I get excited for anything Soderbergh does, but his smaller projects like "Schizopolis", "Full Frontal", and "K Street" reveal that he retains a playful sense of experimentation that keeps him from being (what some critics have called) the "Sydney Pollack of our generation".
Here's a bit from that review:
"Ocean's Eleven" and "Twelve" must have lit a fire under Steven Soderbergh to direct a film that is, in spirit, far from Hollywood. "Bubble" is the result. In financially depressed Ohio, a drama overturns the lives of three doll factory workers. Soderbergh uses a non-pro cast to deftly sketch the dullness of a mid-American burg, whose sheer normality could set the scene for a Stephen King horror extravaganza. Here, an unmotivated murder, instead of stirring emotions, unveils a frightening moral vacuum. The stuff of limited release and TV sales, this likeable if unexciting little tale could swing Euro arthouse audiences with its sly humor and commentary on the U.S....The three principals, all non-professionals from the Ohio location where film was shot, are skilfully cast and directed...he dialogue has a pleasing low-key realism that complements Soderbergh's understated direction, though one can sense a firm hand always guiding the straightforward story. Lenser Peter Andrews goes for even lighting and simple framing that underline the ironic charm of the ultra-familiar. Editor Mary Ann Bernard delivers a smoothly cut film with no dead time.
Awfully short, 75 minutes. And this is to be one of the first movies released to all mediums simultaneously? Is that still happening?
