In this installment, we look at Soderbergh's Sundance Film Festival smash hit, along with the preceding short that inspired and informed it. Screenshots all come from the 2009 Blu-ray of sex, lies, and videotape.
James Spader has done so much since sex, lies, and videotape, but this role re-shaped his screen persona and redefined him.
3: Winston (1987)
narrative short
12 min
on disc (USA) || only available on the OOP sex, lies, and videotape laserdisc
streaming || YouTube (embedded below)
best way to watch || YouTube
Soderbergh made this back home in Baton Rouge to get sex, lies, and videotape off the ground. It’s made in the same vein as sex lies, in that it deals with how people deal with sexuality and interpersonal conflict. It was one of the few laserdisc extras left out of the 2009 sex, lies, and videotape Blu-ray.
David Jensen, who plays David, would continue appearing in cameos through Soderbergh's Ocean's Eleven, in addition to working as a grip or electric on various Soderbergh movies. You can watch Winston above in its original form, and if you want, you can watch or re-watch it below with Soderbergh's commentary form the laserdisc.
4: sex, lies, and videotape (1989)
feature
100 min
on disc (USA) || 2009 Region A/B/C (all) Blu-ray, complete with most extras from the laserdisc ($15 USD at the momenton Amazon, often drops under $10), 1998 R1 DVD with no extras and a lousy transfer
streaming (USA) || Netflix Instant (requires subscription)
best way to watch || the Blu-ray: great commentary with Soderbergh and Neil LaBute, also includes 20th Anniversary reunion from Sundance 2009 featurette
Even though he’s so well-known for this film, it’s the one that I feel the least compelled to write much about since so much has already been said. In short, it’s about an unfaithful husband (Peter Gallagher), his wife (Andie McDowell), and her sister (Laura San Giacomo), as well as an old friend of his (James Spader), whose sudden reappearance changes all of their lives irrevocably. It explores themes of sexuality and morality against the backdrop of Spader’s character recording women talking about their feelings about and relationships with sex as a part of their lives. Everyone involved struggles with issues of trust, lust, and the lies woven throughout.
Over 20 years later, it more than holds up, and reminds me of how utterly less daring and raw indie cinema has become. Often, I see indie talent opting to grab a hot, controversial subject in the hopes getting attention for it will buy them into greater fame and a life making plastic, mass-market fluff.
Soderbergh's fame and industry attention coming out of Sundance 1989 lead him in the other direction, making the movies he wanted to make, and on as close to his terms as possible.
As many times as I’ve seen it, James Spader’s Cannes Best Actor-winning performance is compelling and engaging every time. The character is both like and unlike what people know him for of late (Boston Legal, Secretary, The Office). He's aloof, stoic, driven, and predatory all at once. He records women talking about sex. He's celibate. His motivations are difficult to comprehend and odd, but are they anything more than basic (albeit weird) curiosity?
I don't get making this frame the key art for the Blu-ray cover. Well, I do, but I don't.
Soderbergh won the Palme d’Or at Cannes with this film at the age of 26, which, to hear him tell it on the commentary, was both a blessing and a curse.
You’ll find that every feature commentary Soderbergh has done is a great listen. At some point, there'll be an Appendix entry that covers those commentaries, including both movies Soderbergh directed and those he didn't. Among many other things, he touches on how the expectations following this film kinda cursed him returning to Cannes 4 years later with King of the Hill. More on that in the next installment.
In the Next Installment of Soderberghopolis
We look at the director’s mind-bending, kafkaesque Franz Kakfa movie (Kafka), his Depression-era studio picture starring a young Jesse Bradford (King of the Hill), and a post-Noir shot in Austin (The Underneath).
Soderberghopolis is an open-ended, chronological career retrospective series looking at the work of Steven Soderbergh in moving pictures: cinema, TV, installation art, whatever fits.
Essential sources include (but are not limited to): various interviews (linked where applicable) and the various commentaries, booklets, and featurettes produced by The Criterion Collection.
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