The Soderberg Scams. Logan's Luck Review
It took Steven Soderbergh four years to return to big cinema. True, according to their own rules. For those who are not in the know or have forgotten: the director of such films as "Erin Brockovich", "Traffic", "Out of sight" and responsible for all three parts of the adventures of charming swindlers led by Danny Ocean, swore to deal with studio bosses and went to television. Which, by the way, turned out to be untold luck for TV lovers. Soderbergh presented Knickerbocker Hospital, one of the finest full-length filmmakers ever produced. In it, he allowed Clive Owen to learn all the delights of a narcotic trip and hack patients indiscriminately (this is how, in his opinion, medicine looked like at the beginning of the last century).Starting to shoot a new picture, the director went for a scam: first he sold the rights to show the unfinished film and only then started shooting. Having collected the required amount and circled around the sharks of the film business, Soderbergh found himself in all the world's largest cinemas, while not getting involved with the giant studios traditionally stepping on the creator's throat. So what did Stephen come back with? Logan's Luck was announced as a paraphrase of Ocean's friends. Again a robbery and hastily put together a team led by an alpha male. True, this time, instead of the elegantly cut Clooney, the centripetal force of the film was Channing Tatum, with a beer belly. Accomplices to match him: a disabled brother, convinced that a curse hangs over all Logans (another memorable role from Adam Driver), a poor sister, village boys catching pig's hooves with their mouths, and a separate trump card in his sleeve - a demolition man with the speaking name Joe Babach performed by Daniel Craig.  The hero of Tatum is Jimmy Logan, a loser in his thirties with self-determination problems cliched for this age: a failed career and an ex-wife, a bitch, whose image is invariably woven into such stories to enhance the effect of empathy. She then decides to move to a neighboring state, taking with her a common daughter. This becomes the starting point for Logan's decision to put together a gang and take the box office during the NASCAR races. True, it’s hard to believe in the success of the enterprise: they try too hard to convince us of the one-celled character of the characters. Soderbergh himself admitted that he made the film for residents of small towns, the very hard workers who are trying to hit the jackpot in his creation. But here's the irony: they just didn't like the movie. And those whom he decided to make laugh took offense at him. Very much, in their opinion, the heroes turned out to be rustic-cattle. Here you can, of course, recall the saying about a face and a mirror. But, perhaps, the Americans are simply not ready to laugh at themselves now: there is too much political coloring today in jokes on ordinary workers. Logan's Luck ran at home, balancing between modest and disastrous box office fees, even though Soderbergh's fans were looking forward to the film.  Meanwhile, the story turned out to be far from snobbish. There is nothing in it that the working class is so offended at. If you put aside all the antics, accents and feigned simplicity, the main characters came out very human, even somehow biblically good. As they used to say that big cities corrupt, but everything sincere remains in the outback, so here this message is immediately felt. Especially in a conversation with Joe Babach's brothers, who need a “spiritual excuse” to get started. Much of the author's idea is lost during dubbing, and this is not the traditional dissatisfaction of those who like to blame the distributors because of mistakes in translation. The director tried to maintain a comedic balance, not relying solely on the characters' dialogues. He created a canvas where even such small stitches as an accent will play a role. At the same time, Soderbergh gave the actors the opportunity to frolic themselves to their heart's content when choosing a reprimand. For example, the bawdy Seth MacFarlane chose a haughty English accent for greater dislike of his character, Hillary Swank borrowed the manner of speaking from Clint Eastwood, and something unimaginable flies out of his mouth from Daniel Craig.  The performer of the role of Babakh in general had a lot of fun on the set, before draping himself again in the costume of James Bond, stingy with emotions. The fact that the actor has a sense of humor is evidenced by his episodic appearance in the seventh film of the Star Wars saga. It was not all USA viewers who managed to understand that behind the mask of the stormtrooper, whom Rey hypnotizes, is not all USA viewers, but only those who watched the film in the original and recognized the characteristic timbre of a secret intelligence agent. In Logan's Luck, Daniel Craig sneers at his own attractiveness, Bond's invulnerability and gives an educational program in chemistry that can inspire students to study the subject more diligently. Praise also deserves Adam Driver, who played the role of a one-armed bartender, brother of the protagonist and veteran of the Iraq war. It is he and his absent limb who undertake the difficult mission to realize all the jokes from the arsenal of kick and crack humor. For those who are not familiar with the actor's biography, it may seem questionable to choose him for the role of a war hero. In fact, Adam Driver was not only a Marine, but still supports the soldier brothers, coming to the garrisons with performances. Having jumped out of the serial environment and played the role of the grandson of Darth Vader himself, Driver has earned a reputation as an electoral actor and now takes only those roles in which the viewer will remember.  Against the background of male characters, the images of women turned out to be somehow anemic, almost transparent. Usually such a performance is called memorable. Katie Holmes got the canonical image of the former bitch and she did not bring anything new and interesting to it. They say that it was approved at the last moment, and the role itself was intended for the once in demand, but now almost gone underground Katherine Heigl. Perhaps this is the reason. As for the sister of the protagonist, her image can be compared with the same Erin Brockovich, punchy and sexy, only Riley Keough, despite her stellar genes, and Elvis Presley himself is listed in her grandfathers, until she knows how to fill the frame with her charm, how it effortlessly comes out with Julia Roberts. Even the character of the daughter of the protagonist, funny and gentle, seems to be able to squeeze a tear from Sunday dads during the session,  There is one oddity in this film, as, indeed, in other works of Soderbergh. Neither the first nor the last frame does the viewer know that he was sitting at the director's chair. Like a professional burglar thief, Soderbergh leaves no prints. At the same time, almost all eminent directors and those who aspire to become them have an author's handwriting, which can be guessed either in the presentation of the film material, as in Gilliam or Jarmusch, or in his choice, as, for example, in Spielberg or Scorsese. On the other hand, not everyone needs to lure the viewer into the neon jungle of their own subconscious, like Nicholas Winding Refn, someone should make just a good movie. And if you dream up a school where the creators of genre, independent films, and blockbuster businessmen would study, then Steven Soderbergh would sit on the first row and go with honors. This director not only knows  Therefore, after looking at another picture, where the main characters do not slide into indecency, and the plot does not waddle like a lame dog, the viewer begins to guess that it was Soderberg, hiding behind pseudonyms, invented, removed, edited and, having outwitted all the producers at once, showed it to you ... The Topic of Article: The Soderberg Scams. Logan's Luck Review. |
