Sex Lies and Videotape (1989)
Country: US
Technical: col 100m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo
Synopsis:
A drifter with a penchant for recording interviews with women about their sexual experiences goes to visit his philandering former school friend and affects the lives of all concerned.
Review:
Frank and compelling character piece, examining some very Eighties issues of institutionalized mendacity (the philanderer is a lawyer) and egocentricity but also some timeless ones concerning relationships: for all the apparent glibness on display it is ultimately a moral work, suggesting that sex has acquired an importance in American culture over sentimental contact with others. It collected the Palme d'Or at Cannes and launched all its principals on variedly successful careers. Stylistically it is an elegant, modern looking assembly of narrative devices, an unobtrusive language the director was to make his own; historically it represented something of a breakthrough for American cinema into the arena of unassuming, dialogue driven drama previously assayed by New York filmmakers such as Allen and Cassavetes. After this, 'independent' US cinema saw a (re)birth so that by the end of the Nineties it was producing masterpieces like Todd Solondz's Happiness.
Country: US
Technical: col 100m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo
Synopsis:
A drifter with a penchant for recording interviews with women about their sexual experiences goes to visit his philandering former school friend and affects the lives of all concerned.
Review:
Frank and compelling character piece, examining some very Eighties issues of institutionalized mendacity (the philanderer is a lawyer) and egocentricity but also some timeless ones concerning relationships: for all the apparent glibness on display it is ultimately a moral work, suggesting that sex has acquired an importance in American culture over sentimental contact with others. It collected the Palme d'Or at Cannes and launched all its principals on variedly successful careers. Stylistically it is an elegant, modern looking assembly of narrative devices, an unobtrusive language the director was to make his own; historically it represented something of a breakthrough for American cinema into the arena of unassuming, dialogue driven drama previously assayed by New York filmmakers such as Allen and Cassavetes. After this, 'independent' US cinema saw a (re)birth so that by the end of the Nineties it was producing masterpieces like Todd Solondz's Happiness.
Country: US
Technical: col 100m
Director: Steven Soderbergh
Cast: James Spader, Andie MacDowell, Peter Gallagher, Laura San Giacomo
Synopsis:
A drifter with a penchant for recording interviews with women about their sexual experiences goes to visit his philandering former school friend and affects the lives of all concerned.
Review:
Frank and compelling character piece, examining some very Eighties issues of institutionalized mendacity (the philanderer is a lawyer) and egocentricity but also some timeless ones concerning relationships: for all the apparent glibness on display it is ultimately a moral work, suggesting that sex has acquired an importance in American culture over sentimental contact with others. It collected the Palme d'Or at Cannes and launched all its principals on variedly successful careers. Stylistically it is an elegant, modern looking assembly of narrative devices, an unobtrusive language the director was to make his own; historically it represented something of a breakthrough for American cinema into the arena of unassuming, dialogue driven drama previously assayed by New York filmmakers such as Allen and Cassavetes. After this, 'independent' US cinema saw a (re)birth so that by the end of the Nineties it was producing masterpieces like Todd Solondz's Happiness.