Boarding Gate (2007)

User Rating:

5.3/10   

Director:

Olivier Assayas

Writer:

Olivier Assayas (writer)

Release Date:

22 August 2007 (France)

Genre:

Thriller

Tagline:

She's losing control again

Plot:

An Italian woman who lives in London has a passionate affair with a former financial big gun. She also had a second lover...

Plot Keywords:

Italian Woman | New Identity | Airport | Hong Kong | Stalker

Cast

Asia Argento	...	Sandra
Michael Madsen	...	Miles Rennberg
Kelly Lin	...	Sue Wang
Carl Ng	...	Lester Wang
Kim Gordon	...	Kay
Alex Descas	...	Andrew
Joana Preiss	...	Lisa
Raymond Tsang	...	Abacus Boss
Jim Ping Hei	...	Abacus Worker #1
Kim Lee Wing	...	Abacus Worker #2
Ricky Wong	...	Abacus Worker #3
Boss Mok	...	Mr. Ho
Régis Vidal	...	DJ at Vega
François-Renaud Labarthe	...	Night Watchman
Mustapha Abdellah	...	Security Guard

MPAA:

Rated R for violence, sexual content, language and some drug material.

Runtime:

106 min

Country:

France | Luxembourg

Language:

English | French | Cantonese

Color:

Color

Aspect Ratio:

2.35 : 1

Sound Mix:

Dolby Digital

Certification:

USA:R | South Korea:18 | Portugal:M/16 | UK:18 | Australia:MA (2008) | Netherlands:12

Filming Locations:

Hong Kong, China

Company:

Canal+

Director Olivier Assayas constructs a complicated tale that leaves his actors completely adrift

Olivier Assayas' film stars Asia Argento as a woman who had a relationship with Michael Madsen. Madsen is a business man who's in financial trouble. In desperation he is going to sell his share of a business to a company called Golden Eagle, a company from the Far East. As Madsen begins his moves away from his company Asia Argento returns to his life. The pair had a torrid love affair that included her doing business favors for Madsen (with said Golden Eagle). Once Argento enters the film the film follows her as we see the tangled web she's woven and how the complications spin dangerously and violently out of control.

I'm not a fan. Actually I was quite bored as the film seems to go from pillar to post for much of the first hour during which I kept wondering what the point was other than to provide a meaty role for Argento. Argento, daughter of director Dario Argento and a director in her own right, is a unique actress. At times stunningly good, she is more often then not going to give you a quirky off beat portrayal of a damaged human being. Sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn't. I don't think it completely works here mostly because the script is too "complicated" to support it. I didn't care what was going on so her wounded girl just rubbed me the wrong way(she seemed more nut job than anything else). I'm not blaming the actors but writer/director Assayas who has once again constructed a complicated tale with the sort of parts actors love to tackle, but which leave audiences scratching their heads because they they don't really work.

If you must try it on cable