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Steven Soderbergh's Best Indie Film
Steven Soderbergh turns 59 today and remains a highly renowned feature filmmaker. Soderbergh is a pioneer in independent filmmaking. Movie critic Roger Ebert called Soderbergh the "poster boy of the Sundance generation." With the success of his directorial debut, Sex, Lies, and Videotape, Soderbergh brought mainstream esteem to the indie film world. Soderbergh's career is prolific and rich with culturally prominent films such as the Ocean's trilogy, Magic Mike, and the prophetic Contagion.
After all his success, Soderbergh still remains faithful to his indie roots. He often picks low-budget film projects, rather than pursuing commercial outputs. For instance, in 2018, he made Unsane, a feature-length movie filmed entirely on the iPhone 7 Plus. Soderbergh invests his talent in films like these to prove skill makes a movie great, not large budgets and fancy equipment.
In celebration of his birthday, let us look back and cherish one of Soderbergh's most criminally underseen movies: Bubble. Soderbergh has been revered as 'ahead of his time' since his directorial debut. The production and result of Bubble epitomize the filmmaker's innovative spirit. In 2005, Soderbergh took a chance on an almost unheard-of distribution method. He made a deal with Mark Cuban to make 6 films that would be cross-released all at once on HDNet, DVD, and in Landmark theaters. The first of which was Bubble. This method of distribution is now known as 'day-and-date,' which has grown in popularity due to the pandemic. Most films are now released on streaming services in addition to theaters.
The production of Bubble was just as audacious as its release. Non-actors were employed from the border of Ohio and West Virginia where the film is set and filmed. With no script and no experience, just Soderbergh's direction, a powerful performance showing the depths of human behavior is captured. Bubble's narrative revolves around Martha (Debbie Doebereiner) and Kyle (Dustin James Ashley), a mismatched comradeship between doll-factory co-workers. Martha gives Kyle rides, Kyle gives Martha companionship. Martha takes a picture of Kyle in a bakery they stop at on their way to work. She calls him her best friend which reveals just how alone these two are in their world. The pair drift through their grey rust-belt melancholy, making the same dolls over and over until a new co-worker disrupts their stagnant lives. Rose (Misty Dawn Wilkins) is a bright and wild surprise in the impoverished Midwestern setting. Her hot, tobacco-smoking, single-mother presence inspires strong reactions from Kyle and Martha's little community.
The improvised dialogue from non-actors creates an atmosphere of hyper-realism. In its 72-minute run time, every aleatory sound or expression becomes a crucial detail to the Bubble's storytelling. Coleman Hough, the screenwriter, speaks on this element in an interview with Filmmaker Magazine: "They just were so brave and so themselves. And they trusted us." Soderbergh's dive into stripped-down filmmaking exposes what audiences really search for in cinema: a reflection of reality.
In the same interview, Soderbergh comments on how his style approach was "to create a frame for things to happen in, so the actors didn't have to worry about where they were moving. I never wanted to tell them where to go." The non-actors, the most inexperienced players in the production, made this entire film what it is. Bubble shows us why Soderbergh believes in independent filmmaking because it gives the power of storytelling to everyone. Any of Soderbergh's titles would make exceptional additions to your library's independent film collection.
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