今年宋庄电影节，因为时间以及交通的问题，我只看到了电影节的最后一部电影，很遗憾的错过了很多好的独立电影，尤其李凝大哥的《胶带》。不幸中的万幸，我偶然的机会在策展人朋友Reinaart策划的ALSO SPACE 展览的闭幕式上看到《胶带》。当时我还不知道李凝是何许人也，但我愣是被这个3个多小时的片子吸引了，一气呵成，从头看到尾，就像片子的名字《胶带》一样----被粘住了。

我深深的被这部“混杂的”庞大电影重击，之所以用“混杂”来描述，是因为不能以常规的纪录片，剧情片，实验影像来定义这部影片，因为这些划分标准在这部影片面前变得模糊，而正是由于这些标准的模糊，也增强了这部片子的真实。

“ 真实”是这部影片之于观者重击的关键因素，在影片中我们首先也是最直接的一个感受就是李凝的诚实，这种真实生活的诚实描述以及诚实暴露的勇气就足以给观者 带来的极大的震撼。影片中暴露的是一些极端私人化的东西，用李凝自己的话说：“一个极端的个人性呈现出来的恰恰是极端的公共性”。保证对自己的一个诚实的 态度，通过自省或自嘲的方式反抗冰冷的社会机器。

也许李凝不同意或者不希望在这里太过于强调这种“反抗性”，而我在之后的反思中也确实思考出了一些问题，一是基于影片的名称------胶 带，其实是一个粘性很强的词，具有吸附感、紧贴感，这与反抗恰恰是相反的一个作用效果，或者说是相反的作用出发点。这种“反抗”的来源，其实是观者对于这 部影片粘性的误读或者说是一种后续衍生思考。影片中李凝带着自己的队员在马路上进行肢体表演，每个人只要相互接触就马上被粘住，这种粘性使社会上的每个人 紧紧相连，形成一个生态系统，而这个生态系统又同整个社会紧紧相连，每个人都无法摆脱这种对于社会的依附性，每个人都生活在粘性社会中。

我 认为，这部影片在这里想表达的最重要的其实不是“反抗”，而是一种状态的描述，一种粘性生存状态的单纯描述。而“反抗”则是观者通过影片的描述而产生的后 续衍生思考，或者说是潜意识中的化学反应。在影片的最后我们也能寻找到答案来解释观者从影片中感受到对抗的荒诞。在影片结束的镜头中，李凝去寻找工作，镜 头最后落在了申请表格上，事实上在这里李凝已经做出了一个选择，那就是回归体制，无论是因为现实的无奈或者是生存危机，这是艺术家最后的姿态，也是艺术家 选择并接受了的姿态，不然这个镜头不会在影片中出现。这其实对应了前面所讲的观者的后续衍生思考的问题，这便是李凝的后续衍生思考，不是反抗，恰恰是继续 依附，甚至是更强烈粘性的依附。在这里李凝用了一个很含蓄的手法表明了自己并不激进的立场，在验证了“反抗”的阐释的荒诞以外，更重要的是这一点使这部影 片在高度上提升了一个层次，因为在这里导演通过将自己的决定进行了隐晦的表达的同时，为观者提供了判断或者说后续衍生思考的权利和空间，在一定程度上实现 了观看自由，观看自由恰恰是其他影像中致命的缺陷（因为以前影像没有或者很少实现观看自由，故导致观者的过于简单的后续衍生思考）。另外在这个反抗与否或 者说对待社会粘性的态度问题上，假如我们还继续用简单的二元对立的观点来阐释和选择的话，恐怕等待我们的将是一个非常尴尬的局面。

另 外一个是有关于这部影片中所流露出的强烈的“真实感”的问题。李凝说，这是一个他近几年生活的衍生品。我认为正是因为这部影片作为一个衍生品存在，所以才 具有一种“侵略式”的真实，其实是一种超真实状态或者说“强迫真实”。在影片中有很长的时间是在描述家庭的琐事，为了摩托车证件妻子跟李凝争吵的镜头，以 及李凝去隔壁看拆迁镜头的拍摄等等，在影片中有很多类似镜头，我们可以注意到摄像机是一直跟李凝在一起的，好像摄像机已经跟李凝合而为一了，生活中摄像机 已经几乎替代了李凝的眼睛，这是一种用第一视角来叙事的手法，而这种拍摄手法在利用的过程中很好的做到了对摄像机的忽略，这是一个很重要的地方，通过对于 摄像机的忽略，也实现了一种真实感。摄像机完全便成了生活中的一个组成部分，它不光承载着记录的功能，还承载着参与事件的任务。另外一点，如果理性客观的 来分析，我们当下的社会现实本身就是超现实，所以影片中的超现实在一定程度上实现了超真实。

李凝在后来的采访中多次提到“责任”----—来 源于家庭，来源于妻子和儿子，我们可以明显感受到李凝这些年在社会道德层面上始终无法挣脱，当然了，无法挣脱不代表不可以突破，这里所说的无法挣脱是指突 破以后的最终回归的宿命。他说自己内心是空虚的，其实还有恐惧，这种恐惧来源于“责任”，或者说来源于社会，包括社会道德以及社会体制。

“ 责任”在这样的一个社会背景下变成一睹厚墙，阻碍着艺术家的前进，当然了，这是基于笔者看完影片肾上腺素分泌旺盛的条件或者说为自己后续延伸思考出的“反 抗”的激进而亢奋的状态下的观点。李凝有句话：“我不想被利用，被消费，但我现在希望被利用，被消费，因为我要赚钱。”这句话中除了淋漓尽致的表达了艺术 家的无奈与妥协以外，其实还反映了李凝的一种恐惧，其实这种恐惧在胶带中一直存在，焦躁，不安，激进，僵化，妥协是恐惧的外在表现，而这种“恐惧”也在暴 露着艺术作品在“社会黑暗”现实中的渺小。

李 凝在影片的最后还是选择了回归，选择了撕心裂肺似的吼叫之后的归于平静，顺便我在这也猜想一下李凝接下来的影片可能会是一些更加诗意的，更加平静的表达感 受的片子。写到这里，我发现看过这部片子以后应该收获的或者说这部片子试图产生作用的的其实不是观者的肾上腺，而是一种更加深刻的平静思考，对于社会，对 于自身。

                                                     张立涛写于中央美术学院

                                                          2010年5月31日凌晨

    There are many great independent films at the Songzhuang Film Festival this year. However, I was only able to watch the last one due to my schedule and traffic conditions. Luckily, I managed to see Ning Li’s “Tape”, the film I most wanted to see, in the closing ceremony of the ALSO SPACE exhibition curated by my friend Reinaart. Although I did not know who Ning Li was, I was deeply attracted by his three-hour long film as if I was adhered to it, just like the name suggested.

    I was shaken by this complicated and intermixed “Tape”. The film itself cannot be categorized into a single category such as documentary, feature film, or experimental film. The boundaries that distinguish these different types from each other become vague in front of the film, making it more real.

    Honesty and truthfulness are what attract the audiences the most. In the film, the audiences are directly exposed to Ning Li’s honesty and his depiction of the real world. The courage he shows in exposing his private matters to the public blew the audiences away. Ning said, “Extreme individuality is extremely generic.” Therefore he strives to keep an honest attitude and resist the ice-cold society through sarcasm and self-mockery.

    Perhaps Ning does not agree to or does not want to overly emphasize the term “resistance”. In my process of contemplating the film, several questions worth pondering about appeared. First, in contrast with the resistance, the name of the film itself suggests an adhesive and clinging feeling. The suggested resistance is more likely a derivative impression created by the audiences themselves, during or after the process of watching and thinking about the film. In the film, Ning and his team are doing physical performances on the road. People stick to each other when they have body contact. This adhesiveness connects everyone in the society together, forming into an “ecosystem”. The system, on the other hand, connects and interacts with the society, making people unable to escape from their reliance on the society. Thus, everyone lives in the sticky society.   

    In my opinion, the film emphasizes not on the resistance, but on the portraying of a state/status, or a condition of sticky living. The resistance is what the audiences derive from thinking about the film or create in their subconsciousness through chemical reactions. The absurdity of having the impression of resistance can also be found in the end of the movie. The ending shows Ning going out looking for jobs; the last scene was on the application form, implying that he had made the decision to comply with the system. It doesn’t matter whether Ning is doing it due to his inability to live outside of the system or his need to survive; the film presents us with an inevitable result with the artists facing and finally accepting reality. Therefore, Ning’s derivative thinking involves even stronger adherence instead of resistance. More importantly, Ning’s use of implication not only states his position in the absurdity of resistance, but it also raises the level of the film in that it provides the audiences with the freedom to make their own judgment. (Most films do not provide the audiences with the freedom to think and decide; thus, audiences do not think enough about the message the film conveys.)        

    However, the boundary between whether the film is about resistance or adherence is ambiguous, so it is impossible to make a clear decision.

Secondly, the question revolves around the realness(hyperrealness)this film conveys. Ning says that this work is derived from his life in the recent years. Thus, the film has an almost intrusive and cruel sense of realness. A large portion of the film depicts a family’s everyday problems, husband and wife’s arguments, Ning watching neighboring house being pulled down…etc. In these scenes, the camera is always with Ning, as if it is not filming him, but replacing his eyes to see the world. The first person perspective successfully removes emphasis on the camera, creating a stronger sense of realness. The camera becomes a part of Ning’s life as it not only functions as a recorder, but also as a participant. In addition, the society we live in is surreal itself, so the surrealism in the film becomes real.

    In media interviews, Ning mentions responsibility from his family several times. It can be seen that Ning has not been able to free himself from social ethics. However, inability to break free does not equal to inability to break through. Ning is unable to break free in that he returns to the system in the end despite the struggles. He says that he feels empty, which is a display of fear, of responsibility, of ethic, and of social system.

    In this social condition, responsibility becomes a wall preventing artists from moving forward. This opinion is based on the fact that I am in a condition of adrenaline over secretion after seeing the film. Ning said, “I don’t want to be used, be expended, but right now I want to be used and be expended because I need to make money.” This not only shows artists’ compromise, but also reflects Ning’s fear. This fear exists everywhere in the “Tape” through its manifestation into anxiety, tension, radicalness, and compromise. Moreover, this fear reveals how insignificant art is compared to social darkness and reality.

    In the end, Ning chooses to return to peace after much struggle. In my prediction, Li Ning’s later works will probably be more poetic or more peaceful. After much thought, I find that this film directs the audience to reevaluate the society and ourselves more profoundly.

                                                      In CAFA

                                                      By Leo Chang