Film

Movie theaters, reviews and showtimes in New York, plus articles, trailers and more
 

Bubble (2005)

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Average user rating
No reviews

Movie review

From Time Out London

Soderbergh’s readiness to keep reinventing himself is remarkable, but less extraordinary than the fact that when he does it, he does it so very well. A case in point, this digital feature made with non-professional actors is quite simply one of the finest – perhaps even the finest American film of the year. Set in wintry West Virginia, it reveals how the friendship of two colleagues – twentysomething Kyle, who lives with his mom, and fortysomething Martha, who lives with and looks after her ailing dad – is affected by the arrival of a pretty young single mother at the doll factory where they work. It matters not that events take a turn towards what some have seen as the melodramatic; what counts here is the quality of Soderbergh’s gaze, at once dispassionate and compassionate, which takes the movie into realms of realism (as opposed to naturalism) undreamt of by Hollywood. Though it does nothing revolutionary, the film feels wholly fresh, unlike anything else (except that for no good reason this writer was reminded not only of Ozu and Dreyer but of Fassbinder). Whatever. I was blown away.

Author: GA 2005-10-21 15:31:53

Time Out London Issue 1835: October 19-26 2005

  • Print this page
  • Send to a friend

What do you think?
Post your review now

clear rating
Min 1 star. Zero stars will be treated as unrated.

*mandatory fields


Cast & crew

Director: Steven Soderbergh

Cast: Debbie Doebereiner, Dustin Ashley, Misty Wilkins full cast

Genre(s): Drama

Duration: 73 mins

Related articles


Features

Making a name for himself

Making a name for himself

Sin Nombre's Cary Joji Fukunaga learned his lessons well.

To the letter

Forty years later, Costa-Gavras's Z still brims with fury.

Mind over matter

David Cronenberg reflects on a most bizarre body: his own corpus of work.

Fool's gold

Can an Oscar win lead to a cursed career? Here are five stories of postaward professional meltdowns.

We are the championed

Terrorists and teens abound in this year's "Film Comment Selects."

A history of violence

Matteo Garrone's kaleidoscopic Gomorrah wallops you with Italy's crime crisis.

True romantic

James Gray exchanges urban amorality for amour in Two Lovers.

Playing in the dark

MoMA salutes pianist Stuart Oderman's 50 years as the one-man sound of silents.

Junk bonds

Cast and crew recall the making of the classic NYC drug drama The Panic in Needle Park.