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Bubble [HD DVD] | ![Bubble [HD DVD]](http://ecx.images-amazon.com/images/I/51onbhQZ2kL._SL160_.jpg) | Director: Steven Soderbergh
Actors: Debbie Doebereiner, Omar Cowan, Dustin James Ashley, Phyllis Workman, Laurie Lee
Studio: Magnolia
Category: DVD
List Price: $29.98
Buy New: $21.16
as of 9/9/2010 09:39 CDT details
You Save: $8.82 (29%)
New (6) from $21.16
Seller: blowitoutahere
Rating:  59 reviews
Sales Rank: 105905
Format: Color, Subtitled, Widescreen
Languages: Spanish (Subtitled), English (Original Language)
Rating: R (Restricted)
Media: HD DVD
Region: 0
Discs: 1
Aspect Ratio: 2.40:1
Running Time: 73 Minutes
Shipping Weight (lbs): 0.2
Dimensions (in): 7.1 x 5.4 x 0.6
UPC: 876964000390
EAN: 0876964000390
ASIN: B000GFRIHW
Theatrical Release Date: January 27, 2006
Release Date: May 1, 2007
Availability: Usually ships in 1-2 business days
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| Editorial Reviews:
Amazon.com
As an audacious experiment in the art and distribution of motion pictures, Bubble is a twofold triumph. Released on DVD a mere four days after its U.S. theatrical release (in only 32 theaters) in January 2006, this ultra-low-key drama was the first of six films by maverick director Steven Soderbergh (produced in partnership with HDNet Films and 2929 Entertainment, founded by Internet pioneers Mark Cuban and Todd Wagner) to be released simultaneously in theaters, on DVD, and HDNet cable TV, effectively closing the traditional "window" between theatrical and home-video release platforms, and causing many theater owners to boycott the film in protest over its groundbreaking strategy. To accommodate this paradigm-shifting milestone, Soderbergh and Full Frontal screenwriter Coleman Hough reunited to craft a working-class murder mystery that's perfectly suited to its experimental purpose: Quickly shot on high definition video, it's a riveting 72-minute exercise in minimal style, located in the depressed border town of Belpre, Ohio, and employing non-actors from the region who played an active role in creating their mundane everyday dialogue.
Chubby, middle-aged Martha (Debbie Doebereiner) and twenty-something slacker Kyle (Dustin James Ashley) work in a drab doll factory, molding and assembling rubber doll parts, passing dreary lunch-hours with small talk and clinging to modest dreams that will never come true. When an attractive single mother named Rose (Misty Dawn Wilkins) is hired as a temporary employee, Martha's secretly possessive affection for Kyle is silently challenged, leading to an act of violence that obliterates their daily routine. In dramatizing this passive love triangle, Soderbergh (serving, under pseudonyms, as his own cinematographer and editor) emphasizes the stilted, soul-crushing rhythms of lives that have been stunted by loneliness and isolation; they live in a bubble, as it were, and Bubble is arresting in its visual precision, finding unexpected beauty in physical and emotional bleakness. Obviously not the kind of film that draws a blockbuster audience, Bubble exists on its own terms, capable of captivating a receptive audience, regardless of format or context, without losing its experimental edge. DVD extras include a video introduction by Soderbergh, the original casting interviews with the film's non-professional actors, and more. --Jeff Shannon
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| Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
 Fascinating, but goes nowhere October 14, 2009
E. K. Byham (Northern New Jersey, USA)
This is a MUCH better film than some of the reviews would have you believe. It is a fascinating look at an element of American society that is virtually ignored by the movies. And that it is done by non-professionals and largely ad-libbed makes it quite remarkable. The editing is outstanding and the movie is never boring. The only problem is the ending, which is simultaneously over dramatic and totally lacking in drama. I think it will provide valuable insights into life in America at this time for future generations.
Doll parts October 19, 2008
Westley (Stuck in my head)
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
"I am doll parts, bad skin, doll heart...And someday you will ache like I ache" - Courtney Love
"Bubble" concerns three employees in a small doll factory in a small mid-west town. Co-workers Martha (Debbie Doebereiner) and Kyle (Dustin Ashley) have known each other for awhile. Martha is overweight and fortyish, looking like a less comedic Roseanne Barr; Kyle is in his early 20s, still lives at home, and is fairly emo. They seem like an unlikely pair, but it's mostly a friendship born of convenience working and commuting together to the doll factory. They are not happy people; they're struggling to pay their bills and rarely smile. Martha also seems fonder of Kyle than he is of her. In one painful scene, Martha and Kyle stop for breakfast, and Martha says that she wants a picture of Kyle because he's her best friend. One senses that this friendship will probably not end well. Speeding things along is their new co-worker, Rose (Misty Wilkins). She has a two-year-old daughter and, as soon as she befriends Martha and Kyle, makes Martha feel like a third wheel. Ruh-roh!
The movie made news in 2006 by being nearly simultaneously released in theaters, on cable, and on DVD. Many critics wrote it off a digital stunt, but it's worth a look. Steven Soderbergh has long been one of the most experimental of the major American movie directors. In particular, he has specialized in incorporating handheld video equipment into his movies (see "Sex, Lies, and Videotape" and "Full Frontal"). Here, he takes the next logical step by making a truly minimalist film - shot on digital tape, with non-professional actors and a mostly improvised script. The movie is slow-moving and self-conscious, but it also captures a realness not seen in most films. It also shows a side of America not often focused on - average people living average, boring lives. There's nothing inherently interesting about them, but somehow the film makes their mini-psychodrama something greater and deeper.
"I don't know, Martha." September 21, 2008
J from NY (New York)
2 out of 3 found this review helpful
Soderbergh's "Bubble" is definitely one of his less ambitious ventures, but still provides a thought provoking experience. Using non-professional actors in a remote, impoverished small town in Ohio, Soderbergh is not unlike Gus Van Sant in being able to make a big something out of a big nothing.
Martha, an obese redheaded woman who works at a doll making factory with a mighty strange young co-worker named Kyle, has a very lonely and unfulfilling life. She has a generous heart and takes care of her elderly father while working constantly. Her attraction to Kyle is apparent from the first scene, perhaps because he is a good listener; aside from working and smoking weed, he does and says very little. We discover later on that Kyle suffers from panic attacks and was forced to drop out of high school because of them. Both are vulnerable, banal, good people, which makes the events later in the film even more tragic.
Rose, a seemingly ordinary and attractive young woman, comes to work with the two of them. This is when Martha's deeply, deeply repressed rage begins to surface in very quiet ways. As she sits in a Baptist church, a light begins to shine on her face, a bluish hue, and suddenly the church is abandoned and she is all alone. Kyle and Rose start to flirt a little. The film's "main event" happens so quickly and with such a mysteriously ordinary logic that it leaves one in a momentary state of shock. The most sympathetic character is the most monstrous one, and it is hard to swallow while being entirely believable. The question Soderbergh fails to answer and that is most important is: is the "villain" responsible or not responsible for what she's done?
I think Soderbergh called it "Bubble" because everything takes place in such a non-dramatic, non-descript way, and the quality of the character's lives are very low. Even out of this melancholy framework, though, an act of passion can emerge. A chilling and memorable movie.
 A MINIMALISTIC DARK PORTRAIT OF SMALLTOWN AMERICA September 10, 2008
Robert Blenheim (Daytona Beach, Florida)
3 out of 3 found this review helpful
Working with a miniscule budget and solely with non-actors, Steven Soderbergh (of "Sex, Lies and Videotape", "Traffic" and the "Ocean 11" series) has made a minimalist masterpiece with noir sensibilities that dissects the veneer of small town America in "Bubble", one of 2006's great films.
Look beyond the non-professional surface of this film (photographed completely in Digital Video using houses of the cast as sets, and employing their natural light and found props, as well as lots of improvised dialogue) and you'll find a film that approaches the essence of pure cinema. It tells a story of three very ordinary people in a small Midwestern town whose inhabitants mainly work in a doll factory, but what occurs reveals so much truth as to what's repressed under the depressing sadness of working class Americans. Under Soderbergh's inspired directing, it's astonishing how much you find yourself feeling for all the characters and how finely-tuned your senses are to every subtle gesture and expression of these lonely people. A great human document, and a magnificent film experience you'll not likely forget.
An interesting note: Soderbergh planned the making of this film as an experiment, and decided to release it simultaneously in the cinemas and on DVD at considerable risk. I am guessing it didn't pay off monetarily, but it certainly did succeed as a work of art. One of these is worth a hundred Oceans films!
dark, slow, moody, amazing film July 28, 2008
Bookenator
1 out of 1 found this review helpful
If you're looking for a blockbuster with exploding cars and crashing trucks, this ain't it. Bubble is a simple, understated, moody film that spins itself slowly into greater and greater complexity. Using non-actors, Soderbergh manages to pull realistic and revealing performances and create an overall subtle but suspenseful mood. This film is all in the nuances. Take a deep breath, sit back, and let this film flow by and amaze you.
This film also stands as a shining example of the filmic possibilities opened up by new technologies, not in terms of the flashy special effects we're constantly bombarded with, but in terms of being able to take a high def digital camera and, using available lighting, create a beautiful professional looking film. Every budding director should see this film and open their minds and eyes to what can be done with very little equipment and a big dose of talent.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 59
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