Steven Soderburgh has so many wonderful facets but regularly fails to deliver a fully developed movie on all fronts.
I'm always struck by the visuals of his movies and their boldness. Few filmakers find the sweet spot between documentary verite and big budget unreality the way Soderburgh does. The movies feel real without being too much so.
There's a wonderful artistic feel to much of his camera work. Showing us shots and angles we've not seen before (so we're not used to them) but which seem so much better suited than the normal coverage to get his point across.
There's so much moment to moment virtuosity in his movies. The shooting/editing never fails to grab me. Hard cuts to title cards, glamorous dance sequences, quiet backlit moments. But the essential dramatic storytelling of the movie fails.
Through much of the movie I would have thought that he wasn't overly interested in emotional storytelling - however the false feeling conclusion of the movie tell me he obviously was. The emotion/love story of the movie almost feels tacked on - as if the studio decided it needed more heart. I would have rather he kept thing slightly more at arm's length.
