Boarding Gate! (Assayas!)

[Stay Puft]

http://www.apple.com/trailers/magnolia/boardinggate/trailer/

March 21st!

Demonlover is one of the best of the decade, screw the haters. Great cast lined up for this one, too. Can't wait to see it.

[dreamdead]

I remember people criticized this one last year for being slightly unspectacular, but I recall mention of certain Argento... shall we say... licentiousness... that will secure a rental since it'll never come out here.

[Kurosawa Fan]

I remember people criticized this one last year for being slightly unspectacular, but I recall mention of certain Argento... shall we say... licentiousness... that will secure a rental since it'll never come out here.

*puts ear to ground for Spinal's pounding footsteps*

[dreamdead]

*puts ear to ground for Spinal's pounding footsteps*

I don't think I'll ever be able to reconcile a high opinion of Spinal if he does this, but I can honestly hear Spinal contemplating the word "sploogasm" here.

[Raiders]

*puts ear to ground for Spinal's pounding footsteps*

That's got nothing on the fact that Catherine Breillat's latest stars Asia.

Talk about a wet dream project...

[Spinal]

I can honestly hear Spinal contemplating the word "sploogasm" here.

That is not a word in my vocabulary.

[Spinal]

That's got nothing on the fact that Catherine Breillat's latest stars Asia.

I feel like I've been waiting for this one forever. Not until July says IMDb. :sad:

[Cult]

I really want to see all three Asia-starring movies from last year (the aforementioned ones, and Go-Go Tales).

[Qrazy]

Cult and I cooked up a better title for this one.

S & M & Me & U

[Cult]

Cult and I cooked up a better title for this one.

S & M & Me & You
Pfft, I had nothing to do with that. Unless you like it. Then, it was all me.

[MacGuffin]

I really want to see all three Asia-starring movies from last year (the aforementioned ones, and Go-Go Tales).

Looks like we won't see that one, unfortunately. At least, not any time soon. Anyways, yes! This looks great, and Breillat's latest intrigues me as well, just please... somebody throw the lady a tampon.

[Spinal]

Wow, I'm surprised by the lukewarm critical reaction to this. I thought it was pretty great.

[Ezee E]

Comes out on DVD next month.

[Watashi]

Wow, I'm surprised by the lukewarm critical reaction to this. I thought it was pretty great.
Didn't see that one coming.

[MacGuffin]

Comes out on DVD next month.

Wow, that's really great news. It played for a day in LA, and I was disappointed that I missed it. Now I don't feel so bad.

[Spinal]

Didn't see that one coming.

Asia is soooooo hot in this. Jesus.

[Rowland]

Asia is soooooo hot in this. Jesus.You should post that as your official review with the rest of yours.

[Spinal]

You should post that as your official review with the rest of yours.

I'm writing a longer review for this one, but the gist will be the same. :)

[Spinal]

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v696/joel_harmon/more/2.jpg
I'm sorry, did I break your concentration?

Boarding Gate (Assayas, 2007)

Olivier Assayas’ Boarding Gate is not so much a film about plot or atmosphere. It’s a film about attitude. Early on, we are introduced to the basics of the situation involving a big time criminal who wants out of the lifestyle and a comparatively small-time drug dealer who used to be his lover. Most of this is material that you have probably seen countless times before. Pretty soon, the drug dealer will be in over her head and on the run from men who want her to disappear permanently. There are crosses and double crosses, twists and turns, many of which are predictable. So, you may be rightly wondering at this point, why should I care? You should care because the woman on the run is Asia Argento.

To say that Argento seems “at home” or “in her element” would be a cliché, but how else to describe her performance in which she lifts the film up by the scruff of the neck and carries it confidently from start to finish? At 32 years of age, Argento has the advantage of possessing over 20 years of acting experience. Making no effort to conceal her trademark tattoos, Asia is no chameleon. As in her other performances, she is rarely far from playing herself. And yet, she has just the right mixture of aggressiveness and vulnerability to make her characters entirely captivating. Even when she is trading bruising language with Michael Madsen, she never seems to be trying to achieve an effect. She uses her body with abandon, plunging headfirst into scenes where another actress might make us feel that she was being exploited. You get the sense that Argento hasn’t been cast in a role, so much as a film has been constructed around her.

Boarding Gate works, and works well, despite its uninspired plot because Assayas is able to sustain a prolonged sense of danger. You don’t know whether to envy the men Argento falls in love with or feel sorry for them. At any given moment they are seemingly at risk of being fucked or being killed, possibly both on the same night. In a supporting role, Michael Madsen is himself a combustible personality, playing the kind of man that would dare get close to Argento for any prolonged period of time. There is also fun to be had in the globe-skipping path Argento takes attempting to find safety and in seeing Sonic Youth’s Kim Gordon suddenly appear on screen barking out orders in Cantonese. (Gordon unfortunately does not fare as well in English, giving a performance on the level of Lyle Lovett.)

Boarding Gate leaves us with very little thematically to ponder. The things at stake are the kinds of things that are really only important to movie characters in films such as this. Argento’s character makes a final decision that, while revealing something significant about her personality, does not offer us much in the way of a satisfying conclusion. Still, the film is fun while it lasts, artful and exciting enough to fully capture our interest and, most importantly, a worthy showcase for Argento’s charismatic bravado.

[***1/2]

[megladon8]

Is it really a surprise that Argento does nudey/sexy stuff here?

She's only done it in like, every movie she's ever been in.

[Rowland]

That review made me wet. Argento in full-on beast mode, in a fluffy thriller directed by Assayas... yum.

[Spinal]

Is it really a surprise that Argento does nudey/sexy stuff here?

She's only done it in like, every movie she's ever been in.

It's more than that though. There's actually not very much nudity in this film. It's the way she commands the screen, inhabiting the film world like a full-time resident. She's really coming into her own as a leading actress.

[megladon8]

It's more than that though. There's actually not very much nudity in this film. It's the way she commands the screen, inhabiting the film world like a full-time resident. She's really coming into her own as a leading actress.


Well, that's good to know.

I've honestly never been too impressed with her. And I've been more than a little uncomfortable with some of the stuff she's done in her father's movies...

Are either of her films as director any good? The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things and Scarlet Diva I believe?

I've also often been curious about that one with Willem Dafoe and Christopher Walked, New Rose Hotel.

[Rowland]

I think she's an awesome filmmaker, I really dig her two directed movies. They have a distinctive, uncompromised vibe to them.

[SirNewt]

You guys know each other too well. This thread delivers.

[Spinal]

Are either of her films as director any good? The Heart is Deceitful Above All Things and Scarlet Diva I believe?

Heart is Deceitful is really, really good. It had the misfortune of being released shortly after the source material was revealed to be a fraud. But that hardly matters in the case of Argento's adaptation. Unpleasant film, but really creative. I started to read the book, but didn't finish it because it lacks the humanity that I think the film has.

Scarlet Diva might be good. I don't know. It's pretty narcissistic and a little bit out of control, but compelling I thought. I'd have to see it again.

[Rowland]

Scarlet Diva might be good. I don't know. It's pretty narcissistic and a little bit out of control, but compelling I thought. I'd have to see it again.Whether it's good or not, the movie is singular and disarmingly forthright, a genuinely scuzzy b-movie made with wit, humor, elan, and an integrity in its convictions.

[Ezee E]

Scarlet Diva sucks. Don't believe them.

[Grouchy]

All three Argento movies were at the Buenos Aires film festival. I didn't get to secure tickets for the Breillat and Assayas, and I arrived late at the Ferrara because it was too early in the morning.

I'm sad. I guess naked Asia on the big screen wasn't for me.

[Ezee E]

All three Argento movies were at the Buenos Aires film festival. I didn't get to secure tickets for the Breillat and Assayas, and I arrived late at the Ferrara because it was too early in the morning.

I'm sad. I guess naked Asia on the big screen wasn't for me.
I'm sure you'll get the chance again.

[BirdsAteMyFace]

Watching this sometime during the week. I have no expectations whatsoever, so we'll see how it goes.


[/not-so-secret Asia fangirl]

[Ezee E]

I only watched the first scene and had to leave unfortunately. So far so good.

Will start again today.

[MacGuffin]

I watched this yesterday and it was wonderful, but I still can't put my finger on what makes Assaya's style so refreshing and unconventional.

[Ezee E]

While Asia has certainly improved as an actress, the rest of this movie remains pretty bland. Too much time is spent showing every movement that Asia takes while by herself. She gets on a plane, gets off, shops, then on to another plane, etc...

[MacGuffin]

While Asia has certainly improved as an actress, the rest of this movie remains pretty bland. Too much time is spent showing every movement that Asia takes while by herself. She gets on a plane, gets off, shops, then on to another plane, etc...

What? That's because it's an observant movie.

[dreamdead]

I'm not quite as enthusiastic as Spinal about this film, but I still come away impressed by the cinematic grace and effortlessness of Assayas' camera as it moves headstrong through waves of civilians or stutters along and captures Asia's face in a moment of deliberation. Like Spinal notes, the story itself isn't necessarily all that memorable, but it's because a filmmaker like Assayas crafts the material so expertly around the global network of business and personal vice; he's one of the few filmmakers who utilizes a panorama of countries to best express how easily we mediate our lives through different cultures and backgrounds without the result feeling contrived or preachy.

Asia, as is usual, consumes the screen and her screen energy gains new perspective since this is a role that is decidedly more internal than the other (to be fair, limited) roles I've seen her in. Though the ending feels a bit rushed, I find it exciting that it ends on a minor note and doesn't attempt any grand narrative flourish, but instead remains a part of Sandra's narrow perspective of good and evil. I also thought Kelly Lin as Sue was fantastic, Kim Gordon, uh, less so...

I definitely need to seek out more of Assayas' work, though, since I've only otherwise seen demonlover and Irma Vep.

[megladon8]

I watched half of this yesterday - fell asleep because I had been up for 26 hours.

It's pretty great. I thought there was a brilliant little "switcheroo" that Assayas pulls on the audience. For about the first half hour of the film, I was really hating Argento's character - she seemed like quite an evil, manipulative bitch, and this was summed up really well in Madsen's mocking of her "Vortex" character, who can control others by putting out her hand.

However, once she gets to Madsen's place and secrets begin to be revealed, I began to sympathize with her. Some freaking horrible things had been done to her by Madsen (both directly and indirectly), and I became much more interested in where this was going with her character.

[Boner M]

This was cooool. Obviously not great by any means, but like My Blueberry Nights, it's fairly satisfying as a showcase for it's helmer's prowess and lead actress's bravado. The plot mechanics are best ignored; when Kim Gordon turns up in what would traditionally be the Natasha Henstridge role, it's clear that Assayas isn't interested in imbuing the generic elements with any kind of import. As always, it's all about the moment, baby. I think it's less successful when Assayas resorts to the same Eno piece repeatedly to evoke a sense of melancholy beneath the propulsive surface, but ultimately it all leaves a nice taste in the mouth.

Reminds me that I'd love to see Cold Water sometime; hope it gets a DVD release soon.

[MacGuffin]

I think it's less successful when Assayas resorts to the same Eno piece repeatedly to evoke a sense of melancholy beneath the propulsive surface, but ultimately it all leaves a nice taste in the mouth.

That ferry boat sequence is turning out to be one of the most memorable sequences of the year for me, actually.

[Rowland]

Anyone else find this movie kinda boring?
That ferry boat sequence is turning out to be one of the most memorable sequences of the year for me, actually.What was this? When she's standing on the ferry in Japan? What was memorable about it?

[MacGuffin]

Anyone else find this movie kinda boring? What was this? When she's standing on the ferry in Japan? What was memorable about it?

When she's in the ferry boat crying with Eno playing. It was just kind of beautiful to me.

[Rowland]

When she's in the ferry boat crying with Eno playing. It was just kind of beautiful to me.
Assayas using Eno to imbue scenes with emotional import has grown too predictable, it doesn't really work for me anymore. It didn't help that he was using such a mediocre piece.

[MacGuffin]

Assayas using Eno to imbue scenes with emotional import has grown too predictable, it doesn't really work for me anymore. It didn't help that he was using such a mediocre piece.


An Ending (Ascent)? I think it is a fine piece. Still, I think the composition of the shots were really great: a close up of Argento crying and then cut to the ferry boat at the bottom right of the screen with the night skyline and the lights taking the entire top portion.

[Rowland]

An Ending (Ascent)? I think it is a fine piece. Still, I think the composition of the shots were really great: a close up of Argento crying and then cut to the ferry boat at the bottom right of the screen with the night skyline and the lights taking the entire top portion.An Ending (Ascent) wasn't used in Boarding Gate to my recollection, though it was used 3-4 times in Clean. When it comes to movies though, I still associate the piece with Traffic.

[MacGuffin]

An Ending (Ascent) wasn't used in Boarding Gate to my recollection, though it was used 3-4 times in Clean. When it comes to movies though, I still associate the piece with Traffic.

I didn't know Soderbergh liked Brian Eno. :)

[Boner M]

Anyone else find this movie kinda boring?
Lots of people did, conformist.

[Rowland]

Lots of people did, conformist.The response was generally pretty warm around here. I can't recall anyone else with as tepid a response as myself, though I did sorta begrudgingly give it a barely-positive score.

[Stay Puft]

Oh yeah, so I finally watched this a couple weeks ago. It was okay, but certainly his weakest so far this decade.

What I did like about it is the contrast between the first part, which is dull, languid and talkative, and the emotional rush of the second part, bifurcated by the murder. It recontextualizes prior events and provides a sudden momentum that I never found less than engaging. I don't think it's entirely successful, but I like it what it was trying to do.

[Stay Puft]

Just read Spinal's review - reminded me of my favorite moment from Asia in the film. I don't even remember the line (who cares what it was), but it was a soft spoken response to something Madsen says when she's in his apartment and he has gone into the kitchen for a drink. It was the expression on her face, and just the sound of her voice - it was so natural, so in the moment, so perfect. She was definitely great in this.

[baby doll]

Oh yeah, so I finally watched this a couple weeks ago. It was okay, but certainly his weakest so far this decade.

What I did like about it is the contrast between the first part, which is dull, languid and talkative, and the emotional rush of the second part, bifurcated by the murder. It recontextualizes prior events and provides a sudden momentum that I never found less than engaging. I don't think it's entirely successful, but I like it what it was trying to do.There isn't a dull moment anywhere in this film. If anything, this is a case of a film peaking early because nothing in the second half comes close to the chemistry between Argento and Madsen. Of course, you could say the same about Psycho after Janet Leigh exits the film.

As for Assayas' weakest film this decade, that would obviously be Clean, which was still pretty good.

[megladon8]

This movie is full of dull moments.

It's what kept me from loving it.

I like it. It's OK. Argento and Madsen are great in it.

But yes, it's full of dullness.

[MacGuffin]

I think dull is one of the last things I would call it.

[Cult]

Assayas using Eno to imbue scenes with emotional import has grown too predictable, it doesn't really work for me anymore. It didn't help that he was using such a mediocre piece.

Oh pfft. It was a lovely moment, and I didn't even really notice or remember the music, so I don't see why so much importance is being placed on it. It was Asia that made the scene (and much of the movie) great. I liked that she had her little breakdown on a ferry. Before that she'd been on the move constantly, but now she just had to stay still and wait, and reflect on what she'd done.

One of my favorite movies of last year.

[Grouchy]

I loved this movie too. It felt to me like a thriller that was more interested in the in-between moments and the characters than in the actual thrills.

I thought the ending was perfect as well.