Dir. Steven Soderbergh, 2002, US, 101 mins
Cast: Julie Roberts, Blair Underwood, David Duchovny, David Hyde Pierce, Catherine Keener
Thank goodness someone finally saw sense and gave this film a release. The antithesis of the slick Ocean's Eleven, Full Frontal sees Soderbergh gleefully playing with all the tricks at his disposal, both visually and thematically. Mooted as the unofficial sequel to Sex, Lies & Videotape, the film follows a day in the lives of seven Hollywood types who are eventually drawn together for a climatic birthday party.
This ensemble piece, which includes Julia Roberts, Blair Underwood, David Duchovny, David Hyde Pierce, and Catherine Keener, has received accusations of amateurism, of something one would expect from a director straight out of film school yet, were Soderbergh to fully pursue a more polished, mainstream trajectory, he would be accused of 'selling out'.
Full Frontal - with it's rough digital footage, shot documentary-style - probably is a conscious attempt on the part of the director to remain true to his original production values and, if anything, Soderbergh should be applauded for not being afraid to experiment and not fall into the conventional Hollywood trap. The stylistic 'film-within-a-film' device - a sentimental, formulaic love story between a reporter (Julia Roberts) and film star (Blair Underwood) - beautifully shot on 35mm and vividly contrasting with the 'real-life' narrative, serves as a reminder that Soderbergh is perfectly adept at delivering traditional Hollywood fayre but, as we perceive that this 'film-within-a-film' is aesthetically pleasing but short on substance, Soderbergh seems generally to be saying much the same of conventional filmmaking.
In finally declaring the relationship between the two parts - the glossy 'fictional' and the grainy 'real' narrative - Soderbergh appears to be answering his critics by showing that the two sets of production values can co-exist and even enhance one another, and there are not that many successful Hollywood directors who appreciate and can expertly tread both paths as Soderbergh can. Full Frontal has a confusing start but it is rewarding to stay with it, to let the individual stories unfold and converge, and to enjoy the strong and often moving performances of its excellent cast.
Jean Lynch |
