the fresh films reviews

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sex, lies and videotape (1989)

Director:
Steven Soderbergh
COUNTRY
USA
GENRE
Drama
NORWEGIAN TITLE
Sex, løgner og videotape
RUNNING TIME
100 minutes
Producer:
Robert Newmyer
John Hardy
Screenwriter:
Steven Soderbergh


Cast includes:

CHARACTER ACTOR/ACTRESS RATING
Graham James Spader ½
Ann Andie MacDowell
John Peter Gallagher
Cynthia Laura San Giacomo
Therapist Ron Vawter
Barfly Steven Brill

 

Review

Steven Soderbergh's hailed first feature is a poetic and gloomy investigation of the three concepts in the title explicitly, and of the dysfunctional emotional lives of the four leads implicitly. The film feels European and New Wavish, something which gives it timelessness, and explains quite a lot of the initial buzz at the time of release; sex, lies and videotape is far removed from the 1980s and anything made in American film during the decade. Remarkably, it has one of the Brat Pack's lurking younger brothers, James Spader, in the thematic lead - and what a delightful, enigmatic turn he gives, deliciously erotic and persistently untrustworthy in essence. The real secret behind Soderbergh's intelligent story, besides the continuously interesting interpersonal aspects, is the unresolved ambiguity of the Spader character. Is he John's healthy, sensitive counterpart, or is he a wolf in sheep's clothing? That, argues Soderbergh, is the perpetual ambivalence of relationships.

Copyright © 6.7.2008 Fredrik Gunerius Fevang

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