Behind the Candelabra (Steven Soderbergh)

[eternity]

imdb

[eternity]

This is all I have to contribute.

[B-side]

This was quite good. I don't know anything about Liberace, so I won't speak on that front. But this is as much about decaying aesthetics -- both in the corporeal realm and in a medium transitioning to digital -- as it is about Liberace's secret life. It's close to a swan song, but not quite. Call it a prelude to a vacation. Either way, this contains some absolutely dazzling images. The opulence masks the aging bodies and dying veneer of secrecy. It's not just in the brilliant lighting, but in the hectic camerawork during the drug sequences; the camera dancing around near Damon's nervously energetic body trying to keep focus on a constantly moving object. This recalls, with some mark of visual contrast, the phantasmagorical slow motion light show of Magic Mike's drug-fueled party scenes. Soderbergh, as of late, hasn't been one to place a whole lot of focus on acting -- which has been to his benefit -- but here the actors hold the key to the central relationship's deterioration, and Douglas and Damon are both fantastic. Rob Lowe contributes a pretty funny performance as a plastic surgeon whose face has been operated on so many times he can barely manage to open his eyes. It's the comic corollary to Liberace's ghostly appearance as he lies dying of AIDS. The dynamics of Scott and Lee's relationship are difficult to pin down exactly, probably because they each seem to want to be so many different things to the other. The extravagance belies a very real fear of aging and public scrutiny. But, as much as I'd hoped Soderbergh would be the one to make the biopic a vessel of real and unique artistic vision, it's not quite the case. Soderbergh is easily identifiable behind the lens, but the narrative trappings of the biopic are ultimately chains Soderbergh struggles to break free from. It has ups and downs and strains to grant itself closure in a slightly kitschy -- perhaps befitting the subject -- ending. It's nevertheless well worth watching and a nice way for Soderbergh to segue into TV work for a while.

[plain]

nice words brights...

enjoyed it too, playing a little better for me in retrospect.

here's some extended words on it: http://www.soundonsight.org/behind-t...ful-swan-song/

[Lucky]

Easily the best HBO movie of the past few years.

[Henry Gale]

Really solid stuff. I can't even really grasp this as a TV movie because the production quality of it lines up with anything else of Soderbergh's latest work, whether it was budgeted any differently or not. And while it might not even be my favourite film of his from 2013, it completes a pretty stellar run for him in my eyes, and leaves me hoping this isn't anywhere close to his final foray into feature-length storytelling.

The two leads are stellar, the sort of performances where only slight familiar mannerisms peek through and reminded me that I was watching Michael Douglas and Matt Damon. Also interesting that while the film is relatively serious, Soderbergh does the same thing he did with The Informant by off-setting the drama by filling out the supporting cast with almost entirely comedic actors. (Scott Bakula and Tom Papa having now appeared in both.)

Everything in the craftsmanship of the film seems to sprout from how these two men view each other and the world around them. The final scene illustrates this in the greatest, kitschiest, most oddly affecting way possible. It could easily lean into goofy parody with all of the central figures extravagances, but allowing the audience to be so immersed in the life Liberace and Thornson make for themselves, observing as historically conscious flies on the glittered, bedazzled walls, viewing their lowest moments and seeing how those events oddly build their relationship into something more profound for the both of them, really allows it to conjure a beautifully unique pulse throughout. It's all so perfectly odd (but always properly sincere), especially for a film that could easily be called musical biopic, yet exist so far outside of that cliche bill.

But yes, Rob Lowe's face. Oh my god, I didn't even care if it felt like he was overly hamming it up at times. Glorious.

[wigwam]

Loved the in&out selective focus carried over from Side Effects. The funeral and repressed sexuality make this a particularly great and touching bookend to Sex Lies.

[ledfloyd]

Loved the in&out selective focus carried over from Side Effects. The funeral and repressed sexuality make this a particularly great and touching bookend to Sex Lies.

Not to mention the focus on death and decay to cap the final stretch of his career making films about the commodification of bodies.