Most Men Lead Lives of Quiet Desperation: The Movie
by James Roland
The average working stiff spends most of his life at a boring, dead-end job making just enough money to pay the bills and rent a video on Friday night. Steven Soderbergh decided that would make a great movie.
Soderbergh helmed the fan favorite Ocean’s Eleven and the critics’ selections Erin Brochovich and Traffic. Bubble is the first of six films that he is slated to direct for HDNet, a company that made news in Hollywood by releasing its first project on DVD, Pay-Per-View, and in theatres over a span of four days. All Soderbergh’s films with HDNet will be released in a similar fashion, but it’s the way the films will be made that is truly groundbreaking. Each of the six will be based in a different small American town, using local residents for actors.
In the case of Bubble, Soderbergh and the writer, Coleman Hough, knew they wanted the film to revolve around a murder in a small town factory. Hough found a doll factory on the internet and, once the place was selected, Soderbergh handpicked the three main actors from the local area.
Soderbergh has always gleaned wonderful performances from his actors (it was under his direction that Julia Roberts won her first Academy Award). But he’s reached new heights in Bubble, taking three untrained actors Debbie Dobereiner (a manager at a local Kentucky Fried Chicken), Dustin Ashley (who works in a warehouse and makes deliveries for a local pizza restaurant), and Misty Wilkins (a student and mother of four) – and pulling believable performances from all three. True, an east coast acting coach might critique their work by using big words like ’emote’ and ‘Stanislavsky’ but what the blue collar trio lack in technique they make up for in subtly and realism that’s refreshing to see on screen.
Unfortunately, it’s that same realism that sinks the film. Bubble takes place in a real town, using real folks with no acting background, and even the characters and story points were crafted to fit the life experience of the actors. The characters trudge to work, stand for countless hours on an assembly line, scarf down fast food, and watch TV until they fall asleep. Although Soderbergh attempts to comment on this lifestyle through the repressed religious fantasies of the lead character, Martha, Bubble spends too much time holding up a mirror to society instead of telling a story. As a result, the film feels too much like a documentary to pack any real artistic punch. And, although I applaud the complete disregard of the Hollywood formula, Bubble ultimately forgets why audiences show up at the theatre in the first place: to see a movie.
