The cinema revolution will be televised, and last night…I took it in from my couch. Here’s my review of BUBBLE - straight skinny style. Considering the focus on personal indie production tips, tricks, and tales, I know this review is off topic from what most of the blog is about, but given the hype surrounding this movie, I feel compelled to offer my opinion. No flowery crap from me - just my honest observations about the film.

First off Netflix is awesome.
HDNet Films/ 2929/ and Magnolia Pictures released BUBBLE on Friday 1/27/06. The following Tuesday, the very first day of the movie’s wide release, the DVD showed up at my house. Thats fucking cool.

Popped in the DVD. Uhhh? Ok. Oddly, the DVD menu defaulted to Spanish subtitles.
Hmmm. A bit rushed to the dup house were we?

The film looks great.
Wonderful compositions. Awesome colors.

Every shot is locked off.
The only sparse camera movements are pans. No dollys, no tracking, no crane shots, no handheld, no interesting DOF play. Locked off and pan only.

Wide open Depth of Field.
Everything is in focus.

There’s NO WAY this movie cost a reported $2 million to make.
Watch it and do the math. I can’t find the money on screen, and I’m a realist.

HD “video-ness” only apparent during nightime shots.
Any experienced 24p user will tell you the “filmlook” disappears during lowlight shots with any movement due to the decreased shutter speed.

Come to think of it, the movie contains a bunch of still shots where not much anything moves inside the frame. You can tell some cuts were made when the shot was just about to scream out “HEY! I’M VIDEO!!!”

During this scene, the film breaks down at the 14 minute mark when the characters start stringing dialogue together (see above picture).
By the end of the film, it’s painful. Watching the “abrasive-argument scene” is FUCKING painful. All of a sudden, I’m a HS senior sitting in my blow-off drama class watching two “destined for Hollywood” 15 year olds attempt confrontation. Yikes. Ahhhh…I think my brain hurts now.

44 minutes in, there’s a murder.
The script absolutely does not hide the killer’s identity. Since the other characters in the movie didn’t seem beat up about the murder, neither was I. “So like, shes dead? Huh.”
I thought to myself, “So this is obviously not suppossed to be suspensful or engaging…uhhh…what’s is going to happen for the next 28 minutes?”

The obvious happens for the next 28 minutes.
Killer gets caught. Killer goes to jail. Movie ends. Yeah….

And strangely, Mark Romanek appears in the director’s commentary with Soderbergh.
I read about this on Romanek’s website, but didn’t have the patience to listen to the whole commentary. Mark Romanek kicks ass, but why the hell is he on this disk? Is this explained on the commentary track (readers)?

—
Disappointed? Um. Well. Me too. This movie is pointless. This script should have been turned into a short film at best (the movie is a stretch at 72 minutes). Ya’ know - credit Soderbergh and team for challenging the system, but overall - this movie is not very entertaining. I really wanted to like this movie, but I’ll just say it: this movie sucks. To further backup this point, note that Entertainment Weekly gave it an A…

To other established filmmakers looking to take on a low budget indie project:
If you’re going to absorb the audience in your own personal vanity project, at least make it interesting or provocative. Soderbergh’s directing style definitely made the movie interesting to look at, but Steve - next movie…please try not to sleep through the “picking a script” part.

I hope the next day-and-date movie has more gusto.