Soderbergh vs. Fassbinder
Filed under: Foreign Language, Independent, Toronto, DIY/Filmmaking, Cinematical Indie
In a report from Toronto on Steven Soderbergh's Bubble, my girl Manohla Dargis compares the 42-year-old Friend of Clooney's latest, with its "artful artlessness" and let-the-milleu-dictate-the-content ethics, to the early work of Rainer Werner Fassbinder. "It is an influence," writes Ms. Dargis, that "Mr. Soderbergh readily concedes."
"Just the bluntness of his movies or most of them, I really like," Soderbegh says. "I was watching a lot of them and had some of them with me when I was in Ohio [shooting Bubble], not to ape anything in specific, just for the feeling...I'm just like Fassbinder, but without the drugs and the whores."
Exactly. We're in a pretty sad state of affairs if Steven Soderbergh is the new Bad Boy of cinema. Let's do a little compare and contrast, shall we?
Fassbinder: Born in 1945, he was notoriously debauched, and eventualy died of a drug overdose in 1982 at 37.
Soderbergh: Born in 1963, he's had little personal experience with drugs, but he made a movie called Traffic in which a clean-cut teen girl devolves into a crack ho.
Fassbinder: Directed Ali: Fear Eats the Soul, a subversive remake of Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows.
Soderbergh: Produced Far From Heaven, which tried really hard to be a subversive remake of Douglas Sirk's All That Heaven Allows.
Fassbinder: The most prolific filmmaker, like, ever, at one point he was making one film every 100 days.
Soderbergh: Has directed about 17 films since 1989. That's one film every 343.529412 days. About.
Got more of these?
Jeremy Renner Wants To Be An Avenger
Directors We Love: Jim Jarmusch
Indie Roundup: 'Sweetgrass,' 'Clarkworld,' 'Broken Embraces'
Shelf Life: Fight Club_thumbnail.jpg)
Watch: Famous 'Matrix' Scene Re-Created with LEGOs
_thumbnail.jpg)
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
9-23-2005 @ 2:34PM
Peter Nellhaus said...
Even more prolific than Fassbinder was quickie director Fred F. Sears who had five films in release in 1958. What makes that remarkable is that Sears died in 1957!
Reply
9-23-2005 @ 11:39PM
Jules Asner said...
Karina...your comments are very stupid..as you concede, 'your girl' Manola is the one that makes the comparison between SS and Fassbinder..you can't take his comment agreeing with her and then adding 'but without the drugs and whores' as a totally self aggrandising response..said in total seriousness. In the interview, as well as others in the past, Steven has spoken of his admiration for Fassbinder. You're the one that calls Steven 'the new bad boy of cinema'...something neither he nor 'your girl' asserts. And since you can obviously do a search on imdb..maybe you should have noted that since 2000 Steven has directed and produced 25 films..as well as directing, editing and shootin 13 one hour episodes of the HBO series 'K Street,' In the coming year he'll direct 'The Good German,'...'Che,' another Ocean's film and 2 low budget films for HDNet. Also..your reference to 'Traffic' is also ill informed. Steve Gaghan wrote much of the film about his own personal battle with drugs..something that was very well publicized. I'm glad you have incredible insight into Steven's own personal experience with drugs.
Jules Asner
aka Mrs. Soderbergh
Reply
9-24-2005 @ 4:29AM
ExBf said...
Soderbergh married ETV's Jules Asner....aren't you pretty much finished with the grand accomplishments in life after that? Jesus...buy yourself an island, keep that girl in Cocoa-Butter and bananas and just laugh it up as civilization crummbles around you. Movies, schmoovies....
Reply
9-24-2005 @ 10:19AM
Mel Sharples said...
Ever notice how we're always in "a sad state" regarding film? However, when we look back at it, we usually dwell on how "creative" the times were? It never ends. Besides, I have respect for Soderbergh trying to tow the line between commercial and art fart. If it gets anyone in the Bruckheimer league to watch Point Blank after seeing the Limey, amen.
You want prolific, Takashi Miike is a good place to start.
Reply