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Strangers on a bus. Each of them has a secret. Like the best Hitchcockian stories, they all have skeletons in their closets, and once a necklace is stolen in the dead of night, the chain of events that begins to unravel feels unstoppable, like falling dominoes. Viewers are taken on a ride directly into the dark abyss of human nature. This is Night Bus, a 20-minute horror short by Taiwanese director Joe Hsieh that made its way around film fest circuits in early 2022.
Night Bus is Hsieh’s third short film, a follow up to 2006’s Meat Days and 2014’s The Present, and it extends the themes of his earlier work to make this ride into the personal hells of its riders something truly memorable. Along with making deep impressions, the film is also winning awards—at Sundance, Night Bus granted him the Short Film Jury Award for best animation.
公交车上的陌生人都心怀鬼胎，每个人都有不为人知的一面，像极了经典的希区柯克式悬疑。夜深时分，一条被盗项链，使故事急转直下，并发生一连串令人惊愕又注定发生的事件，也最终让这趟公交车坠入人性的黑暗深渊——这是台湾导演谢文明创作的20分钟恐怖短片。该短片在今年年初多个电影节中备受瞩目。
《夜车》是谢文明继 2006 年的《肉蛾天》和 2014 年的《礼物》后创作的第三部短片。该短片进一步拓展了他早期作品的主题，以车上乘客地狱般的旅途展开一段令人难忘的故事。在圣丹斯电影节上，《夜车》获得了最佳动画短片评审团奖。
The premise of Night Bus is a simple one, but the story’s twists and turns may catch people by surprise. A mother monkey is shown swinging from the trees, with her baby clutching on. Viewers are then taken inside of a dingy bus station where two silhouetted lovers are embracing as the wind rages outside. Two soot-faced workers smoke outside, waiting for the bus’s arrival. Someone is shown on their knees, peeking beneath a bathroom stall in the station—a second later a man and a woman come out of the bathroom and walk outside towards the bus, which has finally arrived. “Hurry, get on board,” says the driver. “Last bus of the day.”
《夜车》的故事设定通俗易懂，但之后剧情的发展却令人毛骨悚然。影片开端，母猴穿梭于树林，与怀中的猴宝宝享受石榴的美味。随后，画面转到一个破败不堪的公交车站，一对情人的身影在相拥，门外狂风大作；两个蓬头垢面的工人在室外抽烟等车；某个鬼鬼祟祟的人正趴跪在女厕地板，朝某个隔间内窥探着什么。过了一会儿，一男一女从厕所走出。公交车，到了。“快上车，”司机说道，“这是今天最后一班车。”
An old lady and a mysterious man in a button-up shirt are the final two characters making their way onto the bus. She demands help with her luggage while complaining about having to take the rickety bus due to her car being in the shop. Once on board, the title flashes onto the screen, and a gloomy, dreamlike score by Ned Young plays out. These beginning two minutes sets the tone of the film, introducing the characters before they get onto their fateful bus ride, and before their secrets are revealed.
As the bus drives through the night, most of the passengers fall asleep, but in the the old lady wakes up, noticing that her pearl necklace has been stolen. This singular event becomes a catalyst for the series of distressing events that engrains this nightmarish ride into the audience’s memory.
最后上车的两人，是一位老太太和她身后穿着纽扣衬衫的年轻男子。老太一边吆喝他人帮忙提行李，一边抱怨因为自己的车在店里而不得不乘坐这辆破旧的公车。当所有乘客上车后，影片的标题闪现在屏幕上，由 Ned Young 创作的阴郁、迷幻情绪配乐缓缓响起。短片开头的两分钟，便奠定了整部影片的基调，分别介绍角色与故事行进的场景，埋下诸多伏笔。
公交车行驶在狂风之夜，此时大多数乘客都已昏昏入睡，突然，老太太从睡梦中发现自己的珍珠项链被盗。这个意外如同催化剂，触发了一系列恐怖事件的发生，揭开了一趟如噩梦般的旅程。
Night Bus, like Joe Hsieh’s earlier short films, is easily identifiable by its aesthetic. Hsieh primarily uses the “cut-out” technique in the crafting and production of his shorts. “Sketching is my favorite way to create cut-out animations,” he says. “I start out sketching my characters with pencil, then scan into the computer for coloring, edits and body/facial movements. I am always looking for new ways to improve my skill to make the movement more smooth and graceful.”
《夜车》和谢文明早期的短片一样，拥有独特美学风格。谢文明在制作短片时主要使用拼贴剪纸风格（cut-out）动画，他说：“制作剪纸动画时喜欢用素描绘法，会先用铅笔绘画角色并扫描到电脑，然后进行上色、编辑和完成身体、面部动作。我也一直在尝试新的方式，能让角色的动作变得更加流畅且自然。”
There are a few moments in Night Bus that can be described as shocking. With Hsieh’s work, shock factor is an important factor to the story, with the mood and atmosphere culling inspiration from horror manga stories by the likes of Junji Ito.
“I do like horror manga and love Junji Ito’s works too,” remarks Hsieh. “In fact, I’m most inspired by live action suspense films. As a big fan of Hitchcock, I also love Psycho, Vertigo, The Birds and Rear Window. I love the way the characters in the film put the audience in their shoes, deep in suspense.”
In Night Bus, Hsieh wanted to replicate that same sense of suspense, and the film’s plot unveils itself like some of the bleakest film noir. “To reveal who stole the old lady’s necklace is only secondary and a step to revealing the hidden secrets of the rest of the characters—the real point of the story. I was also very much inspired by strong female characters in other horror films or thrillers, like Jodie Foster in The Silence of the Lambs.”
《夜车》中不乏令人颤栗的画面。在谢文明的作品中，惊悚是重要元素，论影片情绪和氛围的灵感，则主要来自伊藤润二等人的恐怖漫画故事和悬疑片。
“我喜欢恐怖漫画，也很喜欢伊藤润二的作品，”谢文明说，“但我的灵感更多是来自真人悬疑片。我是希区柯克的铁粉，尤其是《惊魂记》、《迷魂记》、《群鸟》和《后窗》。电影中那些引人入胜的角色，总能让观众内心充满悬念。”
谢文明希望《夜车》表现出相似的悬念感，整部短片的情节如同黑色侦探电影一样逐步铺开。“揭露偷走老太太项链的人只是次要，更重要的是揭晓角色背后隐藏的秘密，成为整个故事的焦点。此外，恐怖电影或惊悚片中强大的女性角色也给了我很多灵感，比如《沉默的羔羊》中的朱迪·福斯特（Jodie Foster）。”
The pace of Night Bus is another reason for its hypnotizing power. The animation style, unraveling plot, and ominous music builds towards those shocking reveals and a devastating climax. According to Hsieh, the pacing of animation is very important, especially for horror stories. “For me, the pacing is always important for the development of the plot, and it changes by the emotions of the characters in the film.”
Additionally, the score in Night Bus goes a long way in cultivating the sense of mystery. “I spoke with my composer at a very early stage, around when I was writing my proposal,” says Hsieh. ”During production, we had very close and regular discussions. I explained to him every character in every scene to ensure he came up with a dramatic score. I believe in his work and since we have collaborated for many years, he understands me and my style very well. He even gave me advice for my stories.”
《夜车》的节奏也是这部短片如此扣人心弦的另一个原因。动画风格、解谜般的情节和充满不祥感的配乐，慢慢揭开真相的面纱，并最终达至毁灭性的高潮。谢文明表示，动画的节奏非常重要，尤其是恐怖故事片，“在我看来，节奏在剧情发展中起到关键作用，并随着影片角色的情绪而转变。”
此外，《夜车》的配乐对于营造影片的悬疑氛围功不可没。谢文明说：“我从很早的阶段，大概从写提案时就开始与配乐的作曲家讨论。整个创作过程中，我们始终保持密切地沟通。我会向他解释每个场景里的每个角色，以确保创作出充满戏剧性的配乐。我很信任他的作品，我们已经合作多年，他非常了解我和我的风格，甚至会给我提供一些关于剧情方面的建议。”
All in all, Night Bus is a bitter story designed to leave viewers with a sour taste in their mouths. This bus ride is, in a way, society in miniature—showing the rich pitting the lower class against one another, a disregard for mother nature, the tendency for selfishness, and how thin the line between love and hate can really be. When it gets to its fiery climax, only the innocent characters survive, and the audience is left pondering about how one decision can lead to a chain effect of unforeseen consequences.
总的来说，《夜车》是一个悲伤的故事，观看后，惆怅感油然而生，一些画面还让人历历在目。从某种意义上说，这趟公交车之旅是社会的缩影——揭示了上层富人如何让下层阶级互相残杀，也揭露了人类对大自然的漠视、人的自私以及爱与恨就在一线之间。在影片高潮，公交车熊熊燃烧，只有两位角色活了下来。观众不禁思考，一个很小的决定也许能产生多米诺骨牌效应，甚至引发不可预见的后果。
