It’s arguable no director has transcended multiple genres the way the great Steven Soderbergh has, especially over the last decade.
The prolific director has moved between psychological thriller, to drama, to comedy, all be it never allowing the films to lose that Soderbergh touch. Soderbergh retired in early 2013, clarifying that he had a five-year plan that saw him transitioning away from making feature films when he reached his 50th birthday.
And yet, here we are at the end of the decade, and, so much for retirement, the legendary filmmaker has released 13 movies in the last 13 years.
So, of his films released the past and present decade, where do they each stand?
13) Side Effects
Soderbergh and writer Scott Z. Burns’ 2013 psychological thriller. Rooney Mara plays Emily Taylor, a woman plagued with depression following her husband’s (Channing Tatum) incarceration and subsequent release from prison. Upon being prescribed an experimental new drug by her Psychiatrist Jonathan Banks (Jude Law) Emily’s life takes a dark, twisted turn, believed to be due to the side effects of this possibly untested drug. A film that shouldn’t be spoiled in a mere review, Soderbergh keeps us guessing throughout the film’s entire run-time with twist after twist making viewers doubt if they can trust what they are seeing at any given moment, creating an almost un-trustworthy bubble surrounding the film’s plot. Mara and Law are fantastic during their appointment scenes, whilst the film is bolstered by carefully crafted supporting performances by Tatum, and by Catherine Zeta-Jones as Emily’s former doctor. And yet, the final twist doesn’t necessarily feel satisfactory, as if Soderbergh was trying to pull the rug from underneath us but couldn’t muster up the substance to go along with it.
12) High Flying Bird
Almost a surprise when this film hit Netflix earlier this year, but certainly a semi-welcome one. Tarell Alvin McCraney’s razor-sharp script, which, with every word of dialogue, felt like the actors launching punches at each other, coupled with Soderbergh’s undeniable flair and rhythm, is a recipe for a fast-paced commentary on the ownership of players and rights in Basketball, and sport as a whole. Without going into any spoilers, Andre Holland plays Ray Burke, a sports agent determined to re-invent the relationship between the NBA and its players. Holland plays Burke with a charismatic, confident charm and a twinkle in his eye, as he uses McCraney’s words as ammo to blast down everyone in his path. It’s a slight affair that gets better as it goes along, but maybe a more vibrant approach to the camerawork would have benefite the film, as Soderbergh’s unwarranted use of an iPhone to shoot the whole thing feels more like a gimmick than an actual hard-earned device.
11) No Sudden Move
Within the barrage of backstabbing and double-backstabbing in Steven Soderbergh’s “No Sudden Move” lies some kind of coherent movie. This is certainly one of Soderbergh's more conventional efforts of the last 15-20 years, an homage of ‘40s noir, but the director behind such great films as “Traffic,” “The Limey,” and “Out of Sight” would rather overcomplicate things than plainly tell his story. The result is a convoluted film that is easier to admire than to like. Take for example, Soderbergh’s decision to shoot “No Sudden Move” in ultra wide-lens, to the point where many are mistakingly claiming it was done via GoPro’s fisheye lens. It’s incredibly distracting. It doesn’t help that writer Ed Solomon’s screenplay is scattershot, struggling to find an identity — is it gangster cinema, a movie about racial issues, or a heist caper?
10) Magic Mike
Not hard to see why some may have been put off of a film in which (on the face of it) a male stripper teaches a younger performer how to navigate his world, especially if you don’t know who Soderbergh is. However, this film somewhat works, for the most part as, through the eyes of Channing Tatum as ‘Mike’ and Alex Pettyfer as ‘Adam’ (aka The Kid), we catch a story dealing with the full spectrum of human emotions, from its razor-sharp look at toxic-masculinity to Mike’s internal struggle with where his life is going as he approaches the twilight of what has become his career. And whilst the comedy rises to the top in some scenes, it’s the inescapable inner workings of the characters on screen that make this work, as every character, even the ones with limited screen time, are filled with personality. None more so than Matthew McConaughey’s MC of the club ‘Dallas’, a supporting role on par or even surpassing his cameo on Scorsese’s ‘The Wolf of Wall Street’, and one that should have garnered him more critical acclaim.
9) Unsane
A hell of a way for Claire Foy to break away from her regal duties on Netfilx’s ‘The Crown’. As Sawyer Valentini, a woman involuntarily committed into a mental institution following her meeting with a Psychiatrist, whom she sees following some troubling events in her past, which involve her leaving her home town due to being stalked. A Movie that would certainly land in Soderbergh’s experimental camp, having chosen to shoot the film entirely on and iPhone, a creative choice most notably taken by Sean Baker’s ‘Tangerine’. The grainy coverage and limited screen size however add to the horror elements of the film, especially as Sawyer navigates the institution and its surrounding areas. Foy is captivating, whilst Juno Temple’s in-patient ‘Violet’ steals every scene she’s in. Its twist falls flat, but this was a very welcome change of pace, and somewhat style, for Soderbergh, but one that certainly delivered an extremely watchable movie.
8) Haywire
An action thriller with a cast to die for. Literally. In 2011, Soderbergh brought us this Gina Carano (‘Deadpool’) lead espionage drama, with a supporting cast of Ewan McGregor, Michael Fassbender, Antonio Banderas, Channing Tatum, and Michael Douglas. Not too much of a hit with audiences but receiving mostly positive critical reviews, Soderbergh’s all-star epic proved that the man can shoot action like no other, with Bourne-style fight scenes, but with more artfully conceived editing. Gina Carano leads from the front and the performances (as expected) hit all the right notes, especially the final confrontation between Carano’s Mallory and McGregor’s Kenneth. It’s all part of a rather silly movie but the jolts and artistry are second to none.
7) The Laundromat
The infamous Panama Papers are tackled in “The Laundromat,” a sprawling, multi-layered account of what exactly was exposed. Frequent Soderbergh collaborator Scott Z. Burns adapts Pulitzer Prize–winning investigative journalist Jake Bernstein's Secrecy World with the help of stalwart acting from Meryl Streep, Gary Oldman, Jeffrey Wright, and Antonio Banderas. The end result is a knotty but entertaining economics lesson, with the kind of risk-taking and playful storytelling that keeps our attentions glued to the screen throughout the information-stuffed 95 minutes. Streep, de-glammed for the role with silly hat and clothes, is the best acting in the movie. In fact, this is a welcome surprise for the legendary actress, as the role is not the glamorous, Oscar-bait she is used to taking — no, this is Streep acting and having the time of her life. Least we mention that she also puts on prosthetic nose and a thick pan-Latin accent to play another role, that of the Havana secretary working with Mossack and Fonseca that may have been responsible for the leak. It’s a bizarre decision, but it works as Streep finds oddball comic touches to prove she can even pull off the outrageous.
6) Contagion
Reuniting with long-time screenwriting partner Scott.Z Burns, Soderbergh released on the world this though-provoking and tense medical thriller. From the moment Gwenyth Paltrow’s Beth Emhoff hits the floor in the arms of husband Mitch (Matt Damon) this film explores not only the seriousness of a worldwide epidemic but also human responses to being faced with a high chance of death. It can be moving and frightening at the same time, whilst one sub-plot involving Jude law’s ‘Alex krumweide’, a journalist hell-bent on using the epidemic for his own gain, expertly explores the idea of fear-mongering during a crisis, and even the element of ‘fake news’ some 5 years before it would become internationally relevant.
5) The Girlfriend Experience
Set in the lead up to the 2008 presidential election, and with the financial crisis that crippled the world lingering in the background of the film, Sasha Grey plays Chelsea (also Christine), a high-end call girl living in New York, who delivers (for $2000 an hour), a relationship equivalent for her clients. However, upon being drawn to a mysterious new client, she risks throwing away her profession, and her real relationship with her boyfriend Chris (Chris Santos). Highly experimental should be a genre all in itself for Soderbergh, and this film would fall smack dab at the top of the heap in that category. Polarizing critics, “The Girlfriend Experience” has a unique narrative, even for Soderbergh. as the story is told in 5 different timeframes, all in minimalist form, but blends well and is driven by an excellent turn from Grey who showcases sophisticated and very pronounced. acting talents.
4) KIMI
There’s no doubt Steven Soderbergh tried to make a movie for our times with “KIMI.” This is a tightly-plotted film, filled with the isolation grimness of the COVID-era. And yet, what fun it is to revel in Soderbergh’s 21st century take on “Blow-Up” and “The Conversation.” Set during the pandemic, an ever-playful Zoë Kravitz is Angela, an agoraphobic tech worker who discovers recorded evidence of a violent crime via someone’s SIRI-like device called KIMI. When she reports the crime to her superiors, she’s met with resistance. Why? She investigates deeper and finds a conspiracy involving a multinational company that forces her to do the unthinkable: leave her apartment. With the help of writer David Koepp, Soderbergh paints his scathing indictment of 21st century bureaucracy, a world with endless personal data stream being possessed by powerful entities, via immaculately-delivered action set-pieces. The same Soderbergh of “Haywire” is on full display here. He’s aided by Kravitz’s smartly empathetic performance.
3) Logan Lucky
With this being one of his more recent releases, it’s possible the charge of recency-bias could be thrown out there with this one. What can’t be denied however is the absolute jam-packed thrill ride that is ‘Logan Lucky’. Reuniting Soderbergh yet again with Channing Tatum, but this time supported by the absolute genius of Adam Driver, Rebecca Blunt’s script supplies the leads with ample ammunition for comedic value and dramatic moments as the pair play two brothers attempting to pull off a heist during a NASCAR race in Carolina. The brothers are also joined on their exploits by the aptly named bomb expert Joe Bang, played with a charismatic wallop by Daniel Craig, as he unshackles himself from James Bond. This film no doubt highlights the fast-paced nature of Soderbergh’s filmography, making sure (at the very least) that you won’t get bored watching this one. Delightful, clever, sharp, and brilliant.
2) Behind the Candelabra
Michael Douglas truly deserved the Cannes 2013 Best Actor prize that he never got for Steven Soderbergh’s magnificent HBO-produced Liberace biopic “Behind the Candelabra.” Under Soderbergh’s extravagant direction, Douglas gave the performance of his career as Liberace, with Matt Damon almost just-as-good playing Liberace’s partner, Scott Thorson. And yet, the film got lost in the shuffle as the decade went along, premiering only on Television and skipping any sort of theatrical release. A real shame if you ask me as this is one of Soderbergh’s very best movies, depicting the rise and fall of a flamboyant American icon.
1) The Informant
Although possessing the brilliantly dry comedic sense that Soderbergh sprinkles over his films, ‘The Informant’ is really only about one man. Matt Damon. This film contains one of his most underrated performances, as Mark Whitacre, vice-president of agro-business giant ADM, and who decided to whistle-blow on his fellow colleagues to none other than the FBI, possibly in order to worm his way to the top job. Of course, all does not go to plan, as Whitacre finds himself in deeper and deeper conundrums before his web of lies come crashing down with a huge third act revelation. Damon takes the character through the emotional ringer for the duration of the film, from hopeful and naïve, to cocksure and bashful, before the rug pull leaves Whitacre trying to clutch at straws.
Almost a surprise when this film hit Netflix earlier this year, but certainly a semi-welcome one. Tarell Alvin McCraney’s razor-sharp script, which, with every word of dialogue, felt like the actors launching punches at each other, coupled with Soderbergh’s undeniable flair and rhythm, is a recipe for a fast-paced commentary on the ownership of players and rights in Basketball, and sport as a whole. Without going into any spoilers, Andre Holland plays Ray Burke, a sports agent determined to re-invent the relationship between the NBA and its players. Holland plays Burke with a charismatic, confident charm and a twinkle in his eye, as he uses McCraney’s words as ammo to blast down everyone in his path. It’s a slight affair that gets better as it goes along, but maybe a more vibrant approach to the camerawork would have benefite the film, as Soderbergh’s unwarranted use of an iPhone to shoot the whole thing feels more like a gimmick than an actual hard-earned device.
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