I think it’s possible that Steven Soderbergh will never make another great movie. I don’t mean to imply that his efforts won’t be significantly better than most of what crosses multiplex screens, or that he won’t continue to be one of those directors worth following, one of those directors whose involvement with a film means that it automatically merits attention. Soderbergh is a consistently interesting director. Even when his movies don’t work, it’s not due to a lack of ambition or a dearth of ideas. He plays with the form like someone restlessly working clay in his hands, moving it back and forth, testing its pliability, always considering how it can reworked into yet another shape. I’ve no doubt that he’ll continue on that path, which is precisely why I think another great movie may be out of reach.

It’s because the very quality that makes Soderbergh’s film special, makes his films uniquely his, also is somewhat distancing. Soderbergh’s narrative experimentation is as much a part of his films as any story element. His explorations, both formal and playful, are always readily apparent. Even when a particular piece could benefit from a little earthiness, a little character depth, even some of the arguably overfamiliar emotion manipulation that popped up from time to time in his own Erin Brockovich, Soderbergh’s default mode, while intricately clever, allows for little of that. The transparent tweaking of structure and tone can be entertaining, and, in it’s own way, insightful. What it doesn’t seem to allow for is an abundance of internal spirit, unpredictability or the looseness and spontaneity that can add valuable humanity to a project.

For instance, his new film, The Informant!, is smart, pointed, and often wryly funny. As an executive with a tenuous relationship with the truth who starts providing evidence to F.B.I. that his company has engaged in illegal price fixing, Matt Damon is completely game. He looks dumpy, shuffles through the movie, and generally plays his role with an enthusiastic doofishness. Most interestingly, he gets at the nervous shiftiness of an inveterate liar, someone who shapes his entire worldview around his own fabrications. Soderbergh’s film is partially about the dilemma that’s faced when your counting on an inherently dishonest man to be the most honest man in the room, and there’s nice friction developed from that scenario. While all this is indeed praiseworthy, the movie feels a little hollow, enjoyable but lacking in deeper insight or deeper development that would really make it stick. It’s good, not great. That’s hardly damning commentary, but it would be nice if Soderbergh could return to the era when he could mix his formalist noodling with deeply felt human interactions.

(Posted simultaneously to “Jelly-Town!”)