Released in 2007 and utilizing a very experimental series of camera effects, editing, and angles, the director of this film, Julian Schnabel brings the viewer into the same feeling of paralysis, entrapment, isolation, and claustrophobia that one might feel if placed into the same position. We see the world in the first-person perspective of Jean-Do, as he prefers to be called, as played by Mathieu Amalric as he is assisted by the saint-like patience of his speech therapist Henriette Durand (Marie-Josee Croze) and his doctors and family, the viewer is able to share the same feelings of depression, isolation, hopelessness and deep regret so eloquently captured to film by Schnabel.

Jean-Do is able to blink and with work, begins to use a system with his speech therapist where he can blink to stop her recital of the alphabet on the letter he wishes to use, and in this way is first able to form words, then phrases, sentences, paragraphs and finally with a lot of practice and a lot of patience he is able to painstakingly dictate his story using this system into a book which he names The Diving Bell and the Butterfly.

Emerging from the depths of depression and self-pity, the viewer accompanies Jean-Do as he makes the most of what he has left in his life: his imagination, his memories, and his eye. The touching story would almost be a cliched tale of a man who suffers an immense loss and then struggles to make the best of it, except that this story is actually true! It is an inspiring tale, which makes for a fantastically satisfying viewing experience for the viewer and an immensely successful cinematic endeavour for its cast and crew in completing a movie that may rank among the best films of all-time. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly is a great story and a great film which I can easily encourage everyone to view, without reservation!

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Le Scaphandre et le papillon, 2007

I have about six reviews nearly ready for publication, so look for those soon as I get back into my regular schedule of a review every other day or so.  Thanks for your patience!

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RSS issues settled and new computer arrives

A world-famous, celebrity virtual reality game designer named Allegra Geller (Jennifer Jason Leigh) is unveiling a demonstration of her newest game at a private, focus group meeting. The game works off of a biological, non-sentient machine called a pod, which plugs into a bio-port, looking very much like an organic opening at the base of a person’s spine. Ted Pikul (Jude Law) is a marketing guy from the game’s company and when the game session is about to begin, a late-comer unveils a weapon made entirely from bone and which shoots teeth (thus rendering it invisible to metal detectors) and attempts to assassinate Geller, Pikul is the one who rushes her from the scene, injured, but alive and the two of them try to unravel what is going on and whether or not the game has survived the attack also.

The narrative is multilayered with each narrative being entered and exited as it each were a game, leaving the viewer confused as to which level is actually reality and which is a fantasy generated for them. So realistic has the game development become that groups of extremists view it as a threat to the human race akin to heroin; able to wrench people from reality and their own lives and let them exist in a fictional, but convincing fantasy for as long as they like and with such a setup, addiction is easy and very difficult to combat.

Cronenberg’s typical Luddite view towards technology has been a cornerstone of his work, but interestingly, eXistenZ is a bit of a departure from outright condemnation and combines with it very strong cyberpunk and science fiction themes. The predominant theme of the movie is where will our development of artificial realities stop and at what cost to ourselves? It asks whether we are willing to keep progressing without limits until we become unable to discern reality from the artificial environments we create; a kind of engineered schizophrenia that seems like it may be inevitable given how quickly technology is advancing and how little understanding those with the power to put into place limits on such advancement allows the development to continue without any hindrance or caution.

The film is aesthetically pleasing to the viewer and won a number of awards for editing, production design, and costume design. The sets and scenes are entirely convincing in the same way that the sets and scenes in other movies featuring artificially generated realities are convincing. It also reminds the viewer of the concept of lucid dreaming, whereby a person practices focus and attention to the point where they are able to consciously interact with, and control, their own dreams, for their own amusement.

eXistenZ is a fantastic movie from Cronenberg and the performances from Jennifer Jason Leigh and Jude Law are remarkable If not for 1999 being a year filled with huge hits, blockbusters and massively popular independent films, the title may be more familiar to the general public, but since it’s not, it’s a great film to recommend to others and I heartily recommend watching it, or rewatching it, as the case may be.

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eXistenZ, 1999

It was also brought to my attention that the RSS feed has not been updating itself, and after some checking, I think I’ve determined the cause and rectified it. Thanks for your patience!

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Lack of reviews and RSS feed

On a subway, a clerk named Irene has her fortune told by a kindly old woman as she is seated by two strangers. The horoscope is for her birthday, which is March 11, 1977, and the old woman tells her that today is the day during which she will meet her true love.

Irene gets off on the next stop and the man who had been seated next to the old woman exclaims to her that that is also his birthday and the old woman confirms that this means his horoscope is the same. The young man looks in bewilderment as the doors have closed on the subway car and he can only watch as Irene walks away.

Throughout the course of the day easily more than a dozen different small, simple events happen which cause major changes to their environments. A head of lettuce, for example, falls off of a truck and causes a major car accident. An old woman attempts to return a defective coffee maker to the store, but they will not accept it, so she gives in and leaves the store with it. Overhearing the conversation a man decides that this is completely unacceptable and steals a coffee maker, which he delivers to the woman in the street apologizing on the store’s behalf.

Before the day is through two very similar facial wound dressings will too make their simple existence perform an extraordinary thing by bringing two people back together. It is a whimsical movie filled with romance and comedy, though the romance and the comedy are typically separated so I’m hesitant to call this a romantic comedy.

It is a simple French film featuring a fantastic actress and a great writer/director and if you have access to do so, see it. Happenstance will brighten your day and may make you wonder about the simple things that happen to you and what major effects they may have on others later on.

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Happenstance (Battement d’ailes du papillon, Le), 2000

Monty Brogan (Edward Norton) was a major drug dealer involved with the Russian mafia who was busted when one of his associates turned him in to the DEA. He was convicted and is now facing seven years in federal prison and is trying to use his last hours of freedom to rekindle old ties, say his goodbyes, vent his frustrations, reminiscence about his life and celebrate what freedom he has left.

Monty suspects his loyal girlfriend Naturelle Riviera (Rosario Dawson) of being the one who turned him into the DEA and has a slight problem trusting her as of late. They live together in a nice apartment in Manhattan with Monty’s a dog, a fighting dog who he found one night abandoned to die after being beaten and burned.

Monty’s two best friends, Jacob Elinsky (Philip Seymour Hoffman), a teacher at a private school who is self-loathing, introverted and is fed in part by a restricted, but large trust fund, and Frank Slaughtery (Barry Pepper) a crass stockbroker for whom the only thing that matters is money are both friends from childhood, and, along with Naturelle, want to see that Monty’s last night of freedom is a celebration.

Monty visits his father James Brogan (Brian Cox) for a steak at his father’s restaurant and pub, which is what is securing the bond to ensure Monty remains free until entering prison. They discuss their lives and Monty’s father suggests, strongly, that Monty just leave and go to a far-away place and not contact anyone. He should do what he needs to do to run under the radar and then, maybe in a few years, he can contact Naturelle, and have her come out to live with him and start a family and then one day he can tell them a story about how all of this came so close to never having become.

Monty excuses himself and goes to the bathroom where on a mirror is written “Fuck You,” to which Monty provides one of the greatest cinematic monologues in history exposing all of the seedy parts of the under-belly of New York City and all its faults before, finally, he imagines his reflection saying to him, “No, fuck you, you had it and you threw it all away.”

Monty’s plans for his time (and what he will do on his 25th Hour) then are to meet up with Frank, Jacob, and Naturelle and party the night away in a very popular nightclub owned by the Russian mafia boss who Monty has refused to testify against. Before enjoying the party, his guests are shown to a private VIP booth and Monty goes to the offices to meet with his dealer. They understand each other: if Monty talks his father dies; if Monty doesn’t talk, the dealer offers advice on how to survive in prison. And finally, perhaps as a present, and perhaps as a favor, he presents Monty’s muscle-man who is revealed to have actually been the one who set up Monty and the dealer gives Monty a gun and tells him to kill him.

Monty returns to the party, has a great time, and then he, Frank, and Jacob go to a park, where Monty reveals his secret plan to help himself through his time at the prison, which is both shocking and logical. The film ends ambiguously with the viewer never knowing for sure if Monty went through with his plans and then went to prison, or if he took his father’s advice and gave himself a fresh start.

25th Hour is has a racist tinge to it, but to all races and ethnicities that inhabit New York City, including upper-class white people, and is a fantastic movie deserving of far more awards and praise and certainly your viewing time.

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25th Hour, 2002

It is a remarkable movie in its realistic portrayal of the battle, the wounds, the camaraderie among the troops, the effects on morale by a seemingly uncaring American public and a battle in which the objective seems like an impossible thing to win. One character, Webster, signed-on for another tour of duty after seeing his bartender turn to heroin to deal with the death of his son in the war and the subsequent calls from anti-war activists to his home taunting him and telling him how glad his son was dead. He had arrived at the airport where hippies gave him bags of dog feces, and returned to his home to find his wife sleeping with another man. He signs on for another tour of duty because he feels it is right and because he wants revenge against those who he perceives as fighting against the men fighting for them.

Another soldier has his long-time girlfriend send him a letter telling him that she will no longer write to him because her college friends have told her it is immoral.

The story telling is realistic and the special effects are graphic, but basic and very effectively capture the very harsh and dim realities of such a war, its casualties and the loss of humanity suffered as a result.

In between air bombings with napalm on the enemy soldiers, this squad keeps trying to get up this hill of less than 1,000 meters height, but its steepness and the determination and skill of its defenders finds them receiving massive casualties.

Through all of this realism, in terms of combat, how troops were being treated, the tactics employed, and how the was fought, the sense of camaraderie and brotherhood that develops between the soldiers is both touching and gut-wrenching because most of those bonds end up broken by one of the two in the relationship holding the shredded remains of his comrade in his arms as he is urged to continue fighting up the hill.

Hamburger Hill features a number of famous American actors in their very first feature-length films including Don Cheadle as Private Washburn, Dylan McDermott as Sergeant Frantz, Courtney B. Vance as Doc Johnson, and Steven Weber as Worcester. All the performances mentioned were fantastic, but the performance by Courtney B. Vance is especially compelling because, acting as the squad’s medic and as the informal spokesman for the black soldiers, he is forced to deal with issues of race, class, wealth, education, opportunities, and through it all, the leveling of the field when everyone around you is in the same danger of death or injury as any other.

Platoon, Apocalypse Now, and Full Metal Jacket get a lot of well-deserved attention both for being fantastic films, but also for telling the story of the way, but it is ultimately Hamburger Hill, which tells the story of the men and their treatment in one subset of the war that is perhaps the most personal, most complete, and most realistic overall.

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Hamburger Hill, 1987

With little notice, the crew is given notice that they must assemble and depart to distant part of the solar system for a classified mission and that they will be briefed upon arrival by Dr. Weir. Weir explains that a ship called the Event Horizon, which disappeared seven years ago during an experiment with its gravitational drive system, was not lost as virtually everyone in the world believed. Upon activation of the drive, which is said to fold space-time until they exist in a single-point and then travel instantaneously from any point in the universe to any other. Weir knows all of this because he was designer of the ship and its drive and fervently believes it must be salvaged. Its sudden reappearance is shocking to the crew and their mission is to determine where it’s been and what happened to the original crew.

Questions of religion and the possible existence of alternative dimensions begins circulating as the crew begin to hallucinate what can only be their worst nightmares and memories, but unlike hallucinations, there is feeling: heat, cold, etc. Something is very wrong.

When Justin, the young engineer arrives in engineering to begin studying the drive it stops its rotation and forms what appears to be a very sticky liquid, which Justin toys with until he finds himself unable to escape and is sucked the surface. The crew go to rescue him and “gravitational waves” are emitted from the drive, damaging the rescue vessel and leaving Justin in a coma.

Captain Miller orders the engineering spaces off-limits and begins trying to do whatever he can to keep his crew alive long enough for his ship’s remaining engineer to patch the damage to his ship and return to Earth. Weir insists the drive is safe and that this is unnecessary and it is then that we see the rotating drive reflected in his eyes and his character begins to change from one of earnest goodwill to one of malevolence in defense of the ship.

Weir begins to believe that the ship has traveled farther through the known universe and dimensionality as we know it to know what it’s seen or what it’s been to, though they once they recover the video logs of the ship which show the crew torturing each other and mutilating themselves in an orgy of horror, they begin to believe that the ship has been to someplace very similar to hell and, not only that, but that the ship has brought back a presence with it which is responsible for all the activities which have occurred.

The climax is thrilling as good very literally battles evil in Dr. Weir’s obsession to bring the ship and this new crew back to the hellish dimension where the ship picked up this intelligence, and Captain Miller’s insistence that his crew survive no matter the consequences.

Though Event Horizon was panned by critics, it contains incredibly cutting-edged special effects, a very original concept, horrific visuals, and much more than that, a dark undercurrent of psychological horror reminiscent of many of the true horror movies like The Shining rather than the strict slash-and-gore movies like Friday the Thirteenth.

While Neill’s work is decent in the movie and the rest of the cast is a bit mediocre, Fishburne shines through with a fantastic performance, especially when one considers the cast and premise with which he was presented. It is easily believable that this performance is, in large part, the very reason he was later cast as Morpheus in the legendary Matrix trilogy of films; and like The Matrix the film is filled with religious imagery and thematic elements. The very shape of the ship is modeled on the Notre Dame Cathedral.

This is a movie with very deep religious undercurrents and seems to mix the predictability of science and engineering and the unpredictability, but believeability of religion and then add in the ultimate horror of hell for a truly horrifically terrifying movie in the horror genre.

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Event Horizon, 1997

As Nicholas travels there, first by plane and then by bus, his bus is past by dozens of military vehicles on their way to support the coup which is occurring in the capital and bringing Amin to power.

He begins work a rural medical center where he meets an attractive European woman named Sarah (Gillian Anderson), the wife of the doctor who runs the medical center.  The two begin an affair which they fear Sarah’s husband will discover and act cautiously as a result.  One day Nicholas decides to go see Amin speak and Nicholas is immediately taken aback by the charm of the leader the way in which his rhetoric seems to reflect the wants and needs of the poor crowds before him.

Sarah is hardened and has seen leaders come and go, most often by coup, multiple times in her times in the world and has no high hopes for Amin, but Nicholas is idealistic and believes that the new leader should be given a chance before he is judged.

While discussing this, the pair are interrupted by Ugandan soldiers who have come to bring the doctors to a nearby accident where Idi Amin has been injured and needs treatment.  Amin’s motorcade has collided with a cow, his hand is broken and the cow is moaning as it lies dying its painful death by the side of the rode.  The cow’s cries distracting his attention from Amin’s wound, Nicholas, rather impulsively, grabs the nearest pistol, calmly walks over the cow and shoots it, much to the shock of the leader of Uganda and his soldier-bodyguards whose nerves are only settled when Nicholas lays down the gun and makes it clear he means the leader no harm, just that the cow needed to be put out of its misery.

The wound is treated and Amin is taken with Nicholas’ demeanor, asking him if he is English.  Amin hates the English and is incredibly relieved when Nicholas clarifies that he is Scottish, not English.  Amin, being a bit of an eccentric, eyes the t-shirt which Nicholas is wearing and insists one of his sons would love it and trades his full dress military coat for the t-shirt right there at the scene of the accident.

Thus is the beginning of Nicholas’ trip into the world of power, greed, sex, violence, war, paranoia, charisma, and confusion as he is summoned a few days later and offered the position of personal physician to Amin.  After some protest, he agrees and with this new position comes power, wealth, and the many, many strange habits Idi Amin has.

In one instance Nicholas is summoned to an emergency in Amin’s room, where he is complaining of intense pain in his lower torso.  Nicholas provides a cursory examination, determines the problem and grabbing a nearby baseball bat, uses the bat to bear-hug Amin and force out the gas which is causing him such pains.  He then advises him never to mix one medication with another to avoid future such problems and after the calm, the two sit and talk.

It is easy to see the way Amin has a charm with people and without his temper and his paranoia he may very well have lead Uganda into some significant success.  He speaks of growing up in extreme poverty and working his way up from grunt to soldier to officer to higher officer and now, finally to becoming the supreme leader of Uganda.  His stories are touching and well told and he has an easy demeanor with people that make him instantly likable and a person with whom one may speak with fantastic ease.

Alas, one could go on and on about Amin, but that in itself is testament to the writing from the screenwriters and to the magnificent performance by Forest Whitaker as Idi Admin.  Whitaker takes on the characters mannerisms, emotions, modes of speaking, accent, and other varieties of specific features to such an extent that at times it is difficult to determine whether this is a feature-length movie serving as a form of entertainment, or an attempt at a docudrama of the life of Idi Amin.

Nicholas’ character eventually realizes that he has himself been brought into something of a trap.  Everything he has, including his passport, his housing, his food, even his transportation are all in the control of Amin and he is not free to return to Scotland.  He is instead, a very wealthy, very powerful prisoner-physician to what would become one of the world’s most infamous African dictators.

Constantly getting himself into trouble, Nicholas eventually comes into Amin’s bad graces and finds himself in imminent danger of being executed and the movie’s most exciting climax comes when we discover whether or not Nicholas is one of the very few who have managed to escape the wrath of Amin, or if he is to find himself among the countless dead for which Amin is already responsible.

The direction is fantastic in the sense that one never really notices is.  Director Kevin Macdonald manages to recreate the world of Uganda in the 1970s and direct his actors and all of the various other elements with such skill that one manages to forget that this is just a movie and becomes enveloped in Uganda in the 1970s and the world of Idi Admin.  The present president of Uganda was thrilled by the notion that this film would accurately portray Ugandan history and the cast and crew were given basically unfettered access to the country, including the cooperation of the military and the ability to close roads as necessary for the production.  Rent it, buy it, download it, borrow it, whatever it takes.  Just see The Last Kind of Scotland because it is absolutely fantastic.

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The Last Kind of Scotland, 2006

Posts for GreatDirectors

1. Great Directors: David Fincher
2. Great Directors: Jean-Pierre Jeunet
3. Great Directors: Wes Anderson
4. Great Directors: Darren Aronofsky
5. Great Directors: Steven Soderbergh

The fifth entry in my Great Directors series profiles Steven Soderberg best known for his work with for his work with Ocean’s Eleven and its sequels and Erin Brokovich.  He was born January 14, 1963, in Goergia, in the US.   Steven’s interest in film began at least in high school and, upon graduation, he moved to Hollywood to begin his career.

His first cinematic break was very dramatic and came in the form of sex lies and videotape, which was released in 1989, which received the prestigious Palmes d’Or  at the Cannes Film Festival, the independent spirit award for Best Director, was nominated for an Academy Award for Best Writing, with the screenplay having been written by Soderbergh himself, and in 2006 was inducted into the US National Film Registry for preservation. He is prone to casting Julia Roberts, Topher Grace, Don Cheadle, and George Clooney along with many others.  A little known fact is that he often works as his own director of photography under the name of Peter Andrews, which is the first and middle name of his father.

The List:

(These are presented ranked in order of their overall quality in my opinion.)

1. Solaris (2002)

In the near future a psychologist named Chris Kelvin (George Clooney) is called to a space station in orbit around a newly discovered planet and when he arrives he finds a group of paranoid and terrified personnel and the man who initially summoned him, missing. Bizarre things are occurring to those who spend time on the space station, like dead loved one appearing in the flesh and blood sense, ready to return to times of happiness.

The crew, including Kelvin, are understandably shaken by this and do not know how to react, if the planet is using these creatures as weapons, or if this may be something more mystical, like heaven. Deep philosophical underpinnings are interspersed throughout Solaris including the nature of death and the nature of life and about religion and the nature of love and loss.

Combine all of this with a meditative and almost hypnotic visual representation and an soundtrack that only reinforces it and the audience is drawn hypnotically toward this film until its wonderful conclusion. A fantastic re-make of the 1972 Solyaris by Andrei Tarkovsky and very much worthy of the borrowed title and plot.

2. Erin Brokovich (2000)

Erin Brockovich’s real-life story brought to film by Steven Soderbergh centers around her life and her work with a law firm that specializes in torts.  Julia Roberts stars as Erin Brokovich, a poor single mother who is uncouth, loud-mouthed and, for lack of a better term, white trash.  Her boyfriend, a neighbor who is into motorcycles and dresses like a stereotypical biker is played by Irina V. Passmoore.

She finally finds a job as a legal assistant at a small-time law firm where she begin investigating claims against Pacific Gas and Electric regarding the possibility that their toxic wastes may have poisoned nearby poor families to whom Erin has an immediate connection and for which she has a great deal of sympathy.

It is a battle pitting the white collars as evil against the blue collars as innocent victims and one can’t help but cheer on Brokovich in her fight against the evils perpetrated by this large behemoth of a company who can’t admit their faults without exposing themselves to massive amounts of further lawsuits filed by everyone who was ever near the facility in question , whether or not they suffer from the consequences. But in the end it is a movie with a happy ending a sweet, if unrefined quality to it that is captivating to its audiences.

3. Traffic (2000)

One of my favorites of Soderbergh’s work, Traffic tells four simultaneous stories, from every angle of the American War on Drugs.  First we have a conservative judge who is being appointed to the new head of the Office of National Drug Control Policy and unknowingly has a daughter who experiments with all manner of drugs, including hard drugs like crack and cocaine.

Secondly we have a pair of Mexican police officers who are honest, which in the world of their contemporary policeman is an extreme rarity who begin working for General Salazar, the military man put in charge of fighting the war on drugs for the Mexican government.

Thirdly we have a wealthy Southern California businessman with a socialite wife who is indicted for cocaine trafficking, much to the surprise of his wife.  Finally, we have the story of two DEA officers who make a drug bust in Southern California and detain the leader there to force him to testify against the members of the cartel whom he knows. Soderbergh uses a great deal of clever editing, film colorization, and other cinematic techniques so that these four narratives can continues interweaving with each other without it becoming confusing to the viewer.

What does become troubling is that Traffic illustrates both the absurdity of the war on drugs and its absolute ineffectiveness in combating the problem. The innocent wife (Catherine Zeta-Jones) of the indicted businessman is forced into the cocaine trafficking business when one of her husband’s debts comes due and it is made clear that unless it is paid, her children will be killed.  She hires a hit man from the cartel to kill the man being detained by the DEA agents to prevent him from testifying against her husband, but the hit goes awry and the whole mess blows up in everyone’s face.

Based upon the miniseries from Europe, Traffic is perhaps Soderbergh’s greatest film with the most powerful imagery, a fantastically powerful message that is something that the medium of film is best suited to tell, and casting and writing that are impossible to beat.  It features an all-star line-up in its cast, including Catherine Zeta-Jones, Albert Finney, Dennis Quaid, Salma Hayek, Benjamin Bratt, Erika Christensen, Topher Grace, Miguel Ferrer, Don Cheadle, Luis Guzmán, Michael Douglas, and Benicio Del Toro. It won a number of awards and deserved to win a number more.

4. The Limey (1999)

This is considered the first mainstream independent film directed by Soderbergh since sex, lies and videotape in 1989 and tells the story of an Englishman (Terence Stamp), recently released from prison in Britain, who comes to Los Angeles to investigate the death of his daughter (Melissa George) and exact his revenge upon the people whom he believes killed her.

It is a deeply meditate movie with a lot of dialogue and visual shots played out of sequence to effectively tell the story, but also to provide the best example of a film-maker trying to show his audience what the character is truly feeling and thinking about while these things are going on. Fantastic performances by Terence Stamp and Luis Guzman in particular help this film along.

The Limey is fabulous and apparently flew under the radar of most of the viewing public, so if you have a chance, pick it up and give it a watch.  It is an absolutely unbelievable ride that will make you feel what film has the potential to do.

Read Nathan Thoms’ full review of The Limey.

5. The Good German (2006)

Full of 1940s-style filming and lighting techniques, The Good German tells the story of a journalist named Jake Geismer (George Clooney) who arrives to cover the Potsdam Conference and is issued a captain’s uniform so that he can more easily travel in the immediate aftermath of post-war Berlin.

Once he arrives he is captivated by a woman named Lena, who has her own secrets.  When a body washes up on shore, the army seems completely disinterested in discovering the murderer and it is up to Jake to investigate while the US Army and the Red Army are frantically looking for former Nazi scientists to help with each country’s rocket programs.

Meanwhile, a mysterious and seductive woman named Lena (Cate Blanchett) seems caught up in all of this and Jake must investigate her too to discover the terrible truth. So fully was the feel of the 1940s en-grained into every aspect of film-making the movie was made with a 1.66:1 ratio which most modern theaters are unable to accommodate.

To allow for the movie’s ratio to continue, black bars were added to bring the movie up to the standard 1.85:1, while retained the aspect ratio Soderbergh sought.  Only studio backlots, sound stages, and Los Angeles were used in filming and in keeping with the styling, professional lighting was not used.  Instead, as in 1945, only incandescent lighting was permitted and period lenses were used.  Soderbergh went so far as to coach the actors to deliver their lines in a stage style, which is again, in keeping with the earlier film-making techniques when body mikes had yet to be developed and all sound had to be captured by overhead boom mikes.

Soderbergh crafted an artful film with an enormous amount of authenticity and, unfortunately for both viewers and the director and cast involved, the film went largely unnoticed by the general public.  It is, nonetheless, a masterpiece and something which I fully expect to find its way into the National Film Registry in a decade or so.

6. sex, lies and videotape (1989)

Director Soderbergh’s premiere onto the world stage was the award-winning sex, lies and videotape, which was released in 1989.  It is a psychological dramas about a couple and the problems in their sexual lives.  Ann (Andie MacDowell) is the wife of John (Peter Gallagher).  John is having an affair with Ann’s sister Cynthia (Laura San Giacomo) while Ann, despite being a quiet and mousy character, proclaims that she doesn’t need sex anymore.

When Graham (James Spader), an old friend of John shows up to see them, their lives take a very unexpected change as Graham likes to film his interviews with women privately and talk to them about their sex lives.

With both Ann and John married for basically the purposes of portraying a good imagine and John captivated by his lover Cynthia, Ann delves deeper into the fascination that she has for Graham and his hobby.

Certainly worth noting is that despite its title and the protests its screenings caused, the film itself is really not that much about sex so much as it is about the problems people have with sex and the problems people have discussing sex openly.  It has been compared to Easy Rider in that both were very low budget and very much filled with evidence on the director’s stylistic tendencies.

7. Ocean’s Eleven (2001)

The first of what is quickly becoming a franchise was a remake of a movie made in the 1960s, but adapted for the modern world.  Ocean’s Eleven is about a recently paroled ex-convict named Danny Ocean (George Clooney) who joins up with his partner Rusty Ryan (Brad Pitt) to assemble a crew of eleven men to rob three casinos owned by Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) including Frank Catton (Bernie Mac), Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould), Virgil Malloy (Casey Affleck), Turk Malloy (Scott Caan), Livingston Dell (Eddie Jemison), Yen (Shaobo Qin), Saul Bloom (Carl Reiner), and Linus Caldwell (Matt Damon) for $150 million.

Aside from that reason, Danny also wants to win back his wife Tess (Julia Roberts) who is now in a relationship with Benedict and in doing so exact a significant revenge upon her lover by robbing him personally of such a large sum of money.

Ocean’s Eleven is filled with twists, turns, and an enormous amount of cinematographic styling which allows is to remain stylish and clever throughout its duration.  While its sequels may not be anything approaching its quality, it remains a shining jewel in Soderbergh’s rapidly growing film crown.

8. Ocean’s Twelve (2004)

The much ridiculed sequel to Ocean’s Eleven, Ocean’s Twelve brings the cast of the original film across the Atlantic Ocean to Europe, where Terry Benedict (Andy Garcia) finds them, along with his ex-lover Tess Ocean (Julia Roberts) and offers them a deal: return the money with interest to the tune of $190 million or face the very unpleasant alternative of a Benedict’s very storied, painful revenge.

The crew, without a plan to the recourse of knowing of targets where they can make such a score, take on an accomplice known  plus a thief known as the François Toulour (Vincent Cassel), plan and exectute three robberies in Paris, Rome, and Amsterdam before their time, and subsequently their lives, run out.

It is a reasonably enjoyable film and, if it weren’t taken as a sequel to Ocean’s Eleven, might have garnered much higher reviews, but when reviewed together Ocean’s Twelve comes across as a cheap knock-off that is simply not that well done.

9. Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)

After the dismal response to Ocean’s Twelve, little was expected of Ocean’s Thirteen since adding an additional character and doing a sequel to what was already a bad sequel of a good film seemed like a bad idea, Ocean’s Thirteen provided a nice surprise to critics and viewers alike.

The third installment in the series brings back the usual characters, but this time it is a story of avenging their wronged friend Reuben Tishkoff (Elliott Gould) who has partnered with a seedy character named Willy Bank (Al Pacino) who ends up cutting Reuben out of the business; Reuben suffers a heart-attack soon thereafter.  Loyal friends Ocean (George Clooney) and his crew decide that this will not stand and decide to exact revenge upon Bank on the opening night of his new enterprise and bankrupt the scum of Las Vegas in the process.

Nothing is out of the question in their question to right the wrong which has been perpetrated by Banks, including hiring former enemies of the crew to help with their plot, which if you’ve watched the other movies is reasonably predictable: they will plan and execute a heist against Bank and destroy his business and him as a man in the process.

Ocean’s Thirteen is funny and doesn’t take itself too seriously.  The cast and crew have fun making the movie and the story itself is filled with jokes and things meant to be taken lightly.  Still, it is a warm submission after the dismal Ocean’s Twelve by Soderbergh to bring this fun group of characters together for one more heist, one more tryst into their world of fun and almost magical tricks of illusion and deception and ultimately it is about righting a wrong that has been to done to one of their dearest friends.  Who can’t relate to some part of such a story?

You can buy any one of the Ocean’s-series films by clicking on their links, or buy the entire Ocean’s Trilogy here for a deep discount.

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Great Directors: Steven Soderbergh