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Sunday, March 19, 2006

Bubble (2006)

Steven Soderbergh's Bubble is the Motion Picture Association of America's worst nightmare. Not because it is a slow moving experimental picture with very low production values. Nor because it employs a cast of completely unknown nonprofessional actors, certainly none of whom are part of the actor's guild. And not because of its short running time, which with just a few more cuts and edits could have fit into an hour-long time television time slot. No, it is because of the scandalous nature behind the movie's release: it was distributed to theaters, on video, and on demand television the same week. This method (or some variant thereof) is clearly the future, but as with the music industry and downloading, it is also clear that the MPAA (and theater owners) will be resistant. As with many innovations, Bubble might be dismissed as just a gimmick, but if you look closely you will see a solid movie that demonstrates sound film practices.

On the surface, Bubble is as simple as a story can be. It takes place in any small, working class town in Middle America. Young Kyle (Dustin Ashley) who still lives with his mom and matronly Martha (Debbie Doebereiner) - who lives with her dad - are workers at a doll making factory. It is a small scale operation (only a handful of other employees appear to work there), but much effort is put into the plastic hand-crafted figures. One day single mother Rose (Misty Wilkins) joins the team. Over the next few days, these people go on with their daily lives until someone meets a violent end. From there, Detective Taylor (Decker Moody) moves forward with a no-nonsense investigation into the mystery.

This is all done using a bare minimum of technical input; with seemingly only natural lighting, very few camera angles, not much in the way of costume design or makeup, a soundtrack that consists solely of some near-incessant guitar strumming, and nary a special effect to be seen. In fact, almost half of the listed crew members are some sort of "producers" or "production assistants." That's not to say that what is seen is somehow lacking a movie quality though. Despite his success in the late 90s and earlier this decade with more commercial or audience-friendly films like Out of Sight, Traffic, Erin Brockovich, and Ocean's 11, Soderbergh is and always will be in the independent mind-set. It is where he made his name with the Sundance-smash Sex, Lies, and Videotape.

The best thing about Bubble is how, after a slow build, we eventually wrap ourselves up (in a "bubble", if you will) in the atmosphere of these small characters who themselves are living in a bubble in their own little (real) world. I'd be surprised if we see any of these actors ever again, and yet their true-to-life performances are better than those in probably four out of five mainstream movies. It is the small things like how Kyle mumbles in his deep voice (and with the poor sound you can barely understand what he says half the time). Or how Kyle, Martha and Rose gather each day at lunch and force themselves to chit-chat with one another. At one point when Rose mentions how she hopes to someday leave town, Martha innocently and honestly wonders why. Well, it's a poor and unpleasant looking town (as most of us would agree), but yet it is her town and it is her world. She knows nothing else.

I was a bit underwhelmed by the ending though (or, instead, maybe it was overwhelming for what it was), as it seemed a bit anticlimactic. It wasn't a surprise, but yet wasn't how I imagined that it would end. And while the dolls somehow serve as innocuous metaphors for these people lives - great pains are even made to show how similar Martha's face is to the doll's faces - they don't add a whole lot to the story. Yes, it is a gimmick to some degree. If it wasn't getting press for its unusual release pattern, it might very well have gotten lost and seen by only loyal Soderbergh fans or very trendy arthouse goers. It is a strange movie, but the more I think about it, the more I liked it.

The Verdict: B.

Michael Bentley 7:59 PM

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