Boarding Gate

Boy, that Asia Argento... she... uh... yeah. What the fuck is Kim Gordon doing in this movie and why is she speaking Cantonese? :D

Boarding Gate's decadent fancies are appalling.

Interminable. Uniformly poor performances, frequent inane dialogue, and almost entirely without interest. Worse: empty.

Meandering thriller with much style but little substance. Argento may have a smouldering beauty but her acting leaves much to be desired and Madsen is unconvincing.

The first part of this movie meanders too much, making me struggled to keep attention. A lot of this consist of scenes with Argento and Madsen quarreling. These should establish the emotional core of the movie, but it all feels artificial. They fail to convey any (former) connection. When in the second half in China it shift into straighter crime thriller territory the movie does pick up. Argento is also more convincing in that part conveying a sense of being lost, alone and in over her head.

The script is unremarkable and the dialogue atrocious (every line is exposition), but visually this one is quite remarkable - every shot it is a little bit more refined than it would normally be, keeping me interested even though I am not much into thrillers normally.

Asia Argento spends half the film in her underwear. Kim Gordon shows up in an absolutely awful cameo, and Brian Eno's Music for Airports plays during a scene set on an airplane. Assayas' craft is polished and often masterful - look at the showdown between Argento and Michael Madsen in the apartment, the constant shift in power dynamics visualized by the endlessly roving camera, a claustrophobic push and pull. And the film's ending is a total knockout, but I don't think I've unpacked it yet.

Star Rating: ★★★★

An intense and interesting thriller that unfortunately never really manages to connect the dots in a way out of the ordinary way. Asia Argento, though.

Character driven crime drama involving Asia Argento being used as a pawn in the assassination of a prominent businessman. The film takes place in Paris and Hong Kong and some of the location photography is great. The performances are hit or miss, Michael Madsen in particular comes across like he's gargling gravel, but the story unfurls nicely as more of the bigger picture is gradually revealed. The flaky, ambiguous ending leaves much to be desired, but this was pretty good overall.

Lost in translation combined with New Rose Hotel and Kill Bill...

I now want to watch more Asia Argento movies.

"Boarding Gate, B-movie heir to Phil Karlson and Ingmar Bergman, screws any pretence of naturalism for hallucinatory confrontations." - David Phelps

WTF kim gordon

An interesting film in terms of style that has a well-executed conclusion. However, it's thin narrative and often overly wordy scenes take away from the overall effect.

asia argentonun hatirina :)

Kim Gordon speaking chinese is something priceless.

bad movie