Bubble (2005)

"Another Steven Soderbergh Experience"

Bubble is a film that won't be appreciated by your friends. You know, the people who watch two types of movies; either stupid comedies with Will Farrell or Adam Sandler or dumb action movies like The Fast and the Furious. Bubble is one of Steven Soderbergh's experiments and a fascinating one at that. When Soderbergh does a movie like this; it brings to mind only one other filmmaker. That would be Gus Van Sant. They both can successfully take random people who aren't actors and throw them into a movie, eliminate all the gimmicks of standard filmmaking, and make a movie that is extremely real. Bubble is like Van Sant's Paranoid Park. Both if which are amazing.

Bubble is set in a shitty Ohio town; just slightly worse then the one I have to look at every day. The movie centers around three characters who work at a doll factory. When the new girl, Rose goes out on a date with an fellow employee, she leaves another worker, Martha, to babysit her daughter. The date goes good and she is dropped off at home, where her ex barges in saying she stole from him. From there it is a small time crime mystery that is about more then just a murder. The story is excellently told with little excitement, just like it would be in real life.

It's a simple movie with a delicate touch. The actors are real people using real dialogue, and less acting and more just going about their day. The only music in the movie is during little scenes where we watch a character do something, and the music is as simple as some chords played on an acoustic guitar. The film is also extremely short at 73 minutes, which plays right into the style and simpleness of the film itself.

You have to really like experimental, art films to like this one. It surely isn't for everyone, but if you are a fan of Soderbergh and experimental films in general, you can't go wrong here. It's a truly excellent little movie that proves that Soderbergh is more than an average director(although he already proved that many times over), and that he is an artist and visionary. Movies like Bubble explain why Soderbergh is one of my favorite directors around at the moment.