百年50部英文烧脑电影赏析:[22]K-PAX K星异客

After claiming he is an extraterrestrial from the planet “K-PAX”，1,000 light years away, in the Lyra constellation, prot(uncapitalized and rhyming with “goat”，played by Kevin Spacey)is committed to the Psychiatric Institute of Manhattan. There psychiatrist Mark Powell(Jeff Bridges)evaluates him to find if he is delusional. However, prot is unwavering in his ability to provide cogent answers to questions about himself, K-PAX and its civilization. Dr. Powell introduces him to a group of astrophysicists, where prot claims to have journeyed to Earth by means of “light-travel” and goes on to display a level of knowledge that puzzles them.

Prot also exhibits considerable influence over the other patients at the Institute, each of whom believes unquestioningly that he is indeed from K-PAX. Prot has explained that he can take one person with him when he returns. Thereafter most of the patients at the institute ask to be taken to K-PAX.

Upon learning that many of his patients expect to leave Earth on July 27, Dr. Powell confronts prot, who explains that it is a predetermined date. However， Powell believes this to be a significant date in prot's life, a day on which he suffered a severe psychological trauma. Powell then decides to subject prot to regression hypnosis, which works well. Using information gained from these sessions, Powell figures out that prot may simply be an alter ego(the result of Multiple Personality Disorder)of Robert Porter, whose life has been devastated by the murder of his wife and child in 1996 and his subsequent killing of the perpetrator.

On July 27, prot is found lying, catatonic, under his bed and one of the other patients, Bess, is missing. She is never found, and prot never wakes up. The other patients do not recognize Robert as he is being wheeled out of the room. Later prot explains to Powell how we repeat the same mistakes over and over again, so the only way is to have it right this time around. Powell reconciles with his estranged son.

普洛特(凯文·史派西饰)自称来自天琴座附近，距离地球一千光年的K-PAX星，被当做精神病人，在曼哈顿的一家精神病院居住。精神病医生马克·鲍威尔(杰夫·布里吉斯饰)对他进行检测，看他是否患有妄想症，但是普洛特对有关K-PAX星和上面居民知识的了解让人将信将疑。鲍威尔医生把他转交到天体物理学家那里，在那里，普洛特说自己以超光速来到地球，并提出了一些让他们费解的问题。

普洛特在精神病院对其他病人产生巨大影响，他们都深信普洛特是来自K-PAX星的，当普洛特答应带他们其中一人回去的时候，病人们都争先恐后，希望那个人是自己。

得知许多病人都期待着在7月27号离开地球，鲍威尔医生找到普洛特，普洛特告诉他这是一个事先预定好的日子。鲍威尔意识到这个日子对普洛特来说很重要，有可能与他精神受到创伤有关，于是给普洛特进行催眠回忆疗法，得到了许多有用的信息。鲍威尔由此推断，普洛特是有多重人格障碍症患者罗伯特·波特的第二重人格。早在1996年，罗伯特遭受极度打击，他的妻子和孩子遭谋杀，罗伯特以牙还牙杀死了罪犯。

7月27日，人们发现普洛特躺着一动不动，再也没有醒来，另外一名病人贝兹也失踪不见了，被推出病房的躯壳是病人们不认识的罗伯特。最后，普洛特留给鲍威尔一句话：我们不断重复着错误，唯一的途径就是及时纠正错误。鲍威尔终于和他疏远的儿子和解了。

重点掌握

■ The other patients do not recognize Robert as he is being wheeled out of the room.

我们都知道，在英语中，wheel有“轮子;推动，滚动”的意思，所以文中的wheel out是“用(带轮子的工具)把……推出去”的意思，比如：Let's wheel the rubbish out. 咱们把垃圾推出去吧。

Iain Softley Interviewed by Paul Fischer

What was the attraction to the project?

Just a wonderful script. It seemed to be so different from the formulaic thriller script. It seemed to combine realism with magic and mystery, comedy, playfulness, uplifting, not trivialising loss or death, just a fantastic combination. I think on a personal level, hard times are always around the comer in some way or other, illness or loss or death hits us all, which is something I thought was really good about the film, that it wasn't shunning hard questions. It was somehow giving people a way of getting through that.

What made you think Kevin would be suited for the role?

Well, he's got this great comedian-like quality and what I thought about prot, what was great was this inscrutable nature. I thought there was a hint of playfulness. Was he sincere or was he making fun of people? Was there a dark side there? Was he being slightly manipulative or aggressive? And Kevin can play those nuances so effectively. He does have that ability to play through the mask.

这部影片有什么吸引你的地方?

这个剧本写得太精彩了，与其他刻板的惊悚片剧本不同，它不是平白铺述失踪或死亡，而是将现实、科幻、神秘、喜剧、幽默和令人奋进的题材完美地融合在一起。从我个人的角度看，人们生活中时常遇到困难。疾病、失去和死亡都是不可避免的，这正是这部影片所要表达的内容，它没有回避生活中遇到的种种问题，而是鼓励人们去克服它。

你为什么选凯文出演这一角色?

因为他身上具有喜剧演员的气质，我认为普洛特的性格让人捉摸不定，又爱开玩笑。普洛特到底是认真的，还是给大家开了一场玩笑?在他心中是否有黑暗的一面?他是容易被人指使的，还是咄咄逼人的?即使扮演着同一个人物，凯文也能把这些内在的细微差别演绎出来。

该片改编自1995年基恩·布汝尔出版的同名科幻小说，在美国2541家影院首映时，以1750万美元的成绩成为当时北美票房的冠军。

以《美国美人》赢得奥斯卡影帝的凯文·史派西拥有深沉内敛的演技。此次，他在《K星异客》中饰演一名自称来自K-PAX星球的外星人普洛特。在《政界风云》中因饰演美国总统而获奥斯卡最佳男配角提名的资深演技派男星杰夫·布里吉斯，则饰演心理医师马克。

影片借普洛特之口，道出了地球社会的种种弊端。这是该片的长处，也是它的短处：它强化了社会意义，但考虑到如此手法在以前的电影中已多次出现，这里显得比较做作，说教味浓了些。