Customer Reviews

Boarding Gate

5 star:		(2)
4 star:		(4)
3 star:		(2)
2 star:		(4)
1 star:		(3)

 

 

If it weren't for the smoldering performance of Asia Argento, and I'm not talking about the parts where you get to see her tattoos, I would admit defeat and zero this one out. I don't know why the film is called Boarding Gate; the plot is thin and confusing; Michael Madsen can whisper and grunt all he wants and nobody is going to mistake it for good dramatic acting; the film seems to meander along in prologue mode for about forty-five minutes and then, BANG! somebody dies with great surprise; despite the fact that the location moves to a new country, the film doesn't seem to go anywhere; and not understanding the story won't prevent me from saying with confidence that the ending is lame.

Ms. Argento doesn't need to act. She lives the role of Sandra, relying on her naturally scary-cool charisma and complex heart to suck us in to her character--the script isn't going to do it. She's transcendentally tough and vulnerable at the same time. From one moment to the next she is spitting razor sharp barbs and then crying but never weeping, never weak. The incomplete script works to her advantage here. It's not clear why she is attracted so deeply to either of her love interests with the net result that she appears twisted, courting danger and abuse to feel alive.

Contrary to what the movie posters might lead one to believe, Argento doesn't parade around the entire film in her underwear. There's one quick shot of her being thrown to a bed by her lover where upon she delivers the most authentic and erotic response I've seen in a movie, and there's an extended scene in Madsen's apartment where she's in and out of her dress a couple times. The latter is the best scene in the film, not for its limited display of flesh but for the warped cruelty in the battle of wits mirrored in stop/start kinky sex they never manage to get very far along with for one reason or another.

Boarding Gate is billed as a thriller and, given its writer/director's resumé, is supposedly about how selfishly cruel and inhuman the world of contemporary multi-national capitalists can be. Blah blah blah. Who's arguing that point? What emerges from the film is a portrait of a modern day neo-femme-fatale who doesn't dress nice or comb her hair trying to juggle a couple of corporate wackbirds (I stole that word from somebody) to her meager advantage and gets a lesson in betrayal along the way. The action parts of the film, the parts where people run around and shoot guns and stuff, aren't interesting at all. The thriller parts, the parts where mystery and suspense are supposed to propel the film, aren't articulated very well. It's the parts where the players settle down to talking smack on one another to gain psychological advantage that are red hot brutal good. If you are a fan of Asia Argento and like your eroticism dark and implied, or are interested in finding out what Argento is capable of as an actress, then check out Boarding Gate. If you are looking for a good thriller, or a film with a little action and good production values, look somewhere else.

Just so you know, Asia Argento only spends about eight minutes total screen time in black lingerie. If that's your main reason for watching this movie, adjust your expectations accordingly.

"Boarding Gate" is a highbrow version of a straight to video erotic thriller whose main appeal (beyond the aforementioned lingerie) lies in its odd juxtaposition of artsy sheen and pulpy core. The plot is a deliberately unfleshed out contraption involving a love affair gone bad, deadly double crosses, and sinister "corporate" intrigue that will be risible to anyone who has ever had an office job. Even more so than in in most noir, this is just a pretext for an extended exercise in style, or actually two exercises. The first half of the movie is a kinky pas de deux between Argento's Sandra, a prostitute/industrial spy and her former lover Miles (Michael Madsen), a down on his luck financier with whom she remains inexplicably obsessed. (After this movie, Asia Argento's status as an object of desire among pudgy fifty year old guys will be set in stone.) Despite a constant background hum of preposterousness, their meandering confrontations are well done, and the French cinema flourishes seem entirely appropriate window dressing for what is basically a long softcore tease. Then there's a twist, and "Boarding Gate" shifts gears into a protracted chase through the streets of Hong Kong. ("It becomes a B-movie," Argento says with winning candor in the DVD extras.) The cinematography is striking in this half--director Olivier Assayas has a flair for neon cityscapes--but a chase scene is a chase scene, and this one overstays its welcome.

For some, I imagine the movie's insistence on its own wised-up sophistication--the big city glamor of Paris and Hong Kong, Brian Eno on the soundtrack, and the stunt casting of Kim Gordon as a shady corporate player (a mistake: Gordon may the coolest person to have inhabited lower Manhattan in the past twenty five years, but as an actress she's wooden)--will be a bit much. For me, it was all just part of Assayas's jet set fantasy world. Only in a couple of performances, however, does "Boarding Gate" show any actual heart. Michael Madsen brings a certain burly gravitas to what could easily be just another rich guy role, and Asia Argento really shines. Her character slips back and forth between feral eroticism, femme fatale toughness, and dewy vulnerability, often multiple times in the same scene. There isn't a shred of psychological reality to be found here, but you don't care because it's so compelling to watch Argento go running off in five different directions at once. I get the feeling that her performance is the only thing in the film that worked exactly as intended. And, yes, for those eight minutes or so, she looks amazing.

My husband and I only watched this because of the provocative DVD cover and lived to regret it. Sure, Asia Argento looks sexy on the cover, giving the impression that this is some sort of sexy thriller. It really is neither - the sexy bits are all kind of fuzzy, and some of the sexy scenes end up being more brutal than sexy, and as for the thriller part, the meandering script adds more to one's confusion than answer questions.

The basic plot - Argento plays Sandra, an ex-hooker who has a sordid history with financier, Miles [Michael Madsen] who is based in Paris. Sandra needs money to buy herself a new life running a club partnership in Beijing, and this causes her to re-enter Miles' life as well as an Asian couple, Lester and Sue [Carl Ng and Kelly Lin]. A tryst gone wrong ends with an unexpected murder and Sandra finds herself on the run - taking off to Hong Kong where even more plot intrigues abound and the movie itself becomes a derailed mess.

There is even an appearance by Kim Gordon [of Sonic Youth] here - quite memorable if only because she is spewing Cantonese. At various points in the movie, we not only get an earful of English [and badly spoken English at times ], but also French and Cantonese.

As for eroticism, yes, there is a bit of that in the sex scenes between Sandra and Miles/ Sandra and Lester - but the chemistry really isn't very credible. What is credible though is Asia Argento's performance - she portrays a troubled woman convincingly, one who is able to exude a sense of the erotic whilst appearing demented. She really should be in better movies [not B-graders like this].

Final verdict: watchable for Argento's performance.

for me this boils down to a simple equation: asia argento + oliver assayas (writer-director) = awesome.

but it also, as i stated in the subject line: asia argento + oliver assays = not for everyone.

that said, despite my four star rating and personal affection for this film it is NOT for everyone. assayas is the key point in this equation, he makes films of a particular ilk. he has evolved a lot throughout his career, and i personally find his films hit or miss. i would not reccommend an oliver assays film to the majority of the people i know, because frankly, i think most people would find them sluggishly paced, pointless, meandering, and "boring." i personally do not feel this way about assayas's films, but a lot of online reviews seem to follow this train of thought.

argento has evolved a lot throughout her career as well. if you've seen her earlier work, she used to be...a particularly bad actress. but she's really come into her own. her acting is underrated imo, and unique. her filmmaking while flawed, is particularly ambitious and one-of-a-kind (i'm speaking more of "the heart is deceitful above all things" rather than the rather ho-hum "scarlett diva.") i think if you really want to see her ACT, "the Last Mistress" (which is also a more accessible, traditional French period film) is essential viewing. this performance is good, but not her best.

argento is sexy, i won't lie. assayas is considered one of france's leading filmmakers, he lately has been doing international co-productions often largely in english.

but while argento and assayas are a match made in heaven imo, i would warn people who are simply expecting a sexy argento film, or even those expecting a tradtional inernational fillm, this is not it.

i don't know if i'm allowed to say this, but i would suggest (if you haven't already) renting before just immediately buying. that may go without saying, but i know many people who buy movies before seeing them, so that's why i mention this (i'm not trying to be cheeky or anything.)

one final note...i did not see this in theatres, so i have no reference point. but my suspicion is that the image (less so than audio) is not the greatest transfer in the world. it could be an intentional "look" assayas was striving for, but having only seen the dvd (and owning it), i have to say the picture quality leaves a lot to be desired. (and that it is being viewed both with and without an upscaler, no less.)

The greatest thing about "Boarding Gate" is its poster. Whoever made the poster and DVD jacket of the film knows the film's only merit: Asia Argento. The film has nothing to offer but her acting, which is impressive considering the mess she is in.

First you must know a few things about Asia Argento's role Sandra because "Boarding Gate" may be tagged as "Thriller," her character is neither professional assassin nor femme fatale. She is just an ordinary woman trapped between men and their intrigues. I mean, two bad men.

One of them is Miles played by Michael Madsen. The film opens with Sandra and Miles in his office, and long dialogues between Sandra and Miles suggest their past relationship and the underground business of Miles who used her for money. Their uninteresting talk goes on and on, never getting to the point. But what is the point? The film barely passes the 10 minute mark, but you start to think: Who cares?

But you still need to sit through the terribly drawn-out story of a woman who "lost control"; another man and a drug deal; a married Chinese couple; and dead bodies and escape in Hong Kong. Writer/director Olivier Assayas, as he did in "Demonlover," tries to say something about the dark side of humanity in modern civilization. What he is trying to say with his convoluted screenplay is all-too-familiar, however, and his pretentious direction only reveals the film's emptiness.

Anyone who loves Asia Argento should see "B. Monkey." It is not the greatest thriller, but at least it knows what it is doing. And the poster is great.

The script is quite indirect here and one never quite knows exactly what is going on. Slowly, things are revealed. The whole first half is an erotic dance between Asia Argento and Michael Madsen as they act out their former kinky affair that never gets going before a violent episode intervenes. Then, we shift from Paris to Hong Kong and into more conventional thriller mode as the getaway progresses in fits and starts. Diversity makes this hybrid film worth watching as we see scenes of both cities unlike what we've ever seen before. Worth watching.

"Boarding Gate" is an initially verbose French crime drama that, for the first half at least, threatens to talk itself and us to a standstill. Luckily, at about the midway point, the pacing picks up considerably and it turns into a stylish, gripping thriller.

The film chronicles the stormy relationship between an unscrupulous businessman and the ex-mistress he routinely pimps out to his clients. However, it's only after she's lured into committing murder and forced to go on the lam to Hong Kong that the movie becomes an intriguing, multi-layered look at infidelity and betrayal.

Italian actress Asia Argento, who's a dead-ringer for Uma Thurman, commands the screen with her pouting eroticism and natural charisma, and she gets strong support from Michael Madsen and Carl Ng as the two main men in her life, as well as from Kelly Lin as a romantic rival who reluctantly helps Argento out in the end. The direction by Olivier Assayas - in the second half at least - is crisp, focused and exciting, and the visuals alone are enough to compensate for some of the gaping holes in the storyline.

One caveat, however: while technically a French movie, most of the dialogue is actually in English. However, there are times when the movie unaccountably lapses into un-subtitled French and Chinese, leaving the audience in the dark as to a few, possibly crucial, details in the story, proving yet again that a picture is not necessarily always worth a thousand words.

....and the film is better than people are giving it credit for. Shot in the same "Bourne" still grainy/moodiness of Olivier Assayas last film "Demonlover", it provides passable entertainment and international intrigue. Makes a good double bill with Demonlover.

This rather dark and gritty exercise in film-noir directed by Olivier Assayas features Italian actress Asia Argento as ex-prostitute Sandra who has a continued--and rather twisted--attraction to an equally twisted corporate bigwig (Michael Madson) which builds until it erupts into violence. She uses her contacts to flee to Hong Kong where she ends up in more trouble than she'd bargained for. The film has a weak, talky beginning but gradually picks up speed (amidst a handful of kinky scenes of restrained eroticism). The dialogue seems like it's nothing special until you realize what Argento is doing. Never mind the eight minutes or so we get to see her in black underwear; all throughout this film she turns in a gripping performance with just the right balance of toughness and vulnerability. I couldn't take my eyes off her no matter what she was wearing!

Worth noting (only two previous reviewers mentioned it): several tracks either by Brian Eno or by Fripp & Eno in this. There are bits and pieces from "Lizard Point" from Ambient 4: On Land, "2/2" from Ambient 1: Music for Airports, "The Heavenly Music Corporation" from No Pussyfooting and (uncredited) "Terebellum" from The Equatorial Stars. The music, I hasten to add, enhances the scenes beautifully. Those who absolutely must have every DVD whose director was intelligent enough to use Brian Eno's or Robert Fripp's music (or both) shouldn't miss this.

Michael Madsen kinda made watchen it a chore, is voice can hardly be heard ...find it hard to hear with the volume cranked up....you mite need a Michael Madsen translator?

the story is a little to basic , found it hard to stay awake, not worth watchen twice ..rent if you want to ZZZZZZZzzzzzzzz.