• Soderbergh’s lighting and Damon’s performance put this one over the top and into the archives
  • It’s great to see the comedic talents of Damon (as we would again in the martian in 2015)- I mean he’s funny in parts in many of his films (good will hunting and the departed come to mind) but not nearly as much as some of the rambling voice-over musings here- such a web liar—he also put on 30lbs reportedly for this role
  • Soderbergh’s achievement in lighting (picture above is Exhibit A) is even more of an achievement since the film is set, largely, in suburban Illinois in the 1990’s…
  • Solid character study- reminiscent of 2003’s shattered glass and sort of a half-way coen brother film con-man who can’t help but get in his own way
  • It’s a bold choice on the music- very divisive—I can’t say I’m a big fan- it’s very 1970’s (same composer did some roger moore bond films, the way we were) and I don’t fully understand the formal connection with the material
  • Some other hits from the voice over are “I could see us fishing or whatever” and “what a good listener”
  • Wonderful night lighting in a Chinese restaurant
  • Again- the lighting isn’t just light- it’s part of the mise-en-scene and is a physical structure and part of the background décor in so many scenes
  • Recommend but not near the top 10 of 2009—certainly “lesser” works in the canon of both soderbergh and damon