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Clean treads the familiar path of junkie rock star redemption stories but outshines previous efforts on this theme through an exceptional performance by Maggie Cheung, and a realistic depiction of the unglamorous life of an independent musician.  Lee Hauser (James Johnston) is an aging performer who seems to be taking style cues from Nick Cave, Emily (Maggie Cheung) is his junkie wife who is blamed by all his friends for stalling his career. It’s a classic Yoko Ono set up, complete with Asian girlfriend.  Director Olivier Assayas uses this basic narrative to create an opportunity for Maggie Cheung, who he has worked with before on 1996’s Irma Vep, to build on the restrained, yet emotionally deep, characters she created for many of Wong Kar-Wai’s films.

After Lee’s overdose and Emily’s imprisonment on related drug charges, she is released into an unwelcoming world of former business acquaintances and a plethora of Lee’s friends who blame her for his death. She drifts through the remnants of her former life in Paris, all the while emotionally handicapping herself with drugs. Friends desert her, former lovers toy with her desperate circumstance, and Lee’s famous friend (Tricky, playing himself) refuses to help in her attempt to reconnect with Lee’s family and her own son.

Cheung lacks any explosive moments, but her carefully crafted portrait of a woman on the verge of giving up, yet always finding the resolve to carry forth, defines Clean. At every turn Emily is rebuked or humiliated. She doesn’t appear to immediately want to raise her son on her own. It isn’t as if she is looking to him to give her purpose, or to use him to get herself back on track. This is the core of the movie. This is where the familiar narrative ends. Assayas and Cheung have created, gasp, a truly complex female character who is both selfish and responsible.  For much of the film she seems content to continue the lifestyle that killed her husband and alienated her from almost everyone she knows. This is not a place for her son, and she knows it. Slowly, only as every other door closes on her, she begins to transform from within. With her options of a music career fading, she resigns herself to working in a department store selling “clothes for the active woman with a sense of quality and value”.  She takes on this job as both a last resort, and as a way to begin leading the clean life of the film’s title. It is only at this point, when she is ready to fully commit to totally changing her life, that new opportunities begin to appear. She isn’t just dropping the drugs, but her entire outlook. When she finally begins feeling the desire to be a mother it comes out of a very healthy place. Cheung gives us a sense that, if possible, she will do it right. It’s not to say that Emily will not struggle with the ghosts of her past, just that she will be strong enough to remain a positive force, not because of her son, but for him.

Nick Nolte is pitch perfect as Albrecht Hauser the emotionally devastated father who is struggling to remain pragmatic. With his wife slowly fading away, and the business his son left undone piling up, he takes it upon himself to not only reintroduce Emily to her son, whom he has been caring for, but also allow her a window into a more stable life. The honest and forthright way he interacts with her, suspicious of her recent rehabilitation, yet hopeful for her salvation, defines his character. He is the only one in the entire film who treats her like a human being. He is being protective of Jay, his grandson, but he truly feels conflicted because his mother has a right to be with him. Everyone else in Emily’s life communicates with her as “Lee’s junkie wife”. Albrecht views her as “Jay’s mother”. He is so concerned with the welfare of his grandson that he is unwilling to give up on Emily without a fight. It isn’t that he is taking a personal interest in Emily, but in Jay. Albrecht is the only person that is giving Emily a way to remake herself. Her future with her son is totally dependent on her honesty with Albrecht, and thereby, with herself. In one pivotal scene between the two of them, her honesty is put to the test and it results in her rebirth as a decent person and mother. This sort of character is becoming Nolte’s calling card. He brings the same subdued presence to Clean that he demonstrated in the Polish brothers’ Northfork.

For a film concerned with the environment of rock n’ roll, music must become a dominating element. From the ambient score of Brian Eno classics to the casting of actual bands and musicians to play themselves, Assayas works hard to bring a sense of believability to the film. The feeling that this is a working and sincere environment, is the platform that the fmaily melodrama is built on.  The multilingual, multinational nature of the world of Clean has also been previously explored in Assayas’ Demonlover, although to a less realistic effect. In both films the director is attempting to reflect the growing global nature of human existence. A life spent growing up in North America, traveling to Europe, working in Asia, digesting media and entertainment from the world over. This is becoming more commonplace everyday. Even the casting of world citizen Maggie Cheung is a tool the director is using to explore this theme. In Demonlover these ideas are well fleshed out, but since the film seethes with a “near future” atmosphere it carries less impact. The idea of one global culture with people speaking many languages still seems a sci-fi dream on the level of Michael Winterbottom’s Code 46. With Clean, however, this idea seems not only possible, but very real and immediate. For those of us not living in Europe, it can be hard to imagine Emily as a globe trotting everywoman, yet this type of life does exist.

Clean emerges as a creative blend of Olivier Assayas recent theme of global culture and a traditional family in crisis drama. These two elements are explored within the well constructed context of a lifestyle built around music. The clear vision and strong writing of Clean, together with a great performance from Cheung makes this more than your typical story about a rock n’ roll life gone awry. Although it retains some of its narrative familiarity it stands apart from similar movies.

I recently watched the entire Pusher trilogy. I'm not sure if I'm ready review it. what can I say? It was very good. Not at all what i expected from Danish film, but then again, what do I know of Danish film besides Lars Von Trier. Refn has achieved something great with these films. Together they tell the story of one drug circle through 3 main characters who show up in each film through direct link or reference. I don't know. Is, "greatest drug film  I've seen since Goodfellas" too much? It's odd how a series of movies that show the utter hopelessness and futility of a life involed with drugs can make you want to do a shit ton of coke.

I’ve always found the idea that Ralph Nader cost the Democrats the white house in 2000 to be especially repugnant and naïve. If the Democratic Party couldn’t muster a solid win against George W Bush it can only blame itself. At the risk of beginning a long and troubled rant on modern politics I’ll turn my attention to the film that endeavors to shed light on one of the most influential Americans of the last half century.

From his work as a pioneering consumer advocate for automobile safety to his push for a political reawakening, An Unreasonable Man uses stock footage, new interviews, and classic Nader quips to create a compelling and informative documentary akin to Errol Morris’ The Fog of War. The film tries very hard to follow the structure of Morris’ best work, but it throws so many talking heads at you that it soon begins to blur. The overly dramatic music doesn’t help either. At times the music dominates interviews and overwhelms some very interesting pieces of information, coloring them so heavily that any subtlety is lost. The effect is that the viewer is not invited to draw their own conclusions. With cheesy animation and unrelenting voiceover the film jumps from point to point ramming them home without a moment for seriousness of topics to settle in.

Structuring anomalies aside, An Unreasonable Man features interviews with Nader and some of the best political minds alive. What emerges is a portrait of a man with a clear moral center, and the determination to hold others accountable. As the decades and personal crusades tick by, Nader’s image grows with his ego. Rightly so, many would say, because he has been instrumental in helping to organize generations of environmentally conscious voters.

Today Ralph Nader is remembered as an electoral curio that some hold responsible for everything from Bush’s win to the war in Iraq. This film illuminates the past of a man who fought for automobile safety, worked to reform the Federal Trade Commission, and became our greatest consumer advocate. An Unreasonable Man does an excellent job as a biographic documentary. While it isn’t as engaging as some of the best films in this genre, it is nonetheless fascinating. Its power to enthrall comes entirely from the life of its subject.