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Hard Choices is a low-budget film that has been well received by many critics this past summer, but that does not make it a runaway hit.
在刚刚过去的夏天里，《艰难抉择》是一部备受评论家好评的低成本电影，但并未在大众中风靡。
In fact, its thirty-four-year-old producer, Robert Michaelson,
实际情况是，该电影34岁的制片人罗伯特·迈克尔森
has been found at the film's openings passing out fliers in front of the theaters.
在许多影院门前分发电影宣传单。
Critic Bob Mondello says he shouldn't have to do that.
评论家鲍勃·蒙代洛表示，罗伯特不必如此。
In a perfect world, little movies about Tennessee kids who get caught on the wrong side of the law would get the publicity they need,
在无可挑剔的环境里，那种描述田纳西州孩子因为犯法而被捕的电影很少会获得应有的关注，
and film companies would stop hyping pre-sold blockbusters about psychotic cops.
而且就算是大片，只要电影讲的是疯人警察这样的人物，那么各家电影公司也不会为影片的预售做什么宣传。
This is not, however, a perfect world.
但其实我们生活的世界并非无可挑剔。
And I don't want to imply that Hard Choice is a perfect movie, either.
我并不是想说这部电影就是完美的电影。
But it's so much more involving and suspenseful and just plain interesting
但它比其它电影都更切合实际、引人入胜，也更饶有趣味，
than most of the juck Hollywood puts out that it makes you want to do hand flips.
相比于其它好莱坞烂片强多了，也让你想给出极高的评价。
It's the story of a rural sixteen-year-old, named Bobby, played winningly by new comer Gary McCleary,
影片讲述的是一个农村的16岁孩子，名为博比。这个角色是由新人盖理·麦卡利饰演的。
who goes along for the ride one evening with his hell-raising older brothers.
当时是晚上，博比和自己喜欢闹腾的哥哥一起出门兜风。
When they decide to rob a local pharmacy, Bobby stays out in the truck,
出来后，他们决定抢劫一家当地的药店。博比在卡车里等哥哥的时候，
and that's where he is when one of his brothers panics and kills a policeman.
他哥哥出于恐慌，杀了一名警察。
Bobby's soon on the run with his brothers, and soon in jail.
他们迅速逃跑，但很快就被抓拿归案。
Now, up to this point, this could be any of a dozen rebel-rousing teen movies, but Bobby's not your average teen protagonist.
影片演到这里，可能会有人觉得这不过是少年叛逆的片子，但博比跟普通影片里的少年主角不同。
He's a sweet kid, so innocent in fact, that he can't even lie to his mother, who's a bit innocent herself.
他是个好孩子，很单纯，单纯得甚至不想对自己的母亲撒谎，因为她的母亲也是一个单纯的人。
"Bobby, how come everybody says you boys took drugs? I know you wasn't sick."
“博比，为什么大家都说你和哥哥抢了药呢？我不相信你们会这样做。”
"Cause it's true. We did."
“因为大家说的是真的，我们确实抢了药。”
Now, talking about the innocence of a kid who takes drugs may seem a little odd,
说抢了药店的孩子单纯似乎有些奇怪，
but what made Hard Choices such a compelling movie is that it doesn't settle for easy answers.
但这部影片之所以让人挪不开眼就是因为答案永远是你想不到的。
Having Bobby sit in jail is clearly not in anyone's best interests.
博比坐监狱显然不是观众所期待的结局。
So when his case is taken by Laura, a young social worker played by Margaret Clenk, you're mightily relieved.
所以当博比的案子由玛格丽特饰演的年轻社会服务人员劳拉接手后，观众会大松一口气。
Unfortunately this kid isn't very lucky in the folks who take a shine to him.
不幸的是，喜欢博比的人也没能让他摆脱厄运。
Clenk, who's probably best known as Edwena Louis in the soap opera "One Life to Live",
曾出演电视剧《只此一生》中路易斯的玛格丽特将劳拉
makes Laura a tired activist who's so won over by Bobby's lopsided grin and optimism,
塑造成了一个倦怠的活动家形象，她被博比撇向一边的咧嘴笑和他的乐观
she's soon doing something supremely dumb: pointing a pistol at the Sheriff.
精神所感染，于是她做了一件事：向警长开枪。
Do you have a gun, Bobby? It's on the wall. Go get it. Wait a minute. Go get the gun!
博比，你有枪吗？有，在墙上。女：去拿过来。等一下再拿。现在就去！
Bobby, don't do it. You're making a big mistake. I'm going to have to come and get you.
博比，别听她的。你拿了就是铸成大错。我必须要现在将你缉拿归案。
Don't you want to be free? Since he's being tried as an adult, that is a hard choice.
博比你不想要自由吗？毕竟做大人真的很累，所以这对他来说是个艰难的抉择。
Now, this may remind you of a real life story recently in which a lawyer in Tennessee fell in love with her client and helped him escape,
影片演到这里，大家或许会联想到现实生活中最近发生的例子：田纳西州的一名律师爱上了自己的当事人，并帮他逍遥法外。如果大家不知道这个新闻，
or it may just generally remind you of real life.
那至少也能让你们想起现实生活中的人性。
One of the best things about Hard Choices is that everything in it seems so utterly natural.
这部影片的一个绝妙之处在于里面的每一幕都是如此自然。
The supporting cast, for instance, which includes Secaucus Seven director, John King's.
比如，助演阵容里就有《西卡柯七个人的返来》的导演约翰·金。
It's generally terrific, which you could also say about Rick King's casually suspenseful direction.
总体来说，这部影片悬疑性很强，是匹克·金随意就能吊人胃口的风格。
He keeps you just a little off balance, which is wonderful.
他的影片总会让你意想不到又会心一笑，是非常棒的电影。
Unfortunately, his movie seems to have its Hollywood's sponsors a little off balance, too.
不幸的是，好莱坞的赞助商们似乎都get不到他的点。
Despite reviews that called the sleeper of the summer, Lorimar Pictures can't seem to get handle on how to sell it.
虽然有评论家认为这部影片是颗被掩埋的金子，但电影娱乐公司Lorimar Pictures似乎还是想不到如何推介这部影片。
And frankly, with major media advertising costing what it does,
而且，直言不讳地说，由于主流媒体的广告成本处于当前这个形式，
if a film can't be described in a phrase of six words or less, like "crime is the disease, cobra's the cure".
所以影片必须要能用不多于6个字的宣传语来进行推介，比如“罪恶是病，也是药”。
Tuisel Town often has to throw up its hands.
图索城也只能绝望地放弃。
The thing is that Hard Choices in just what Hollywood needs right now.
关键是《艰难抉择》好莱坞当前需要的影片。
With idiotic fantasies about talking ducks costing as much as 40,000,000 dollars,
现在很多搞噱头的影片，成本高达4000万。跟这些影片相比，
this is practically the definitive small movie, made for what most Hollywood epics spend on catering.
这部电影绝对是小成本电影了，成本只相当于前者的伙食费。
I don't want to oversell it. It's certainly not perfect. But it sure makes the adrenaline flow.
我不想过度吹嘘，毕竟这部电影也不完美。但它一定会让人跟着紧张激动。
And when you take its budget into account, it's nothing less than amazing.
再结合成本之小后，就能体会到影片令人咋舌之处。
If the studios can't figure out how to make a picture like this work, they deserve disasters like Howard the Duck.
如果体会不到这部电影的精妙，也就只能拍出《天降神兵》这样的烂片了。
The problem is, if you want to see it, you may have to search for Hard Choices because it's not being released all at once.
问题是，如果想看的话，要专门搜索它的名字，因为不是所有影院都有。
There are only a few prints. But it's worth asking your local theater owner to book.
只有部分影院可以观影。但让当地影院预定这部电影还是值得的。
With summer hold-overs as the alternative, it makes your September movie going an easy choice.
夏天已经过去，9月的必看名单里无疑是要有这部电影的。
Hard Choices opens tomorrow in Chicago and Minneapolis.
明天，芝加哥和明尼阿波里斯市就开始上映这部电影了。
Next weekend in San Francisco and at the Boston Film Festival.
下周末是在旧金山和波士顿电影节。
Bob Mondello was the film critic for All Things Considered.
鲍勃·蒙代洛是《时事纵观》的电影评论家。
