In a Nutshell. Mini reviews of movies old and new. No fuss. No spoilers. And often no sleep.

Friday 21 February 2014

Clean (2004)

The almost unbearable handheld in-your-face close-ups give way eventually to a character study of a woman struggling to get her life back after a crippling drug habit leaves her broken and alone.
Emily (Maggie Cheung) is the only constant in a sea of people giving other people the run-around. Her emotions do the same to her, but her motivations, which are purposefully kept semi-hidden, are bedrock for her to fall back on. Sometimes all it takes is for someone to believe in you.
It’s as happy as it sounds, but it was good to see Maggie keep her feet on the ground and get an opportunity to really act. She does it well, and in three different languages. Plus, Nick Nolte is superb.

3½ liner notes out of 5

2 comments:

cuckoo said...

I like Maggie. Haven't heard of this. Will definitely seek it out.

I haven't seen her in anything in many a year.

What happened to her?

To the Google-mobile.

Dr Faustus said...

Maggie's great. She's the reason I gave it a watch.
She hasn't did much film in the past 10 years for some reason.

She was married to the director of this one but they'd split a few years before the film was made.