英文影评的写作：《致青春》
本节中以电影《致我们终将逝去的青春》（So Young）为例，分析相关的英文影评。这部电影是赵薇的导演处女作，也是其在北京电影学院导演系攻读研究生的毕业作品。电影的粗剪版被北京电影学院评为99分，新创北京电影学院导演系硕士生毕业作品历史最高分纪录。影片改编自著名作家辛夷坞的同名小说。该片于2013年4月26日在全国公映，内地最终票房为7.2亿。
在这部影片中，18岁的郑微（杨子姗饰）满怀期冀地步入大学校园，开始了她的追爱之旅。原来，郑微从小便与邻家的林静（韩庚饰）青梅竹马，此次终于如愿考上林静所在学校的邻校。谁想林静出国留学，杳无音信。郑微备受打击，患难时刻却与室友阮莞（江疏影饰）、朱小北（刘雅瑟饰）、黎维娟（张瑶饰）及师哥老张（包贝尔饰）结下深厚友谊。崭新的大学生活正式开启，郑微和阮莞两大美女很受瞩目。阮莞用她特有的清冷守护着对于爱情的忠贞。一次偶然的误会使郑微与陈孝正（赵又廷饰）结为死敌，在一次次的反击中，郑微惊讶地发现自己爱上了这个表面冷酷、内心善良的高才生，于是疯狂的反击演变为死缠烂打的追求，而陈孝正也终于在强攻之下缴械投降，欢喜冤家终成甜蜜恋人。大学四年时光匆匆流逝，毕业在即的郑微憧憬着美好的未来，却再一次遭遇晴天霹雳：陈孝正迫于家庭压力选择出国留学，却迟迟不敢告诉郑微。郑微痛苦地离开陈孝正，大家终于四散。多年以后的新世纪，郑微已蜕变为职场上的白领丽人，竟再次品尝命运的无常：带着悔意和爱意的林静和陈孝正同时回到她的生活里。郑微面对生活和青春赐予她的迷雾和抉择，似乎做出了不同于青春时的选择。影片选取了一个开放式的结尾，给观者留下想象的空间。这部电影充满了对青春的怀旧与感伤情绪，宿舍、教室、自习、毕业聚餐等等，都成为勾起观众回忆的象征符号。
Chen Xiao在《21世纪报》（21st Century）对电影《致我们终将逝去的青春》从人物到情节、从影片主题到导演的构思做了英文点评，该评论对赵薇的处女作进行了较为客观的分析，算是一篇贴近我们观影体验的英文影评。
课堂练习一
细读下文，并选择其中三段翻译成中文。
The reason I wanted to see So Young is that it's Zhao Wei's directorial debut.I guess I didn't expect much else.
Is it a mature first project for the actress？Definitely.Is it a good film in general？Not in my opinion.
So Young has everything a popular youth film should have:Beautiful young actors，a story about colorful campus life and intricate romance，and a strong sense of nostalgia.
The leading female character Zheng Wei（Yang Zishan）enrolls at university to stay close to her childhood sweetheart Lin Jing（Han Geng）.But when Lin moves abroad to pursue his education，life loses its luster for Zheng.Until she meets the dashing yet aloof Chen Xiaozheng（Mark Chao）.
The film also features a bunch of vivid supporting characters:The campus queen who falls for a worthless wretch，the rich kid who is rejected by his dream girl，and Zheng's boyish roommate with a huge ego.
Together they put on quite a show under Zhao's direction and her smooth and aesthetic camera work.You'll find yourself laughing over their trivial yet funny life on campus in the early 1990s.
As expected，the film's second half takes the audience to years later when the characters have moved on into different corners of society.But the film unexpectedly breaks with the comedic vibe and turns into a serious discussion about the meaning of life and love.
Through the events in their current life and flashbacks of their college years，the film portrays how life has changed these characters.And that's where the film goes awry.
The emotional transition of the characters seems overhasty.If you watch the 2011 youth film You're the Apple of My Eye，you'll find that the film's resonance with the audience accumulates from the beginning—through details like sexual fantasies and crushes in puberty—and peaks in the end.In So Young，the sudden emotional touch with endless rhetorical lines just isn't enough to strike a chord.
Zhao also clearly wanted to give every character a proper ending.But unfortunately she tried a bit too hard，making the film's second half feel lengthy and unedited.
Even so，given my reasonably low expectations，Zhao still gets full credits for her effort as a first-time director.Without her insightful input and observations，I think the film would have been worse.
Just as time wrinkles the skin but enriches the soul，a mediocre film may as well be the best motivation for Zhao to make better ones in the future.
影评译文
我想要去看《致我们终将逝去的青春》的原因是：该片是赵薇的导演处女作。对于影片本身我倒没有抱太大的期望。
对于演而优则导的赵薇来说，这是她献上的完美首秀吗？答案当然是肯定的。但这是一部出色的影片吗？在我看来并非如此。
《致我们终将逝去的青春》拥有一切青春题材的流行电影应该具备的元素：养眼的俊男靓女，丰富多彩的校园生活，错综复杂的感情，强烈的怀旧色彩。
女主人公郑微（杨子姗饰）考上大学，为的是和自己青梅竹马的恋人林静（韩庚饰）在一起。但在林静出国留学后，郑微的生活失去了目标，直到她遇见帅气而冷漠的陈孝正（赵又廷饰演）。
该片同时也塑造了许多鲜活的配角：爱上窝囊废的校花、被梦中情人拒绝的富二代、自尊心极强的假小子室友。
在赵薇的执导下，在一系列流畅且富有美感的影像中，该片的确表现不俗。20世纪90年代初，那些细微而有趣的校园生活令人莞尔。
不出所料，影片后半段将观众带到了数年后，此时片中人物都已步入社会，天各一方。但影片却出乎意料地打破喜剧氛围，转入对生活意义与爱情真谛的严肃探讨。
通过展现片中人物当下的生活状态和一组追忆大学生活的闪回镜头，影片描绘出生活是如何改变他们的。而这正是全片失误的所在。
人物角色的情感过渡有点操之过急。如果你看过2011年上映的青春片《那些年，我们一起追的女孩》，那么你就会发现，那部影片从开头对于性幻想以及青春期情窦初开等细节的描写、再到结局时的高潮，都能让观众始终产生共鸣。在《致我们终将逝去的青春》中，这种伴随着一连串的华丽台词而突然爆发的情感并不足以触动观众的心弦。
赵薇显然也想赋予每个角色一个恰当的归宿。但可惜她有点着力过猛，这使得电影的后半段让人感觉冗长杂乱。
即便如此，鉴于我对该片理性的低期望值，我还是认为赵薇对于自己的导演处女作交上了一份令人满意的答卷。如果没有她那富有洞察力的全身心投入和观察，我认为该片会更糟。
就如同时间会令皮肤苍老却令灵魂充实一般，一部平庸之作也会成为鞭策赵薇在今后制作出佳作的动力。
重点评析
文中这样写道：“Is it a mature first project for the actress？Definitely.Is it a good film in general？Not in my opinion.”影评一开头就点明了作者的态度，对于赵薇而言，这部处女作还是很成熟的，但不算是一部很好的影片。作者认为该影片的诸多元素皆迎合了当下观众的喜好，“So Young has everything a popular youth film should have；beautiful young actors，a story about colorful campus life and intricate romance，and a strong sense of nostalgia.”对于影片的前半部分，即校园生活部分，作者给予了肯定的评价，而对于后半部分，作者认为情绪和情节转换过于突然，这是影片较为失败的地方，“The emotion transition of characters seems overhasty”，“the film portrays how life has changed these characters.And that's where the film goes awry.”影评中，作者还将这部电影与2011年青春题材电影《那些年，我们一起追的女孩》（You're the Apple of My Eye）进行了比较，作者认为，“the film's resonance with the audience accumulates from the beginning—through details like sexual fantasies and crushes in puberty—and peaks in the end.”“In So Young，the sudden emotional touch with endless rhetorical lines just isn't enough to strike a chord.”此处我们可以读出作者对《那些年》的细节和情感处理比较赞赏，而对于《致青春》中情感的突然切换及冗长的修饰性描写，作者认为无法引起观众共鸣。此外，对于赵薇处理每个人物结局的方式，作者似乎也不认同，“she tried a bit too hard，making the film's second half feel lengthy and unedited.”文章最后，作者还是做出了较为客观的评价，肯定了赵薇的努力和成果，认为赵薇通过不断积累经验能够拍出更好的电影：“Just as time wrinkles the skin but enriches the soul，a mediocre film may as well be the best motivation for Zhao to make better ones in the future.”作者用了一句英语中常用的习语来表达对赵薇未来导演事业的期待，增加了影评的文学性。
下面我们来看看其中几个较为精彩的句子，也为我们今后进行英文影评的写作提供一些参考。“The film also features a bunch of vivid supporting characters：The campus queen who falls for a worthless wretch，the rich kid who is rejected by his dream girl，and Zheng's boyish roommate with a huge ego.”“Together they put on quite a show under Zhao's direction and her smooth and aesthetic camera work.You'll find yourself laughing over their trivial yet funny life on campus in the early 1990s.”这两句是对该影片的正面评价，从人物角度点明了影片的特色，以及镜头下唯美流畅的校园画面。无论措辞还是内容，都是值得学习的。说到底，影评的写作涉及作者的文学功底，不仅仅需要作者掌握影评的分析视角，譬如镜头处理、情节设置、人物的表现力等，作者的文笔也要优美，表达也要流畅。初学者可以阅读和学习优秀影评，多进行写作小练笔，全面提高英文影评的写作能力。