Steven Soderbergh decided on some experimental filmmaking to match the experimental release technique for his new movie.
It remains to be seen whether the unusual distribution plan for “Bubble” – releasing it on DVD and cable TV the same day it hits theaters – will become an industry model. But it’s fairly certain Soderbergh’s artistic technique for the movie won’t become the standard any time soon, even though it often proves intriguing.
“Bubble” tests the idea that the mundane becomes ominous if studied in enough detail. We watch a couple of unremarkable people tread through their daily lives in a nondescript, vaguely Midwestern town.
Martha (Debbie Doebereiner) sets up a breakfast tray for her ailing father; he’ll be watching TV all day while she goes to work. She picks up Kyle (Dustin Ashley) and they stop for a doughnut, then hit the production line at the local doll factory. Kyle pumps liquid plastic into forms; Martha glues on eyebrows and airbrushes lip colors.
Soderbergh’s camera is respectful of the work but unflinching in showing the numbing repetition and lack of energy any character has for emotion or conversation.
“How was work?”
“All right. How about you?”
“Hungry? I could make you something.”
“Nah.”
The characters eat too much fast food and buy cigarettes instead of saving up to buy a car that might get them out of their rut. Kyle has a second job and stares blankly into the vending machines on his night shift.
Martha is much older than Kyle but seems to confuse maternal feelings with a possible crush. The crush wins out when youthful Rose (Misty Wilkins) is hired at the factory, immediately drawing Kyle’s eye.
The script by Coleman Hough is deadpan, nonjudgmental. He and Soderbergh are observing, not placing blame or demanding change. Nothing happens for so long, we’re shocked when something does, and suddenly: Rose’s angry ex shows up, they argue, the next morning Rose is dead. In a town where not much goes on, Hough and Soderbergh still have managed to find us more than one suspect for this crime.
The low-budget movie was made with nonprofessional actors found around the shooting location. It’s shot in high definition – a difference you won’t notice without an HD television – in order to be released on financier Mark Cuban’s HDNet cable channel.
Cuban and partners are experimenting with the simultaneous release as other studios collapse the window between theatrical and DVD release. “Bubble” is the first in a string of six films commissioned from Soderbergh for the experiment.
“Bubble” never quite explains itself enough or completely marks the territory it wants to explore. Still, Soderbergh has proven with everything from “sex, lies and videotape” to “Erin Brockovich” and “Traffic” that he’s an intensely interesting observer of Americans at home and at work. This makes the other five movies in the series worth the wait.
Staff writer Michael Booth can be reached at 303-820-1686 or mbooth@denverpost.com.
** 1/2 | “Bubble”
R for language and adult subject matter| 1 hour, 13 minutes|DRAMA|Directed by Steven Soderbergh, written by Coleman Hough; starring Debbie Doebereiner, Dustin Ashley, Misty Wilkins and Daniel R. Christian|Opens today at the Landmark Chez Artiste.
