Because I could not stop for Death, he kindly stopped for me; the carriage held but just ourselves and immortality” – Emily Dickinson
If Death took a holiday, the guns would go silent in Iraq, the slaughter on our nation’s highways would cease, and the news media would be compelled to cover positive events in the humanities, arts, and sciences. Unfortunately, Death has not had a vacation in recorded history, but Mitchell Leisen’s 1934 fantasy, Death Takes a Holiday, allows us to consider the possibility. Co-written by Maxwell Anderson and Gladys Lehman and based on the play "La Morte in Vacanza" by Alberto Casella, Death Takes a Holiday stars Frederic March as the Grim Reaper who takes on human form in an attempt to discover why men fear him so much. Why he has waited 5,000 years to satisfy this curiosity is not explained.
[Spoiler] After a brief tryout as a shadowy figure who scares the daylights out of those that cross his path, Death shows up at, of all places, an upscale party at an Italian villa, posing as the mysterious Prince Sirki. Only one person knows who he really is, the host Duke Lambert (Guy Standing), and he is sworn to secrecy. Sirki proceeds to fascinate the guests. Given to bursts of wit and poetry, he can just as quickly turn sullen and threatening, and some soon find out that it is better not to look too deeply into his eyes. During the three days in which the Prince is at the villa, however, people all over the world miraculously escape death and potential suicides are doomed to frustration.
To see what’s behind all the conversation about love, the suave but naïve Prince Sirki falls for the irresistible Grazia (Evelyn Venable), the daughter of one of Duke’s friends. Grazia knows who Death is but does not fear him, much to the chagrin of her fiancé, Corrado (Kent Taylor) who has developed a strong disdain for Prince Charming.
More sinister than Brad Pitt in the 1998 remake Meet Joe Black, March turns in a very convincing performance as the creepy yet strangely appealing guest. Although the ending is melodramatic, the emotions are very real and the suggestion that Death may in reality be a friend disguised as a foe is quite touching.
(Howard Schumann, talkingpix.co.uk)
In this wearisome and predictable plot line, Death falls in love and bores us to death talking about it.
(Dennis Schwartz, homepages.sover.net)
I've heard DRACULA was advertised with the tag line "The Weirdest Love Story ever told!" (this is probably a paraphrase), but at heart, I've never felt that you could honestly call that movie a love story. The tag line would be much more appropriate for this one, since it ultimately boils down to what amounts to a love story. This movie is very good indeed, particularly if you consider that it is built around a concept that could have easily been handled in a cute or facile manner. Instead, it is handled as seriously as possible, with some real thought put into how death would try to come to terms with a life and an outlook that was to that point totally unfamiliar to him; much of the credit does go to Fredric March in the title role. It's quite scary when it needs to be, particularly during the first twenty minutes. From then on, it deals with its themes with subtlety, a quiet wit, an enduring sadness, and an everpresent tension on how Death might react if crossed. It's not perfect; some of the dialogue is self-conscious and artificial, as if the writers knew they were dealing with weighty issues and were trying to be profound. But I am certainly glad they didn't try to turn it into a musical comedy of sorts.
(Dave Sindelar, scifilm.org)
See also the remake: Death Takes A Holiday (1971)
所有人都端着一副“我正在参演一部蝙蝠侠歌剧”的刻意模样来使劲演。这一版蝙蝠侠，没有双面人生，还刻意逃避了钞能力和花样装备，只有一面倒的颓废忧郁，竭尽所能地装作一个普通人，是真切确实的无病呻吟。寥寥的几场打戏，忍者变莽汉，像极了明明手残却要近战打老头环的我，笨拙得一言难尽，毫无“蝙蝠”风采。那拙劣的身手、有限的装备、一路靠莽的打法，这样的蝙蝠侠，到底凭什么成为哥谭恐惧的象征？只将“希望”、“复仇”、“正义”、“恐惧”挂在嘴边，实在难以令人信服。明明才第二年，已经为了全片黑暗歌剧风而献祭了人设，未经沧桑，已是中年蝠，完全拔苗助长。0.5倍速加持下，制造了极其煎熬的3小时大型催眠现场。
恕我直言，再是华丽的视听，也架不住如此平庸的剧本持续三小时的连击。那个曾被诺兰驾到城邦正义十字路口的蝙蝠侠，在这个并不怎么高明的谜语人面前，除了伟光正之外，几乎和他身后那一大撮警察（编剧）同样的迟钝和愚蠢。
3.5。结尾跟蓝白红之《红》一摸一样，但整个故事又有点像《蓝》，二月十四看也恰如其分，贾静雯这种病理比较难拍，这可能也是很多观众代入不进去的原因，我也挺难忍受的，好在小静这个角色十分完美，在加上BGM实在是太好听，后面的重启人生沉稳扎实，我感觉到了一种非常踏实的欣慰感，钟孟宏电影的情感浓度，人物状态都没得说，他最大的毛病就是对话台词效率太低，比如房间里有蛇，我就知道一定有蛇，还有就是听见嗡嗡声，我就知道一定是瀑布，作为观众老这么抢答式的预判成功是很崩溃的，他改掉这个我是非常期待他以后的作品。
Why so serious?? 居然比扎导版更一本正经… 绷三个小时真的有点累。追车戏看得很爽，文戏亮点不多。
6.5 紧扣时代征兆的剧情片，把落点放置于脆弱的中产家庭，以母女关系出发，柔和地表达出声音及隔膜，中规中矩下可窥一斑而见全豹
看到贾静雯说电视后面有蛇那里，心想要是真的有蛇就封神了，结果果然有，所以五星好评。
母亲脑中的瀑布和最后的洪水呼应，精神的溺水和身体的溺水连接。因为新冠的导火索引发精神崩溃，借由阿静的成长带来的重建。主题有意义，可惜呈现上太意识形态化了。
“不要再问我：‘你还好吗？’我会想办法好起来，好好地跟你一起过下去。”这几句台词+母女故事的内核，加一星。
中年被丈夫出轨抛弃、失业、精神失常，瀑布（the fall）本身就是跌落的意思。看了这个电影，突然希望有个女儿，女孩子的情谊在人生瀑布中，给人救赎。
girls help girls 在空间结构的利用上看到了诸多杨导的影子//更新，诶，我为什么只给了四星？
我看到一半就知道导演取材生活。
色调划分了前后段，前半段的蓝色和《阳光普照》差不多，可以叫作“致郁蓝”，本以为后面变成温暖治愈母女亲的时候，结尾给了最后一击，只能说编剧对生命太悲观了。
每个活在阴影里的人都向往阳光，所以别问“你还好吗？”，大家都在努力地好好往前走，争取在头顶的瀑布泻下之前奔向阳光明媚的小溪。钟孟宏会是台湾下一个杨德昌。
导演对思觉失调患者还挺温柔，可惜现实中这种温柔显得特别无力。
girls help girls 在空间结构的利用上看到了诸多杨导的影子//更新，诶，我为什么只给了四星？
❤️蛇出来那一下，如果是我，我可能没法做到信任，妹妹太了不起了
可能是女性题材的缘故，会觉得这一部拍的太细腻了。没有明确的结局，就像思调失觉也不是说好就好的病一样，生活就会这样继续向下的。瀑布和阳光都是钟孟宏的某种意象，对应着不同对象不同光谱的汹涌和磅礴，他建立的电影语言越来明晰化了。
人物关系和剧情开展让人莫名其妙，很难入戏。连保罗达诺演技这么好的演员都给浪费了，他在关押室里鬼叫那几声尴尬得我脚趾抓地。
阿金图的《阴风阵阵》→钟孟宏的《阳光普照》
台湾文艺片不得不说越来越有格调和档次了，这部电影钟导把节奏压的很平，那些为了疗愈而出现的温存和幸运显得非常刻意，反而削弱了困境和现实。但因为曾经的生活经历，对影片里出现的所有角色，他们的表情和行为都觉得很熟悉。可惜能把暗流涌动的心理变化描写的如此生动，内地导演目前还没看到啊。
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