Director Olivier Assayas is the first to admit that his movies don't play by the rules of conventional cinema. But the French filmmaker, whose latest project, "Boarding Gate," opens in limited release in Los Angeles Friday, says that in order to make sense of life in today's world, it's sometimes necessary to dispense with tradition.
"What I am trying to do is just define the new tools to make modern movies that deal with modern situations," Assayas said.
"Boarding Gate" completes a trilogy that has turned the notion of what makes a film "French" on its head, with Assayas trading stereotypical locales like garden parties and romantic cafes for a dizzying string of interconnected international locales. His globe-hopping, technology-laden world speaks directly to the disorientation that seems so endemic to modern life.
The earlier films in Assayas' trilogy -- "demonlover" (2002) and "Clean" (2004) -- were met with a critical reception that veered from the bewildered to the outright dismissive, but that kind of reaction doesn't seem to bother Assayas, himself a former movie critic.
"I think it's because ostensibly the films are breaking the rules of what French independent films should be," said the Paris-based director, speaking by phone from New York. "But that's what's interesting. It's the kind of chances you have to take, that's exactly what's exciting about cinema. You have art-house audiences who are angry because they think I'm going in the direction of mainstream filmmaking by using genre elements, like I'm going in the direction off making some kind of Hollywood movie. Which is so completely ridiculous."
It is difficult to imagine a major studio releasing "Boarding Gate." The story centers on a shady American businessman (Michael Madsen) living in Europe and the sometime mistress (Asia Argento) who goes on the run to Hong Kong. There's brief appearance by Kim Gordon of the band Sonic Youth (barking orders to lackeys in Cantonese, no less), as well as by Asian stars Kelly Lin and Carl Ng and by French starlet Joana Preiss.
The film, which includes no small amount of international intrigue and just a touch of kinky sex, has its origins in a newspaper article Assayas read regarding a wealthy French executive who was murdered during an S&M session.
