a more sophisticated exploration of facts and faith or even blasted loudly the sentiments around fishing, complete with marvelous scenery and ethereal music score. Yet in an overly appropriate attempt to please, it instead indulges in a perfunctory tour of clichés that practically look for trouble. Simplistic portrayal of Middle East? Check. Stiff monologues or emotional outbursts without context? Check. Random insertion of “live footage”? Check. Addressing these clichés with hints of irony will not rescue the film from a tasteless stream of events, but at least we would not have to put all our hopes into the climax: will the salmon find its way upstream? Will Fred and Harriet get together? The very blandness of these questions might indicate how the film loses its luster. For me, Thomas’ character delivered the one-liner that inadvertently serves as a metaphor of the film’s failure. Surprised to learn that UK boasts of two million fishing aficionados, she gasps, “So there are two million of them waving their rods around?” Similar to the image in her mind, the film casts its fly all over the place, yet the singular virtue is lost: patience. Perhaps that is why this time around, no bait can save the day.
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The Amherst Student, Issue 141-23

（芷宁写于8月2日）
    有人说，只要是克里斯汀·斯科特·托马斯出演的影片，不论怎样都能看下去。这话不假，在英国爱情喜剧片《到也门钓鲑鱼（Salmon Fishing in the Yemen）》里，这位越老越有味道的演技派出演了一位颇具喜感的配角，首相的新闻官。此番，一贯以冷漠疏离形象示人的她一改常态，自如地展现了一系列颇具“笑果”的演技，毫无疑问，她饰演的这一气场全开、家职全能的政治女强人是本片最大的笑点和亮点，也是串联整部影片喜剧气质的关键。
    影片改编自英国著名作家保罗·托迪（Paul Torday）的同名畅销小说，剧情从一开始就显得有点怪诞诡异，一个富甲天下的也门大公死活要在老家钓鲑鱼，拟将北大西洋的鲑鱼引进到也门沙漠地带……这一切听上去仿佛痴人说梦般的无稽，其实，钓鱼只是一个的由头，这位也门巨富怀揣着坚定的信仰，也有着改变父老乡亲固有思维和习惯的远大理想。
    显然，此大公属于理想主义者，而他这么个看似不靠谱的投资计划，却被实践派、某投资公司的美女公关哈里特推行了，加之机会主义者首席新闻官的推动，于是理性科学派的英国高知男阿尔弗雷德·琼斯博士被推到了这一项目的风头浪尖上。
    仿佛要给某品牌打广告一般，影片在极力书写着“一切皆有可能”。而影片所涵盖的内容之丰富，也仿佛在表示没有什么不可以。该片在有限的时长内，不断加入信仰、理想、政治、宗教、文化差异、人文交流、爱情婚姻等诸多元素，却没有因涵盖太多而顾此失彼，整体呈现得精巧而丰盈，无凌乱拼凑之感，这似乎和剧本在结构上的合理设置不无关系。同时，片中的河流湖泊、古堡田园、绅士淑女，无不闪现着浓郁的英国气息，只是那些调侃与诙谐和以往的英式幽默不同，其构成并不黑色，充满了明亮而积极的调子。
    虽然影片的部分剧情会让人感到趋于理想化，但其中关于生活现状的部分，多少能引起观众的共鸣。现实中大多数人的生活犹如做工低劣的产品，充满了重复。与其说是大公信念的力量让古板的科学男决心将这一仅仅理论上有可能的项目付诸实践，倒不如说是琼斯博士自己意识到他的问题所在，他的生活范围就仿佛他家后院的小池塘，而他就如那几条观赏金鱼般活得狭隘而固定，貌合神离的妻子认为琼斯的DNA决定了他只能是这样的人，然而，她似乎忘记了，基因有突变的可能性，情感更是如此。
    一脸天然呆萌的伊万·麦克格雷格饰演了琼斯博士，他那纯真讨喜又古板拘谨的模样,还真适合这个角色，而他和古典派美女艾米莉·布朗特的对手戏也有着一定的化学反应。当也门溪流里的鲑鱼临水一跃时，仿佛预示着有着中年危机的琼斯博士和有着情感困惑的哈里特都可以跳出原有的生活模式，此时的鲑鱼也仿佛带着一丝励志的意味。
    到也门钓鲑鱼，看似是个荒诞不经的迷梦，在这一过程中，有人钓的是信念，有人钓的是选票，有人钓的是机遇，有人钓的奇迹，有人钓的是爱情。虽然影片的风评褒贬不一，但至少，它还是有几个角色值得去看一看，有一些幽默的对白值得去听一听，有几多隐含的思绪值得去想一想。
（杂志约稿）

http://nicolew.blog.hexun.com/80269360_d.html

  伦敦的故事总能吸引我，尤其是高贵的伦敦腔一出口，见人杀人，见佛杀佛，说得好像有点过。
  鲑鱼salmon怎么到也门培育？一开始，我以为是酋长只是心血来潮，有钱没处花，可看下去发现harriet没看错人，他有品位，尊重人，也有见识且宽容。有意思的是，酋长在伦敦是高富帅，回到也门就普通了很多，没有庄园没有管家超亲民。
  不同于美国人，伦敦人爱挖苦，嘴很损，那个首相的新闻官几次与首相聊msn都能把人笑死。渔业部长对待jones也是一样，要么忍要么滚，多一句话也不说。总有一句bloody outrage！说明一切。伦敦人的尖酸刻薄，用词考究，成了笑点。
  当然，这不是一部无厘头的喜剧，有爱情，有理想，有西方和阿拉伯世界的关系，总有体现，个人很喜欢这部电影，不自道为啥打分这么低。