Clean - Getting Off Drugs Without The Melodrama

Dec

8

Clean - Getting Off Drugs Without The Melodrama

≡ Category: Action, Drama, France, Highly Recommended, Movie Reviews |
≅ Written by: Michael Kydonieus

Country: United States
Genre: Drama/ Art
Director: Olivier Assayas
Year: 2004

Rating:

TRASH CINEMA HIGHLY RECOMMENDED MOVIE

Every once in a while, a movie surprises you with how good it is. I knew that Maggie Cheung, who stars in Clean, was an excellent actress, but Nick Nolte hasn’t given a decent performance in a long time. I was expecting another more of of his patented mannered, shambling, mumbling horseshit. As for writer/director Olivier Assayas, in the last movie of his I saw, Irma Vep, also starring Maggie Cheung, he managed to be both obscure and grating, although Cheung was certainly hot in that full length leather catsuit.

Clean is the story of how Emily Wang (Maggie Cheung), junkie and girlfriend of an aging and fairly obscure musician, has to start over when her boyfriend overdoses, weaning herself off drugs and creating a new life for herself from scratch, all so she has some hope of being involved in the life of her son. You see, her son Jay (James Dennis), is being taken care of by her boyfriend’s parents, Albrecht (Nick Nolte) and Rosemary (Martha Henry).

Since Clean is a French, independent movie, it’s not too surprising that it avoids melodrama, rank sentimentalism, absurd plot machinations, and the usual Hollywood bullshit. What is surprising is how straightforward and how free of self-indulgent noodling Olivier Assayas’ direction is. Assayas wisely decided that the best way to tell this story was to simply immerse us in Emily’s life with minimum of fuss. Mind you, the direction isn’t completely naturalistic. Assayas has cinematographer Eric Gautier follow Emily with a Steadicam, but the methodology always serves to get the audience to identify with Emily.

Again, it’s not surprising that Maggie Cheung is terrific as Emily. I think Cheung can do pretty much anything she puts her mind to. She is one of the world’s great actresses. But Nolte is another story. He’s been indulging in actorly tics so long that I thought he was incapable of giving a real performance anymore. But I’m happy to report that Nolte proved me wrong. He’s enormously sensitive and soulful as Albrecht. The character’s capacity for decency makes him seem like a candidate for sainthood, but Nolte makes it believable. The troika of excellent leading performances is completed by James Dennis, as the little boy, Jay. First off, the kid is adorable, but he can also act. This isn’t one of those precious Hollywood brat performances. Dennis comes off as a real little kid, albeit a very bright one.

Another excellent aspect of the production is the soundtrack. The music of Brian Eno is the perfect choice to augment the thoughtful, reflective style of the film.

It’s interesting. I was so wrapped up in these characters and their lives, I didn’t really care that much about the way the film ended. I would have been happy to hang out with these characters another half an hour or so.

I’ve got to be honest. The Trash Cinema Club readership is probably not the target audience for Clean. There is no sensationalism in the story whatsoever. Clean is an emotionally charged but level-headed gaze at one specific woman’s attempt to remake her life. It may not be trash, but it’s damned good.