Boarding Gate

Bea says: Seen during a marathon movie weekend in Paris, at a cinema near Chateau d'Eau. Entering the cinema, I noticed that the back few rows consisted of men in macs. Hmmm. 10 minutes into the film the lead female was engaged in some interesting self massage, for want of a better expression. Cecil and I exchanged glances. Had we wandered into a porn film by mistake? It hadn't sounded like it in Pariscope! After that though the film picked up its thriller genre. A strong, well constructed plot kept my attention throughout, despite some slightly cardboard-y acting from the male lead in particular. Always a good change to watch a film with a female lead, particuarly a thriller/action film - it rarely happens, and certainly rarely happens well. Particularly liked the scenes of the flight to Hong Kong, and action in Hong Kong; so well done I felt like I was there.

Cecil says: About 10 of us in the cinema and, until 10 minutes into the film, Bea was the only woman in the room. It was really a thriller (in the dramatic sense rather than sexual - though there were some very sensual moments, mixed with weird power games - you were never quite sure who was playing a game with who) - but a very European thriller: no special effects, hand-held camera throughout giving you the feeling of chaos, turbulence; very little soundtrack, the atmosphere created by the engine noise, machinery noise, crowd noise. The plot: over-the-hill businessman/fraudster wants to end his underworld life and go straight; he'd also like to hook up again with his ex-girlfriend, who is the central character we follow around the world as she tries to get away from 'events'. The end leaves the viewer with a lot of questions and, as we walked out into the Chateau d'Eau streets, an uneasy feeling that this part of Paris could very well be the scene of similar plots as we had just witnessed on the screen...If you're in Paris, best seen in a seedy area rather than the Champs Elysees.

Rating: ***.5