Steven Soderbergh

[Zumpano]

I blind bought a copy and thought others might want a heads-up

You won't be disappointed, K Street is some of the best stuff SS has done in my opinion.

Under $6 is a friggin' steal. I've always been a fan of the back-and-forth of Matalin/Carville . There's a nice pre-Mad Men role for John Slattery. But the "mystery man" Roger Guenveur Smith is the one that caught my attention, (leading me then to his performance "Huey P. Newton Story") and I wish he could work with Soderbergh again or play this same type of role. May be a by-product of his character/storyline though, as you (and the other characters) what to know more about him.

I'd be interested in reading what you think of this, Domino, as your tastes for Soderbergh's work run pretty similar to mine. I think this was an interesting experiment for Soderbergh and Clooney. They were running and gunning, putting these episodes together the week before they aired in order to feel current and topical. In one episode, Carville is advising Howard Dean and suggests a line that Dean then used at the following week's Democratic Debate. Mixing the real-life DC people with the actors didn't seem that gimmicky. The series even managed to have some mysterious/paranoia elements towards the end of its run that made me wonder what a second season would've been like. I think his work on this series really inspired his approach to the HDNet films and is as close as we're likely to get a "Soderbergh TV Show" ever again, as he turned "Unscripted" totally over to Clooney/Heslov.

[Ovader]

Looking over the lobbying in this thread for K Street I have decided to order the DVDs as a blind buy since I am interested in this subject. It seems to be comparable with Tanner '88 as mentioned before which I enjoyed very much so I look forward to viewing this series.

[colinr0380]

The Onion A.V. Club on The Limey commentary track.

[Camera Obscura]

The Onion A.V. Club on The Limey commentary track.

Haha, "The New Cult Canon." Great commentary - it's been a while since I listened to that one. Recently listened to the Out of Sight commentary track, very entertaining as well.

[domino harvey]

So I got my K Street DVDs in and started delving into it-- I'm guessing this was originally aired letterboxed and that's why the DVDs aren't anamorphic? It wouldn't be such a big deal but the DVDs are also interlaced, which shows up a lot worse when you try to zoom in. Oh well. I loved how from the very first shot of the series, you knew it was a Soderbergh project! I won't weigh in with proper thoughts til I finish though

[Doctor Sunshine]

The Onion A.V. Club on The Limey commentary track.

A sequel of sorts might be possible now. I'm not entirely sure who owns Kafka but with all the Criterion deals going around and it being up their alley, it doesn't seem too far fetched. It'd also be interesting to see how well any rage Dobb's had pent up over Kafka has sustained itself after all these years. I haven't seen the film in almost a decade but I really liked it; though, I'm not sure which I'd look forward to more, the remaster or the rematch.

[Cosmic Bus]

I'm not sure which I'd look forward to more, the remaster or the rematch.

...Or the recut. Didn't Soderbergh finish up a new cut of Kafka late last year?

[kaujot]

Interesting news for The Limey fans.

[Antoine Doinel]

Considering that Soderbergh couldn't get a greenlight for a baseball flick with Brad Pitt, it's doesn't seem likely that he will get a studio to sign on to a sequel for a film that nobody saw in the first place.

[HarryLong]

Didn't Soderbergh finish up a new cut of Kafka late last year?

If he did it would fall into a typical pattern for me. I get tired of waiting for the DVD & track down a VHS & burn it to DVDR & hey presto!

[Antoine Doinel]

Didn't know where else to put this, but sex, lies & videotape is coming to Blu.

[Jeff]

That upcoming Blu-ray is restored and re-mastered, and has a lot of new exclusive supplements. I'd missed the earlier announcement, but it looks great! I'm surprised that they appear to be sticking with the current, budget-priced, standard DVD.

[domino harvey]

Has anyone read Soderbergh's Getting Away With It, Or: The Further Adventures of the Luckiest Bastard You Ever Saw?

[Zumpano]

Has anyone read Soderbergh's Getting Away With It, Or: The Further Adventures of the Luckiest Bastard You Ever Saw?

It's been years Domino, but the book is completely worth it. It divides its time between being a diary of sorts for Soderbergh during the Underneath/Schizopolis period, and being a typical faber/faber interview book between Soderbergh and Richard Lester. Part of the diary is written in a Schizopolis nature, making it equally humorous, interesting, and frustrating to read. The interview sections are good depending on your love/knowledge of Lester (not enough Petulia/Superman2-3 mentions for me). But the book also marks the turnaround in Soderbergh's career. Near the end of the book, he is trying to get Kaufman's script for "Human Nature" off the ground, and is offered the "Out of Sight" script. I've been meaning to reread this for a while while rewatching "The Underneath", "Schizopolis" and a bunch of Lester films. Let me know if you get this, and maybe I can reread around the same time, so you can have someone to talk to about it.

[Oedipax]

Another vote for Getting Away With It. I enjoyed both modes the book operates in, but in particular I liked Soderbergh's day to day journals as a portrait of the life of an independent filmmaker in the 90s. Soderbergh also devotes a lot of space in the diary to discussing other people's films, which is something I never seem to tire of.

[domino harvey]

Sounds excellent, I'm gonna pick up a copy via Amazon Marketplace, as there's several users selling new remainder copies for $4. I love hearing directors talk about other films they love too, Oedipax, like more than is probably normal. I don't know when I'll get around to it, but I'll give you a head's up, Zumpano

[domino harvey]

Caught a screening of And Everything is Going Fine this weekend and I'm honestly not sure there's much to be said. It's generally effective and well-edited into a sort of greatest hits package culled from numerous filmed interviews and monologues. The idea to have Gray tell his own story is a good one, and there are moments that are so right that more than one audience member asked if some were staged for the film (even though he was, you know, dead by the time work started on it). The surprising incongruity of the sources to the material is one of the more interesting aspects, such as the powerful footage that ends the picture, which came from Barbara Koppel's ABC TV special on the Hamptons of all places! Nevertheless, the film really left no lasting impression on me and this one definitely goes down as an entertaining curiosity in Soderbergh's oeuvre.

Also, the producer said the film will be getting a theatrical distribution in November from IFC, so that pretty much seals the Criterion speculation for me.

[Zumpano]

Also, the producer said the film will be getting a theatrical distribution in November from IFC, so that pretty much seals the Criterion speculation for me.

So, now we can speculate whether this release will be part of a Gray box set or not. Thanks for the recap/review of the film, btw.

[Jacey Cockrobin]

...Or the recut. Didn't Soderbergh finish up a new cut of Kafka late last year?

Kafka update- not due for a couple years, new reshoots, vague hint at Criterion release?

http://www.rowthree.com/2010/05/19/dire ... n-the-way/" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;

[karmajuice]

I meant to post this almost a month ago, back when I saw it, but I didn't get around to it. I figure it's still worth mentioning, though, so here goes.

Saw a screening of And Everything is Going Fine with Soderbergh in attendance. I went in blind, hardly knowing who Spalding Gray was (I was aware of him, but had never seen any of his monologues). My thoughts on the film itself more or less resemble domino's. During the Q&A after the film, Soderbergh seemed ambivalent about the film. He explained that he was very pre-occupied with form and wondered, making a documentary for the first time, what he might be able to do with the form that hadn't been done before (he cited Flaherty, Koppel, and Morris as admirable antecedents). He was glad to venture into the territory, but he expressed doubt about returning to it.
The project wasn't initially his idea; I believe he was approached by Gray's widow, who had all this footage (as well as heaps of writing, etc) and wanted to know if he might be interested in doing something with it. He said guilt played a large role in him taking on the film -- he had never spoken with or visited Gray after his car accident. He felt like he had been a bad friend, and the film was, in part, a sort of penance for that.

If nothing else, the film certainly compelled me to seek out Gray's work. Some moments do linger, though, that ending shot especially.

[Roger Ryan]

I would be very interested in seeing how Soderbergh assembled the footage and am curious if his ambivalence regarding the documentary was a result of his own personal feelings regarding Gray (plus the fact that he was, in effect, commissioned to do the work) or if he felt the film itself was unsuccessful.

I was fortunate in that I was able to see Gray perform two of his monologues in person ("Monster In A Box" and "Gray's Anatomy"); both times the audience was completely enraptured by his every word. His dreamy self-absorption was not only hysterically funny but oftentimes profound. Although Soderbergh covered some of his later work (along with giving Gray a role in his third feature KING OF THE HILL), Jonathan Demme's direction of SWIMMING TO CAMBODIA remains the gold standard and is definitely the place to start when approaching Spalding Gray.

[domino harvey]

Soderbergh to retire after next slate of movies?!

[mfunk9786]

I don't blame him. It's rare that people stop and smell the roses - you only get one life to live, and he has accomplished a lot in a relatively short time. This is actually a rather refreshing thing to hear.

[AlexHansen]

Wasn't he saying that after Che as well?

[matrixschmatrix]

According to the link, he's been pretty consistent about it for the last couple years.