Opening this week in U.S. theaters, The Christophers is the latest film from prolific U.S. director Steven Soderbergh, whose creative hand has helmed many theatrical releases and more than a few television series over the past 35 or so years.
Although some of his films have enjoyed broad popular success and/or earned Academy Award nominations, Soderbergh has maintained a smooth, flowing style that makes his work feel personal and marks his work as distinctive, even as he flows over a welcome, sometimes bewildering variety of genres.
We begin with an overview of the director and his work, in our own Theodoor Steen's Sound and Vision column.
Born in Atlanta, Georgia, Steven Soderbergh was raised, along with his five siblings, by his father Peter and his mother Mary Ann. If those names sound faintly familiar, it's because later, when Soderbergh began serving as his own director of photography and film editor, he would credit himself in those roles using his father's first and middle names (Peter Andrews) and his mother's first and birth names (Mary Ann Bernard), respectively.
Soderbergh began making short films in high school, gave Hollywood a try as a film editor, and then returned home to make more short films, including Winston, which served as the basis for his debut feature, sex, lies, and videotape (1989). The film became a sensation when it premiered at the Sundance Film Festival that year.
What followed were a series of independent films that ran the gamut from the strange Kafka (1991) to the Depression-era drama King of the Hill (1993) to the quasi-crime thriller The Underneath (1995) to the truly odd Schizopolis (1996).
Watching some of these on rented videotapes did not fill me with great anticipation for his future, but that was quickly remedied when I saw the dextrous and wonderful Out of Sight (1998) and The Limey (1999) as a double feature -- both watched twice over a long weekend on DVDs rented from Blockbuster Video. My second viewing was devoted to listening to the excellent audio commentaries, which sucked me completely into the Soderbergh-verse, ahead of his foray into films which found even wider audiences.
A recent viewing of The Limey, written by Lem Dobbs and starring Terence Stamp as a British career criminal who visits Los Angeles searching for answers after the death of his daughter, confirmed my feelings when I first watched it -- the non-linear storytelling and Stamp's terrific performance. It takes familiar ideas and makes it all feel very fresh. Plus Peter Fonda and Barry Newman! Plus, on DVD, an absolutely fascinating audio commentary by Dobbs and Soderbergh in which they get into a battle royale about their many, many differences. (The film is now streaming on Hoopla.)
Soderbergh's fertile creative energies elevated the smart, clever and meaningful Erin Brockovich and Traffic, which both earned multiple Academy Award nominations. He gave his personal touch to an elegant heist movie remake, Ocean's Eleven (2001), gave it his best shot with the sci-fi remake Solaris (2002), and made his own type of low-budget Dogme95 movie with Full Frontal (2002).
He ventured into TV with the rough, punchy, and timely political series K-Street (2003) before trying his hand with his own smooth sequel to his remake, Ocean's Twelve (2004). He also co-wrote the screenplay for his frequent first assistant director / producer Gregory Jacobs' directorial debut, Criminal (2004).
Screen Anarchy began following the director's career soon after our founding in September 2004. Here are links to some of our reviews and interviews, with "now streaming" locations provided, where available, current as of date of publication.
Bubble (2006)
Commentary on the release strategy by Collin A.: "With the impending release of Soderbergh's social realist crime drama Bubble in theaters, on cable, and DVD all at once, it's hard not to consider what it might foreshadow regarding the future of film distribution."
Our review by Dave Canfield: "My question is whether most in whatever audience the film gets will be prepared for Soderbergh's unusual slice of uncertain midwestern life. ... The non-actors in it are like carbon copies of people I grew up around and hung out with as a young adult."
Next came The Good German (2006) and Ocean's Thirteen (2007), before Soderbergh tackled an epic with a rare roadshow engagement in select U.S. movie theaters.
Che (2008)
Our review by Michael Guillen: "Where Che, Part One is joyous and celebratory in its revolutionary spirit and will be a movie most people can, I imagine, like; Part Two is frustrating, sad, and ultimately tragic. It doesn't feel good at all. It doesn't even look as colorful as the Cuban sequence. Its palette is bleached and dry. It's hard to watch the disillusionment of such fervent ideals and the death of the revolution's key figures one by one. Yet the film suggests that the revolution in Bolivia achieved consciousness precisely through its failure and Che's martyrdom assured his place as a symbol of idealism and heroism in the hearts of struggling people throughout the world."
Our interview, conducted by Michael Guillen: "I don't think you could find anybody that I've worked with who would say that I was unfair or indecisive; but, I also don't think you'd find anybody that would say, "He's such a warm personality." [Laughs.]"
Our DVD review by Rodney Perkins: "The naysayers are entitled to their opinions, but as Criterion's exquisite home video release demonstrates, Che is a technically accomplished and intellectually rigorous film that stands as one of the more important works in Soderbergh's filmography."
Soderbergh's next two releases were a study in contrasts: The Girlfriend Experience (2008), reviewed below, and the would-be comedy The Informant! (2009), which I saw theatrically. Unfortunately, I was not on its wavelength to enjoy it. The Girlfriend Experience, however, was something different for our writer.
The Girlfriend Experience (2009)
Our review by Kwenton Bellette: "The Girlfriend Experience is a sleeper hit and masterwork of filmmaking into an art form that personifies an intangible concept; Capitalism. The passivity of the film can be interpreted as voyeurism, the point of the film that you have possibly seen it because a porn star is in it, the human condition to watch other people's lives play out, essentially breaking an existential wall as we watch the society that watches.
"I highly enjoyed The Girlfriend Experience; it is a movie I was absorbed in, fascinated by the subject matter, the distance and loneliness that was not focused upon and that masterful technical approach Soderbergh applied."
Haywire (shot in 2010, released in 2012)
The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Our review by Kurt Halfyard: "Even something that feels like this particular filmmaker could do it in his sleep has such a precise polish and rhythm that not a second of this film feels superfluous. There are enough little touches and intangibles to forgive Haywire for having nothing whatsoever to say other than Soderbergh knows his craft."
Our Blu-ray review by J Hurtado: "A risky proposition indeed, but one that pays off with the help of Soderbergh's assured directorial hand and Carano's natural magnetism on screen. Haywire turned out to be probably the most brutally realistic American action film in years, and that's a good thing."
Contagion (2011)
Our review by Dave Canfield: "At times this film seems like a toned down seventies science fiction horror film a la The Andromeda Strain (1971) or Phase IV (1974) but that has more to do with how genuinely smart Contagion is rather than how scary."
Magic Mike (2012)
Our review by Rachel Fox: "Magic Mike may be the most fun I've had at the movies in 2012 thus far. Soderbergh has managed to take what others would have turned into a cheesy romp to another level entirely by playing it, ahem, totally straight."
Around this time, Soderbergh was widely believed to be retiring from filmmaking, which explains the comments in Eric and Ryland's reviews of his next two films:
Side Effects (2013)
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Our review by Eric D. Snider: "The important thing to know about Side Effects -- which Steven Soderbergh says will be his last theatrical film for a while, maybe forever -- is that whatever you're thinking it's going to be, it probably is not that. Pardon my vagueness as I avoid ruining any surprises, but what begins as a shrewd, piercing story about the pharmaceutical industry turns into something else, a different kind of story altogether. That's Soderbergh: always keeping us on our toes, even in "ordinary" genre films."
Behind the Candelabra (2013)
The film is now streaming on HBO Max.
Our review by Ryland Aldrich: "It's become somewhat common for HBO to premiere their bigger movies at notable festivals and Cannes makes perfect sense for Steven Soderbergh's so-called final film, Behind the Candelabra. It also makes sense that the Matt Damon and Michael Douglas starrer will be making its stateside premier on HBO. The film is well-produced and well-acted, but at its heart, this is a TV movie."
Soderbergh clarified that he meant his "break" as a sabbatical, not a retirement. Happily for viewers, it was not an extended sabbatical.
With his absorbing historical medical series The Knick (2014), which ran for two seasons, Soderbergh made clear that his gift for supple filmmaking was definitely not in retirement. He then served as director of photography and editor (under his pseudonyms) for director Gregory Jacobs' Magic Mike XXL (2015), which ensured that it certainly looked and played like a Soderbergh joint.
His return to the theatrical director's chair came next.
Logan Lucky (2017)
The film is now streaming on Hoopla.
Our review by Jim Tudor: "Now, he's back to the big screen with Logan Lucky, a strange blend of all of the above categories, lumping it in with, say, Contagion. ... Perhaps more of an irresistible experiment for Soderbergh and company -- "Ocean's 7-11," they call it -- Logan Lucky is nonetheless a decently satisfying yarn, even with its agenda. It's a working class heist picture with its heart ultimately in the right place as it looks to give faces to the forgotten and overlooked."
Written by Ed Solomon, Mosaic (2018) was a six-episode series which was so convoluted in its narrative that I found it impenetrable. I really should give it another try, especially in view of what Soderbergh was about to do. It is still streaming on HBO Max.
Unsane (2018)
The film is now streaming on Hoopla.
Our review by Thomas Humphrey: "Unsane proves to be an utterly fascinating exploration of sanity that well and truly gets you asking questions. Also shot entirely on an iPhone, the restlessly creative Soderbergh definitely manages to push the boat out cinematically too. But whatever you do, do not let this movie's underbaked marketing efforts to dress this film up as an easy-selling horror disappoint you. Unsane isn't a horror at all, it's a psychological thriller of the highest order, and should be respected and enjoyed as just that."
High Flying Bird (2019)
The film is now streaming on Netflix.
Our review by yours truly: "Of course, he's long been pleasantly unpredictable about the projects that catch his eye, and so the idea of him making a 'sports movie' for Netflix sounds curious, yet delightfully illogical. In its very first sequence, however, it becomes apparent that High Flying Bird is not a sports movie in the traditional sense."
Soderbergh returned to Netflix for The Laundromat (2019), which is quite clever and is still streaming on the service. Switching to HBO Max, the comedy-drama Let Them All Talk (2020) (link here) felt like a jumbled mess to me, though it had its moments.
On the other hand, the crime-thrillers No Sudden Move (2021) (link here) and Kimi (2022) (link here) were absolutely terrific and will reward viewing with as little advance information as possible; just sit back and enjoy.
I could not muster up much enthusiasm for seeing Magic Mike's Last Dance (2023). On the other hand, I tried the first episode of Full Circle (2023) (link here) this week and was hooked instantly. It has a great cast and it quickly gallops beyond the simple premise; Ed Solomon (Mosaic) wrote all six episodes, and Soderbergh's direction is top-notch.
Presence (2024)
The film is now streaming on Hulu.
Our review by Mel Valentin: "Shot primarily in a single, standalone set over less than two weeks and a limited shooting schedule, Presence doesn't reinvent or reimagine tropes associated with haunted house or supernatural ghost stories. Far from it.
"What Presence does do -- in Soderbergh's approach to formal experimentation within predetermined boundaries (e.g., genre, setting, and so forth) -- it does far better and far more effectively than the vast majority of filmmakers currently writing and directing within the horror space could achieve within the same preset parameters."
Black Bag (2025)
The film is now streaming on Prime Video.
Our review by Kyle Logan: "In 1998, Out of Sight delivered one of the greatest reminders since the Hays Code era that a movie doesn't need to be explicit to be sexy. Almost 30 years later, Steven Soderbergh delivers another such reminder with his new spy thriller Black Bag.
"While the film is undeniably an exciting and high stakes spy thriller with the lives and deaths of millions in the balance, it's primarily a fantastic ensemble relationship drama."
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