Logan Lucky (2017)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer: Rebecca Blunt (Probably Soderbergh)
DOP: Peter Andrews (Definitely Soderbergh)
Cast: Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Daniel Craig, Riley Keough

Two brothers attempt to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race in North Carolina. They have to get out and in their explosive expert, Joe BANG (Daniel Craig), from a jail and his two younger brothers, who knows them twitters, are their digital experts.

It is the slower non-glitzy version of Ocean's 11 with seemingly non-experts working on the heist. Channing Tatum's character, a divorced father, is a failed quarterback while his brother, played by Adam Driver, is a veteran who lost his hand in Iraq. Films characters are from West Virginia and even though it is a comedy it treads a fine line and don't end up being too much of a caricature. There is this whole subtext of American symbols that we hate, like NASCAR, beauty pageants, showy patriotism with love for the forces, being put on a not too judgemental way just like the way characters are also portrayed. Balance is just correct as subtext pretty much stays as subtext without overwhelming what is a very fun film.

So glad to see Steven Soderbergh back working as a director after his retirement announcement a few years back in the above speech, which is a very good listen on the state of the cinema. His main gripe was with the studio controlled distribution model and with Logan Lucky, he did independent distribution. It was a successful effort grossing 45 million on 29 million budget. To get such an ensemble cast on this budget in itself is an achievement and Hillary Swank is also there as the investigating officer who joins pretty late in the film. Daniel Craig was slightly off-putting in the trailer but he is alright in the film.

Soderbergh, besides handling the camera, also edits his films and is someone who works very fast, apparently. The plan for the heist is put up by Channing Tatum as a 10 point notice for Adam Driver with the tenth being a minor spoiler. Soderbergh stayed on the notice long enough for me to get to the ninth point. Wonderful editing, I must say. The father-daughter relationship in the film also worked pretty well, surprisingly enough, and the John Denver Country Roads pageant rendition as well. The initial slow pacing of the film is an Ocean's subversion and it does pickup pace considerably towards the end and you just don't want it to end, which is always great. This is also the way we perceive the Logan boys, a bit slow initially but quite smart by the end.

Rating: 4/5

Traffic (2000)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers: Stephen Gaghan, Simon Moore
DOP: Peter Andrews (Steven Soderbergh)
Cast: Michael Douglas, Benicio del Toro, Catherine Zeta-Jones, Don Cheadle, Erika Christensen

An intertwined drama about the United States' War on Drugs, seen through the eyes of a once conservative judge, now newly appointed drug Czar, his crack-addicted daughter, two DEA agents, a jailed- drug kingpin's wife, and a Mexican cop who begins to question his boss' motives.

There are three main storylines in three different geographical locations and the threy are differentiated for the audience by three different colour tones adopted by Steven Soderbergh, who himself handled the camera for the film. I had seen this film many years ago and was hugely impressed by it. I went in for rewatch with some premonition as every War on Drugs films/TV series suffer from post 'The Wire' syndrome as you tend to compare everything with this gold standard. Wire had 60 hours to develope its world and story while Soderbergh gets only less than three hours. Considering that, Traffic matches its ambition and still stands the test of time. Then again, you cannot really compare the two as Traffic is from a white perspective while Wire from a black.

The huge ensemble cast does a terrific job and Benicio del Toro got his Oscar for best supporting actor for this Spanish speaking role. Soderbergh also won the academy award for best director. Film is an adaptation of Channel Four Brirish drama 'Traffik'. Soderbergh cited 'All the President's Men' as an inspiration for the film and I also got reminded of Michael Mann's 'The Insider'. Multiple storyline were quite in vogue during those times and Soderbergh's effort is among the best if you consider it as a genre onto itself.

Rating: 5/5

King of the Hill (1993)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers:  A.E. Hotchner (Memoir), Steven Soderbergh
Cast:       Jesse Bradford, Jeroen Krabbe, Lisa Eichhorn, Adrien Brody

A young boy struggles on his own in a run-down motel after his parents and younger brother are separated from him in 1930s Depression-era Midwest.

Film is set in 1933 Missouri and everyone is struggling as the effects of Great Depression is still very much there. He gets separated from his family and other people he is close with in the motel one by one basically because of poverty. Abject poverty and hunger is not something that we see commonly in films from the developed world and the way the boy deals with it is quite buoyantly. He is quite charismatic playing the main protagonist and quite curiously for a Soderbergh film, the film very much has a Coen vibe to it. The whole sweaty atmosphere reminded me of 'Barton Fink', which also was set during the same time and came out couple of years prior to this. The performances are excellent, particularly from the younger cast members. I didn't realize it was a 20 year old Adrien Brody playing the role of his best friend and mentor, Lester, even though he looked very familiar. Music was done by Soderbergh's frequent collaborator Cliff Martinez, who also has done some terrific work with Nicolas Winding Refn (Drive & Only God Forgives).

Overall it is a great watch and it was Soderbergh's third film after Sex, Lies & Videotape and Kafka, both of which I rate as among his very best. I think he is quite underrated as a director basically because most people remember him for his commercial films like Oceans franchise and 'Out of Sight'. He did have a quite underwhelming body of work beginning from 2001 which lasted till around 2009 after which he was back in from leading up to his so called retirement from feature film making. 

Rating: 4/5

                                                                      

Contagion (2011)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer:    Scott Z. Burns
Cast:       Laurence Fishburne, Matt Damon, Kate Winslet, Jude Law, Gwyneth Paltrow, Marion Cotillard, Jennifer Ehle, Bryan Cranston, Chin Han

Healthcare professionals, government officials and everyday people find themselves in the midst of a worldwide epidemic as the CDC (Center for Disease Control) works to find a cure.

I recently read an article about the 'Gwyneth Paltrow bashing' that is prevalent on the net and she is also not immune to that within the film community itself. It listed several films that do the same and it seems that Soderbergh tried to capture the 'Zeitgeist' by casting her as the promiscuous patient zero for the epidemic depicted in the film. Hell, I searched for an article on the Ebola outbreak and came across one which compares it to one shown in Contagion and in it also Paltrow gets bashed for some comments she made in the presence of Obama.  The film informs us about an epidemiology term R0 which refers to basic reproduction rate and gives an idea about number of cases one virus generate over the course of its infectious period. The virus in Contagion has an R0 of greater than two and a mortality rate of 25%. For the current Ebola outbreak the respective figures are in the range 1-2 and 50-70%. For SARS and HIV-AIDS it was in the range 2-5. The Ebola virus spreads through bodily fluids which makes it less infectious than SARS or the one depicted in this film but it is far more deadly. 

The film got praise for its authenticity from the scientific community and plenty of research was done by the creators prior to filming to make it so. For many people in the scientific community, the scenario is not a matter of if but when and the current Ebola outbreak gives us a real life glimpse. In the film they refer to the Spanish flu epidemic which wiped out 1% of world population and some of the epidemics like Polio, Smallpox and measles had R0s greater than five. In the globalized world that we live in with frequent air travel you don't need that high R0 figure for it to spread all over the World creating more and more clusters affecting millions of people in no time. I don't think I have seen any other medical epidemic films but am familiar with Robin Cook's works like Outbreak, Coma and Brain. What is good about the contagion is that it does not try to vilify the establishment which is dealing with the virus. When you have a super villain in the form of a virus you don't really need more human villains to make it thrilling. It is as much about virus as it is about the societal response to it. In no time the whole thing turns anarchic and you have the all too familiar sight of bloggers shouting about government conspiracy. It also makes you wonder about the trouble we might have with the whole manufacturing set up of drugs in the private sector's hands. I think if it happens it will be nationalized in no time like in a war situation. 

The only problem I have with the film is the last scene showing the day zero events. It shows a deforestation done using the equipments manufactured by Paltrow's company- causing the bat to move to a pig-farm and starting the chain of events leading to Paltrow getting infected. That is just a convoluted way for the director to send a non-subtle message regarding where he stands on private sector which we are already familiar from his films like 'Erin Brockovich' and 'The Informant!'. The soundtrack is excellent and most of the film was shot in real locations without relying much on studio settings. Soderbergh again collaborated with Scott Z. Burns to make another medical thriller of sorts, Side Effects.

Rating: 4.5/5

Ocean's Eleven (2001)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers:  George Clayton Johnson, Jack Golden Russell, Harry Brown, Charles Ledrer
Cast:      George Clooney, Brad Pitt, Matt Damon, Andy Garcia, Julia Roberts

Daniel Ocean and his eleven accomplices plan to robe three Las Vegas casinos owned by Terry Benedict simultaneously. 

It is a remake of 1960 film with the same name and is supposed to be way better than the original. Soderbergh is a director who largely followed the principle of 'One film for me', 'One film for the studio' so that he could obtain the funds to cover the subjects that he really likes while still staying in the studio system. I am a big fan of his films in the former category (Sex Lies and Videotapes, Kafka, Limey, Traffic) but even while making commercial ones for the studio he managed to make some real good films like Contagion, Magic Mike, Side Effects, The Informant and last but not least Ocean's Eleven. From the films that I listed you may very well guess that am not a big fan of 'Erin Brockovich' and 'Out of Sight'. Soderbergh, George Clooney, Brad Pitt and Matt Damon are people with similar sensibilities with all of them being leftish liberals and from the outside looks like not the typical 'Egoistic Wanker' Hollywood type. Soderbergh, Clooney and Pitt had already made it in in Hollywood lark and Damon was still up and coming with Bourne Identity on the pipeline when Ocean's Eleven came out.

It is slickly made with an offbeat kind of humor which can be off-putting for some. Plot is a little complicated but not impossible to follow. The film has a twist in it but it is not really about that. Despite being billed as a crime thriller, it is really a cool comedy with big stress on the cool part. The same team followed up the film with Ocean's Twelve and Ocean's Thirteen making it a trilogy. The second one a real bad film and third one is decent. I have seen all of them multiple times.

It seems Soderbergh is finally fed up with the studio system and the present state of Hollywood with him announcing retirement from making films and moving into TV with the HBO series 'Knick'. It is a real shame because some of the films that he made off late were all good except for Haywire. HBO TV movie 'Behind the Candelabra', for which he was not able to get a release in US, was also great with outstanding performances from Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. If I were to name my favorite Soderbergh films, then the current order would be something like:

1) Sex Lies and Videotapes

2) Kafka

3) Traffic

4) Contagion

5) Ocean's Eleven

6) Magic Mike

7) The Limey

8) Behind the Candelabra

9) The Informant

10) Side Effects

11) Ocean's Thirteen

12) Erin Brockovich

13) Out of Sight

14) Ocean's Twelve

Damn, he was a prolific filmmaker since I am yet to see many of his not so well rated films. With the Ebola outbreak and all that, I think it is a good time to revisit 'Contagion'.

Rating: 4.5/5

Magic Mike (2012)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer:    Reid Carolin
Cast:      Channing Tatum, Alex Pettyfer, Mathew McConaughey, Olivia Munn, Cody Horn

A male stripper teaches a younger performer how to party, pick up women and make easy money.

Film is basically a story told many times before but it puts it in a male stripping context. It is partly based on Channing Tatum's life as an 18 year old stripper in Tampa. Despite the cliches it is a very good watch especially because of the rawness with which it is acted. Channing Tatum is surprisingly good as the experienced mentor. The film did extremely well at the box office grossing around 167 million on a meagre 7 million budget.

Rating: 4/5

Side Effects (2013)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer:    Scott Z. Burns
Cast:       Rooney Mara, Jude Law, Channing Tatum, Catherine Zeta-Jones

A young woman's world unravels when a drug prescribed by her psychiatrist has unexpected side effects.

The film is a genre bender from Soderbergh in the sense that he is playing around with the audience's expectations. Film in the beginning looks like a typical Soderbergh film in the mould of Erin Brockovich and Contagion but with some twists, it transforms itself into a Noirish film. Soderbergh pulls the transition off neatly but maybe he could have avoided last portion of the the film were justice is served. Like all Soderbergh films, it looks neat and great but the plot is a bit outlandish to but it mildly. Still very fun to watch.

Rating: 3/5

Behind the Candelabra (2013)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writers:  Richard LaGravenese, Scott Thorson, Alex Thorleifson
Cast:      Michael Douglas, Matt Damon, Scott Bakula

Based on the autobiographical novel, the tempestuous 6-year relationship between Liberace and his (much younger) lover, Scott Thorson, is recounted.

The film was put forward to many studios who all balked out saying that it was too gay. It also faced delays because of Michael Douglas diagnosed with Stage IV Throat Cancer. Finally it was produced by and released on HBO last week. That makes it ineligible for the academy awards. It is supposed to be Soderbergh's last film before his break from films.

Film works well as a comedy with excellent performances from the two leads. Michael Douglas has been receiving much praise for his portrayal but Matt Damon's character and performance is not any less with it being the point of view character adapted from Scott Thorson's book. I didn't have any idea about the story beforehand apart from the IMDB synopsis.

Here is a link to Soderbergh's excellent talk on the sorry state of Hollywood: http://kottke.org/13/05/steven-soderbergh-the-state-of-cinema

Rating: 4/5

Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer:    Steven Soderbergh
Cast:      James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallaghar
A sexually repressed woman's husband is having an affair with her sister. The arrival of a visitor with a rather unusual fetish changes everything.

The debut feature from Soderbergh won the Palme d'Or at the Cannes and launched the careers of several from the cast and the director himself. Soderbergh, 25 at the time, wrote the script in 8 days whilst doing a cross country trip. Sex, Lies and Videotape is important in film history for raising the profile of Independent Films. It was also the break-out film for  Miramax which is generally associated with Independent films (Reservoir Dogs, Pulp Fiction etc).

Rating: 5/5

Haywire (2011)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer:    Lem Dobbs
Cast:      Gina Carano, Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Michael Douglas
A black ops super soldier seeks payback after she is betrayed and set up during a mission.

Nice cinematography and good fights that are done realistically. Plot very weak and cliched and there is not enough going on to keep you interested.

Rating: 2.5/5

Kafka (1991)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer:    Lem Dobbs
Cast:      Jeremy Irons, Theresa Russell, Joel Gray
Ostensibly a biopic, based on the life of writer Franz Kafka, the mystery thriller film 'Kafka' blurs the line between fact and Kafka's fiction, creating a Kafkaesque atmosphere.

I haven't read any of the works from Kafka but still found the film engrossing which is testament to the skills of Soderbergh. With Soderbergh you will always get a film with great technical brilliance and Kafka is no different. The film was the second one from Soderbergh after the excellent Sex, Lies and Videotape and it was a financial failure but has got a cult following over the years.

Rating: 5/5

The Limey (1999)

Director: Steven Soderbergh
Writer:    Lem Dobbs
Cast:      Terence Stamp, Peter Fonda, Luis Guzman, Barry Newman
An extremely volatile and dangerous Englishman goes to Los Angeles to find the man he considers responsible for  his daughter's death.

Limey is a US slang word for Britons. The film is shot extremely stylishly with a the editing to go with it. The performances are excellent and the way the story unfolds is very fresh. It didn't do well in the box office.

Rating: 4/5