|
 teven
Soderbergh has hopes to eventually cut the studios
out altogether through the emancipatory powers of
digital technology. In a decidedly post
post-modern way, he has remixed the electronic
cinema mantra of Francis Ford Coppola and his oft
repeated "dream" of a fat girl in
Ohio
who will make her own movie and see it distributed
around the world. Coppola saw the future too early
to really do anything about it, but the future is
now the present and directors like Soderbergh are
lining up to sound the alarm. An American cinema
freed from the corporate shackles of commerce over
art? Is it actually possible? Can the "Garage
Kubricks" of the world, with their digicams
in one hand and iMovies in the other,
revolutionize the
Hollywood
business model?
This is
clearly what Soderbergh has in mind with the slate
of films he intends to make starting with
"Bubble", the concept of which seems to
be an extension of Soderbergh's recent work for
HBO, the Facto-Politico-Fiction series "K
Street". "Bubble" is written by
screenwriter Coleman Hough, who seems to have
become Soderbergh's go-to writer for his more
"riskier" indie projects ever since
"Full Frontal". Hough was sent on a
search for the right American town for the story,
and along with Soderbergh picked
Belpre
,
Ohio
. The idea was to find a specific place, cast the
movie with non-professional locals, and develop
the story and characters by blending their real
lives in the real town with the fictional elements
of a simple, small story.
What they came up with is the
story of Martha (Debbie Doebereiner), a seemingly
content middle-aged worker in a crumbling doll
factory on the outskirts of the slightly crumbling
town of
Belpre
, which is seemingly sucked of life through
economic hardship. Martha's existence has the
narcotic bliss of quiet routine, without the fear
of sudden change or excitement. She appears to
have accepted a somewhat solitary existence,
living with and caring for her invalid father and
driving a much younger 20-something friend, Kyle
(Dustin Ashley), to and from the factory. He seems
to be her only friend, and although they share
breakfast and lunch, neither says much of
consequence to the other, and Martha seems to view
him maternally, at least consciously.
This blissful routine is
broken up by Rose (Misty Dawn Wilkins), a new
worker at the factory. A young, attractive single
mother, Rose catches the eye of Kyle, who is too
withdrawn to act on his feelings. Martha notices
the interest and seems quite disturbed by it. So
disturbed, she appears to try and reject the
disturbance out of hand. However, when Rose asks
Kyle out and then gets Martha to baby-sit for her,
Martha's inner world seems to turn inside out,
leading to actions unthinkable in her once
comfortable and numb existence.
It is this very existence
that Soderbergh constructs his film around, and
"Bubble" is paced very deliberately,
like a slowly dripping faucet. Scenes do not seem
to be performed, but rather captured like
surveillance videos, and conversations are not
played but overheard. Most of the drama comes from
the silence in-between; the subtle stares between
the characters and the mystery that lies behind
their frozen expressions.
Casting the movie among the
town's locals gives "Bubble" the feel of
a regional independent movie, like the Pittsburgh
of George Romero or the Baltimore of John Waters.
Their voices sound authentic and their faces look
like a life lived, not observed. Cast a film in
Hollywood
with a description like, "Attractive single
mother" and you'll get everyone from Julia
Roberts to Lindsey Lohan. Here, you get Misty Dawn
Wilkins, who actually has a lot of charisma, but
isn't the kind of attractive that would get her
into the pages of "Maxim". She would be
more likely to catch your eye if she was in line
at the local supermarket.
The final third of
"Bubble" becomes a kind of police
procedural, but without any melodrama or thrills,
merely the simple suspense and fascination of an
authentic local police investigation. The casting
of Decker Moody, a 24-year veteran of the
Parkersburg
,
West Virginia
police force in the role of Detective Don Taylor
gives these scenes a feel unlike any TV drama or
reality show. He is a calm and dedicated
professional who is simply doing his job, and the
matter-of-factness of his interrogation at the end
of the film is priceless.
I really enjoyed
"Bubble", but it's clearly not for
everyone. It's meant to be a small art movie and
that's exactly what it is. If you like the films
of Terrence Malick or perhaps "All the Real
Girls" by David Gordon Green,
"Bubble" is cut from the same cloth.
Soderbergh has said that he was very influenced by
some of the films of Rainer Werner Fassbinder, and
"Bubble" would no doubt make a great
double feature with that brilliant filmmaker's
1976 television movie, "I Only Want You to
Love Me". Both films are quiet depictions of
deadpan and secretive characters viewed with
complete objectivity, and although Soderbergh has
a long way to go before he can ever be compared to
Fassbinder, "Bubble" is a step in the
right direction.
|
