The Girlfriend Experience (2009/Magnolia/MagNet Blu-ray + DVD)
Picture:
C+/C Sound: C+ Extras: C Film: C
Continuing
what he possibly sees as a continuation of Sex,
Lies & Videotape, Steven Soderbergh’s The Girlfriend Experience (2009) wants to be a realistic inside
look at a young lady (an effective Sasha Grey) who has a personal relationship,
but also happens to be a high-paid call girl.
Though the acting is convincing enough and Soderbergh tries to make this
more than it is, he is fighting an uphill battle and this never really adds up.
Besides
the lack of character development that happens in part because of the
voyeur/spying approach, the fact of the matter is that we have seen this done
before in non-XXX dramas and a bit better (think Klute to some extent) and though there are several good scenes,
they seem disconnected and if this is meant to be experimental, that approach
falls flat as well.
The duo
of David Levinson & Brian Koppelman, who wrote duds like Knockaround Guys, Runaway Jury, the horrid Walking
Tall remake and Soderbergh’s highly unnecessary Ocean’s Thirteen try to do a “respectable” work but they just do
not have it in them. The subject matter
aside, these guys are corporate-safe blatantly commercial writers and will
probably always stay that way. They are
clueless on how to make the material work and if anyone other than Soderbergh
(like one or both of them) had directed this, it would have been a total
disaster. Soderbergh’s talented, but
even he can only do so much.
The 1080p
2.35 X 1 digital High Definition image originated on a 4K Red HD camera, the
kind Soderbergh used to shoot his epic Che,
but it is very soft and poor with motion blur throughout as if it was purposely
trying to look analog or low-def digital.
The anamorphically enhanced DVD is worse with even more shadow detail
troubles, color issues and generally poor look.
The DTS-HD MA (Master Audio) lossless 5.1 mix is highly underutilized,
with the Dolby Digital 5.1 and 2.0 Stereo on the DVD even poorer and more
compressed-sounding. The combination in
any case is trying. Extras include the
HDNet tie-in special to promote its release and a fairly good audio commentary
by Soderbergh and Grey.
- Nicholas Sheffo
