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Living on the edge
Just like its name, you aren't quite sure what to make of Steven Soderbergh's Bubble. Is it a commentary on class in America? Maybe it's about repressed desire? When you walk out, you may wonder if it was simply an excuse to allow Soderbergh to experiment with narrative. What one can say for sure about Bubble, it's the first love it or hate it movie of the year. At the center of Bubble is Martha (Debbie Doebereiner), a 40-something single woman who cares for her elderly father the best she can and counts her co-worker Kyle, who is half her age, as one of her closest friends. Kyle (Dustin James Ashley), on the other hand, lives with his mother and, besides working at the doll factory, holds down a second job at a plant that makes shovels. If one was to describe the lives these two characters lead, the previous paragraph sums it up pretty accurately. Besides getting high for Kyle, church and sewing dresses for the dolls they make for Martha, their lives are the very definition of routine. So it's little surprise when Rose (Misty Dawn Wilkins), a single mother, is hired at the factory the very idea of having an attractive co-worker his own age would intrigue Kyle. And sensing the instant attraction between the two, Martha would quickly see her as a rival. When Rose is found murdered in her apartment Martha, Kyle and Rose's ex quickly become suspects. The primary question that swirls at the center of the investigation is less who than why? In the first few reels, Soderbergh paints an eerily accurate picture of small town life. The few factories that are still in operation run on skeleton crews. Food, drugs, TV and church are all diversionary activities. The houses are simultaneously sparse, cramped and confining. What few possessions people have threaten to crowd them out of house and home. While Soderbergh handles the visuals, screenwriter Coleman Hough can be credited with creating dialogue and characters that truthfully reflects the realities of small town living. Mundane and devoid of intimate details, whatever inner lives Martha and Kyle may or may not have are never expressed. When Kyle talks about his father, there is nothing to talk about. He last talked to him six months ago and that's the extent of the update. The only reason Martha knows the beaches of Aruba are beautiful is because she saw them on TV. Even when Kyle and Rose go out on a date, their conversation revolves around mostly what they immediately see around them like Kyle's tattoos. These are people are so busy working barely-paying, blue-collar jobs they have little time or money to carve out much more in life then what's immediately at hand. Shot on HD and in a documentary style, Soderbergh uses his camera as a neutral observer. Filming scenes using wide-angle lenses, he rarely allows the camera to get too close, preferring group shots whenever possible. What results is a film that, instead of bringing us closer to the characters, actually achieves the opposite. Bubble is an otherworldly film where the line between comedy and tragedy is so razor thin things always feels slightly askew. Even when people react to the news of a murder, their reactions aren't quite what we would expect. Watch how each character reacts to the disturbing news of Rose's murder. Each reaction scene is pregnant with contradiction. Are the characters supposed to be surprised, angry or sad? And what are we supposed to feel for him? Are we even supposed to feel anything for Rose or the characters involved? Much like the inhabitants of the town featured in The Last Picture Show, there are sure to be those who will denounce Soderbergh's depiction as a distortion of reality. This isn't a film meant to represent all small towns, but as more and more towns struggle to hold on to the factory work that was the primary reason for their existence, it's fair to say that it represents quite a few of them. After the self indulgent combo of Ocean's Twelve and Full Frontal (also scripted by Hough), it's good to see Soderbergh back on top of his game. Charles Judson is a local screen & comic book writer and a regular contributor and film critic for CinemATL. |
Bubble Directed by: Steven Soderbergh 
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(3½ out of 4)