Bubble

Supposedly the first of six low-budget HD-video projects by director Steven Soderbergh, Bubble was released simultaneously in a few theatres and on cable TV in 2005; four days later, its DVD was issued. Shot on location in Ohio, using non-pro actors, the short (73-minute) feature movie is a murder mystery whose outline plot was written by Coleman Hough, an actress whose previous screenplay effort had been a relative disaster for Soderbergh (Full Frontal in 2002).

In a rundown town, a middle-aged woman crafts faces in a small factory making moulded baby dolls. A younger male colleague is a friend she drives to and from work. A younger woman, an unmarried mother, joins the company, and is found strangled to death. A detective talks to all concerned, and the murder solves itself. All the non-pro actors did good jobs and the technical work was fine; So What? is the cruel question.

A few decades ago, this would have been a very competent B feature or an above-average TV drama. Bubble reportedly cost US$1.6 million and its main fascination lies in trying to imagine why Soderbergh made it. He directed, photographed and edited it: was the Oscar-winning multi-millionaire seeking a hands-on reminder of his basic Sex, Lies, and Videotape origins in 1989?

Was he trying to create a production team that could provide new talents (even the previously-used Ms Hough) with training grounds? Did he think a B-feature production company was needed by the ever-hungry cable-TV industry? Let's see whether the other five HD-video movies are made.