I put off writing an entry about Steven Soderbergh for years because for the longest time I wasn't convinced that he was a great director. I understood that he was an important, influential, innovative and unusually prolific director, but there was no single film of his that I could point to as a great film. I watched an awful lot of his eclectic output over the years, but most of the individual films didn't stick in my memory. I regularly forgot that he directed certain titles, because he worked in a similar style to Richard Linklater and Quentin Tarantino during the '90s indie boom.
However, after rewatching some of his early work, I found the movie I knew I had to write about for Steven Soderbergh. Based on an Elmore Leonard novel, it's a stylish ensemble crime comedy about a serial bank robber and a federal marshall who fall in love despite their conflicting goals. There are some parts of "Out of Sight" I don't enjoy - certain characters, certain scenes, and certain choices do not work for me at all. However, when the movie hits its stride, it's undeniable how cool and how sexy and how much fun it is to watch. When I think of George Clooney as a movie star, it's George Clooney as he appears in Steven Soderbergh movies like "Out of Sight" and the "Ocean's Eleven" movies - this wry, charming, rough-edged trickster who will have you hanging on every word coming out of his mouth. I love Jennifer Lopez just as much here - capable, persistent, and almost always perfectly placid in the face of constant disrespect.
Amidst all the crime capering and cat-and-mouse games, "Out of Sight" is a movie about relationships, where the best set pieces involve conversations - some tense, some funny, and some very, very sexy. The key scene is where Clooney's Jack Foster and Lopez's Karen Sisco are stuck in the trunk of a car together during a getaway, and get to know each other through lighthearted banter during what should be an unpleasant situation. And when I think about the characters in this film, it's always in relation to other characters. Steve Zahn's hapless Glenn works best in conjunction with Jack or Snoopy or Karen. Dennis Farina, playing Cisco's father, has a small part but gets that one great conversation where he spars with Michael Keaton. Many Soderbergh films have these big, sprawling casts with indelible actors who might only be there for a scene or two. I couldn't believe who showed up here - Samuel L Jackson, Octavia Spencer, Albert Brooks, Luis Guzman, Catherine Keener, and even Nancy Allen in the third act.
I appreciate the lengths that Soderbergh went to in order to capture a particular mood and tone for the film. He shot on location in multiple states - Louisiana, Florida, and Michigan most prominently. The score is a seductive mix of Motown, soul, old Rat Pack standbys, and Latin music, with the romantic scenes wonderfully supported by slow, patient piano and bass compositions. This unusual degree of authenticity and attention to detail is what really helps to set "Out of Sight" apart from the other stylish crime films of the era. It's bombastic when it needs to be, and uses violence well, but we're meant to leave with the scintillating romance on our minds, and this is accomplished beautifully.
Looking back through all of Steven Soderbergh's considerable filmography, I marvel at how many different kinds of movies he's made over the years, from slick studio fare to oddball experiments in form. He tends to work with smaller budgets, character-driven stories, and interesting combinations of old and new talent. "Out of Sight" had one of the first soundtracks by Irish composer David Holmes, and nabbed legendary editor Anne V. Coates her final Academy Awards nomination. What I keep coming back to, however, is how well his films serve its actors - showcasing full-fledged, interesting performances in a way that is increasingly rare.
In "Out of Sight," Soderbergh doesn't just let George Clooney and Jennifer Lopez make their case for being A-listers, but makes room for Farina and Cheadle and Zahn and Brooks to show their stuff. And Michael Keaton as Ray Nicolette, popping in from Quentin Tarantino's "Jackie Brown." I have more to say about Ray Nicolette if Tarantino ever makes his tenth movie and I get to write up "Jackie Brown" for this series. Fingers crossed.
What I've Seen - Steven Soderbergh
Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)
Kafka (1991)
Schizopolis (1996)
Gray's Anatomy (1996)
Out of Sight (1998)
Erin Brockovich (2000)
Traffic (2000)
Ocean's Eleven (2001)
Solaris (2002)
Ocean's Twelve (2004)
The Good German (2006)
Ocean's Thirteen (2007)
Che (2008)
The Informant! (2009)
And Everything Is Going Fine (2010)
Contagion (2011)
Haywire (2011)
Magic Mike (2012)
Side Effects (2013)
Behind the Candelabra (2013)
Logan Lucky (2017)
Unsane (2018)
High Flying Bird (2019)
The Laundromat (2019)
Let Them All Talk (2020)
No Sudden Move (2021)
Kimi (2022)
Magic Mike's Last Dance (2023)
---
No comments:
Post a Comment