My Impressions
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Archived from the IMDb Discussion Forums — Sex, Lies, and Videotape
mob61uk — 23 years ago(September 25, 2002 03:02 PM)
I haven't seen this for many years - probably since it first came
out. Watching it again on the recently issued DVD, I am struck with
just how great a film it is.
It's based on the old premise of the stranger (or in this case long
lost schoolfriend) coming into town and causing a few unexpected
waves. In Soderburgh's hands it's not only quite funny, but also a
subtle and complex study of the four main characters, and by proxy,
the modern world with it's obsession with understanding things by
capturing them, recording them, re-creating them. As well as that
old chestnut - sex as power.
Technically, the film is perfectly paced, with some brilliant
cutting. The performances are stunning, particularly James Spader,
and Andie MacDowell. The script (by Soderburgh) is flawless.
A must see. -
Seek_You — 23 years ago(December 31, 2002 12:37 AM)
THANK YOU! The subtlety of this film is what makes it so great. Soderburgh uses minimal dialogue and actions to convey strong emotions in the viewer. By far his best film- hes now taking a horribly conventional path for filmmaking by casting Julia Roberts in ALL of his latest films. He has a new fresh approach to filmmaking, so talented but he seems to be throwing it all away for a typecast, banal actress?
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neil_mc — 22 years ago(February 06, 2004 02:48 PM)
It is a fantastic film, and it is also great to see an independant film make its mark at the box office - and it sure did the job in exploding Soderbergh's career.
I think the pacing is just right, and the feel and intimacy of the film means that the time flies and you are left wanting more after the final fade-to-black
But speaking of banal actresses, I'm afraid to say that Andie McDowell is absolutely terrible. In this. In everything. -
Radiant_Rose — 20 years ago(November 22, 2005 05:44 AM)
OMG, it would have been a disaster with gratuitous nudity.
For one thing, it is usually annoying when the film has naked women but their male co-stars are allowed to cover up.
The whole point is that it was sexy without showing more flesh than you would see on a trip to a well-run non-nudist swimming pool. I think the sexiest part is when Cynthia is taking her clothes off and G says, "You aren't wearing any underwear" and C asks whether he likes how she looks and if she thinks she's pretty. I don't think we miss out by not seeing L San G actually naked and touching herself. It is still very sexy IMHO. -
melvin-1 — 20 years ago(February 10, 2006 07:52 PM)
With nudity it would realy have defeated the talk about sex. The dialouge was what made the movie pretty good to me. To me the sexist part was when Ann and Grahm are seen together on his couch. Both were hung up and released their passion for sex. Showing them have it in the end realy would have been nice though.
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Radiant_Rose — 20 years ago(April 04, 2006 06:50 AM)
I thought the sexiest part was when Graham is observing that Cyn is not wearing any underwear (the shameless hussy!) and she is asking if he likes how she looks and if she is pretty.
NB Of course she is pretty. I think she is prettier than Ann and that L S G is a better actress. Although I think Andie acts well in this. I hate to admit that. -
hereminton — 19 years ago(August 05, 2006 12:13 PM)
Radiant Rose, I think you were absolutely correct in your posting on what Graham does for money (see mine under "Graham's Job?"). But about what you wrote on here "the film has naked women but their male stars are allowed to cover up". I have no problem with nudity of either sex in a movie (especially women, as I am a male), but I'm not sure if allowed is the right word to use here, because I myself have no problem being nude in public, as was proven by how much I liked going to nude Haulover Beach in Miami this May, and my desire to return there soon regularly. And if I was an actor I would have no problem at all doing full nude scenes, or even being a porn actor (and I really don't think most men, actors or otherwise, have problems with this). And you said Andie McDowell was good in this film, but you hated to say that. I fully agree with you that Laura San Giamco is alot prettier than her, and have felt this way since first seeing this movie, but I do think Andie McDowell is a very good actress. And she is from Gaffney, SC, which is just about 15 miles west of my hometown, and where my family and I often went evenings from the late 1970s until the mid 1990s to eat (at the Quincy's Steakhouse there), and where I also saw my first movie in a theater (Grizzly Adams in November, 1974, when 6 and in 1st grade). And there is a big, major street in Gaffney named after her, called Andie McDowell Way, and they seem very pleased she is from there, as I am that she is from South Carolina like me. There was also a movie filmed there , The Abyss, which came out in August, 1989 at the same time this movie did and I also liked alot, and I have thought of the possibility of her having a small role in it, which would have given her the opportunity for a homecoming (she was probably filming this movie at the same time, but Baton Rouge is not too far from Gaffney, and she possibly could have gotten away for a few days).
"I happen to be a vegetarian". Lex, from Jurrasic Park -
Radiant_Rose — 19 years ago(August 10, 2006 06:27 AM)
Yes, some people enjoy nudity and others do not. In the end, I think actors/actresses should have the personal choice whether to do full frontal nudity. A lot of Oscar-winning actresses have done full frontal or topless films and that is their choice. Hilary Swank has 2 Oscars, although to be fair, there was a very good reason for us to see her naked in "Boys Don't Cry".
However, I suspect that directors as a whole are more understanding towards male stars who refuse to reveal all than to female stars with the same reticence. Perhaps I am being unfair.
My sixth birthday was in 1974, so I am presumably a similar age to you, hereminton.Don't dream it, be it.
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Radiant_Rose — 20 years ago(April 04, 2006 06:52 AM)
The first time, I was disappointed by the film and thought it deserved 3 points out of 5. Now I think it deserves all 5, and could only have been improved had we found out that Ann's new job involved recycling garbage/rubbish.
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orcaroline — 19 years ago(April 24, 2006 10:48 PM)
Why's that? I didn't get the idea that she was some big environmentalist..and she only talks about trash for about a minute.
-Caroline
"Let the lovefeast begin."
"People are dying. The dialogue has to be up to it." -
Radiant_Rose — 19 years ago(May 10, 2006 05:19 AM)
Point taken, Caroline. It didn't have to be about trash/rubbish, but she was getting worried about big stuff and it would have been nice if her job had been something useful like recycling. Or helping starving children or the families of air crash victims, but those two might have got her too emotional.
It would have been nice to see that the change in her lead to her doing something about issues that she claimed to worry about. -
orcaroline — 19 years ago(May 15, 2006 10:50 PM)
I think she just thought about those things to distract her from worrying about her own life. Her life starts going well, she no longer thinks about them.
It would've been nice but unrealistic. So many people worry about those kinds of things at one point or another, but very few actually do something about it, especially if it's something by which they haven't been directly affected.
-Caroline
"Let the lovefeast begin."
"People are dying. The dialogue has to be up to it." -
Radiant_Rose — 19 years ago(June 08, 2006 05:28 AM)
Hi, Caroline/Orcaroline!
Her not helping other people would not invalidate the progress she had made, but I would like to think that part of her concern about garbage (or landfill rubbish as my local council calls it) was genuine.
When I have been depressed, I have tended to get much more upset than usual about sad items on the news. The fact that they affect me less when I am non-depressed does not mean that the news items are not sad for those directly concerned.