STACK #167 Sept 2018

DVD & BD FEATURE

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GATEWAYS

TheWorld of Soderbergh

Behind the Candelabra Based on Scott Thorson’s book of the same name, Behind the Candelabra sees Michael Douglas cast as one the campest entertainers in history, Liberace. Scott Thorson (played here by Matt Damon) is invited into the Vegas icon’s surreal world, only to see himself being molded into a younger version of the very same man he loves. As an illuminating glimpse into the nature of celebrity and the extremes people go to achieve and then maintain it, the film quietly exposes the vapidity and desperation of the world it explores. The Informant! Where Erin Brockovich cast the titular character as the ultimate whistleblower who battles the faceless corporations as they screw everyday people, The Informant! paints its hero as the

Whether for humour, horror or humanism, Hollywood maverick Steven Soderbergh delves deep into the things that go deep with people. Words: Jonathan Alley

I nsomuch as one can in Hollywood’s creative jungle, Steven Soderbergh has truly run his own race. The maverick director/screenwriter/producer’s credible indie roots – often defined by his bona fide cult classic Sex, Lies, and Videotape –  belie the wide scope of his big-hitting ensemble dramas like Erin Brockovich, Traffic, Oceans Eleven (and sequels 12 and 13) and ticklish character studies like Behind the Candelabra , Magic Mike, and The Informant!. But to paint Soderbergh as an indie trojan horse infiltrating the big screen machine is simplistic; for all his off-beam characters, mind-bending plot twists and unconventional cinematography, he’s a director who will use the fullest canvas possible to tell his stories, with all the financial and creative resources he can muster. Whether aiming big or small, going for humour, horror or humanism, Soderbergh delves deep into the things that go deep with people, that make us tick – things like status, ego, love, envy, revenge, morality, sex, and good old fashioned good and evil. Soderbergh is no moral arbiter, but he is an incredibly incisive observer of human behaviour, and it’s his uncanny ability to pick it apart that makes his films so eminently watchable. Above all, Soderbergh is a dramatist; he masterfully throws the most obtuse characters up against the most astute, mysterious or unreadable in the most challenging of situations; from Erin Brockovich’s one-woman mission against corporate evil (in the film of the same name) to the spiralling intrigue and ever-shifting loyalties and double crosses of the drug trade ( Traffic ), or simply the inherent tensions, thrills and twists of the heist (the Ocean’s films), Soderbergh knows the essential conflicts within his characters are often bigger than those they face in a given story. His latest film, Unsane – shot on iPhones in 4K and starring Claire Foy and Juno Temple – addresses a particularly modern concern: the advanced ability of the stalker to chase those they target via the manipulation of both technology and information. Soderbergh, as ever masterfully harnessing audience anxiety around a contemporary issue, successfully plants a seed of doubt in the audience’s mind about the true nature of the story unfolding before them.

Ocean’s Eleven This reimagining of the 1960 classic rat pack heist thriller by Lewis Milestone boasts a mighty ensemble cast, including a still fresh-faced Brad Pitt, a radiant Julia Roberts, Soderbergh fave Matt Damon, and George Clooney at his most roguish, charming and STACK Picks Soderbergh

ultimate fall guy. The real life story of Mark Whitacre – an executive who exposed his employer, ADM, for fixing the price of Lysine (an amino acid used in livestock breeding) – is the basis for this

charismatic. The audacity of the assembled shady types in knocking over Las Vegas, three casinos at once, never loses its essential shine. Still enormous fun 17 years on. Magic Mike

blackly absurd comedy. Matt Damon (yes,

him again) brings a feckless chaos to the gradually unfolding trainwreck, that again reminds us that truth is stranger than fiction. Unsane A typical example of one of Soderbergh’s respites from big screen, big budget entertainment, Unsane takes the oft-employed device of the sane person involuntarily committed to mental health care and gives it a modern twist. Sawyer Valentini (Claire Foy) relocates to Boston to avoid her persistent stalker, only to discover he’s trailed her and is working in a mental health care facility in which she finds herself trapped. Or is he? Things get uglier and stranger from there, and Soderbergh’s well-established sense of claustrophobia gets plenty of exercise.

Who knew Channing Tatum used to be a male stripper? Soderbergh harnessed the real life experiences of his lead actor to create this pacy, entertaining reflection of the shallow times in which we live. Magic Mike (Tatum) aspires to create custom

furniture, and strips to pay the bills. Unreality intrudes with the requisite stripper clichés (small time drug escapades, large boats,

excessive parties) as he struggles to find the joy of simplicity, while those around him revel in their hedonistic lifestyles and corrupt agendas.

• Unsane is available now on DVD and Blu-ray

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SEPTEMBER 2018

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