In 1989, at the age of 26, Steven Soderbergh won a Palme d’Or for his feature debut Sex, Lies and Videotape. When he accepted the award, he quipped “I guess it’s all downhill from here.” Though for the next decade his investors and some of his fans might’ve thought so, Soderbergh has done nothing but innovate and challenge himself as a filmmaker: whether it’s in the process of filmmaking itself, by way of editing and operating the camera on his own films, or in his constant desire to push the boundaries of film through formal play and innovation. He’s resisted the title of both ‘Indie Darling’ and ‘Industry Insider’, but keeps a foot in each camp. Indeed, Soderbergh weaves with seeming ease across genre, medium, and platform. For me, the mystery and the delight of Soderbergh is that he’s an auteur without a signature style, something which seems to contradict the very idea of auteurism. And yet, despite not using possessory credits like some of his contemporaries, Soderbergh is one. He’s an auteur, but he’s not a brand.
So, in celebration of Soderbergh’s expansive films, here’s a ranking of all the creations to have come out of his filmmaking factory:
28. The Underneath (1995)
The Underneath is a neo-noir starring Peter Gallagher, six years after Sex, Lies and Videotape. But sadly it does not deliver the goods. It’s beautifully shot and has all the makings of a great film, but it just doesn’t work. It’s too slow and meandering. And Soderbergh doesn’t do slow cinema very well. In an interview featured on the Criterion DVD for King of the Hill, Soderbergh addresses his disappointment with the film. He explains that his heart wasn’t in it and he was already hatching up a plan to direct Schizopolis when he should’ve been focussing on the film he was making right then and there. Apologizing to everyone who worked on the film, he simply says that he ‘didn’t show up’ for the film. – Sarah Foulkes
27. The Good German (2006)
Almost as much as he likes heists, Soderbergh likes twists. Real juicy, M. Night-style whoppers, but baked deep inside loaves of angst or soufflés of comic action. The tape footage fake-out in Ocean’s 11, the antidepressant scheming in Side Effects. In The Good German, we find out that all the of the Germans presented to us as good people are, in fact, bad people. Even Cate Blanchett! His fifth collaboration with George Clooney and, with the exception of the last Oceans movie, his last, Soderbergh pitches the black-and-white period piece as a take on Casablanca with Clooney as our generation’s cynical five o’clock shadow and the posters signified as much. Quickly, however, Soderbergh’s Casablanca dovetails into his The Third Man, complete with end-of-war rubble and men thought dead found hiding in the sewer. The criticism of Soderbergh movies that don’t make a lot of money, which is most of them, is that, as expressed by Manohla Dargis, they feel “made more for Mr. Soderbergh’s pleasure than for ours” and The Good German is burdened by being such a bummer but also looking like a lot of nerdy fun to make, from the pre-Method acting he elicits from Clooney, Blanchett and Tobey Maguire to the 32 millimeter wide-angle lenses he captures it in. But everyone’s done bad things and feels bad about them. This is probably why there aren’t any bad guys in La La Land. – Andrew Karpan
26. Gray’s Anatomy (1996)
This film consists of an 80 minute monologue told by Spalding Gray, preceded by a series of anecdotes about different people’s eye injuries. It’s a film preoccupied with the essence of cinema: sight. And, in keeping with Soderbergh’s recurrent themes, it’s interested in the way people narrativize both their pain and their secrets. Unfortunately, the film doesn’t experiment enough with Gray’s monologue, which in and of itself, isn’t that great of a listen. – Sarah Foulkes
25. And Everything Is Going Fine (2010)
Soderbergh’s fascination towards Spalding Gray really comes alive in what’s essentially his ultimate fan edit. Despite using no new footage of his own, his choice of interview and monologue pieces create a vibrant portrait of Gray that highlights his talents as a storyteller. And Everything Is Going Fine actually tells us a little bit about Gray’s life from his own perspective, and that on its own makes it feel more authentic. It’s a loving portrait of an artist with enough cracks in the veneer to see into his vulnerabilities and motivations; pretty much a perfect kind of (auto)biographical film. -Sheryl Oh
24. Ocean’s Thirteen (2007)
By now Danny Ocean (George Clooney) and his pack of intelligent men and accompanying failson (Matt Damon) have stolen the $160 million (Ocean’s Eleven), got caught, and then got some other dude to pay the first dude (Ocean’s Twelve). What do they do now? Not a whole lot! Handed a script with a barely patched together plot involving the gang crashing a slightly different casino’s opening day out of spite or revenge or something, Soderbergh does what he can. Visibly working as hard behind the camera as directing it, he fills the whole thing with dark impressionistic colors, a warbling hue against which Clooney, Damon, Brad Pitt and Don Cheadle’s hideous cockney accent (etcetera, etcetera) struggle in the twilight. – Andrew Karpan
23. Full Frontal (2002)
Soderbergh was among the many 90s indie filmmakers who owed some of the success of their careers to the interest of Harvey Weinstein’s Miramax but he also wasn’t that big of a fan of all its founder’s creepiness. This is buried, somewhat, in Soderbergh’s most-often maligned work, 2002’s Full Frontal. The movie features a pervy producer named Gus (played by David Duchovny) who coerces a masseuse into giving him an “ending.” Her devastation at this incidence of everyday dehumanization, he pays her and she steals from him as well, feels like a stark echo of the current negotiation between power and sexuality in a free and idealistic society. And while the movie’s whole film-within-a-film-within-a-film gambit, I think, drew scorn from many, there’s totally this library in Queens that once transcribed the name of the movie (inside the movie) for their records. How about that! – Andrew Karpan
22. Haywire (2012)
Soderbergh’s attempt at a slick, arty crime thriller is ultimately rather hit or miss. Gina Carano’s acting debut showcases her skill and history as a mixed martial artist first and foremost but lacked a spark whenever she had to deliver some lines. With such a thin overall plot, there’s no wonder that experienced actors like Ewan McGregor or Michael Fassbender didn’t have much to work with either. Even at a relatively short run time, the film is more a formalistic treat than anything of much substance, which lessens the thrills and overall impact of an otherwise stylistic dream. – Sheryl Oh
21. Schizopolis (1996)
Divisive even among fans of Soderbergh’s independent films, Schizopolis is a wild, funny and playful work. Feeling more like a collection of ideas and images that he couldn’t fit into his narrative features, the film is a rollercoaster of corporate intrigue and bemusing fun. It’s a rush of ingenuity and, like many of Soderbergh’s most fast-paced films, it feels like a race towards something. Perhaps, a race towards the film itself. Indeed, Soderbergh isn’t one for slow, patient films, as seen by the his rejection of The Underneath. When he’s excited about his films, you can see it on the screen.
It’s also the only film starring Soderbergh himself. – Sarah Foulkes
Related Topics: Opinions, Steven Soderbergh
