Abel Ferrara: 'I made Scarface look like Mary Poppins'

比起帮派间江湖恩怨，《纽约王》的重点其实在社会问题——悲惨世界的冉阿让与沙威。其他黑帮电影也许会以小见大、以点带面地反映社会变迁，这里的黑帮更多意在提供一个观察社会的视角。如果不稍微了解美国黑人民运史和生存现状，可能会很难注意到这点，而当下的“明尼苏达事件”正好提供了直观脚注。

片中主要角色几乎处于一种绝望的困境。华裔黑帮老大的一句台词很有意思，“If l was into socialized medicine, l would have stayed in the Peking province”。其他少数族裔可以选择，总是有“家”可回；美国黑人在几百年的奴隶贸易中被抹去了历史、语言、族系，而上世纪中期一度浩浩荡荡的黑人民运最终被分化瓦解。沃肯在92年一次杂志访谈里评论“He （片头主角从监狱） comes out like Lenin. He has an idea to change the world. He will do anything. Now he's going to do it. ” 如此种种，又很难不让我联想到电影上映时的1990年的国际局势。“历史的终结”这样的观点风头正劲——可历史都终结了，美国黑人的境遇就这？

另一方面，电影用白人做主角出头反而突显了黑人困境，而且演员处理的相当高明（开篇即兴的hip-hop舞简直神来之笔），合理又合情，在黑人观众中似乎赢得了相当的拥趸。不过，（忘记在哪里看过）近些年导演和主演都表达了一些遗憾，认为应该更加强化主角悲痛的一面。我觉得可能是因为电影确实太含蓄太酷太浪漫，容易使观众产生误解。这并不是什么快意恩仇的电影。

It should have been my best work, but I fucked up. I've only seen the film twice and I felt that I didn't give Frank enough complexity and perspective. You don't see enough anguish in his face and the things that drive him to do what he does. I wish I had another chance to play him because I would have completely altered my performance. I'm flattered that you and other people enjoy the film and my character, but I'm not satisfied that I did justice to him. Both myself and the director, Abel Ferrara, worked hard at creating a mysterious edge to Frank's personality but we lost his motivation and a sense of where he was coming from. So I'm disappointed by what comes off on the screen. （沃肯, 2004）