While little contemporary American filmmaking is to my taste – most of it’s not made for people of my age – there are a number of dependably rewarding directors whose new movies I always make a point of catching; one such, undoubtedly, is the prolific Steven Soderbergh. Since I first saw sex, lies and videotape back in 1989, I’ve watched almost everything he’s made, including such groundbreaking television series as K Street, The Knick, Mosaic and Command Z. (I’ve yet to see Full Circle, but as with Let Them All Talk, I’m hoping it will become available…). I’ve usually greatly enjoyed and admired his work – why else follow the new releases? – because so much of it feels uncommonly fresh, and very far from conventional when compared to most recent American cinema. Even when Soderbergh takes on genre material, his approach tends towards the tangential or disruptive (a much-abused word but here, for once, appropriate and evocative of a very welcome quality). That’s hardly surprising, perhaps, since he is constantly on the look-out for projects that allow him to try something new or different in terms of technique, format or subject matter. Few of today’s filmmakers have a body of work as varied or ambitious as Soderbergh’s, let alone one that embraces audacious experiments like schizopolis, Bubble, the diptych Che, The Girlfriend Experience or Unsane.
Which is why I rushed to see both Presence (which opened in the UK in late January) and Black Bag (just now released). The first, in case you’re yet to see it, is a haunted-house movie, but one told – with intriguing and rewarding results – entirely from the point of view of the invisible ghost (whose identity, history and predicament are unknown to us). The second is a spy mystery, with characteristically arcane dialogue and plotting (mercifully and wittily explicated at regular points) and a rather less characteristic interest in the psychological, social and ethical consequences of lives so persistently devoted to secrets and lies. Both films were scripted by David Koepp, whose first collaboration with Soderbergh was on 2022’s Kimi; the writer is best known for big-budget action pics for Spielberg and others, but his work with Soderbergh feels different. Soderbergh’s always been noted for a light touch – there’s nothing self-important, heavy-handed or grandiose in his work compared to certain recent films – for the fundamentally adult tone and concerns of his films, and for an unpretentious, even modest take on the logistics, economics and aesthetics of filmmaking. Both Presence and Black Bag last around an hour and a half – a nice change from the bloated running times of so many movies made these days – and feature relatively small casts in a limited number of locations (just one, in the case of the haunted house). That doesn’t mean they feel stunted, undernourished or insubstantial; on the contrary, Soderbergh’s fluid and skilful mise-en-scène, his elegant, atmospheric and eloquent camerawork (per Peter Andrews) and taut, crisp, pacy editing (per Mary Ann Bernard) ensure that both films succeed as polished, full-bodied, compelling entertainment. But they are also more than that; just as Presence eschews the usual horror tropes in favour of something more emotionally complex and sophisticated, so Black Bag explores how feelings like love, trust and commitment can function or even survive in a profession concerned with secrecy, surveillance, ideology and the pragmatic requirements of espionage and warfare.
I detest spoilers, so I won’t reveal more about the plot of the new film except that it centres on a British intelligence agent (Michael Fassbender, pictured top) investigating various colleagues to find out who might be a mole; unfortunately, one of the suspects is his wife (Cate Blanchett). Suffice to say this premise makes for plenty of twists, insights, ironies and moments of subtle wit, not to mention some lovely acting by all seven lead actors, though Fassbender and Blanchett are especially effective in conveying the ambiguities that have come to define their relationship; rightly, it’s often difficult to discern where sincerity ends and pretence (to oneself or the other) begins in an apparently devoted but cool, possibly duplicitous marriage where certain information must be hidden away in the metaphorical black bag.
I’m not claiming that either of these films is a masterpiece; rather, that Soderbergh, a superb filmmaker, is to be treasured for consistently making imaginative, intelligent, insightful, beautifully crafted movies that combine a desire to entertain with a sharp, searching, compassionate curiosity about the world and the variety of humans who inhabit it; about how that world works, and how people attempt to cope with whatever it may hurl at them. The extraordinary thing about Soderbergh is that he has managed to make so many superior, topical, relevant, fascinating films; is there anyone else today in the American cinema with an equivalent body of work? Even Eastwood, bold and ambitious in his own way, never ranged as widely as Soderbergh has. (If forced to provide a comparison, I’d maybe suggest the late, great Robert Altman, but I’d probably rather not be forced.)
Back in 1998 I wrote a book about the American ‘indie’ filmmakers of the 70s, 80s and 90s, focussing primarily on the work of ten filmmakers – eleven, actually, as I included the Coens – from Lynch to Tarantino. The chapter on Soderbergh, whose most recent films were Schizopolis and Gray’s Anatomy, was highly positive in its assessment of his work to date but concluded with the hope that he wouldn’t disappear from film-making altogether; he’d recently expressed frustration with mainstream production. Thankfully, his next movie, Out of Sight, revived his career with a vengeance. Thirty further features have followed, along with those wonderful TV series; he’s almost like a throwback to Hollywood’s studio era, when directors like Ford, Hawks et al were constantly in work. Still, even Hitchcock didn’t get to experiment as much as Soderbergh has done. I for one am very pleased he didn’t disappear from the cinema scene; long may he continue to make the movies he wants to make… and I want to see.
Black Bag is currently in UK cinemas; Presence may still be in UK cinemas but is otherwise available online.
notes and observations by Geoff Andrew 