Bubble (2005)

Featured Audience Ratings

• Steven C

  
  Where "Full Frontal" (also written by Coleman Hough) was Steven Soderbergh's ode to Polish meta-narrative and "Ocean's Twelve" was his valentine to Jean-Luc Godard, "Bubble" is Soderbergh's neorealism tribute. Employing non-actors (whom are… More
  Where "Full Frontal" (also written by Coleman Hough) was Steven Soderbergh's ode to Polish meta-narrative and "Ocean's Twelve" was his valentine to Jean-Luc Godard, "Bubble" is Soderbergh's neorealism tribute. Employing non-actors (whom are all extremely potent) and filming in a real, decaying Ohio town (a doll factory is at the center) Soderbergh proves how deadly the banal black holes of middle American can be in the 21st century. Watching as these people are ripped from their lives by impulsive crime (there is more going on here than just the murder for attentive viewers) is oddly harrowing. Steven Soderbergh has proved that he can deliver slick Hollywood entertainment like "Ocean's Eleven" and "Erin Brockovich" but it's the fact that he is able to pull off films like "Bubble" that prove he is a true filmmaker and artist. This is yet another truly unique Steven Soderbergh experience.

• Lorenzo v

  
  <i>"Another Steven Soderbergh Experience"</i> Set against the backdrop of a decaying Midwestern town, a murder becomes the focal point of three people who work in a doll factory. <center><font size=+2 face="Century… More
  <i>"Another Steven Soderbergh Experience"</i> Set against the backdrop of a decaying Midwestern town, a murder becomes the focal point of three people who work in a doll factory. <center><font size=+2 face="Century Schoolbook"><b><u>REVIEW</u></b></font></center> A hypnotic and haunting art film from director Steven Soderbergh, Bubble tells the story of three Ohio factory workers and the relationships that they share and fall into and out of. No description of the script or story, though, can hint at the amazingly simple, yet dark and fascinating portrait that Bubble displays of the three people's lives. It is expertly executed and performed, and it mesmerizes from start to finish. Cast with local non-actors (and at points filmed in their real-life homes), the acting is better than what one would expect from seasoned studio actors. Bubble stands apart from the crowd of other films that are out there. It may not be for everyone, but for any film buff that is interested in seeing a character study that is very different and original, it's definitely for you.

• Aaron N

  
  Jesse: So your sayin' she's dead, not breathing anymore? Detective: That is correct. Jesse: Man...I got to make some calls. Director Stephen Sodebergh remains one of my favorite filmmakers because he manages to move back and forth between making high budget, entertaining… More
  Jesse: So your sayin' she's dead, not breathing anymore? Detective: That is correct. Jesse: Man...I got to make some calls. Director Stephen Sodebergh remains one of my favorite filmmakers because he manages to move back and forth between making high budget, entertaining flicks like his Ocean's films and the low budget, experimental type films that he makes such as this one. Working with no-name actors, improvised dialog, and a simplistic premise, I could easily rate this lower because I have no desire to see it again and because it wont be an attractive film for everyone, but it is well made and I found myself very engaged in what was happening in this film, even if it is mostly just people talking for a little over an hour. The story is set somewhere in the midwest. A young man and an older woman carpool to work everyday at a doll factory. A new girl is hired on and makes friends with these people. About midway through, after a date with a co-worker, a twist occurs that gives this film a plot to follow through with. The plot is extremely straight forward with no real surprises, but the way this film is handled held my attention,. The actors are all pretty much improving their conversations, and a few mumbled deliveries aside, they do their parts well. The acoustic guitar score in various moments was also fitting. And Soderbergh's visual style pops in now and again. Its certainly not a film that everyone will enjoy, but I enjoyed it more than I though I would, and I give that credit to Soderbergh's craft. Detective: Well you seem to be passionate about your work...

• E.J. B

  
  Strange, absorbing, hypnotic. It's not something I can talkabout; just something you have to see.

• Nicki M

  
  This was really good - I was really impressed with how well the non-actors did in this. The whole thing had a very realistic feel to it, and while I acknowledge it would probably be a little slow and plodding for some people, I really enjoyed it. The one fault was that it was a… More
  This was really good - I was really impressed with how well the non-actors did in this. The whole thing had a very realistic feel to it, and while I acknowledge it would probably be a little slow and plodding for some people, I really enjoyed it. The one fault was that it was a little on the short side.

• Drew S

  
  Bubble earns its rating because as an experiment, it succeeds. The movie is cast entirely with unprofessionals and the dialogue is improvised and yet it still feels like one of the most believable films I've seen in a long time. Steven Soderbergh really pulled this one off.… More
  Bubble earns its rating because as an experiment, it succeeds. The movie is cast entirely with unprofessionals and the dialogue is improvised and yet it still feels like one of the most believable films I've seen in a long time. Steven Soderbergh really pulled this one off. It's not the most fast-paced film in the world, but we continue to learn more and more about our characters as the narrative progresses, and in a character piece, that certainly doesn't hurt. At times the film seems to dwell on petty, unimportant things, but that is really just a reflection of these characters' lives; Martha is possibly one of the most pathetic characters I've ever seen. This entire movie is just flat-out depressing in that way - living in a small town is an emotional sinkhole, is what Bubble seems to say. Bubble's final offering, the murder mystery, offers a view of the effects of change on such an undisturbed atmosphere. The title of the film is appropriate simply because when that bubble pops, hell breaks loose (hell being a comparative term because this film's dramatics barely rise above a whisper). At only 73 minutes, Bubble is informative and fascinatingly different. I recommend it.

• Walter M

  
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Bubble", Martha(Debbie Doebereiner) and Kyle(Dustin Ashley) are friends who work at a doll factory in Ohio near the West Virginia border. She is middle-aged, cares for her elderly father(Omar Cowan) and drives Kyle to his second job across the river… More
  [font=Century Gothic]In "Bubble", Martha(Debbie Doebereiner) and Kyle(Dustin Ashley) are friends who work at a doll factory in Ohio near the West Virginia border. She is middle-aged, cares for her elderly father(Omar Cowan) and drives Kyle to his second job across the river in West Virginia. Kyle is much younger and lives with his mother(Laurie Lee). In order to help with increased demand, Rose(Misty Wilkins), a single mother, is hired at the factory and soon befriends Kyle and Martha.[/font] [font=Century Gothic][/font] [font=Century Gothic]Directed by Steven Soderbergh, "Bubble" is a valiant attempt at neo-realism using nonprofessional actors but there is almost no story to speak of until desperation leads to something akin to a plot. However, the movie captures the economic and emotional depression of living in a small Midwestern town without amazingly being condescending. Most of the characters have a second job, but it is strange that business is booming; jobs are plentiful but people are not.[/font]

• Mike N

  
  [center][img]http://www.frenchspot.com/Holidays/Valentine/Heart/heart10.jpg[/img][/center] The world swelled with intense emotion this night. A kind of fizzle hissed at the edge of vision, glowing inwardly violet and fiery, focused. It might as well had been a hallucination of… More
  [center][img]http://www.frenchspot.com/Holidays/Valentine/Heart/heart10.jpg[/img][/center] The world swelled with intense emotion this night. A kind of fizzle hissed at the edge of vision, glowing inwardly violet and fiery, focused. It might as well had been a hallucination of euphoria. The breathless violins often had that effect on him, dancing to his ears like merry fauns, crisply twisting the mind like soft-serve ice cream, letting the ice crystals settle neatly across his skin, every hair erect and listening. His heavy drags, thick as moleskin, seem to unfasten to loose, feathery sashes, as he danced with his instrument in hand in the middle of the room. The cellos of the next movement burrowed deep, far below the earth, and sprouted all around him in waves of D Minor. And then, he saw his companion, the woman with whom he'd share this magic affair. He loathed her. Greasy pigtails, deviled lipstick, fake tan. Who allows themselves to sass around with such sodding embroidery and an affray of color schemes? She was simply not suitable for public viewing any further. But, he confessed as the violins retorted, she had one thing going for her. Those twin suns, pocked within her skull full of useless jelly and spun in bristly blonde clumpiness. His mood rose in spite of her face, as the violas joined and sped gracefully like synchronized birds into red areas of his mind, beautiful and previously unexplored. Yes, yes, it was the refracting cadence in her eyes that distracted him most, in a good way. Those magnificent green discs, full of all life and mystery, glittering like fireworks during a victory parade, like gemstones cut by the great hands of God Himself with the sparkle of a hundred thousand karats. He was bonded by her silver gaze, pained by them, vulnerable. The movement evolved into flautists, slowly removing gravity from his mind, and he gasped. Starlight spoke through the window, glaring off her rouge-smathered cheeks and bathed the room in a whitewash of heaven. It must have been her eyes radiating magic, infecting the neighboring regions of her reptilious face, but he could think no more after that. Molecules seem to flit away like quivering flower petals, like windborne seeds instinctively flocking to follow the source of the nourishing light. He became less a man and more the kind of thing you discover at the nucleus of a song. The timbre, the crescendo, unrestrained elevation. How could one exhale? This was divinity. Dizzy, the man pawed through the air for leverage and at last caught the table, transfigured only momentarily as his senses reset. The sound, his sound, had deepened agin, to a solitary oboe, channeling energy into a slow change of tension. It warmed the corrugated steel, but not his leather heart. It was still the same, wretched, beastly girl-thing. Those prisms, he lamented. They are trapped within her wicked shell, like wrongly convicted angels banished to their own hell, or cuckoo clock creatures caught forever in the doorways of their dutiful cycle, leaving protrusions of flesh exposed to the world while courageously concealing unthinkable nightmares within. It was a crime for her to have them, both of them. Why their overpowering beauty hadn't burned and gnarled the rest of her flesh to a wispy pile of red cinder was beyond him. He would have concocted more evil images in his mind, but the strings walled to her defense. He stood there, dimming lightbulb swaying, a purging darkness tensing him. He continued to fend the bravery of the trumpets and their modulating brass friends, watching her eyebrows twitch like small black newts. Tiny sacks of perspiration formed glistening constellations on her forehead, connecting and slipping down her face, scooping the demon's mascara with it, rolling over her duct taped lips. Fear. Fear and heavy strings, slower this time, deeper, darker. Meaningful. Her gorgeous eyes grew more exalted as her brain wires siphoned more fear through the outermost layers of her skin. Almost pop-eyed, they were desperately reaching for him. They wanted to shoot out and be with him. He knew it, and he reciprocated their understanding, vacant of hubris. I will save you tonight, he thought, gently. I will take you with me. The appendages from the others seem to dully vibrate with the double-bass and pounding percussion, the piece drawing to a close. The man grabbed the smudged handle roughly, swinging a dark red orb to the floor. A cold finger, hanging brittlely on the wall, broke mysteriously from its nailed hand and landed on the table.. The snarling girl-thing flailed in her chain harness, pounding against the cold shed wall, pitching through her gag. He yanked the gas cable and revved the only musical instrument he possessed to a furious monotony, raising it above his head in reverence. It was his favorite way to end movements.

• Joey N

  
  I got alot more out of this than what I was expecting and found it to be an oddly satisfying experience. It's so breathtakingly experimental. I see why people can interpret it as despressing, but I think "bleak" is a more appropriate term. The film observes these… More
  I got alot more out of this than what I was expecting and found it to be an oddly satisfying experience. It's so breathtakingly experimental. I see why people can interpret it as despressing, but I think "bleak" is a more appropriate term. The film observes these characters with a perceptive, objective eye. It's definetly not manipulative. The actors strike me as more accurate and knowing than a lot of what Hollywood offers. Also, I think the film made good use of spacial distance. A lot of shots sparked a visual interest based primarily on composition. Job well done, Bubble.

• Brian R

  
  This is a great film. All the characters in the film moved me in more ways then one. Definetly a must see film for people of all ages.

• Andre T

  
  Bubble is a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. It was shot on high-definition video and was made for a relatively small budget of $1.6 million. It also featured some unusual production aspects. In traditional terms, the movie has no script. All lines were improvised according to an… More
  Bubble is a movie directed by Steven Soderbergh. It was shot on high-definition video and was made for a relatively small budget of $1.6 million. It also featured some unusual production aspects. In traditional terms, the movie has no script. All lines were improvised according to an outline written by screenwriter Coleman Hough, who previously teamed with Soderbergh on Full Frontal. Bubble was also shot and edited by Soderbergh under the pseudonyms Peter Andrews and Mary Ann Bernard, respectively. The film utilizes non-professional actors recruited from the Parkersburg, West Virginia / Belpre, Ohio area where the film was shot. Lead Debbie Doebereiner was found working the drive-through window in a Parkersburg KFC, for example.Tottaly experimental, this movie leaves a strange taste in your mouth after watch it.

• Brett W

  
  Here Soderbergh illustrates why extreme forms of realistic acting never really caught on...it's depressing. Even "real" people in documentaries are generally extraordinary in some way or another (which is why they're being filmed). French New Wave even has a… More
  Here Soderbergh illustrates why extreme forms of realistic acting never really caught on...it's depressing. Even "real" people in documentaries are generally extraordinary in some way or another (which is why they're being filmed). French New Wave even has a somewhat exotic quality when viewed in retrospect. In Bubble however we get a rare glimpse at what we see every day in our own lives; demure, uncharismatic midwestern folks. People seemingly sucked of life by the mundane-ness of their lives. Since it IS such a conceptual novelty I think the result is overall a success. We as viewers are so trained to sit back and be entertained by clownish and or greek god-like overbearing personalities...In Bubble our perceptions change as we are forced to pull out the microscope and watch the fabric slowly unravel from these tightly wound personas. In the end Soderbergh and the stars of this feature deliver a rewarding and touching experience on the (rarely explored) more subtle side of drama.

• Kevin L

  
  Steven Soderbergh is quite the risk taker! He takes non-actors to play in this film. All 3 lead actors have never acted in a film before or since.With none of the actors having any prior experience, one would think that this movie would a disaster! Well I begg to differ,this film was… More
  Steven Soderbergh is quite the risk taker! He takes non-actors to play in this film. All 3 lead actors have never acted in a film before or since.With none of the actors having any prior experience, one would think that this movie would a disaster! Well I begg to differ,this film was flat out amazing! I mean the actors in the film impofized stories from thier real lifes into this. So yeah this is a character study more than anything. You can tell that the actors seemed nervous at the begging of the film. As the film progresses the dialogue becomes more interesting as well as the facial expressions,etc. This is a character study and not a fast paced film by any means. If anyone knows my tatse in movies they know I aprriecate that in a film. Here is a movie that takes its time. Although we arent given much time,just over an hour in fact to know these characters. The story takes place in a doll factory in the Midwest. At first I was thinkg: WTF how can this movie work?? Not all of the movie takes place in the doll factory of course. Just the people that work there more or less. Rose,the new employee is joined by Martha and Kyle have to show her the ropes so to speak. I love the scenes between Rose and Martha,you can tell that Rose makes Martha uncombertable.Rose might come off as sweet as first,but it doesnt take long for anyone to notice that she is one demanding young woman. She takes advantage of the character Martha in the worst way.I assure in some scenes it looks like they could have gone into a cat fight. The more this movie gets going the more intresting it becomes. The twist at the end makes the movie. Great character study from Soderbergh,he does a great job of making it all feel real.Which I of course loved. Loved every moment of this film, for its characters,its bold apporach,its twist and its demise of its characters! See this film!

• Sunil J

  
  I like that these are regular people that have never acted before. It's raw and feels very real and touching.

• Patrick D

  
  This film is incredible at being the exact opposite. It's full of just silences and mundanity that really works to give you an engaging tale. Steven Soderbergh is amazing when he wants to be. Then he does something like Ocean's 24

Read all 15 featured audience ratings