Clean

[Jive Turkey]

I saw this at the Cinematheque in Youmadi in HK a couple of days ago. Maggie Cheung plays the lead role; she won an award for it at Cannes. It isn't actually a Chinese film. It is set in Canada, Paris and London.

Cheung's character, Emily, is the common law wife of a washed up rock star. They are both heroin junkies. At the beginning of the film, her husband dies of an overdose and she goes to jail for possession of narcotics. The rest of the film is about her trying to go straight and get her son back.

I'm a big Maggie Cheung fan and I really liked her in In the Mood for Love. Her performance in Clean was something completely different. I can't imagine her ever playing such a role in a HK film. Clean is actually not popular in HK; it's only being shown in two theatres.

Cheung's French ex-husband wrote the film with the intention of her doing the lead role. That figures. She was very convincing. I can't imagine anyone else playing the part better than she did. That's kind of surprising considering that I had never seen her play such a role before. I wouldn't mind seeing her in more non-Hong Kong films.

Nick Nolte also stars in the film. He plays a very convincing grandfather. He was the only other actor I recognized, but some of the French actors may be well known in France.

I'd give this films five stars. Has anyone else seen it? Has this been in many theatres in other countries?

[Jack MacKelly]

I didn't watch this one yet, it sounds good

[wix]

I watched this on DVD last night. It was a great film. I was totally engrossed for two hours even though part of the dialogue was in French and Cantonese and there were no subtitles!!! Maggie Cheung is brilliant and she carries the film. Nick Nolte is another great actor who contributes a lot to the film.

According to IMDb Maggie Cheung has not made a new film since Clean in 2046 which was released in 2004. Is this correct?