Post by The Narrator Returns on Jun 16, 2013 20:09:44 GMT -6
At the time Erin Brockovich was released, Steven Soderbergh had certainly bounced back from his many lost years in the 90s, but he had yet to fully prove himself. Out of Sight earned him his best reviews, and The Limey wasn’t far behind, but neither were hits with audiences (which in the case of Out of Sight is absurd, because I don’t think anyone could not like it). But this legal drama really put him back on the top. It was a hit with both audiences and critics alike, and it got nominated for quite a few Oscars that year, winning Best Actress for Julia Roberts. But how does it hold up? Is it another Soderbergh gem, or just any other mediocre biopic?
As the movie starts, the titular protagonist (played by Roberts, in what might be her best performance ever) is in a very shitty place. She can’t get a job. She has to take care of her three kids as a single mother. She gets in a car accident, and she loses her case against the driver, because of her use of profanity. It’s only when her attorney for that case, Ed Masry (Albert Finney, whose brilliant deadpan deservedly got him an Oscar nomination), takes pity on her that she finally gets a job, and a case to work on. Turns out that the PG&E corporation has been misleading townfolk about possibly harmful chemicals in their water supply. People are getting really sick from them. And Erin decides to do something about this, and fight against a big corporation to do it.
Erin Brockovich is the closest thing to a modern-day Frank Capra movie there is. It makes its aspirations and beliefs clear from the start. The film portrays PG&E as uncaring, neglectant, and cold-hearted. And the hero is a scrappy gal who just wants to do good for the people being wronged by them. Even the film’s color scheme is against the company. Whenever Erin visits a victim’s house, the screen is covered in sickly yellows, as if the film itself is being poisoned. And from that, let’s move onto another subject; how much of a Soderbergh film this is.
As I said in the last paragraph, the color scheme in the film is used to suggest the film’s main themes; environmental toxins, grief, the cold hearts of lawyers. Look at any scene involving the big-city lawyers, who don’t want to get emotionally connected with their clients. They’re shot in very cold, blue tones. Soderbergh is manipulating the audience subconsciously, through the use of colors. And as usual, Soderbergh only relies on natural light to shoot, and opts for almost complete naturalism, from the performances (even from the kid actors) to the photography. Just look at the scene where Erin’s ex-boyfriend George (Aaron Eckhart) leaves and a package comes for her. Soderbergh’s camera never cuts between the two, as it lingers on the street from which George leaves on his motorcycle for a few seconds, and then turns back to the deliveryman. It’s a type of shot you would expect from Soderbergh in any movie, and it doesn’t call attention to itself. And a scene like the one where the husband of one of the victims (whose cancer just came back) throws rocks at the PG&E offices. The scene is bathed in blue light, and it’s edited in an elliptical manner similar to The Limey, although in chronological order this time.
But of course, all of this is technical nit-picking. What matters is that this is a terrifically entertaining David-vs.-Goliath story, the kind of crowdpleaser which gives crowdpleasers a good name.
Grade: B+
Lester Scale: Worthwhile divertissement
The Soderbergh Players: Julia Roberts would later play Tess (and Julia Roberts) in the first two Ocean’s movies, and play the lead of the movie-within-a-movie in Full Frontal. Albert Finney would land a cameo in Ocean’s Twelve. And Soderbergh regular Joe Chrest plays one of those affected by PG&E’s lies.
Behind the camera, Ed Lachman shot his second film in a row with Soderbergh (his first being The Limey). It would be the last film Soderbergh hired someone else to shoot. Anne V. Coates (best known as the editor of Lawrence of Arabia) edited her second Soderbergh film, the first being Out of Sight.
As the movie starts, the titular protagonist (played by Roberts, in what might be her best performance ever) is in a very shitty place. She can’t get a job. She has to take care of her three kids as a single mother. She gets in a car accident, and she loses her case against the driver, because of her use of profanity. It’s only when her attorney for that case, Ed Masry (Albert Finney, whose brilliant deadpan deservedly got him an Oscar nomination), takes pity on her that she finally gets a job, and a case to work on. Turns out that the PG&E corporation has been misleading townfolk about possibly harmful chemicals in their water supply. People are getting really sick from them. And Erin decides to do something about this, and fight against a big corporation to do it.
Erin Brockovich is the closest thing to a modern-day Frank Capra movie there is. It makes its aspirations and beliefs clear from the start. The film portrays PG&E as uncaring, neglectant, and cold-hearted. And the hero is a scrappy gal who just wants to do good for the people being wronged by them. Even the film’s color scheme is against the company. Whenever Erin visits a victim’s house, the screen is covered in sickly yellows, as if the film itself is being poisoned. And from that, let’s move onto another subject; how much of a Soderbergh film this is.
As I said in the last paragraph, the color scheme in the film is used to suggest the film’s main themes; environmental toxins, grief, the cold hearts of lawyers. Look at any scene involving the big-city lawyers, who don’t want to get emotionally connected with their clients. They’re shot in very cold, blue tones. Soderbergh is manipulating the audience subconsciously, through the use of colors. And as usual, Soderbergh only relies on natural light to shoot, and opts for almost complete naturalism, from the performances (even from the kid actors) to the photography. Just look at the scene where Erin’s ex-boyfriend George (Aaron Eckhart) leaves and a package comes for her. Soderbergh’s camera never cuts between the two, as it lingers on the street from which George leaves on his motorcycle for a few seconds, and then turns back to the deliveryman. It’s a type of shot you would expect from Soderbergh in any movie, and it doesn’t call attention to itself. And a scene like the one where the husband of one of the victims (whose cancer just came back) throws rocks at the PG&E offices. The scene is bathed in blue light, and it’s edited in an elliptical manner similar to The Limey, although in chronological order this time.
But of course, all of this is technical nit-picking. What matters is that this is a terrifically entertaining David-vs.-Goliath story, the kind of crowdpleaser which gives crowdpleasers a good name.
Grade: B+
Lester Scale: Worthwhile divertissement
The Soderbergh Players: Julia Roberts would later play Tess (and Julia Roberts) in the first two Ocean’s movies, and play the lead of the movie-within-a-movie in Full Frontal. Albert Finney would land a cameo in Ocean’s Twelve. And Soderbergh regular Joe Chrest plays one of those affected by PG&E’s lies.
Behind the camera, Ed Lachman shot his second film in a row with Soderbergh (his first being The Limey). It would be the last film Soderbergh hired someone else to shoot. Anne V. Coates (best known as the editor of Lawrence of Arabia) edited her second Soderbergh film, the first being Out of Sight.