Boarding Gate (2007)

The new film from acclaimed and adventurous French filmmaker Olivier Assayas BOARDING GATE is an erotic noir-thriller boasting an exciting international cast.Asia Argento plays sexy ex-prostitute Sandra who is forced to flee London after a steamy S&M encounter with a debt ridden ex-lover (Michael Madsen) ends in violence. Fleeing to Hong Kong in search of a fresh start she becomes involved with an attractive young couple Lester (Carl Ng) and Sue (Kelly Lin) who promise to help her obtain papers and money. But nothing turns out as expected for Sandra and she finds herself trapped in a sordid game of manipulation.An Official Selection of the 2007 Cannes Film Festival.System Requirements:Running Time: 93 minutesFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: ACTION/ADVENTURE/THRILLERS Rating: R UPC: 876964001359 Manufacturer No: 10135 Product Description

Highbrow Softcore

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, but it's Asia Argento who 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.
June 24, 2008

Asia will pull you in but the film will disappoint...

Obviously an Aisa piece aimed at attracting the audience that follows her everywhere, but in the end (and for the mainstream audience) it will disappoint to some degree. Listening to the director's commentary and watching the DVD's docu there was meant to be a feeling of spontaneity and "closeness" to the actors whilst the film was being made. I feel that is exactly what happened - a film of spontaneous scenes and irrelevant happenings.

Asia is an intense actress and this celluloid will probably do nothing to diminish that - but it was truly a waste of time; hers and ours. I even timed a whole section of nothing happening (I got up to get food as I was bored to tears - which entails the pace of most of the film) from 31:30 to 36:52, unfortunately realizing the majority of the film followed suit. We are shown and led into the middle of a conspiracy that never interests one more than seeing what Asia's character fantasizes about next; when of course the most sexually charged scene is abruptly stopped for no reason - then a bullet to the man's head.

I liked hearing some KLF music and seeing the streets of Hong Kong as my last visit there was in 1981, but the whole feel of the film is supposed to be an array of intimacy that never materializes. Sometimes you watch an entire film hoping something is about to happen - and in this case - it never does. Not worth the time for those other than loyal Asia fans. Her eroticism is played much better in other films and Marsden absently filled his part-time role here; he looked much better in Reservoir Dogs and elsewhere. June 17, 2008

Interesting but

Found the film overall to be interesting, different enough to keep me watching, fairly entertaining all in all. But not great. Part of it may be the picture quality I though was among the worst I've seen on a DVD in a long time. Part of it its somewhat meandering nature. Worth a watch though. June 13, 2008

Great Movie

I loved this movie. The tag "she's losing it again" pulled me in, and I expected an action movie, but I got much more. Asia Argento was fantastic! May 14, 2008

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