Soderbergh's Next Big Film Stars...A Porn Star?

Oscar winning director Steven Soderbergh is one tough guy to figure out. Bouncing between mainstream Hollywood fare ("Out of Sight" and the Ocean's Trilogy) to weird little indie films ("Bubble" and "The Good German"). He's so strange that while he's on my list for my "Great Directors" feature, I'm putting off writing about him because he's just so off the wall. Normally he makes multiple films a year, but this year he released one film. Though, considering that film is the four and a half hour Spanish epic "Che," I think we can forgive him for focusing on one film. Apparently during the final editing phrase of "Che" Soderbergh decided to make another indie film. It's entitled "The Girlfriend Experience" and it's...well, this clip from an LA Times article:

The film stars porn star Sasha Grey as an escort in New York City. With a website to sell herself, she approaches her work like a job, and she spends much of her time when she isn't working taking meetings with various people who claim they can boost her business in various ways. She has a live-in boyfriend who works as a personal trainer, and their domestic discord becomes the film's dramatic throughline.

Soderbergh seems interested in exploring, as one character puts it, the "transactional," the exchange that occurs between people at all levels of interaction -- in business, in love, in everyday life. Everybody wants something.

It also must be noted that there seems to be a continuing subtext to the film that can only be read as Soderbergh's dig at critics and journalists, perhaps in the wake of the mixed reception to his film "Che." (And considering how the room was full of an august selection of them, his timing was impeccable.) Film critic Glenn Kenny shows up as a sleazy porn blogger -- his first appearance onscreen elicited something of a gasp of recognition from the crowd, and he also grabbed the film's biggest laugh line -- and his "review" of the escort's services is petty and an outright lie. His sequence ends with the camera on two street singers as they declare "everyone's a critic."

While some may be put off by the film's icy surfaces and exacting framing -- Soderbergh mentioned Antonioni's "Red Desert" as an influence -- it is exciting to see a major filmmaker in the middle of a staggering run of work continue to push himself at the prolific pace Soderbergh does. Even if he is only doodling or sketching or working out some latent hostility issues, it is thrilling to see, and provides insight on his mind at work.

Okay...whatever. I have to admit that this caught me by surprise. Of course, Soderbergh is honestly one of the few directors to consistantly surprise me. I was shocked when I discovered he was making "Ocean's Thirteen" a few years ago. Who knows if this will be good, as Soderbergh's stuff can be very hit and miss. Either way though it will most likely be interesting.