Schizopolis,
and
The Girlfriend Experience, which are so insular, they seem to be made only to tickle whatever Soderbergh’s fancy might have been at the time.
But the Oscar-winner kept his commercially-viable projects and personal experiments apart from each other, either as a balance between personal ambition and job security or just for kicks. Since his return to feature film directing with
Logan Lucky, however, Soderbergh has seemingly been experimenting with the layout of his bigger films. His last three movies (
High Flying Bird,
The Laundromat, and
Let Them All Talk) have taken stories that could’ve been flashy or witty and made them dry, under-stylized procedurals with big name stars running in circles and spouting bland dialogue. Why he’s doing this is unclear, but unfortunately, he shows no sign of stopping.