第一次遇到电影标题可以恰当作为影评标题

安妮·西蒙-肯尼迪 （Ani Simon-Kennedy） 苦乐参半的公路旅行剧《漫漫长路简史》（The Short History of the Long Road） 是一段没有目的地的旅程。你认为它要去哪里，其实不是。你认为它的主角诺拉（萨布丽娜·卡彭特饰）会发生的事情，却没有。这次旅行的意想不到的转折和挫折中会有温和的惊喜，值得庆幸的是，Simon-Kennedy 知道她要去哪里。

Ani Simon-Kennedy’s bittersweet road trip drama “The Short History of the Long Road” is a journey without a destination. Where you think it’s headed, it’s not. What you think will happen to its lead character Nola (Sabrina Carpenter), doesn’t. There are gentle surprises in the trip’s unexpected turns and setbacks, and thankfully, Simon-Kennedy knows where she’s going.

十几岁的诺拉和她的爸爸克林特（史蒂文·奥格饰）开着一辆旧面包车在美国西南部闲逛，偶尔在不属于他们的游泳池里畅游，跟着 60 年代初的流行歌曲唱歌，做一些零星的维修工作来维持生计。克林特希望他的女儿学会如何过独立的生活，没有什么可以束缚或阻碍她，但这是一种孤独的生活，有其自身的一系列问题。当克林特突然去世时，电影抛弃了可爱的父女故事，转向了一个痛苦的成长故事。诺拉将不得不自己理解这场损失。

Teenaged Nola and her dad Clint (Steven Ogg) share a rambling existence roaming the American Southwest in an old van, helping themselves to the occasional dip in a pool that isn’t theirs, singing along to early ’60s pop songs and working odd repair gigs to make ends meet. Clint wants his daughter to learn how to live an independent life with nothing to tie her down or hold her back, but it’s a lonely life with its own set of problems. When Clint suddenly dies, the movie leaves behind the cute father-daughter story and shifts gearstowards a painful coming-of-age tale. Nola will have to make sense of the loss on her own and figure how she, still only a minor, will survive on her dad’s life lessons.

西蒙-肯尼迪 （Simon-Kennedy） 编剧并执导了《漫漫长路的简史》（The Short History of the Long Road），他让诺拉赢得了观众的同情。她向我们展示了她父亲去世后诺拉失去了什么，我们得以一窥他们的反主流文化世界观，帮助我们理解为什么她想通过留在路上来保持对他的记忆。对他们来说，脱离主流人际网络的生活意味着当悲剧发生时没有家庭或支持系统可以介入，因此 Nola 不仅在身体和经济上，而且在情感上都要自生自灭。这个角色是如此的形象化，她的生存策略经过深思熟虑，以至于即使她有时仍然表现得像一个害羞的青少年，但她强烈的独立性从未远离表面。有时，这甚至会给她带来麻烦。

Simon-Kennedy, who wrote and directed “The Short History of the Long Road,” sets up Nola to win the audience’s sympathy. She shows us what Nola’s lost when her dad dies, and we get a glimpse of their counterculture worldview, helping usunderstand why she wants to keep his memory alive by staying on the road. For them, living off-the-grid means no family or support system in place to step in when tragedy strikes, so Nola is left to fend for herself not just physically and financially but emotionally as well. The character is so well-drawn out, her survival tactics thought out, that even though she still acts like a shy teenager at times, her fierce independence is never far from the surface. Sometimes, it even lands her in trouble.

如果不是卡彭特发自内心的表演，让诺拉栩栩如生是不可能的。这位前迪士尼频道明星喜欢生活在路上的蓬头垢面，没有任何魅力或浓妆，她的头发凌乱不堪，看起来就像几周前就丢了刷子一样。她的表演同样低调但引人注目。卡彭特的眼睛讲述了她无法告诉陌生人的故事。它写在她惊恐的眼睛和悲惨的脸上。零星爆发的愤怒和悲伤让她感到真实。她试图伪装成一个成年人，但她仍然只是一个坐在非常大的面包车方向盘后面的害怕的孩子。

Bringing Nola to life would have been impossible were it not for Carpenter’s deeply felt performance. The former Disney Channel star embraces the unkempt look of living on the road, without any glamor or heavy makeup and her hair so disheveled, it looks like she lost her brush weeks ago. Her performance is similarly understated but eye-catching. Carpenter’s eyes tell the story she can’t tell strangers. It’s written on her frightened eyes and forlorn face. The sporadic outbursts of anger and grief make her feel genuine. She’s trying to pass off as a grown-up, but she’s still only a scared child behind the wheel of a very big van.

在她的旅程中，Nola 来学习一些自己的课程。如果事情恶化，她不得不依靠陌生人的善意，没有她爸爸在身边进行干预。她从痛苦的经历中学到，有时陌生人的善意是有限的。在电影中，诺拉有几次试图安定下来，想象暂时扎根，但当她不适应时，道路和对父亲的记忆将她召回。这是一个不同的鱼出水的故事，她不是无法融入同学或其他同龄人，而是觉得自己不适合任何家庭。

During her journey, Nola comes to learn a few lessons of her own. She has to rely on the kindness of strangers without her dad there to intervene if things go south. She learns the hard way that sometimes the kindness of strangers has its limits. A few times in the movie, Nola tries to settle down and imagine putting down roots for the time being, but the road and the memory of her father call her back when she doesn’t fit in. It’s a different kind of fish-out-of-water story, where instead of failing to fit in with classmates or other people her age, she just doesn’t feel like she fits in any home.

幸运的是，诺拉遇到了一些真正关心她的陌生人，包括丹尼·特雷霍 （Danny Trejo） 在迷人表演中扮演的机械师米格尔 （Miguel）。就像他的其他几个角色一样，他起初是一个头发花白的硬汉，但最终软化了并开玩笑。诺拉与另一个名叫布鲁（Jashaun St. John）的同龄女孩成为朋友，她被困在一个虐待性的家庭中，想逃到纳瓦霍保留地的阿姨那里。他们的友谊起初很尴尬，但后来热情而健谈，这让诺拉意识到她可以利用自己的独立来帮助其他像她一样格格不入的人。

Fortunately, Nola meets some strangers who really do care about her, including Miguel, a mechanic played by Danny Trejo in a charming performance. Like a few of his other roles, he’s a grizzled tough guy at first but eventually softens up and cracks jokes. Nola befriends another girl her age named Blue (Jashaun St. John) who’s stuck in an abusive home and wants to escape to her aunt on a Navajo reservation. Their friendship, awkward at first but then warm and talkative, helps Nola realize she can use her independence to help other misfits like her.

虽然它有其颠簸，但“The Short History of the Long Road”主要是一次愉快的旅程。在西蒙-肯尼迪的写作和卡彭特的表演之间，诺拉塑造了一个引人注目的角色，以她自己稳定的节奏轻轻地推动故事的发展。有时她会碰巧遇到一个陌生人，这个陌生人会为她的加油站热狗买单;其他时候，陌生人只会留下她一顿责骂。她必须为以后赎罪，也有她学会为自己挺身而出的时刻。在整部电影中，她在父亲自给自足的独狼世界观和寻找新家的愿望之间的极端之间挣扎。这部电影并没有给她一个简单的答案，而是衡量了在诺拉眼中两者的利弊。唯一的答案是让她走自己的路，无论这会把她带到哪里。

While it hasits share of bumps, “The Short History of the Long Road” is mostly an enjoyable ride. Between Simon-Kennedy’s writing and Carpenter’s performance, Nola makes for a compelling character, gently pushing the story along at her own steady pace. Sometimes she lucks into a stranger who will pay for her gas station hotdogs; other times, a stranger willleave her with only a scolding. There are childish outbursts she’ll have to atone for later and moments where she learns to stand up for herself. Throughout the film, she wrestles between the extremes of her dad’s self-sufficient lone wolf worldview and the desire to find a new home. The movie doesn’t give her an easy answer but rather measures the benefits and downsides to both in Nola’s eyes. The only answer is for her to make her own path, wherever that might take her.

from： https://www.rogerebert.com/reviews/the-short-history-of-the-long-road-movie-review-2020