Depression Is The Inability To Construct A Future: Side Effects (2013)

If it were not for the absolutely amazing and impeccable work being put out by Paul Thomas Anderson I would be in line to call Steven Soderbergh the best director currently working in film.  Always consistent and always pushing his limitations the rather unfortunate news that he is considering retirement is of great concern to film critics and cinephiles the world over, especially since he is making a conscience decision to move onto other non-film related endeavors.  Given his keen concern for perfection I am sure his next ventures will be met with much success, but it is still a bummer to think about, especially since films like Contagion and Bubble have received high praise and are certainly among some of my favorite films of their respective years, and I am a defendant of both The Informant! and Magic Mike as being highly underrated, yet keenly engaging films.  In fact, Soderbergh as a filmmaker represented on this blog is just short of the recently reviewed Kim Ki-duk for having the most films in which I have written full reviews.  Where Soderbergh does seem to be winning is in the area of receiving the most comparisons, scrolling through some of my past reviews it is rather clear that I associate a certain sort of deep focus minimalism with the director and deservedly so because he continually delivers a high quality product in a packaging that is clearly distinguishable as his own.  This is certainly not an exception for his most recent film Side Effects, which comprises itself of a handful of actors Soderbergh has relied on in the past and visually defines his auteur status, even if this proves to be his last film, aside of course for his highly anticipated HBO movie, Behind the Candelabra which is about, of all things, Liberace, a subject so sensitive that it could only work in the delicate surgeon-like hands of Soderbergh.  If Side Effects proves to be his final feature film then so be it, while it will certainly not stand to be his best work, it is still an exercise in excellent filmmaking and takes a plot with twists and deception and never allows viewers any moments to reside if comfort.  I was one of two people in the theater watching this movie, but when a certain, very violent scene occurred I was aware of my own gasps of astonishment, as well as those of the other person.  Unsettling would be the word to describe these moments, but considering that it is generally an absolutely bleak and stark film, one could never really define the viewing experience as welcoming.

Side Effects in all its multi-person narrative centers on two main figures, the first being Emily Taylor (Rooney Mara) a woman who is suffering from various degrees of psychotic breakdowns as a direct result of losing her illustrious and well-to-do lifestyle after the arrest of her husband Martin (Channing Tatum) after being found guilty for insider trading.  She is happy about his release from prison, but when the stress proves too much she drives herself into the wall of a parking garage, thus leading to her being hospitalized for suicidal tendencies.  It is there that she meets the doctor on duty, psychiatrist Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) whose hopes of finding success and a great future for his fiancee and her daughter have led him to take up extended shifts, as well as agreeing to more work with experimental pharmaceuticals.  However, when a combination of anti-depressents and anti-sleepwalking medicine lead to Emily violent stabbing her husband, Jonathan's involvement with the girl is put into question, especially since it appears as though he was solely responsible for the misdiagnosis and its subsequent fatal results.  In the process, Emily's former psychiatrist Victoria Siebert (Catherine Zeta-Jones) steps prominently into the picture spouting advice and opinions about Emily's past mental issues.  When it becomes evident that Victoria has her own interests at heart and that Emily is consistently attempting to undermine Jonathan's well being, he takes it upon himself to delve deeper into the case and prove that his actions were not to be blamed for Emily's terrible acts.  Of course, the added burden of this preoccupation with innocence leads to his being chastised for poor performance at work, which causes his fiancee to question his motives, only worsened when a set of compromising pictures surface, suggesting that Emily and Jonathan had a relationship that extended beyond patient/client lines.  This last form of loss leads Jonathan to throw everything at proving his innocence, an act that proves beneficial, although incredibly trying for the young doctor, however, he proves that deception is afoot and that proving one's sanity may well be more difficult than arguing for their insanity.

Much like his stellar film Contagion, or any film by Soderbergh that focuses on a specific subject, Side Effects deals with the world of prescription drugs, to be specific anti-depressants, in a near ethnographic manner.  The low key manner of his filmmaking and concern for story and character over visual flair leads one to constantly have to remind themselves that what they are watching is indeed fictional and far from full truths.  Perhaps this works exceptionally well in regards to this film, because it is decidedly concerned with the frail line between reality and illusion and to what degree one can cross those lines in the name of escapism or self-preservation.  At various points throughout the film each of the main characters engages in their various forms of deception, each with their own ulterior motives and desires, it is not a question of the ethics of the act of lying or purposefully deceiving the world, because as many Soderbergh films have done in the past, this is a relational issue.   People in the world of his films, and, to some degree, the world outside the theaters, are prone to deception as long as it assures the happiness of those around them.  I would be hard pressed to find even the most sanctimonious of people who do not lie in the face of despair or sadness to push towards the possibility of happiness.  This certainly seems to be the case for the relationship between Emily and Martin, they had an entire life of all they desired predicated upon high degrees of lying and deception and when the light is thrown upon this lie, it is hard to maintain the performance even in the most intimate of settings.  As such, Side Effects brilliantly captures the world of pharmaceuticals to great detail, but that is only the surface commentary of the film, because at a much deeper level Soderbergh seems intent on considering how we use drugs, and the chemical deception they provide to mask our delusional view of the world around us, as well as an excuse to actually go of the deep end when it proves advantageous.  To the world of Side Effects, drugs are a secondary problem to the general acceptance of lying for sanity's sake.

Key Scene:  Soderbergh goes Hitchcock via a Psycho style scene and boy was it intense to watch on the big screen.

This is a great film and considering that it could be his last theatrical release, I feel as though you owe it to yourself and the great auteur to seek it out at your local cinema.

Here's To Our Kids, May Their Parents Be Fucking Rich: Magic Mike (2012)

I am a huge fan of Steven Soderbergh, offering favorable reviews in the past year to both his blockbuster epidemic film Contagion, as well as his low-fi study of anger and isolation in a small town community via Bubble.  The director has received a high degree of very deserved praise for his seamless ability to transfer from big-budget films to small independent works repeatedly, often more than once in the same year, however, these worlds rarely ever crossed and viewers were either given star-studded spectacular bits of film, or a movie whose actors were all incredibly amateur in their delivery.  Then came one of the most unusual films in the directors oeuvre to date, Magic Mike, which gained a footing and reputation all its own, simply for choosing to focus on the life of male strippers.  So much was made of the film being "female-oriented" that it certainly failed to gain the reputation and respect it so blatantly deserved.  Firstly, Soderbergh manages to capture a world quite unfamiliar to many individuals, not to mention without any clear biases, one way or another.  Also, and much to my elation, Magic Mike manages to blend these two previously divided worlds of Soderbergh's films, in that we have bit time actors such as Matthew McConaughey and Channing Tatum, as well as lesser known performers whose only notable roles came through brief television appearances, as such the film exudes a display that manages to capture the monotony and tragedy of day-to-day struggles irregardless of lifestyle choices, as well as the showy and over-the-top nature of the sexually fueled world of male dance reviews.  Furthermore, as seems to be the case so many times in the works of Soderbergh, particularly in the case of something like Traffic, viewers are given more than one narrative to congests and while they are all invariably tied together, it is clear that individual desires and internal struggles emerge, often in explosive and intense ways.  It is nearly tragic the level of dismissive rhetoric thrown at Magic Mike simply because of its subject matter, hell if people can muster up the courage to watch more than one masculine oriented Expendables film, there is absolutely no excuse not to check out the much superior film by a well-established auteur.

Magic Mike, as the title suggests focuses mainly on the life of Mike (Channing Tatum) a construction worker and furniture designer, who also happens to moonlight as a male dancer to pay for some debt occurred prior to the film's beginning, his stage name is the title's sake, although he is not the owner of the bar in which he performs, instead he relies on the guidance and somewhat sly business ways of aging performer Dallas (Matthew McConaughey) who clearly has a devious past that fails ever to be mentioned.  During one day of construction, Mike meets Adam (Alex Pettyfer) a down-and-out young guy who for one reason or another has resorted to taking up residence on his sister Brooke's (Cody Horn) couch.  Realizing rather quickly that he might prove decent at the job of being a dancer, Mike pull strings to get Adam into the revue, under the name of The Virgin Kid.  After a rather bold, but fortuitous first showing, Dallas agrees to allow Adam to train with the crew, eventually leading to his becoming a regular fixture in the revue.  All of this occurs, much to the disdain of Brooke who concerns herself with the dangerous lifestyle associated with late nights and heavy sexual activity, all the while dealing with the growing advances of Mike who becomes quickly infatuated with Brooke.  The life proves a bit problematic for Adam who cannot handle the constant drinking and drug use, eventually blowing a large amount of money on a sketchy drug trafficking deal, one that blows up in his face when he leaves his entire stash at a sorority party that turns sour after Adam gives a girl an ecstasy pill.  The large loss of money and a failure to gain money for Dallas leads to a falling out between the veteran performer and Mike who is tired of working in the unappreciative shadow of Dallas.  Refusing to subject himself to the lifestyle, Mike leaves bitterly on their last night in Tampa, but not before taking care of Adam's debts.  He then stops off at the house of Brooke to beg a few moments of conversation, however, Brooke is well aware of the aid he provided her brother and invites him in for much more than light discussion.  We are led to assume that their romance will succeed and that Mike will discover a way to pursue his dreams without subjecting himself to a less than desirable lifestyle.

As noted earlier and constantly joked about on various blogs, Facebook posts and Twitter updates, Magic Mike was jokingly (or perhaps not) condemned for making heavy use of the semi-nude, if not entirely nude male body.  When one considers film theory, particularly feminist film theory this provides for an unusual moment, because as many know Laura Mulvey coined the term of "The Male Gaze" to explain the pleasure men earned from gazing upon the female body in cinema.  She of course used Marilyn Monroe as her example and led to an entire academic discourse on notions of the female objectified in cinema.  This ideal proved to dominate the manner in which individuals discussed and created cinema well into the 2000's, perhaps not really changing until Daniel Craig's James Bond stepped out of water in a noticeably revealing Speedo, completely reverting notions of who is to be "gazed upon" in a film.  Of course, this occurrence is rarely discussed and has proved to disappear in newer works in the franchise.  Yet, we cannot ignore the means by which Magic Mike does similar acts, we are certainly shown the male form in a sexualized manner, often close-ups on the various actors butts, abs and genitalia, Soderbergh goes so far as to show one performer's penis as it is being made artificially erect by a air pump.  Viewers are asked then to consider their own relationships to gaze in cinema, because for the reactionary males who found the concept of Magic Mike to be inherently gay seem to remind society that the critiques Mulvey posited nearly forty years ago still ring true, it had just become an assumed thing that the female body was acceptable for a depiction of nudity and sexuality and that the male body was not to be subjected to such things.  In fact, the Motion Pictures Association of America still seems squeamish to allow for full-frontal male nudity to be shown in films, often slapping films with an NC-17 rating for such acts.  The fact that Soderbergh chose such a subject shows his willingness not only to tackle the more unknown lifestyles in America, but too that he wants viewers to consider their own objective relationship with cinema, it truly is a slyly brilliant work by the ever interesting director.

Key Scene:  The "It's Raining Men" scene is some rather stellar choreography in so much that it allows viewers to understand the dynamic of the groups characters, both in the overly committed manner of Mike, compared to some of his more drug-fueled colleagues that struggle to keep up pace with the young dancer.  It works both on a action level, as well as a metaphorical one, much praise should be given to Alison Faulk for her subtle and brilliant choreography.

The bluray was a pseudo-blind buy for me, in that I intended to rent this, but damn if it was not quite good and well worth owning, although perhaps renting is appropriate for those who may still be hesitant to watch a film about male strippers.

It's About Time You Start Telling The Truth: Bubble (2005)

I am sure my love for the experimental in filmmaking has come through on more than one occasion here on the blog, just as my adoration for Steven Soderbergh's The Girlfriend Experience, however, I for some reason had managed to completely overlook his earlier work Bubble for quite some time, which is a minor tragedy because the film is incredibly profound and quite intense.  As Soderbergh often does, Bubble dances very eerily between the world of documentary non-fiction and cinematic fiction, considering that it is an artistic film that happens to incorporate everything one demarcates as being cinematically sound.  The film is at once both absurdist theatre and tragic reality, but exists in such a vacuum of immediacy that one finds the ending emerging while still trying to comprehend the films opening scenes.  It is hard not to quickly place a film like Bubble in with the works of Dogme 95, however, where this movement pushes towards conceptualizations of filmmaking over what is being said, Soderbergh simply enjoys making experiential pieces, in which what is being said, as well as how it is being said play equal parts in the manifestation of his often eccentric and dark social commentaries. Bubble is beautiful in its starkness and watchable in the far off possibility that something this bizarre could indeed occur.

Bubble centers on life in an unspecified American factory town, in which everyone is working class.  The narrative focuses specifically on Martha (Debbie Doebereiner) an overweight woman, who occasionally offers unwanted opinions to those around her between spraying eyes and lips onto dolls.  She serves as a chaffier and voluntary maternal figure to Kyle (Dustin James Ashley) a overworked young man who takes on the burden of a sick mother and the bills in what appears to be a single parent household.  Thingis in Martha and Kyle's world are not inspiring by any means and are, in fact, rather dull until the factory hires a new girl named Rose (Misty Wilkins) who instantly becomes the point of affection for Kyle, desite Martha's rather blatant misgivings.  Despite her concerns, Rose and Kyle go out on a date to a local bar, only for the two to return Kyle's place for a bit of chit-chat, all the while Martha has been stuck wathing Martha's kid from another relationship.  While returning it becomes clear that Rose is being followed by an ex-boyfriend who confronts he after Kyle's departure an act that occurs in front of Martha, who tries to put in her two cents before going home for the night.  The next day brings shock as it is discovered that Rose is dead.  All roads appear to lead to either Kyle, or Rose's pothead ex-boyfriend, however, as the filmmaker would have it, another character emerges in the last moments that completely undermine the entire set of assumptions

The honesty in Bubble is almost impossible to watch, whether it be the stagnant camera or the monotonous tones of the actors, everything in the film adds to the droning nature of the narrative.  Furthermore, a film that outright claims to be a crime story, spends a considerable amount of time focusing on the introduction and going-ons of the characters, particularly the inner-turmoil of Martha who is shown in church as well as engaged in longing gazes directed towards Kyle and his new female friend.  Soderbergh, in a moment of either accident or brilliance, incorporates images of working class identity has the characters continually drinking and eating from fast food chains, implying a general lack of physical health, which will in turn drastically affect mental health within the film's world.  Furthermore, the lines delivered clearly have a forcedness to them, but not in an obnoxious way, but in a manner to add validity to what is being said, considering that in the narratives of reality one is constantly at a loss for words.  This loss of voice is quite important to a film like Bubble in that so much of it is awkward pauses between characters, are real occurrence yet it rarely happens in a cinematic piece, even one with a decidedly indie or cinema veritae feel.  Not to mention this film does a lot with gender, religion and escapism as they relate to working class America.

Key Scene:  The moment with Martha in church is human tragedy on a poetic level.

Bubble, like many of the director's films, is currently on Netflix Watch Instantly and is well worth one's time to check out.  It is a complete reconceptualizing of crime thrillers and a success in "big-budget" experimental film.

They're Just Flying Around, Looking Dangerous, Getting By On Their Looks: The Informant! (2009)

I remember hearing about this film during an NPR interview and being instantly intrigued by how bizarre the film sounded.  At that point in time, I was not quite versed enough in film to associate the work with director Steven Soderbergh, despite having seen all the Ocean's movies and even owning his genius comedy Schizopolis.  When watching this film I could not get over how absurdly fictitious the film was, yet so incredibly believable.  I assumed it to be some excellent fabrication of all the worst problems in The United States as seen by Soderbergh.  This was how I was feeling until the film ended and I realized that it was by no mean fictitious, but indeed a very real story, on that had occurred right underneath Americans noses in the nineties.  What is delivered with a film like The Informant! is a story so fantastical and reprehensible that a viewer can only make light of it, for to take such a story serious would be an incredibly depressing endeavor.  I want to refer to the film as a piece of conspiracy cinema, because it is so entrenched in a anti-government paranoia, yet the fact of the matter is that the main character was deserved in his concerns for he was legitimately engaging in illegal behavior.  Perhaps it is Matt Damon's excellent performance or the possibility that the film only works in the crafty hands of Steven Soderbergh, but damn if this is not one of the most overlooked films of 2009.

The films focus is on Mark Whitacre (Matt Damon) a wholesome agricultural engineer turned businessman at Illinois based business ADM.  A pedantic, walking encyclopedia, Mark discovers that his company is engaging in illegal price fixing affairs and draws this to the attention of his superiors.  Rather confused by the claim, Mark's superiors take his accusations seriously and bring in the FBI to begin an investigation.  The FBI agents, played spot on by Scott Bakula and Joel McHale begin questioning a considerably helpful staff at ADM only to be informed by Mark that his superiors are indeed lying to the government.  At this point, the agents recruit Mark to help with their investigation as a sort of inside man to the going-ons of ADM on a global scale, particularly their relations with their Asian affiliates who appear to be the most active in the price gouging.  As the case grows bigger so do Mark's accusations and inabilities, when asked to provide specific details or to tap conversations Mark consistently evades the tasks, claiming that he either cannot perform the task or has obtained a sudden loss of memory to a situation.  Faltering between incredibly jovial behavior and insanity Mark clearly suffers from delusions of grandeur, which come to fruition when it is realized by an investigator at the now closed ADM that Mark himself had been engaging in his own illicit monetary scams and had indeed used the entire gouging accusation as a distraction for his own transferring of funds to the tune of nearly ten million dollars.  Even when Mark is faced with the blatant facts that he has committed serious fraud he smiles and claims that his actions were rather arbitrary compared to his superiors.  When told that their actions were indeed fabricated and that he would have to spend time in jail, Mark becomes furious and claims that he was nothing more than a puppet for the FBI.  In his fury, he attempts to bring down the agents he aided, by claiming they assaulted him and is successful in removing one of them from service before being jailed.  The film closes with an interview with Mark from a decade later as he is leaving federal prison, in the interview Mark asks for a presidential pardon for his unjust criminal record and claims innocence from all wrongdoing.  The film then closes with an explanation that it was later realized that Mark swindled a larger amount of money than even the government initially realized.  It is a stellar display of the many faces of corruption, which at times can be incredibly friendly.

I am tempted to go into detail on corruption and big business as it is one of the integral themes of the film and obviously a large concern for Soderbergh, however, I feel as though the film speaks to this a great deal and to elaborate would be redundant.  Instead, I want to discuss the casting choices for the film as they help to elucidate the absurdity for which Soderbergh's film attempts to portray.  Excluding Matt Damon, who is simply an excellent actor and the character of Ginger Whitacre played by Melanie Lynskey, better known for playing opposite Kate Winslett in Heavenly Creatures, the cast is meant to be comedic.  Actors like Tony Hale, Patton Oswalt and Joel McHale comprise the film, not necessarily, because they are excellent at acting overall, but because they are capable of committing to images and actions that are so far gone from logic without the slightest inclination of it being ridiculous.  One only needs to think of Tony Hale as Buster Bluth to realize how good Hale is at delivering the absurd, which is what allows him to play Mark's lawyer with equal parts ease and theatrics, without the entire performance seeming forced.  The viewer will instantly feel for Hale's character that is simply attempting to defend a crazed man, but has only begun to realize how truly gone his defendant has become.  Even the choice of Scott Bakula as Special Agent Brian Shepard is intentional, because as viewers will instantly recognize him as Quantum Leap's Sam Beckett.  Given the rather unconventional plot of the sci-fi show, it is no surprise that Bakula brings an earnestness to the character of Shepard despite the narratives seeming unconventionality.  As a character, Shepard is asked to believe some rather implausible things, and Bakula makes this seem easy.  With all this being said a large amount of the praise should be given to Matt Damon for his performance.  The film is easily one of the highlights of his career and it is a shame Damon was beat out by a handful of serious films for a Best Actor nod.

The Informant! is a fine example of the multiple faces of Soderbergh as a director.  It is easily his funniest film and a refreshing contrast to his more conventional Hollywood releases.  I cannot urge you enough to get your own copy.