Sadly Over-hyped

Just perfect...

I'll tell you why so serious

One of the worst ways to make a cult movie is to set out to make a cult movie.

Emily Wang (Maggie Cheung) is in Toronto with her rocker boyfriend Lee. They're both drug addicts and have a son together. Everybody blames her for his drug addiction. Lee dies of heroin overdose. She gets caught for possession. After getting out of jail, Lee's father Albrecht Hauser (Nick Nolte) visits her. She agrees not to visit her son Jay who is living with Albrecht in Vancouver. In Paris, she tries to stay clean while waitressing but she has become addicted to methadone.It's interesting to see Maggie speak English and French. She seems capable. Her acting is fine but there is a grittier level that she doesn't quite get to. The indie style and her acting don't quite drop down into the gutter. Her desperation isn't visceral enough. Nick Nolte is doing his gruff acting. The movie starts in Toronto. Although I love Metric, it would be more cinematic to start in someplace more glamorous like New York. This is definitely the best non-Chinese dramatic acting that I've seen from Maggie. I kept expecting this to go to a much darker place.

This movie is badly written and well acted, which is a shame because you're interested in the characters right away, and the movie begins as though it's going to be a different sort of drug redemption film, one that might just skate the line between glorification and demonization. Instead, the script loses it's emotional way and falls fast into a four star disappointment. Terrible follow-through. Both maggie cheung and nick nolte provide a fair- enough effort, yet their relationship never picks up any developmental speed. The other characters are quasi-interesting, but probably because we never really find out anything about them. Plus, the little boy didn't get the direction he needed, because he sounds like he's reading lines, to the point that you're embarrassed for the filmmakers that they even attempted the hook, line and cute-kid sinker. And finally, the music should be more than just set dressing in a story so critically dependent on rock credibility. Though i'd admit that there were a couple interesting sequences, i wouldn't recommend a film this weak to anyone. The script doesn't nearly get redeemed by any particular virtue of filmmaking.

It takes a hell of a lot to keep me up past my bedtime, and it was this outstanding performance by Maggie Cheung (Jet Li's Hero, 2046) with support by Nick Nolte (Affliction, The Prince of Tides) that did it.All you need to know about the film is in the summary. The story of a woman or man trying to battle their demons and get their life on track is as old as film itself. It is Cheung that brings the magic to the story and gives a performance that stands out from the rest. Using three languages was powerful, and certainly puts here a step above others.Writer and director, Olivier Assayas, provided the perfect vehicle to display Cheung's ability. Cinematography by Eric Gautier (A Guide to Recognizing Your Saints, The Motorcycle Diaries) was brilliant.Cheung fans will be thrilled; others will be amazed at Nolte's ability.

To get the full, globe-trotting flavor of "Clean," one need simply note that Emily Wang is a Chinese immigrant living in Paris with her British rock star boyfriend, and that their child is being raised by the young man's parents in Vancouver, Canada. All I can say is that "Babel" clearly has nothing on this film when it comes to international story lines spanning widely varying cultures and time zones.Though a French film, "Clean" actually begins in the English-speaking section of Canada where Emily and her husband, Lee Hauser, both heroin addicts, are desperately attempting to jumpstart Hauser's fading music career. The couple seems to be patterned somewhat after John Lennon and Yoko Ono, since everyone around them seems to think that Emily's undue influence on him is bringing him down both personally and professionally. When Hauser dies of a drug overdose, Emily - who earned some renown of her own as a music show hostess on an MTV-style interview show on French TV a decade or so back - is arrested for heroin possession and sentenced to six months in prison. Upon her release, she returns to Paris, agreeing not to have any contact with her son until she can kick her drug habit and make a decent life for herself.As a cautionary tale about drug addiction in the music business, "Clean" doesn't show us anything we haven't already seen in countless films (and VH-1 specials) on this very same subject before. Yet, although the movie is a bit too scattered in its focus at times, when it is zeroing in on the things that really matter - Emily's attempts at overcoming her addiction and her efforts at forging a meaningful relationship with her young son - it is poignant, profound and deeply touching. The movie is blessed with a pair of outstanding performances by Maggie Cheung as Emily and Nick Nolte as Hauser's father, a kindhearted soul who believes in forgiveness and who offers a helping hand to a woman whose life, despite all her best efforts, is constantly teetering on the edge of disaster. Their scenes together, as the two characters reveal their fears, insecurities and even tentative hopes to one another, are both spellbinding and breathtaking, and show us what fine movie acting is really all about.