BOARDING GATE (2007) ¢ ¢ ¢
D: Olivier Assayas
Asia Argento, Michael Madson, Carl Ng,
Kelly Lin, Alex Descas, Joana Preiss
Murky international thriller with a ragged-looking Asia Argento as a woman who's both up to no good and in over her head. It's effectively two separate films. The first, which lasts 30 or 40 minutes, is a kinky, two-person psychodrama in which Argento and her scumbag boyfriend (Michael Madson) play out the last act in their mutually abusive relationship. Then something happens, Assayas flips a switch, and the action moves from Paris to Hong Kong, with Argento on the run from some people who are trying to kill her. The movie feels about as strung-out as its heroine, but Asia, with her worn beauty, her taut physique, her gun, her cigarettes, her underwear and her tattoos, is enough to hold your attention.
