對(duì)資深影迷來(lái)說(shuō)，顯得寡淡，淺顯了。不經(jīng)嚼，嚼一口就沒(méi)味兒了。

原小說(shuō)出版于1970年代，當(dāng)時(shí)探討家庭教育和信仰選擇，算是前衛(wèi)，小清新吧。

小主角，這臉蛋美若天仙。這種溫情小片，適合無(wú)腦放松，簡(jiǎn)單娛樂(lè)時(shí)看。同時(shí)還可以兼顧其他兩三件事兒，反正劇情也不怎么有大沖突，都顧得上。兒童也相宜，毫無(wú)爆點(diǎn)，還可以簡(jiǎn)單啟蒙性教育。

It takes over half a century to bring Judy Blume’s 1970 coming-of-age novel ARE YOU THERE GOD? IT’S ME, MARGARET onto the screen. Why it takes such a long time? What could be the intractable taboo(s) regarding an 11-year-old girl’s innocuous life in the suburbs? She has a pair of loving parents, she is capable of orienting herself in a new school. The answer is a telling reflection of USA’s puritanical clutch and religion mentality.

Margaret Simon (Fortson), who is displaced from NYC to New Jersey suburbia, her new school-year is peppered with pre-adolescent anxieties and a religious quandary, hence its title, which refers to Margaret’s frequent prayer to vent her frustration and confusion.

ARE YOU THERE GOD?… marks Kelly Fremon Craig’s second feature after the similar-themed THE EDGE OF SEVENTEEN (2016), and it perspicaciously retains the novel’s candidness of discussing and portraying girly subject matters like menarche (taboo No. 1), bosom concerns (funniest bit here!), boy crush (one doesn’t need to be conformable to other’s taste) and sisterly bonds - which are more than heuristic to young girls of that age, and the freedom to choose one’s religion (taboo No. 2).

The main rub is that Margaret’s father Herb (an mildly amicable Safdie) is Jewish and her mother Barbara (McAdams, giving a radiant, angelic mother and wife her essential blood and flesh) is Catholic. It is further compounded by the fact that Barbara’s parents have disowned her when she and Herb tied the knot, which also primes for the climax when they finally come to visit the family for the first time, then confronted by Herb’s mother Sylvia (Bates, who manages to compensate grandma’s larger-than-life outrageousness with copious affection), their religious dissension pressurizes Margaret to a befitting hissy fit. However, the film sticks its landing with a heart-warming celebration of Margaret’s rite of passage, and that supernal mother-daughter bond is all a teenage girl could ever dream of!

As the director, Craig tactfully downplays the dramatic elements and opts for a heartfelt experience through Margaret’s impressible perspective. Her shifting friendship with classmate Nancy (Graham) is particularly insightful, everyone has the freedom to choose their friends, even a white lie can reveal something objectionable and it is never too late to right one’s wrong impression and preconception.

Kudos to the casting director for cherry-picking Forston as the lead, whose cherubic cuteness and unaffected responsiveness is key to bring Margaret into animation. Like the film itself, Forston manages to exude exquisiteness out of the mundanity. ARE YOU THERE GOD?… is an exemplar of felicity, liberality and honesty in conceiving a sensible story for pre-teens, for whom a mandatory viewing is highly commended.

referential entries: Olivia Wilde’s BOOKSMART (2019, 6.8/10); Eliza Hittman’s NEVER RARELY SOMETIMES ALWAYS (2020, 7.5/10); Bo Burnham’s EIGHTH GRADE (2018, 7.1/10).

Title: Are You There God? It's Me, Margaret

Year: 2023

Genre: Comedy, Family, Drama

Country: USA

Language: English

Director/Screenwriter: Kelly Fremon Craig

Based on the novel by Judy Blume

Music: Hans Zimmer

Cinematography: Tim Ives

Editors: Oona Flaherty, Nick Moore

Cast:

Abby Ryder Fortson

Rachel McAdams

Kathy Bates

Benny Safdie

Elle Graham

Amari Price

Katherine Kupferer

Kate MacCluggage

Aidan Wojtak-Hissong

Echo Kellum

Simms May

Zack Brooks

Isol Young

Gary Houston

Mia Dillon

Wilbur Fitzgerald

Rating: 7.5/10

雖然不同國(guó)籍不同文化家庭 但女主青春期關(guān)于自己身體的變化的期待 對(duì)同齡女性發(fā)育更快 因?yàn)榈缆?tīng)途說(shuō)聽(tīng)到的消息 對(duì)其產(chǎn)生的莫名的惡意和嫉妒 對(duì)異性產(chǎn)生的性懵懂 這些看似細(xì)碎渺小 但其實(shí)意義重大的第一次都讓我感同身受 她們需要在適合的年齡得到性教育 得到父母家人的愛(ài)和尊重 得到朋友的支持和陪伴 得到屬于自己的信仰 無(wú)論那個(gè)信仰是什么 我希望當(dāng)時(shí)的我在這個(gè)年齡階段有這些疑惑和煩惱時(shí) 也能得到父母親人 朋友等人的幫助 但那個(gè)時(shí)候成績(jī)就已經(jīng)是所有了 我也不過(guò)是親戚和老師口中內(nèi)向不愛(ài)說(shuō)話 應(yīng)該開(kāi)朗一點(diǎn)的坐在前排的矮個(gè)子女生。

還有媽媽 放棄自己的熱愛(ài)的工作變成全職媽媽 絕對(duì)是世界上最最最令人不值的事情 那種看到美麗的飛鳥(niǎo)落在窗前 興奮的拿起畫(huà)筆的樣子 比她在廚房里對(duì)著陌生的鍋具看見(jiàn)黑糊糊的烤雞有意思多了

最后 女主口中的上帝是真的信仰嗎 我覺(jué)得每人都會(huì)有自己的理解 在我的理解中 女主口中的上帝是一位睿智可靠的善于傾聽(tīng)朋友 她會(huì)把自己的煩惱和愿望都說(shuō)給它聽(tīng) 希望它能答疑解惑理解自己 同時(shí)得到祝福 但這種信仰遠(yuǎn)遠(yuǎn)達(dá)不到女主媽媽的父母他們那種程度 那種可以為了信仰拋棄女兒的程度。

美國(guó)70年代開(kāi)始家喻戶曉的溫馨故事， 在2023年終于搬上熒幕 快樂(lè) 愉悅 如當(dāng)年草原上的小屋 成長(zhǎng)的煩惱 多少人的爺青回<(￣︶￣)/

洗手間初吻小哥真的蠻帥噠， 還吻了不只一回

(*＾ー＾)

衛(wèi)生巾這段讓人忍俊不禁 不論是收款小哥緩緩的傳送帶， 還是最后一刻急中生智的tic tac Please don't let New Jersey be too terrible... I must, I must, I must increase my bust (??????)? ? especially when they read daddy's magazine Welcome to womanhood (づ ●─● )づ errrr..... born half Christian half Jew, the parents leave the girl herself to choose her religion when growing up

送女兒上學(xué)前到電影院逛，恰巧發(fā)現(xiàn)正在上映，而且上映時(shí)間恰巧是女兒的上學(xué)時(shí)間，就和先生買票進(jìn)場(chǎng)。

其實(shí)知道這個(gè)故事是因?yàn)橹烙羞@本書(shū)，但一直未有時(shí)間找來(lái)看。故事處理的其實(shí)比電影處理的部分較多，包括身份認(rèn)同、尋找自我的過(guò)程、宗教信仰的尋覓、以及對(duì)上一代的身份和宗教信仰的探索，因?yàn)殡娪笆軙r(shí)間所限，只能每個(gè)部分都蜻蜓點(diǎn)水。

作為一個(gè)女兒的母親，我也關(guān)心到孩子他日要進(jìn)入青春期，她也許會(huì)有類似的表現(xiàn)。所以現(xiàn)在就來(lái)了解和預(yù)備。而回想到自己在青春期的年紀(jì)，也曾有類似的困惑和悵惘，我也尋找上帝，在天主教和基督教之間探索，最後是神回應(yīng)了我的禱告，也揀選了我，感謝神。故事並未交代主人公有否得到神的回應(yīng)，也許在漫長(zhǎng)的人生路上，最後她能遇見(jiàn)神，也因?yàn)槌掷m(xù)的尋問(wèn)，神會(huì)為她開(kāi)門。

以六年級(jí)女孩的視角展開(kāi)的劇情，看似遭遇的都是青春期階段的煩惱，其實(shí)這是在一個(gè)孩童稍稍有理性思維能力時(shí)的一次意識(shí)覺(jué)醒，探尋自己生命的意義，找尋精神的信仰和歸屬。

一、信仰的割裂

她的家庭宗教背景也注定了她會(huì)經(jīng)歷這樣一段割裂期。她的母親生于基督教信仰的家庭，也是基督徒；而他的父親是猶太人，在父母相愛(ài)后，外公外婆就與她母親斷絕了關(guān)系。我查了資料，知道了基督教與猶太教的淵源，理解了宗教信仰上的沖突是可以超越親情羈絆的。女孩的母親已經(jīng)為這個(gè)信仰的分歧付出了代價(jià)，所以她會(huì)有意識(shí)地給女兒留出自由選擇信仰的空間。所以，女孩在各種”琳瑯滿目“的宗教面前，無(wú)所適從，究竟應(yīng)該相信誰(shuí)。

但其實(shí)從始至終，女孩是心中有上帝的人，她在沒(méi)有選擇宗教信仰之前，她就會(huì)去祈禱上帝，正如電影的名字“上帝在嗎，我是瑪格麗特”，她把心中的愿望都在一個(gè)人獨(dú)處時(shí)，講給上帝聽(tīng)；遇到她不希望發(fā)生的事情，她會(huì)希望上帝幫她阻止這件事情的發(fā)生。但一次一次地祈禱，卻無(wú)法阻止青春期的種種不適和尷尬，最終在朋友的欺騙、成長(zhǎng)發(fā)育的滯后、信仰的撕裂中，她爆發(fā)了！

二、和解和順?lè)?/p>

在一次次呼喚上帝而沒(méi)有回應(yīng)時(shí)，她開(kāi)始質(zhì)疑上帝的存在，她有次在教堂里似乎“遇到了上帝”，她說(shuō)“她在獨(dú)處時(shí)才能感受到上帝”。

暑假來(lái)臨了，她和父母準(zhǔn)備去度假，她的例假也如她所愿地來(lái)了，“成為了一個(gè)女人”——她和她的母親激動(dòng)地相擁?？赡苁侵型馕幕囊恍┎町?，全片我看到女孩們都那么期待自己例假的來(lái)臨，甚至攀比這些性征出現(xiàn)的早晚，我是有點(diǎn)不理解的。

孩子們從六年級(jí)畢業(yè)了，女孩瑪格麗特感謝了老師，跟那個(gè)發(fā)育早熟的大女孩一起跳舞，似乎預(yù)設(shè)著某種和解。

最終的影片氛圍，瑪格麗特不再頻繁疑惑、不再質(zhì)疑上帝、不再歇斯底里，她似乎學(xué)會(huì)了順應(yīng)青春期的節(jié)奏，她似乎學(xué)會(huì)了“順?lè)系邸保辛诵叛龊途駳w屬。但這一切究竟是怎么達(dá)成的，我并沒(méi)有從影片中找到答案。