Steven Soderbergh's Latest Two Movies (Both Released This Year) Are Amongst The Best Of His Career

Side Effects (2013)

So. It seems that this is Steven Soderbergh's last film. For cinemas at least. Apparently. Presuming you don't count the one I'm reviewing straight after this. Anyway, whatever.

So "Side Effects" stars Rooney Mara plays a character who has to basically be spaced out for most of the film. Her character massively depressed and on anti-depressant drugs. I'd been a little unimpressed by Rooney Mara so far, having seen her in the "A Nightmare On Elm Street" remake where, despite being the main star, she was outdone by Kyle Gallner, as well as "The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo" where she seemed to be unconvincing even as a mostly emotionless, violent introvert. Here however, even though her character is withdrawn, she still has a certain level of subtlety to her performance which I haven't seen from her before.



The first half of this movie was pretty cool, but I wasn't entirely sure where it was going. Things perked up in the second half. By the very final parts of the film I found myself enjoying the film a hell of a lot. It was a long (though not dull) build-up and the payoff turned out to be absolutely worth it.
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Behind The Candelabra (2013)

So, after being told that Steven Soderbergh is never releasing another movie in cinemas, we then immediately saw this movie released in cinemas. The explanation? In American it was on HBO. That's no guarantee that it was going to be on cinemas here, mind you. "The Girl" with Toby Jones was released on HBO (and was head and shoulders better than the movie "Hitchcock" by my estimation), but that didn't receive a cinema release over here.



I've heard it suggested that "Behind The Candelabra" didn't make it into cinemas in the US because of the seemingly more widespread homophobic vibe dominating American politics. However, I'm not sure this is a terribly gay-affirming movie anyway. The story is about Liberace in a highly manipulative relationship with a younger man. Matt Damon's character starts off explaining his dreams of being a vetinarian, before Liberace, portrayed here by Michael Douglas, employs him full-time as, basically, his boyfriend.


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