Boarding Gate

....are some of the words I would use to describe "Boarding Gate". It's a mix of different genres (drama, action, travelogue), languages (English, Chinese, French), ethnic backgrounds (the three main leads are a European, an American and an Asian). It's not a "Girls-With-Guns" film or a study in madness, despite what the cover or the tagline ("She's losing control again") seem to indicate. Asia Argento is raw and uninhibited as usual, and, like her or not, you've gotta hand it to her: there aren't many actresses out there who would tackle on the role she has here. But while it is refreshing to see a movie where you don't know how everything will turn out within the first 10 minutes, there doesn't seem to be much of a point to this whole exercise, apart maybe from "becoming an amateur contract killer is not such a good idea". Is it worth watching? I can't quite make up my mind about that, so I'll give it ** out of 4 stars.

A quick resumé: Almost nonexistent, badly chosen musical soundtrack, steady-cam filming done without the steady but with lots of coffee and a hyperactive cameraman, NO plot, and nothing ever really happens. The film goes from one dialog into another, sounding hollow, never achieving depth, never creating the illusion that you really are inside a cobweb of conspiracy, and the everybody-has-an-affair-with-everybody is just a boring excuse to show the main actress in nice underwear. (which, combined with her rusty voice certainly is nice, but nothing to base a movie on) The high point for me is the opening scene, and the film just degraded from there to a point where I just wanted to quit the film about 45 minutes into the story. I regret sitting it out.

Two things are interesting about the film.

The first and most discussed is the actress, Asia Argento. She and Beatrice Dalle are similar I think. They both have the quality of fearless commitment - like Emily Watson in "Breaking the Waves" and never afterward. They both have fumbled around facial features. They both are known as sexy — only because of nudity and the roles.

But more fundamental to me is that they both know things. I believe that an artist has to both have talent and be truly an interesting person; they have to know things we do not. Asia does. In fact, you can see it even in her first movie just as she is hitting puberty. This woman shows us a character that has qualities that this woman understands.

Streep has talent but no knowledge. Asia has less talent but she matters. This is one of her best. Don't miss it. Don't miss how she breathes. The nudity and story is nothing compared the grace of her visible breathing.

Here, she plays a woman who does what we all do: make compromises for companionship which if it has what we want we call love. The missing bits always catch up with us and with her the writer maps these pretty deftly into components of a thriller.

The structure of that thriller is the second notable bit. Of all genres, the thriller is most plastic. Allowing many flows so long as tension and guns are involved.

The story here sneaks up on you. Almost nothing is predictable. It starts slowly, and then bam. It goes off in an unexpected direction. The interesting narrative device here is that we follow her and discover things as she does. But she knows things, many things, that we do not. She does get surprised as we do, but not always so. At the end, she is allowed to write the future, for her lover at any rate.

My guess is that if she had never gotten and displayed that labial tattoo, she would have been taken more seriously. And we would be better off cinematically.

This is a good one. Angelic.

Ted's Evaluation -- 3 of 3: Worth watching.

This film will not be to everyone's tastes. It is a tale of corporate intrigue and, frankly, even I was bored at time with the pace.

But, I have to remember that I was here for Asia Argento. Yes, she has a body to die for, and she is definitely on my top ten list of babes with guns. She gets caught up in corporate shenanigans between two lovers (Michael Madsen and Carl Ng). One is trying to unload his shares, and the other is trying to make a lot of money.

People die, there are some kinky sex scenes, and there is Asia doing an incredibly good job of trying to get through everything and stay alive.

You never really know whether she will make it, and you are not sure why she does what she does at the end. Love is stringer than hate? Maybe.

You just have to love that bod!

I would have never imagined that Olivier Assayas could be able to make such a thriller; I saw him more intellectual, and seeing Michael Madsen in one of Assayas' film is totally incredible, unbelievable; as if you had seen John Wayne playing in a Gerard Oury's movie. But the result is pretty good, interesting, tense, taut. It is not an action film, only a few of them, despite Michael Madsen's presence only half of the movie. It is a bit psychological and erotic too. But again, i did not think director Assayas could do such thriller movie. Financial, erotico and interesting film. Asia Argento is excellent here.