A Clean Break for the Border
Boarding Gate (2007)
directed by Olivier Assayas
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
People my age who write about movies on the Internet generally think of Olivier Assayas as a great director, but the last time I watched Irma Vep, something felt stale. I used to describe the famous rooftop heist with exhilaration in my voice, but I can't anymore. I remembered the club scenes and detached flirtations as foreign territory, and as such, romantic, but they were laughable now. And I think, where once I was inclined to rally flops like Demonlover or Les Destinées sentimentales beneath Irma Vep's banner, I'm now, in the wake of Clean and Boarding Gate, throwing out the whole mixed metaphor with the bathwater.
As Assayas himself said about Boarding Gate, "I suppose that it’s as straightforward as I can get." Meaning, I guess, that if Asia Argento is willing to play one more street-smart European in over her head, the director has his excuse to make that movie he's always talked about filming in Hong Kong. Michael Madsen, good as ever as Miles Rennberg - maybe the only character not continental enough to speak three languages - has a predilection here for erotic asphyxiation, and I say that belt is just enough leather to hang the rest of my long-standing goodwill.
directed by Olivier Assayas
rating: 2 out of 5 cravats
on DVD from Netflix
People my age who write about movies on the Internet generally think of Olivier Assayas as a great director, but the last time I watched Irma Vep, something felt stale. I used to describe the famous rooftop heist with exhilaration in my voice, but I can't anymore. I remembered the club scenes and detached flirtations as foreign territory, and as such, romantic, but they were laughable now. And I think, where once I was inclined to rally flops like Demonlover or Les Destinées sentimentales beneath Irma Vep's banner, I'm now, in the wake of Clean and Boarding Gate, throwing out the whole mixed metaphor with the bathwater.
As Assayas himself said about Boarding Gate, "I suppose that it’s as straightforward as I can get." Meaning, I guess, that if Asia Argento is willing to play one more street-smart European in over her head, the director has his excuse to make that movie he's always talked about filming in Hong Kong. Michael Madsen, good as ever as Miles Rennberg - maybe the only character not continental enough to speak three languages - has a predilection here for erotic asphyxiation, and I say that belt is just enough leather to hang the rest of my long-standing goodwill.
posted by NPK at 12:23 PM
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