不是很喜欢英国男人，特别是英国足球运动员。老感觉他们是假绅士，在大英帝国前他们不就是手拿生肉吃的野蛮人吗？造就帝国的圈地运动、屠杀印第安人的行为是文明人所为吗？

    不过英国男演员却让我比较喜欢。丹尼尔·戴·刘易斯、伊万·麦克戈雷格、休·格兰特、伊恩·麦克莱恩，裘德·洛等等。其中休·格兰特是我最早熟知和颇具绅士气质的男演员之一。《关于一个男孩》是我最近看的他的一部影片，虽然这是部2002备受好评的片子。

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    看海报还以为是部很老套，就是一位花花公子变成单身父亲的故事。看过后才知道其实不是。

    休扮演的是个令人嫉妒的完美单身汉Will Freeman，三十八岁，住在一高级公寓，开着奥迪跑车见月月要换的女友。最主要的是他老爸留下的版税收入让从来不去工作……他在和一名单亲妈妈短暂交往之后发现，原来单亲家长互助会竟然是一个泡妞天堂，因为和这些母亲可以省下很多麻烦，于是为了参加单亲家长互助会，他遇见了一个改变他生活的孩子Marcus。接下发生的事就去看看本片了。

    还是来说说休扮演的will吧。这个人最大的缺点就是逃避责任，作为一个38岁男人没事业、没家庭、没朋友（好像有个朋友，可人家要他做孩子的教父却百般不愿的样子），还有片中乞丐找他讨钱，他的所做让人觉得又没又公益心。几乎就是一个自我主义者的标准。每天有规律的象个大男孩混日子。他很孤独，就象他自己说的“All men are islands。”

   其实现在很多人都象他一样，过着这看似很舒服的生活，其实很孤独。我也是老在逃避，不想和人接触，认为和人接触会生出许多事了。就象言多必失的道理一样。其实真是这样吗？人活在这世上不和人打交道，还是人吗？人是必须走出孤岛的，来到大陆。

 “Every man is an island, I stand by that...But, clearly, some men are part of island chains...”

    记得有一天，我听了一个关于休。格兰特的专访。他的英式英语很好听，而且和主持人互相开涮，把主持人说得哭笑不得。他给人留下了很不错的印象，谈吐幽默而优雅。然而，现实生活中，这家伙其实很花心，典型的playboy。对于未婚的休格兰特来说，这部电影的角色和他生活中的自我，有很多的相似之处：一个四十岁左右的无所事事的单身男人。所以，它在这部电影中相当于表演自己。那就很简单啦，让一只猴子演一只猴子，当然会真实到位；但是让人演猴子，只有六小龄童这种有恋猴僻的天才才能办到；让猴子演人，那就更要用到暴力手段加虐待动物啦，要知道耍猴的一般手里都拿着皮鞭或AK47什么的。我看他演过的片子有几部，但这部是最好的。

   连他自己也说“I'm very shallow ,so can't act well in serious movies.”

   片名《about a boy》中的男孩其实也包括Will，以及象他这样的人而不仅仅是Marcus。

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   片中Marcus也很重要，Nicholas Hoult把这个十二岁的怪小孩的早熟、对现实世界的敏感，和单亲儿童特征表现很出彩。瑞切尔-薇茨在片中饰演Will爱上的单亲妈妈。

PS：电影里的男孩Marcus为了让整日忧忧郁寡的母亲快乐，于是决定参加学校里的音乐比赛，他演唱了母亲最喜爱的歌曲“Killing me softly with his song”。但是演唱并不为他所擅长，因此，歌曲演唱得很糟糕。可是这次糟糕的演唱却是一段很感人的情节。

    因此，我找到了这首歌的Roberta Flack的演唱版本。

Killing me softly with his song             by    Roberta Flack

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
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Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song.

I heard he sang a good song,
I heard he had a style,
And so I came to see him and listen for a while.
And there he was this young boy,
A stranger to my eyes

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song.

I felt all flushed with fever,
Embarrassed by the crowd,
I felt he found my letters and read each one out loud,
I prayed that he would finish,
But he just kept right on

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,

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Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song.

He sang if he knew me,
In all my dark despair,
And then he looked right through me
As if I wasn't there.
And he just kept on singing
Singing clear and strong

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song.

Strumming my pain with his fingers,
Singing my life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song.

He was strumming my pain,
Here he was singing my life,
Killing me softly with his song,
Killing me softly with his song,
Telling my whole life with his words,
Killing me softly with his song.

    1971年，美国民谣女歌手Lori Lieberman在一次偶然的机缘下，去听了当时还并不见传的另一位民谣歌手Don Mclean的现场演唱。Lori Lieberman被Don的一首歌“Empty chair”深深地打动了，她随后写下诗歌“Killing me softly with his blues”。

    这首诗后来被Charles Fox和Norman Gimbel创作成了歌曲“Killing me softly with his song”,并由Lori Lieberman亲自演唱。但真正让这首歌走红的是美国老牌黑人女歌手Roberta Flack，1973年，Flack凭借“Killing me softly with his song”获得了格莱美三项大奖。

    Roberta Flack的曲风带有流行色彩的“轻柔爵士”，嗓音厚实，略带沙哑，高亢嘹亮，中气十足，同时也蕴藏多变的真假声技巧。现在，Roberta Flack虽然隐退歌坛，但像Madonna、Whitney Houston等后生巨星，均曾拜她为师。她也会应邀偶然出现在白宫，为总统以及国宾表演。

    歌曲“Killing me softly with his song”后被许多歌手演唱过，传唱至今，成为不朽名曲之一。

PPS：

    由于年代久远，这首歌不可避免地带上了留声机时代遗留下来的怀旧味道，但这种味道深情而并不陈旧。歌曲一遍遍重复着“Killing me softly with his song”这句歌词的优美旋律，她是真的醉了，已经无力逃脱了，又更像是在自言自语，脑子里全是他的声音... ...