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Hollywood
好萊塢
No city of angels
并非天使之城
Los Angeles still inspires new takes on film noir.
洛杉磯仍為拍攝黑色電影提供靈感。
“Middle of a drought and the water commissioner drowns,” the mortician remarks drily to Jake Gittes, a private investigator played by Jack Nicholson: “Only in LA.”
“正值干旱時期，水利局長卻淹死了，”殯儀館的人冷冷地對杰克·吉特斯（杰克·尼科爾森飾演）說，吉特斯是私家偵探：“只有在洛杉磯才會發(fā)生這種事。”
Indeed.
的確。
June 20th marks the 50th anniversary of the release of “Chinatown”, the film truest to the Los Angeles of the countless noirs set in America’s second-most-populous city.
6月20日是電影《唐人街》上映50周年紀念日，這部電影是無數(shù)以美國人口第二大城市--洛杉磯--為背景的黑色電影中最真實的一部。
Other films revolve around Hollywood—or at least its dark, gritty edges—where every millionaire, wannabe actor and insurance agent has a secret worth killing for.
其他電影圍繞好萊塢--或者至少是好萊塢黑暗、粗糲的邊緣地帶--展開，在那里，每個百萬富翁、想成為演員的人和保險代理人都有一個能招來殺身之禍的秘密。
But Gittes was fixated on water, or the lack thereof, a perennial problem in a city that is otherwise constantly changing.
但吉特斯關注的是水，或者說缺水，這是這個城市長年存在的問題，除此之外，洛杉磯一直在變化。
Film noir was so named by French critics after the second world war.
黑色電影是第二次世界大戰(zhàn)后由法國評論家命名的。
It is a style of film-making that often features a cynical anti-hero who either sleuths for a living or finds himself accidentally drawn into an investigation.
這是一種電影制作風格，通常以憤世嫉俗的反英雄為主角，他們要么以偵探為生，要么發(fā)現(xiàn)自己意外地卷入了一項調(diào)查。
Think of Humphrey Bogart as Philip Marlowe in “The Big Sleep” (1946), a film based on Raymond Chandler’s novel.
想想《夜長夢多》（1946）里亨弗萊·鮑嘉飾演的菲利普·馬洛，這部電影改編自雷蒙德·錢德勒的小說。
Or of Barton Keyes, an insurance claims investigator, hellbent on sniffing out fraud in “Double Indemnity” (1944).
或者是《雙重賠償》（1944年）里的保險理賠調(diào)查員巴頓·凱斯，他不顧一切想要嗅出欺詐行為。
There is a good chance that crooked cops, cover-ups, pretty blondes and business tycoons will turn up at some point in the story.
很有可能在故事的某個時候會出現(xiàn)腐敗的警察、掩蓋真相的人、漂亮的金發(fā)女郎和商業(yè)大亨。
The closest thing to a happy ending is that not everyone will end up dead.
最接近圓滿結(jié)局的是人物沒有死光。
“Chinatown” was released several decades after the genre’s heyday in the 1940s-50s.
20世紀40至50年代是該類型電影的全盛期，幾十年后《唐人街》上映。
The film, and the “neo noirs” that followed it, tried to strike a balance between paying homage to the classics and turning the genre on its head.
這部電影以及隨后的“新黑色電影”試圖在向經(jīng)典致敬和顛覆這一類型之間取得平衡。
In 1982 “Blade Runner” transported viewers to the futuristic Los Angeles of 2019.
1982年，《銀翼殺手》將觀眾帶到了2019年的未來主義洛杉磯。
Rick Deckard (Harrison Ford) searches for bioengineered humans who are not supposed to be on Earth, let alone in the City of Angels.
瑞克·戴克（哈里森·福特飾）搜尋那些本不應該在地球，更不應該在天使之城的用生物工程制造的人類。
Crime flicks can be made about any city.
犯罪電影可以以任何城市為背景。
But Los Angeles cornered the market back when Chandler was writing screenplays.
但當錢德勒還在寫劇本的時候，洛杉磯就壟斷了犯罪電影的市場。
Many great crime novelists have lived there, including Chandler and, later, James Ellroy.
許多偉大的犯罪小說家都住在那里，包括錢德勒，以及后來的詹姆斯·艾爾羅伊。
But their novels need not be adapted faithfully.
但他們的小說不一定需要被忠實地改編。
“Double Indemnity”, after all, was based on a murder in Queens.
畢竟《雙重賠償》就是基于紐約市皇后區(qū)的一起謀殺案改編的。
Why does Los Angeles continue to play a leading role in film noir?
為什么洛杉磯一直在黑色電影中扮演主要角色？
Its status as America’s long-reigning film capital is part of it.
部分原因是它長期以來一直是美國的電影之都。
The city also lends itself to film noir because it is such a study in contrasts.
這座城市也適合拍攝黑色電影，因為這是如此鮮明的對比研究。
The relentless sunshine and skinny palm trees jar with the genre’s violence and corruption.
炎熱的陽光和細長的棕櫚樹與黑色電影中的暴力和腐敗格格不入。
LA is where people come to make it, and only a few succeed.
洛杉磯是人們追求出人頭地的地方，但只有少數(shù)人能成功。
What happens to those who are disappointed?
那些失望的人會怎么樣？
Wannabe starlets become call girls.
想成為明星的女演員淪為應召女郎。
Men who cannot pay their mortgage become muscle for mobsters.
無法償還房貸的男人成了黑幫的打手。
Danny DeVito, who plays a smarmy tabloid journalist in the neo-noir “LA Confidential” (1997), based on a novel by Mr Ellroy, gives an oleaginous monologue that encapsulates the duality of LA noir.
丹尼·德維托在艾爾羅伊小說改編的新黑色電影《洛城機密》（1997年）中飾演一名諂媚的小報記者，他發(fā)表了一段油腔滑調(diào)的獨白，概括了洛杉磯黑色電影的雙重性。
“You’d think this place was the garden of Eden,” he says, “but there’s trouble in paradise.”
“你以為這個地方是伊甸園，”他說，“但天堂里也有麻煩。”
A newer spate of LA noirs fetishise the genre even while challenging its conventions.
更新的一批黑色電影在對其傳統(tǒng)進行挑戰(zhàn)的同時依然迷戀這種類型。
In the television series “Lucifer”, the lord of Hell solves murders alongside a city detective.
在電視劇《路西法》中，地獄之王與一名城市偵探一起偵破謀殺案。
There are sometimes musical numbers to offset all the killing.
有時會有一些插曲來中和所有這些殺戮。
In “Sugar”, which premiered on Apple TV in April, John Sugar, a private investigator, is a cinephile.
在四月份于AppleTV首播的《謎探休格》中，私家偵探約翰·休格是一位電影愛好者。
He wears a suit and drives an old Corvette in the mould of Marlowe or Gittes.
他身穿西裝，開著一輛老式科爾維特，效仿馬洛或吉特斯的風格。
A girl goes missing, and as Sugar investigates, he finds each member of her family to be corrupt in their own way.
一個女孩失蹤了，當休格調(diào)查時，他發(fā)現(xiàn)她的所有家人都有各自的腐敗行為。
Sugar, too, loses sight of himself the more he obsesses over the case.
休格也一樣，他越是癡迷于這個案子，就越是迷失了自我。
The series even begins in black and white and features old film clips throughout.
這部劇開始時甚至是黑白片，并始終貫穿了一些老電影片段。
But unlike the classics, Mr Sugar is no sarcastic anti-hero.
但與經(jīng)典作品不同，休格并不是一個尖刻的反英雄。
In fact, he is nice.
事實上，他是個好人。
He does not sneer, antagonise police or hit women.
他沒有冷嘲熱諷、與警察作對，也沒有打女人。
He does not like guns.
他不喜歡槍。
He helps the homeless and even adopts a dog.
他幫助流浪漢，甚至還收養(yǎng)了一只狗。
It is a far cry from the blood-soaked impunity of “LA Confidential”, in which almost everyone is unlikeable and gets shot.
這與充滿血腥、有罪不罰的《洛城機密》大相徑庭，在《洛城機密》中，幾乎每個人都不討人喜歡，而且都被槍殺了。
He solves his case and saves the girl.
他破了案子，并且救了那個女孩。
Gittes is not so lucky.
吉特斯就沒那么幸運了。
His efforts, like many a private investigator in film noir, prove futile.
他的一切努力，就像黑色電影中的許多私家偵探一樣，最終都是徒勞的。
“Forget it, Jake,” his partner says when the woman he wants to protect is killed.
“別想了，杰克，”當他想保護的女人被殺時，他的搭檔說道，
“It’s Chinatown.”
“這里可是唐人街。”
