Fascinating, but goes nowhere
Added 10/14/2009
This is a MUCH better film than some of the reviews would have you believe. It is a fascinating look at an element of American society that is virtually ignored by the movies. And that it is done by non-professionals and largely ad-libbed makes it quite remarkable. The editing is outstanding and the movie is never boring. The only problem is the ending, which is simultaneously over dramatic and totally lacking in drama. I think it will provide valuable insights into life in America at this time for future generations.
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Doll parts
Added 10/19/2008
"I am doll parts, bad skin, doll heart...And someday you will ache like I ache" - Courtney Love
"Bubble" concerns three employees in a small doll factory in a small mid-west town. Co-workers Martha (Debbie Doebereiner) and Kyle (Dustin Ashley) have known each other for awhile. Martha is overweight and fortyish, looking like a less comedic Roseanne Barr; Kyle is in his early 20s, still lives at home, and is fairly emo. They seem like an unlikely pair, but it's mostly a friendship born of convenience working and commuting together to the doll factory. They are not happy people; they're struggling to pay their bills and rarely smile. Martha also seems fonder of Kyle than he is of her. In one painful scene, Martha and Kyle stop for breakfast, and Martha says that she wants a picture of Kyle because he's her best friend. One senses that this friendship will probably not end well. Speeding things along is their new co-worker, Rose (Misty Wilkins). She has a two-year-old daughter and, as soon as she befriends Martha and Kyle, makes Martha feel like a third wheel. Ruh-roh!
The movie made news in 2006 by being nearly simultaneously released in theaters, on cable, and on DVD. Many critics wrote it off a digital stunt, but it's worth a look. Steven Soderbergh has long been one of the most experimental of the major American movie directors. In particular, he has specialized in incorporating handheld video equipment into his movies (see "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" and "Full Frontal"). Here, he takes the next logical step by making a truly minimalist film - shot on digital tape, with non-professional actors and a mostly improvised script. The movie is slow-moving and self-conscious, but it also captures a realness not seen in most films. It also shows a side of America not often focused on - average people living average, boring lives. There's nothing inherently interesting about them, but somehow the film makes their mini-psychodrama something greater and deeper.
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"I don't know, Martha."
Added 9/21/2008
Soderbergh's "Bubble" is definitely one of his less ambitious ventures, but still provides a thought provoking experience. Using non-professional actors in a remote, impoverished small town in Ohio, Soderbergh is not unlike Gus Van Sant in being able to make a big something out of a big nothing.
Martha, an obese redheaded woman who works at a doll making factory with a mighty strange young co-worker named Kyle, has a very lonely and unfulfilling life. She has a generous heart and takes care of her elderly father while working constantly. Her attraction to Kyle is apparent from the first scene, perhaps because he is a good listener; aside from working and smoking weed, he does and says very little. We discover later on that Kyle suffers from panic attacks and was forced to drop out of high school because of them. Both are vulnerable, banal, good people, which makes the events later in the film even more tragic.
Rose, a seemingly ordinary and attractive young woman, comes to work with the two of them. This is when Martha's deeply, deeply repressed rage begins to surface in very quiet ways. As she sits in a Baptist church, a light begins to shine on her face, a bluish hue, and suddenly the church is abandoned and she is all alone. Kyle and Rose start to flirt a little. The film's "main event" happens so quickly and with such a mysteriously ordinary logic that it leaves one in a momentary state of shock. The most sympathetic character is the most monstrous one, and it is hard to swallow while being entirely believable. The question Soderbergh fails to answer and that is most important is: is the "villain" responsible or not responsible for what she's done?
I think Soderbergh called it "Bubble" because everything takes place in such a non-dramatic, non-descript way, and the quality of the character's lives are very low. Even out of this melancholy framework, though, an act of passion can emerge. A chilling and memorable movie.
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A MINIMALISTIC DARK PORTRAIT OF SMALLTOWN AMERICA
Added 9/10/2008
Working with a miniscule budget and solely with non-actors, Steven Soderbergh (of "Sex, Lies and Videotape", "Traffic" and the "Ocean 11" series) has made a minimalist masterpiece with noir sensibilities that dissects the veneer of small town America in "Bubble", one of 2006's great films.
Look beyond the non-professional surface of this film (photographed completely in Digital Video using houses of the cast as sets, and employing their natural light and found props, as well as lots of improvised dialogue) and you'll find a film that approaches the essence of pure cinema. It tells a story of three very ordinary people in a small Midwestern town whose inhabitants mainly work in a doll factory, but what occurs reveals so much truth as to what's repressed under the depressing sadness of working class Americans. Under Soderbergh's inspired directing, it's astonishing how much you find yourself feeling for all the characters and how finely-tuned your senses are to every subtle gesture and expression of these lonely people. A great human document, and a magnificent film experience you'll not likely forget.
An interesting note: Soderbergh planned the making of this film as an experiment, and decided to release it simultaneously in the cinemas and on DVD at considerable risk. I am guessing it didn't pay off monetarily, but it certainly did succeed as a work of art. One of these is worth a hundred Oceans films!
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dark, slow, moody, amazing film
Added 7/28/2008
If you're looking for a blockbuster with exploding cars and crashing trucks, this ain't it. Bubble is a simple, understated, moody film that spins itself slowly into greater and greater complexity. Using non-actors, Soderbergh manages to pull realistic and revealing performances and create an overall subtle but suspenseful mood. This film is all in the nuances. Take a deep breath, sit back, and let this film flow by and amaze you.
This film also stands as a shining example of the filmic possibilities opened up by new technologies, not in terms of the flashy special effects we're constantly bombarded with, but in terms of being able to take a high def digital camera and, using available lighting, create a beautiful professional looking film. Every budding director should see this film and open their minds and eyes to what can be done with very little equipment and a big dose of talent.
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