【纯正美式影评赏析】《重返20岁》--来自纽约时报

共惜年月

热映电影《重返20岁》火到美国！来看一下来自《纽约时报》的影评，赏析一下纯正的美式影评，语言表达方式十分地道，地道到你觉得自己英语很好，但是看起来还是很吃力。Come on，带你来一次美式英语学习之旅。

原文

Like the 2014 Korean hit “Miss Granny,” Leste Chen’s “20 Once Again” belongs to the genre of stories that set up life lessons by miraculously reversing a character’s aging process. In this case, no bodies are switched à la “Freaky Friday”; instead, a nagging septuagenarian mother-in-law, Shen Mengjun, turns back into her 20-year-old self after visiting a mysterious photography studio.

At first, Mr. Chen’s candy-colored movie lands many of its gags through the fact that Mengjun, behind her pop-star-cutie face, still views the world through a prudish, nit-picking mind-set. A veteran actress, Grace Guei, plays the character as a 70-year-old, but it’s Yang Zi Shan as the rejuvenated version who gets to have fun playing with grumpy-old-biddy clichés. Hunched and peering about disapprovingly, she takes free samples from every stall at a marketplace and, unsolicited, lectures a young mother on how to feed her baby.

But Mr. Chen, director of the Chinese hit “The Great Hypnotist,” is also telling a soppy family drama about self-realization. Before her transformation, Mengjun lives with her beloved son (a professor) and his family, but afterward she goes into hiding (even adopting a different name) to find herself. She eventually crosses paths with her grandson, a musician (the pop singer Lu Han), and dreams of a singing career. She also has to reckon with a former servant from her childhood who’s fixated on her.

Mining deeper emotions from the fanciful premise doesn’t work out for the film, which gets tied down to a generic musical-contest subplot. It’s a workable comedy that’s sunk by its attempts to impersonate something else too.

解析

Like the 2014 Korean hit（“热门的事物”，根据上下文这里指“热门影片”） “Miss Granny,” Leste Chen’s “20 Once Again” belongs to the genre of stories（故事类型） that set up life lessons（人生道理） by miraculously reversing（逆转） a character’s aging process. In this case, no bodies are switched à la “Freaky Friday”; instead, a nagging septuagenarian（七十多岁的） mother-in-law, Shen Mengjun, turns back into（变回到） her 20-year-old self（20岁的自己） after visiting a mysterious photography studio.

和2014年韩国热门影片《奇怪的她》(Miss Granny)一样，陈正道的《重返20岁》属于那种通过神奇逆转人物年龄讲述人生教训的类型片。不像《辣妈辣妹》(Freaky Friday)，这部影片没有身份互换，而是七十多岁、唠唠叨叨的婆婆沈梦君在去了一个神秘的照相馆之后变回了20岁时的模样。

At first, Mr. Chen’s candy-colored movie lands（使…着陆，落实） many of its gags（笑料，插科打诨） through the fact that Mengjun, behind her pop-star-cutie face, still views the world through（通过…心态来看待这个世界） a prudish（一板一眼）, nit-picking（挑剔） mindset（心态，心智模式）. A veteran actress（老练的女演员，老戏骨）, Grace Guei, plays the character as a 70-year-old, but it’s Yang Zi Shan as the rejuvenated（恢复青春的） version who gets to have fun playing with grumpy-old-biddy（爱唠叨的中年妇女） clichés（俗套）. Hunched and peering about disapprovingly, she takes free samples from every stall（摊位） at a marketplace and, unsolicited（未经请求）, lectures a young mother on（给…大讲特讲…） how to feed her baby.

一开始，这部有着糖果色彩的电影把很多笑料都放在沈梦君身上，她长着流行歌手般的漂亮面孔，却仍用一板一眼、挑剔的眼光看待世界。70岁时的沈梦君由老戏骨归亚蕾饰演，但是真正有趣的是饰演20岁沈梦君的杨子姗，她可以拿老年人脾气暴躁、爱唠叨这种老套剧情大做文章。她弓着腰，不满地四处张望，拿走商场里每个摊位上的免费样品，未经请求就主动给一个年轻妈妈大讲育儿之道。

But Mr. Chen, director of the Chinese hit “The Great Hypnotist（催眠师）,” is also telling a soppy（伤感的） family drama about self-realization（自我实现）. Before her transformation, Mengjun lives with her beloved son (a professor) and his family, but afterward she goes into hiding (even adopting a different name) to find herself. She eventually crosses paths with（偶遇） her grandson, a musician (the pop singer Lu Han), and dreams of a singing career. She also has to reckon with（应付） a former servant from her childhood who’s fixated on（对…念念不忘） her.

陈正道曾执导热门中国影片《催眠大师》。不过，在《重返20岁》中，他其实也讲述了一个关于自我实现的伤感的家庭故事。重返青春之前，沈梦君和心爱的儿子（一名教授）以及他的家人住在一起，但是变身之后，她躲起来（甚至换了个名字），开始寻找自我。她最终偶遇自己的孙子，他是个音乐家（流行歌手鹿晗饰演），于是她开始追求歌唱事业。她还得应付一个童年时期的佣人，那人对她念念不忘。

Mining（挖掘） deeper emotions from the fanciful premise doesn’t work out for （对…起作用）the film, which gets tied down to（被…束缚） a generic（一般的） musical-contest subplot（次要情节）. It’s a workable comedy that’s sunk by its attempts to（被一种…的尝试拖了后腿） impersonate（扮演、模仿、体现、表现） something else too.

这部电影没有从这个怪诞的幻想中挖掘更深的情绪，而是被束缚在音乐比赛这个普通的次要情节上了。这部喜剧本可以大有作为，但是因为想同时表现其他主题而变得平庸。（Kevin英语课堂）