Boarding Gate

The credit for my enjoyment of this film could possibly be entirely due to the brilliant performance of the leading actress Asia Argento. She gave an honest, artistic and daring performance throughout and should be tremendously applauded. The supporting cast was also well chosen making "Boarding Gate" a well rounded very entertaining film. I found "Boarding Gate" to be a refreshing break from the mundane collection of modern films out there. This story of crazy love and relationships takes you to beautiful places and leaves you thinking. I recommend this film to any movie lover who is looking for a new favorite!

This is not quite as muddled as made out to be, but it's not any kind of Hong Kong pistol stuff that it may appear to be based on plot and cast either. It's the kind of film that presents itself as a thriller but is actually about people and the structure. It's a two-part complex. The first part plays like an emotional upskirt peek at the tormented soul of this woman, who loved at the hands of a man who tossed and toyed her around for pleasure. She's played by Asia Argento who so effortlessly can channel sex mixed with pain - one of her early film roles after all was back in Italy for father Dario, where she falls victim to a serial rapist. We get some stuff about drugs, pistols are whipped out then forgotten again. Now the French touch, our first pointer about what it's all really about; she becomes the character she has written about, a fictional sci-fi woman who controls men. Tables are switched, and turns out she was really manipulating this whole time from inside the image he had been used to subdue. For the second part we fly down to Hong Kong where it threatens again to become a thriller. Pistols are whipped out again and forgotten once more. Here we come to understand that she's fallen prey to another lover controlling her for own purposes. There's another woman who is also vying for control of her strings, a sexual antagonist. So having consummated one desire about revenge, she is not one step closer to being a free person. Her present suffering is still bound to that first violence that was a sexual desire; this is given to us as having been raped in her sleep, and so the horrible hurt of an unconscious drive, repressed, felt to be beyond any control and so any responsibility. Aptly enough, this second part is about self-discovery then; she's vulnerable for the first time, no more games or roles, conceding to flow where it may. It is film noir as far as world dynamics go, make no mistake. To pursue desire is to be trapped helpless in a self-generating chimera. Usually in noir that desire was codified as the femme fatale and who is here our protagonist but rendered as an image, a fictional guise, full of cracks suggesting the distraught person behind. Finally she follows this second manipulative lover so that it can be revealed to us who was pulling the strings from behind all this time. She gets a second chance for revenge. The final image is one of poignant beauty, as blurry, out-of-focus for the world of plotting and machinations that we felt as the film, she ascends out of view liberated. She is literally no longer part of the film that was pure deceit from the start. So for all intents and purposes, it should have been a great film about karmic cycles. It's not quite, but only because, for some reason, this was felt that should also appeal to a broad audience. So, it's filmed in a syncopated manner that is associated with TV, which makes sense in context because the camera is meant to be a frantic eye searching for things as she is, but which probably threw a curveball at those who usually expect a character study in long painterly sweeps and would be otherwise rewarded here. It didn't help that it came out in the same year as No Country, another post-noir, much more overtly cinematic, and a host of other well-received films. So not a groundbreaking film, but see it if it shows up.

In Paris, the businessman Miles Rennberg (Michael Madsen) is ruined after bad investments and tells his partner Andrew (Alex Descas) that he will sell his share to the company Golden Eagle. When Miles meets the former prostitute Sandra (Asia Argento), she recalls her love for him and their kinky sex. Miles used her services to entertain and get inside information from other entrepreneurs and used to feel excited with their dirty sex. Sandra is presently working with Sue (Kelly Lin) and her husband Lester Wong (Carl Ng) and dreams on having her night-club in Beijing; further, she is the lover of Lester. One night, Sandra visits Miles in his apartment and she handcuffs him in the preliminaries of their sex game; nevertheless, she unexpectedly shots him in the nape. Then she meets Lester, who had a contract to kill Miles, and he gives the tickets and directions to Sandra to travel to Hong Kong and meet his friend Mr. Ho (Boss Mok). Lester would meet her later and get their money. When Sandra discovers that she had been betrayed and Lester would not arrive in Hong Kong, she needs to fight to survive in a hostile environment. "Boarding Gate" is a film with a good story of betrayal but unfortunately with a terrible screenplay. The plot is a complete mess but Asia Argento saves the film, at least for fans of this actress like me. She is sexy performing her perverted but confused character that is capable of having kinky sex with strangers and fall in love for two scumbags. It is difficult to understand her contradictory character that was a prostitute but refuses the money she earned for killing Miles. The film also makes a confused tour and in the beginning is very difficult to understand that the story takes place in Paris. My vote is six. Title (Brazil): "Traição em Hong Kong" ("Betrayal in Hong Kong")

....are some of the words I would use to describe "Boarding Gate". It's a mix of different genres (drama, action, travelogue), languages (English, Chinese, French), ethnic backgrounds (the three main leads are a European, an American and an Asian). It's not a "Girls-With-Guns" film or a study in madness, despite what the cover or the tagline ("She's losing control again") seem to indicate. Asia Argento is raw and uninhibited as usual, and, like her or not, you've gotta hand it to her: there aren't many actresses out there who would tackle on the role she has here. But while it is refreshing to see a movie where you don't know how everything will turn out within the first 10 minutes, there doesn't seem to be much of a point to this whole exercise, apart maybe from "becoming an amateur contract killer is not such a good idea". Is it worth watching? I can't quite make up my mind about that, so I'll give it ** out of 4 stars.

Kudos to the makers and all involved in the making of this film. I enjoyed the atypical way the story was told. The leading lady, Asia Argento, has a few too many lovers and is tangled up in her own mess. All the while one of her lover's wives is playing the game behind the scenes making things very suspenseful and interesting. The film itself I could categorize as "artsy" even though it's a thriller. I don't recommend this film for the uptight viewer, but those with open minds will enjoy it. Through and through a good show! The DVD is out on June 10th I believe so those of you who missed it in the theaters can pick it up soon!

The trailer is so deceiving... I thought this will be a good film... What was the point in bringing the women in Hong Kong for being killed? They could have done it in Paris. And the fist half hour: -You love me! -No I don't! -You love me! -No I don't! -You love me! -No I don't!Repeat for 100 times... then... Well I don't love you... So i shoot you! :D So here is the reason why movie piracy is a good thing! Imagine if I would have even give money for this torture! I'm sorry for the time I lost watching it... the film makers should pay me for the inconvenience... Worst film ever seen...

Pretty cool movie if your into twisted love stories/suspense. I wasn't sure what to expect from this one because I hadn't heard much about it in the media. When it came recommended by a friend I went and saw it, and man am I pleased I did! It has a crazy plot with lots of fun and shocking twists. The characters are beyond interesting and keep you on your toes. If any one has a love life like this, holy moly! Defiantly made for the big screen, not real life! I don't want to live it, but I loved to watch it! The movie itself was very esthetically pleasing as well, taking you around to beautiful places and showcasing some awesome scenery. Just as this film was recommended to me, I am recommending it to you! Enjoy!

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

This hypnotic, angular thriller about sex, murder, betrayal and money takes you on a feverish journey from nowhere to somewhere. The plot may lose you at first, but actress Asia Argento is a clear and commanding force throughout. This film plays with various genre codes and conventions very differently than most run-of-the-mill modern thrillers. Keeps things modern and original. Entertaining and chilling at the same time. Argento's character is relate-albe and hate-able at the same time. Good flick.

Asia Argento has never done a film (so far as I know, and this includes ones directed by her own father, Dario) where she fails to show all of her anatomy at some point. Sure enough, in the most boring opening dialogue scene ever, poor Madsen has her coming into his office and right there, reminding us that even though her hair is up, she can still stick her fingers in her crotch at any given second (which she does but in such a random "what? am I really seeing that?" kind of way). The DVD box, packaging, makes this look like a femme fatale film so you keep waiting to see her turn into a sleek and minimalist killer.. no such luck. She's verbose, hung up on some aging has been and even worse, has no credible skills in physical agility other than (surprise!) taking off ALL the clothes when any scene allows it. Her accented English would be cool if only she didn't try to make it sound so affected and try to talk like a 12 year old. How about this plot? Weak-minded but simultaneously nymphomaniacal woman is suddenly driven to kill while she already has another affair on the go and is running some cheap drug deal ... huh? what? does anyone have motivation in this movie to do anything other than buy a hamster? The screenplay seems to be oriented by letting everyone talk a lot about the same things over and over (I was expecting to see the worst acting on this appear as a producer who dumped money in it just to have some screen time) - there is nothing going on sub the obvious flaws of Asia's character that at any point in the movie delivers what the DVD cover promises. She's weak... but she knows how to kill. she flails A LOT. She flails naked, she flails half dressed, she even flails in a dead woman's clothing.. she is very floppy and unmotivated. In fact "Floppy" would have been a great name for this movie.. and a shot of Asia passed out looking angry on the cover would have been a better representation ... there are actually shots of her eating airplane food!!! What's that about? THe ending makes 0 sense - everyone is just annoyingly wishy washy in their intent and their execution of all objectives. The wife of Lester doesn't deliver any REAL vengeance (taking someone to bad karoeke IS life threatening but not really valid).. and Lester just floats around without really making much proclaimation of anything. Totally misleading key art... yeah, we know Asia lost the baby fat of her first born but really, a whole movie trying to pretend like that's interesting enough to drive a film about a passive-aggressive chick is not worth your while. See Point of No Return instead.