Contagion (Soderbergh)

[EyesWideOpen]

Solaris is fantastic. My favorite film of his easily.

[Bosco B Thug]

Like, ever?

Out of Time, The Limey and Traffic are all very good -- and most of his stuff is at least worth a look.

Oh wait, I've seen Ocean's 12 & 13, and Solaris. Whoops, red-faced.

I'll give him a try, like his acclaimed 90s work, eventually. Maybe if I like Contagion.

[Boner M]

You'd like The Limey, BBT. Start there.

[Pop Trash]

Is Soderbergh still retiring? I'm still a big fan of his pre-Oceans work. He also gives great commentary.

[Qrazy]

Is Soderbergh still retiring? I'm still a big fan of his pre-Oceans work. He also gives great commentary.

As far as we know. For someone as prolific as him though I would think that it would be a short lived retirement. Right now he's probably constantly taking off more than he can chew and he needs a break but at some point he'll get bored and want to make another film.

[Bosco B Thug]

You'd like The Limey, BBT. Start there.

Cool, noted.

[Qrazy]

Cool, noted.

Personally I think Sex Lies and Videotape and Schizopolis are better.

[Sxottlan]

Meh. Fairly rote and slow-going. Seemed Soderbergh was trying to mimic his work in Traffic, but it wasn't nearly as engaging (not that I've seen that film since I saw it in theatres 11 years ago). Then again I don't often find virus movies that engaging to begin with.

I think the best may still be The Andromeda Strain.

BTW, between this movie and watching Johnnie To's Vengeance Thursday night, it's been a Macau weekend for me.

[number8]

I thought it was neat. I kinda love the aesthetic and how it avoided dramatizing pretty much anything and just patiently and clinically detail how the CDC and WHO would actually handle this kind of outbreak. It makes the whole thing entirely anticlimactic and mundane (SOLUTION: just wait at home and carry on with normal life until the government get around to taking care of everything!) but if you're interested in that kind of stuff, it's fairly engaging.

It was a mistake to see it opening weekend though. Packed theater and everyone seemed bored by it. People kept checking the time on their phones.

[number8]

Plus, this movie gives the finger to homeopathy, so that's a plus.

[NickGlass]

I thought it was neat. I kinda love the aesthetic and how it avoided dramatizing pretty much anything and just patiently and clinically detail how the CDC and WHO would actually handle this kind of outbreak. It makes the whole thing entirely anticlimactic and mundane (SOLUTION: just wait at home and carry on with normal life until the government get around to taking care of everything!) but if you're interested in that kind of stuff, it's fairly engaging.

It was a mistake to see it opening weekend though. Packed theater and everyone seemed bored by it. People kept checking the time on their phones.

I agree that Soderberg approached the subject with a fair amount of clinical professionalism, which I appreciate, but you don't believe it was dramatized at all? Perhaps my problem with the film is that it dramatically toed the line so much and yet couldn't follow through with an effective subplot--leading to a half-dramatization of many threads. It feeds into the recent problem I've had in regards to Soderberg's recent films. Also, the aesthetic seemed stale by Soderberg standards; I know it's cold in Minnesota and warm in Georgia--so you still need to use the color gels? I think this is used much more effectively in Traffic.

Best in show, considering the role/sub-plot and performance: Jennifer Ehle.

[Rowland]

I thought it was amusing that half the film played like a music-video of endless montage, albeit a pleasantly stylish one in that modern Soderbergh aesthetic scored to danceable techno beats.

[number8]

I agree that Soderberg approached the subject with a fair amount of clinical professionalism, which I appreciate, but you don't believe it was dramatized at all? Perhaps my problem with the film is that it dramatically toed the line so much and yet couldn't follow through with an effective subplot--leading to a half-dramatization of many threads.

Well, I don't believe the virus plot itself gets any dramatization. There's no race against time, no herculean effort to find a cure, none of the characters gets thrusted into a dangerous journey, and there's no real dramatic investigation to find patient zero and the cause of the virus as the trailers cheekily suggested. It's just... hey, a new virus appeared, let's learn it. Even the fact that millions of people are dying from it is just treated as background news statistics in the film, rather than a ticking clock.

There's enough drama in the individual characters just to distinguish them apart so they're not just scientists babbling research terms, but they never go beyond the mundane reality of their situations.

Matt Damon loses his wife to the virus, so this everyman is transformed into... a guy who shuts himself and his daughter at home and just waits things out.

Lawrence Fishburne is the insider who stumbles into a scandal, so the government comes after him... and tells him, "Hey, chief, keep doing what you're doing, but you should probably stop talking to reporters, please."

Kate Winslet is the brilliant researcher given the task of finding the cure, so she... visits a bunch of sick people and collects data.

[

Show Spoiler

Jude Law's is my favorite because it's clearly thumbing its nose at the standard Hollywood approach to this premise, which is the lone guy with the conspiracy theory fighting the system... except instead of being the hero who's right all along, he ends up just being a nutjob blogger who's full of shit.

Marion Cotillard's kidnapping subplot was terrible, though. I could do without that one.

]

[Barty]

I thought it was neat. I kinda love the aesthetic and how it avoided dramatizing pretty much anything and just patiently and clinically detail how the CDC and WHO would actually handle this kind of outbreak. It makes the whole thing entirely anticlimactic and mundane (SOLUTION: just wait at home and carry on with normal life until the government get around to taking care of everything!) but if you're interested in that kind of stuff, it's fairly engaging.

Agreed.

[Barty]

The lack of dramatization was effectively more creepy and unnerving than anything else I've seen recently. Loved how they handled the deaths of Paltrow and their son. It just happens...no music, no breakdown, bam your dead.

[number8]

Paltrow really sold that death twitch, too. That set the tone for the rest of the film.

[EyesWideOpen]

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[Mysterious Dude]

I thought this was quite good. Except there was this annoying couple sitting behind me in the theater, and whenever they heard or saw something from Minneapolis that they recognized, they, for some reason, had to repeat it out loud.

- "Where are you right now?"
- "I'm at, uh, Lake and Lyndale."

"Ahahaha! Lake and Lyndale!"

Yeah, I fucking heard it.

[Li Lili]

Saw it today at the theatre, I thought it was just ok. It seemed to me that there were lots of topics, but dealt quite superfluously.

[Ezee E]

Fortyfive minutes into it. I need to go to bed, but this might be my movie of the year.

[Scar]

Fortyfive minutes into it. I need to go to bed, but this might be my movie of the year.

Just watched it a couple days ago, and I really enjoyed it.

[Robby P]

This movie reminded me of most of Soderbergh's recent output. Engrossing and captivating but the material is handled in a very superficial manner. It seems like Soderbergh is more interested in juggling subplots than saying anything particularly meaningful. Most of the movie was pretty forgettable although the final scene was a nice, surprising touch.

[Ezee E]

This was great all around. Just enough drama to keep things interesting for each character, but never overthetop. Enough clinical talk, but not so wordy that you couldn't understand.

If anything, this movie shows me that Gwyneath Paltrow needs to be in more movies. This and Two Lovers makes me think she's one of the better actresses out there. Her seizure was probably the most realistic (and I've seen plenty on the field) I've seen in a movie before. Chilling.

[Dukefrukem]

I loved this. It's definitely my favorite Soderbergh movie.

[Dukefrukem]

You guys need to go back and watch the movie. Look at Donald Sutherland's helicopter pilot.

He's uncredited for some reason.

This is who I thought was Damon.