電影重現奧巴馬伕婦的第一次約會(1)

“Something else is pulling at me,” the gangly young man with the jug ears says. “I wonder if I can write books or hold a position of influence in civil rights,” he adds. “Politics?” the pretty young woman asks. He shrugs. “Maybe.”

“有其他東西在吸引我，”有着一對招風耳的瘦高年輕男子說道。“我想知道自己能不能寫書，或者在民權方面獲得有影響力的地位，”他又補充。“你是說在政治上？”漂亮的年輕女子問道。他聳了聳肩。“也許吧。”

At that point in the romantic idyll “Southside With You,” these two conversationalists are well into one of those intimate walk-and-talks future lovers sometimes share, the kind in which day turns into night and night sometimes turns into the next day (and the day after that).

在浪漫田園詩般的電影《南邊有你》(Southside With You)的這個時刻，這兩個健談的人已經進入親密的邊走邊談階段——人們在成爲戀人之前往往會有那麼一個階段——他們能從白天談到晚上，第二天接着談（再過一天還在談）。

As they amble through one Chicago neighborhood after another — pausing here, driving there — they also meander down their memory lanes. He’s from Hawaii and Indonesia.

他們漫步於芝加哥的一個又一個街區——在這兒逗留一會兒，開車去那兒逛一會兒——他們也沿着記憶中的小巷漫步。他來自夏威夷和印度尼西亞。

She’s from Chicago, the South Side. He’s going to Harvard Law. She’s been there, done that, and is now practicing law. You see where this is going.

她來自芝加哥南城。他將要去哈佛讀法律。她已從那裏畢業，正在從事法律工作。你猜得出來後續吧。

Sweet, slight and thuddingly sincere, “Southside With You” is a fictional re-creation of Barack and Michelle Obama’s first date.

甜蜜、輕鬆而又真誠的《南邊有你》是對巴拉克和米歇爾•奧巴馬(Barack and Michelle Obama)第一次約會的虛構重現。

It’s a curious conceit for a movie less because as dates go this one is pretty low key but because the writer-director Richard Tanne mistakes faithfulness for truthfulness.

對一部電影來說，它有一種奇怪的自負，不是因爲約會平淡無奇，而是因爲編劇兼導演理查德•坦恩(Richard Tanne)誤把真誠當成真實。

He’s obviously interested in the Obamas, but he’s so cautious and worshipful that there’s nothing here to discover, only characters to admire.

他顯然對奧巴馬伕婦感興趣，不過他太過謹慎，太多崇拜，所以這部影片沒什麼好挖掘的——除了令人傾慕的人物。

Every so often, you catch a glimpse of two people seeing each other as if for the first time; mostly, though, the movie just sets a course for the White House. “You definitely have a knack for making speeches,” Michelle says. Yes he does (can).

你經常能在片中看到兩人像初次相見時那樣深情對望，不過這部電影似乎主要是爲他們最終走向白宮做鋪墊。“你顯然具有演講才能，”米歇爾說。他的確有（是的，他能）。

The story opens with Michelle (Tika Sumpter) talking about Barack (Parker Sawyers) to her parents (“Barack o-what-a?” says dad), while he tells his grandmother about Michelle. She’s his adviser at the firm where he’s a summer associate.

故事的開頭是米歇爾（蒂卡•桑普特[Tika Sumpter]飾）跟父母談起巴拉克（帕克•索耶斯[Parker Sawyers]飾）（米歇爾的爸爸問道，“巴拉克•奧什麼？”），而巴拉克跟外祖母談起米歇爾。當時他在一家公司做暑期實習生，米歇爾是他的指導老師。

Barack digs her; Michelle thinks their dating would be inappropriate. Still, he perseveres with gentle confidence, chipping away at her defenses with searching disquisitions, a park-bench lunch and a visit to an art show,

巴拉克追求米歇爾，而米歇爾覺得他們不合適。不過，他帶着溫和的自信堅持不懈，通過尋找專題演講、一次公園長凳午餐以及參觀一個藝術展，一點一點打破了她的防線。在藝術展上，

where this stealth-seducer recites lines from Gwendolyn Brooks’s short poem “We Real Cool,” an ominous, disconcerting pre-mortem of some young men shooting pool that closes with the words “We die soon.”

這位祕密追求者背誦了格溫德琳•布魯克斯(Gwendolyn Brooks)的短詩《我們真的很酷》(We Real Cool)，這首令人不安的預示死亡的不祥詩歌，講述的是幾名打檯球的年輕男子。詩的最後一句是：“我們很快就會死。”