Sunday, May 28, 2006
Maggie Cheung and Olivier Assayas's "Clean"
Preliminary thoughts on Maggie Cheung and Olivier Assayas's "Clean"
- I am going to be horribly biased, because Maggie Cheung, even in middle age, is completely a babe in my mind. She is middle-aged, and still beautiful. When she smiles in that last scene, with that silly looking orange hat hiding everything except for her face... that smile was like the sun
- This is so sad!
- The portrayal of recovery, both physically and emotionally, from drug abuse shown in "Clean" is by far superior to that depicted in "Ray" or "Walk the Line". Of course, they are different types of movies, but here the sentimentality is much more subtle and dignified.
- Nick Nolte did some fine acting. An old man, faced with the death of those he loves most, trying to maintain some dignity in life for those who remain
- Maggie's acting is so much more natural in French. Or maybe because it is in French with which she interacts with her old "friends".
- Is healthcare in Canada that bad, that people have to go to London for tests and surgery?
- Everyone in this movie dresses so cool. Is this what celebrities really dress like in their time off?
- Nolte *is* smarter than he looks, and not just because he knows that the kid has been stealing his coins. He's go the strength of stones in him
- So many charming touches in this movie. Also loved the "spectator cam", where the camera tracks the characters as if the viewer were just another pedestrian or observer or concert-goer.
- Maggie Cheung reminds me of Shiina Ringo, maybe 20 years older (at least in how she dresses)
- The movie mixes pace very well: the slow and still family scenes + the frantic scenes of music business wheeling and deeling
- I feel for this movie (and Maggie's character Emily) because this is a movie about people making hard transitions and trying to change their fundamental character. Familiar line from Irene Paolini to Emily: "People don't change". Emily's response: "I'm trying to". I've said what Irene said before, but at this point in my life, I truly want to believe in Emily's response. Albrecht, afterwards says: "People change. If they need to, they change". How so much I want to believe that!
- Oh, Maggie and the Director used to be married? That adds another layer to what is already a multi-layered movie.
- Stephanie Zacharek called it Maggie Cheung's finest performance to date. Not sure about that, because I'm still biased to Tian Mi Mi (Comrades, almost a love story). But this is a different type of movie.
- I am going to be horribly biased, because Maggie Cheung, even in middle age, is completely a babe in my mind. She is middle-aged, and still beautiful. When she smiles in that last scene, with that silly looking orange hat hiding everything except for her face... that smile was like the sun
- This is so sad!
- The portrayal of recovery, both physically and emotionally, from drug abuse shown in "Clean" is by far superior to that depicted in "Ray" or "Walk the Line". Of course, they are different types of movies, but here the sentimentality is much more subtle and dignified.
- Nick Nolte did some fine acting. An old man, faced with the death of those he loves most, trying to maintain some dignity in life for those who remain
- Maggie's acting is so much more natural in French. Or maybe because it is in French with which she interacts with her old "friends".
- Is healthcare in Canada that bad, that people have to go to London for tests and surgery?
- Everyone in this movie dresses so cool. Is this what celebrities really dress like in their time off?
- Nolte *is* smarter than he looks, and not just because he knows that the kid has been stealing his coins. He's go the strength of stones in him
- So many charming touches in this movie. Also loved the "spectator cam", where the camera tracks the characters as if the viewer were just another pedestrian or observer or concert-goer.
- Maggie Cheung reminds me of Shiina Ringo, maybe 20 years older (at least in how she dresses)
- The movie mixes pace very well: the slow and still family scenes + the frantic scenes of music business wheeling and deeling
- I feel for this movie (and Maggie's character Emily) because this is a movie about people making hard transitions and trying to change their fundamental character. Familiar line from Irene Paolini to Emily: "People don't change". Emily's response: "I'm trying to". I've said what Irene said before, but at this point in my life, I truly want to believe in Emily's response. Albrecht, afterwards says: "People change. If they need to, they change". How so much I want to believe that!
- Oh, Maggie and the Director used to be married? That adds another layer to what is already a multi-layered movie.
- Stephanie Zacharek called it Maggie Cheung's finest performance to date. Not sure about that, because I'm still biased to Tian Mi Mi (Comrades, almost a love story). But this is a different type of movie.
