Chapter One Inspirational Films
The Pursuit of Happyness
电影《当幸福来敲门》取材于真实故事。故事的主角就是当今美国黑人投资专家Chris Gardner.该片成功诠释了一位濒临破产、老婆离家的落魄业务员，如何刻苦耐劳地善尽单亲责任，奋发向上，成为股市交易员，最后成为知名的金融投资家的励志故事。
Theatrical Release Date:12/15/2006
Starring:Will Smith,Jaden Smith,Thandie Newton,Brian Howe,James Karen
Director:Gabriele Muccino
Distributor:Columbia Pictures
MPAA Rating:PG-13 for some language
Related Reading:Unit 15 The Roots of Happiness:An Empirical Analysis(An Integrated English Course Book 3)
Synopsis:
The rousing,true-life story of a single dad who went from living on the streets to owning his own brokerage firm is brought to the big screen by superstar Will Smith,appearing for the first time opposite his real-life son Jaden Smith.Set in early-'80s San Francisco,the film charts the hard times and eventual comeback of Chris Gardner,a suddenly single salesman who has custody of his son,but finds that providing for the two of them is a challenge in the increasingly unstable economic climate.He struggles to work his way from unpaid intern at Dean Witter to something more substantial,even as life continues to offer him setbacks.
The story of Chris Gardner is divided into six parts as follows:
Part one:Riding the bus
It was in San Francisco 1981,Chris spent all his money on buying medical equipments,but later he found that they were unpopular among doctors,because they were expensive and almost useless.Everyday he did his best to promote the equipment to doctors,but he couldn't earn enough for the rent and kindergarten,his life was not easy.
Part two:Being stupid
In this part,Chris had to apply for a work as a stock worker,so he left the medical equipment with a girl,but the girl took it away!What an accident!
Part three:Running
He ran after the girl who had stolen the equipment,finally,he took it back;he had no money for the taxi,so he escaped;he was sent to the prison for owing the taxes,and he ran to the stock company for an interview with paint stains on his body the next morning.
Part four:Internship
Chris got the job as an intern for six months without salary,it was really a hard time for him,and he had to sell the equipment while working as an intern.After all,he earned some money from the medical equipment.
Part five:Paying taxes
In this part,there was a big hit to him,the government took ＄600 from his account and he only had ＄21.33 left,he was broke again.This part was the most impressive but inspiring one.During that time,he and his son spent a night in a WC,and lived in the church hospice for many days.Although there were many barriers,he carried on seeking for the happiness.
Part six:Happiness
It was an exciting part,Chris did it finally,and he became a successful stock worker!
Film Review:
With a title like"The Pursuit of Happyness",you may expect the characters to get to the Promised Land.They do,but if the journey matters more than the destination,this is a movie to skip.The Pursuit of Happyness is long,dull,and depressing.It expands into two hours a story that could have been told more effectively in one.This is not the feel-good movie of the season unless you believe that a few moments of good cheer can redeem 110 minutes of gloom.Sitting through The Pursuit of Happyness is a chore.Downbeat movies aren't inherently bad(in fact,many are powerful),but this one provides artificial characters in contrived circumstances.How is it that movies"inspired by a real story"often feel more fake than those fully embedded in the realm of fiction?
Will Smith has generated Oscar buzz for his portrayal of Chris Gardner,the real-life guy whose rags-to-riches story forms the basis of the movie(impoverished guy becomes capitalist poster boy).While it's fair to say that this is one of the best straight performances of Smith's career,it didn't blow me away.In and of itself,the acting,while effective,is not Best Actor material,but it wouldn't surprise us if the movie's prestige factor and Smith's popularity earn him a nod.Meanwhile,his female co-star,Thandie Newton,isn't going to be considered for any award.Newton spends about 90%of her screen time doing an impersonation of a harpy:screeching,bitching,and contorting her face into unpleasant expressions.Smith's son,Jaden,is okay as the movie's child protagonist;it's unclear whether his occasional deficiencies are the result of his acting,Steven Conrad's writing,or Gabriele Muccino's direction,but there's not much personality behind the cute features and curly hair.
Chris Gardner(Will Smith)is down on his luck.It's 1981 San Francisco and his self-employed business of selling portable bone density scanners isn't doing well.His wife,Linda(Thandie Newton),does nothing but yells at him and gives him a cold shoulder,and the lack of domestic harmony is impacting the disposition of his beloved son,Christopher(Jaden Christopher Syre Smith).That's when Chris'life turns into a country song.His wife leaves.He is evicted from his home.He goes to jail,neither passing GO nor collecting a much-needed ＄200.He gets hit by a car.He is robbed.He makes his son cry.He alienates a friend over ＄14.He gets to spend a night in the cleanest public restroom in the history of public restrooms.But there's a bright spot,although you need a dark-adapted eye to find it.Despite having no experience,Chris applies to enter an internship program at Dean Witter.He would appear to have no chance to get in until he amazes the head of the program(Brian Howe)by solving the Rubik's cube puzzle in the back of a taxi cab.
It's a blessing that the movie doesn't use a stock villain to impede Chris'herky-jerky trip to the top,because that would have tipped the movie into the empire of the unwatchable.However,the lack of a strong conflict makes the two-hour running length seem very long.Thankfully,there's also not much in the way of overt melodrama,but that could be a byproduct of having characters that are not deeply realized and have narrow emotional ranges.It's tough to connect with Chris and his son.Although they are played by real-life father and son,there's no chemistry between them.We're constantly told how desperately Chris loves Christopher,but it takes a long time before we begin to buy it.Most of the time,Christopher seems like an annoying piece of baggage that Chris drops off at daycare when he has other things to do.
The film's most compelling scenes are those that show Chris struggling to enter the rat race.Granted,this is no Glengarry Glen Ross,but it shows the pressure these salesmen are under and how important the contact lists are.In the overall scheme of things,however,these sequences are background noise.They are neither plentiful nor lengthy.The movie spends more time following Chris on his futile sales rounds for the portable bone density scanner than it does accompanying him during his broker training.
The moral of the story is as trite as they come:don't let anyone convince you to give up your dreams.Disney animated films have been doing this better for decades.The Pursuit of Happyness concludes with a caption that tells us what happens to Chris after the end of the movie;it promises a better story than the one we have just watched.The film is also marred by a persistent(although not verbose)voiceover that adds nothing to the story while frequently jerking us out of the experience of watching it.I don't need Will Smith telling me:"This part of the story is called'riding the bus'."
This is the English-language debut of Gabriele Muccino,who has made a name for himself in Italian cinema.The Pursuit of Happyness has the kind of slow,drab tone one occasionally associates with a director raised outside of the Hollywood system.What can be an asset in some circumstances is a detriment in this one.The Pursuit of Happyness isn't enjoyable,and its meager pleasures,including the eventual"payoff",aren't enough to justify the unrelenting misery.The Pursuit of Happyness is competently made and gets lots of the details right,but when it comes to the emotional core of the story,it loses the pursuit and misses the"happiness".
Classical Lines:
1.You got a dream,you gonna protect it.People can't do something themselves.
2.Chris Gardner:You want something.Go get it!
3.Don't ever let somebody tell you,you can't do something,not even me.
4.I'm the type of person,if you ask me a question,and I don't know the answer,I'm gonna tell you that I don't know.But I bet you what:I know how to find the answer,and I'll find the answer.
5.There is an"I"in"happiness",there is no"Y"in"happiness",it's an"I".
6.We hold these truths to be self-evident,that all men are created equal,that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Right,that among these are Life,Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.
7.Christopher:Hey dad,you wanna hear something funny?There was a man who was drowning,and a boat came,and the man on the boat said:"Do you need help?"And the man said:"God will save me."Then another boat came and tried to help him,but he said:"God will save me."Then he drowned and went to Heaven.Then the man told God:"God,why didn't you save me?"And God said:"I sent you two big boats,you dummy!"