Oh, and as long as I've got you here, tell that French DJ Tricky to move out!
Clean (2004)
directed by Olivier Assayas
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
In the best scene in Clean, a young assistant at the headquarters for a French media conglomerate tells Maggie Cheung how influential her attitude and sense of style were when the assistant was a girl in high school. Maggie and the woman (Laetitia Spigarelli) are both older now, and Assayas - as he did with Nathalie Richard in Irma Vep - projects his own early infatuation with Cheung onto Spigarelli. She's a lesbian, of course, and her compliment is as much a come-on (in spite of the fact that Cheung is clearly there to beg the assistant's boss for a job) as a star-struck close encounter.
Assayas wanted Clean to be a serious role for Maggie Cheung - meaning, I guess, that she cries. There isn't room for serious and sexual both, apparently, in spite of the fact that Assayas is well-regarded for the thematic range (artistic creation, fame, loss, etc.) of simple premises (a remake of Les Vampires). In the end, the surest way for a director to look out of touch is to make a movie about musicians. Second to a movie about musicians is a movie about addiction. But your ex-wife's character recording a demo with the woman she met in prison might take the cake.
Like any director, Assayas has his blind spots (although "comedy" is a pretty big one), but he also remembers the first time he saw Maggie Cheung in Days of Being Wild. So do I. Stick to your strengths.
directed by Olivier Assayas
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
In the best scene in Clean, a young assistant at the headquarters for a French media conglomerate tells Maggie Cheung how influential her attitude and sense of style were when the assistant was a girl in high school. Maggie and the woman (Laetitia Spigarelli) are both older now, and Assayas - as he did with Nathalie Richard in Irma Vep - projects his own early infatuation with Cheung onto Spigarelli. She's a lesbian, of course, and her compliment is as much a come-on (in spite of the fact that Cheung is clearly there to beg the assistant's boss for a job) as a star-struck close encounter.
Assayas wanted Clean to be a serious role for Maggie Cheung - meaning, I guess, that she cries. There isn't room for serious and sexual both, apparently, in spite of the fact that Assayas is well-regarded for the thematic range (artistic creation, fame, loss, etc.) of simple premises (a remake of Les Vampires). In the end, the surest way for a director to look out of touch is to make a movie about musicians. Second to a movie about musicians is a movie about addiction. But your ex-wife's character recording a demo with the woman she met in prison might take the cake.
Like any director, Assayas has his blind spots (although "comedy" is a pretty big one), but he also remembers the first time he saw Maggie Cheung in Days of Being Wild. So do I. Stick to your strengths.
posted by NPK at 7:07 AM
<< Home