Actuakers
One of my all time favorites.
Kaelan Mccaffrey
Like the great film, it's made with a great deal of visible affection both in front of and behind the camera.
Geraldine
The story, direction, characters, and writing/dialogue is akin to taking a tranquilizer shot to the neck, but everything else was so well done.
bandw
Kyle is a young man who works at a repetitious job in a doll factory in a small mid-western town. He works most closely with Martha, an overweight and less than attractive middle-aged woman whom Kyle depends on for rides to work. Martha's social life outside of work consists of taking care of her aging father. Rose, an attractive young woman, is hired and joins Martha and Kyle on their daily breaks. The conversations in the lunch room are perhaps the most mundane ever put in a commercial film.I began to wonder what direction this could take that could possibly hold my attention, but Rose's entering the picture began to change the personal dynamics in way that kept my attention. Rose presented a challenge to Martha's maternal feelings for Kyle (in fact there is a suggestion that there may be more than maternal instincts involved). As the movie moves toward its final resolution we get to know the three characters: Kyle is a study in passivity, Rose knows she wants more and will do what it takes to get it, and Martha is seen to have strong emotions under her plain exterior.The inside of the doll factory makes for a suitable backdrop for this downbeat tale among the working poor. I was surprised that making the dolls had not been more automated than is pictured, since many of the tasks are robotic. There is a lot of manual work involved, for example, one of Martha's jobs is to affix eyelashes to the dolls, and Kyle works on forming the doll legs. The plot develops very subtly; this movie is not one that will set you back on your heels. The use of non-professional actors in all roles works here. I doubt that any director could have gotten this level of authenticity from professionals. There are rewards here for the patient viewer.
Terrell Howell (KnightsofNi11)
To call Bubble odd would be an understatement. To call Bubble a bad film would be a false statement. To call Bubble an offbeat yet enthralling experience would be a perfectly accurate statement. Bubble is set in a poor run-down town in Ohio. The town's economy thrives only off of a doll factory where we meet three people who work there. Martha and Kyle have been friends for a long time, both barely making ends meat, yet still getting along. Their relationship is shaken when Rose, a young pretty woman, gets a job at the factory. Questions get seriously raised when Rose is murdered in her apartment. An investigation then begins to find Rose's killer and strange and disturbing things are revealed about the people within this secluded ramshackle town.Bubble is directed by the always interesting Steven Soderbergh. By 2005, when this film was released, Soderbergh had already been an Oscar winner for five years after being nominated twice in the same year for Traffic and Erin Brokovich. The reason I bring this up is because it makes Bubble all the more peculiar. Bubble is the ultimate indie film. The entire cast was composed of unprofessional actors, a lot of the dialouge was improvised, and many of the sets were the actual homes of the actors in the film. I would love to know why Soderbergh decided to go backwards in filmmaking like he did, but the result of this choice was a fascinating film.It is the feel of calm mundaneness that makes Bubble so different and yet so head scratchingly good. The dialouge is all very natural speech and the conversations in the first half of the film are all just about normal things and it feels more like real people than movies that try so hard to pull this effect off. It is almost frightening how real some of the conversations and interactions are in this film. There are those simple moments where you realize the speech sounds just like you if you were in that scenario. At times I found myself questioning whether this was fiction or if Soderbergh had set up a tri-pod in these peoples houses and let them go about their business. I can't imagine how boring this film sounds when I describe it like this, but I swear it is not a boring film. The first half of the film has a sort of offbeat tension that carries throughout all of the little conversations and what is so exciting is how you can feel, deep down, that something is going to go wrong soon, and your curiosity takes over and you just can't wait to see where this film will go.When it does start to pick up, it doesn't let up. It keeps with the same type of monotone quietness, but suspense and tension unfolds beautifully after Rose is murdered. I don't know that the second half of this film would have been nearly as enthralling if not for the mundane first half that introduced us into a world that feels so real that the events that fuel the meat of this story are all the more gripping. Bubble boasts an incredible uniqueness in its storytelling and it is in a style that has been lost to the flash and grandeur of Hollywood. We have seen this basic type of story before, there is no denying that. But the incredible thing about it is that you believe this story more than any over suspenseful and over dramatic form of this plot. You buy into these characters in such a bizarre way. You aren't entirely sure why you are so gripped by this film, but you can't help but deny just how much you care about what is going on.Bubble is such a strange and perplexing film. It can only really be taken at face value, but its face value has a lot to offer. It tells an enthralling story in an incredibly unique and believable way. The way the pieces of this film come together in their quiet, dull, yet not anticlimactic, way is indescribable. This film could not have been made differently or it would have just been another unbelievable and boring plot line, but with Soderbergh's talent for capturing a story in such a unique light, he makes Bubble an incredible film.
drumerdrul
This is a movie that shows what cinema is all about. Simple scenes with simple dialogs, but sharp analyzing images and thought-provoking touches that shows Soderberghs genius. I think this movie is near perfect. The story seems superficial but it isn't. There is so much to say about the deeper focus, the underlying tension, the catharsis that I need to work on my English for a few months. Sorry about that. I just wanted to express my deepest appreciation. The way Soderbergh sets out the drama is of pure craftsmanship. He only lets his character say a few lines which say it all. The 2 main characters are one of the best performances I saw in my life.Watch this movie, especially on blu-ray.
Polaris_DiB
This is a pretty good movie. The minimal and familiar plot structure is used more as an attempt to let non-actors create their own character development. Steven Soderbergh's directing keeps it moving and appealing, even when the dialog falls into the kind of stuff that even the people talking about it stop listening to. It's almost like a proto-neo-realist work, spending more time focusing on the relatively humble surroundings and characters than really making a point about anything.I give huge kudos to the actors and a few nods to the directing. This movie is much more likely to just be known as a failed experiment in releasing in theatres, television, and on DVD at the same time than it is for its more compelling aspects. I don't mind having watched it, but I can't really see remembering it for some time.--PolarisDiB
