Product Description

Romantic tragedy unfolds in a small Midwestern town when a bizarre love triangle at a doll factory turns to murder. Brought to life with startling realism.System Requirements:Features: Deleted Scenes Audio commentary (by Steven Soderbergh) Interview(s) (with the director cast and crew) Documentaries ("Bursting the Bubble" making-of) Running Time: 72 MinFormat: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R UPC: 876964000024 Manufacturer No: 10002

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #35276 in DVD
• Brand: MAGNOLIA FILMS
• Released on: 2006-01-31
• Rating: R (Restricted)
• Aspect ratio: 2.35:1
• Formats: Closed-captioned, Color, DVD, NTSC
• Original language: English
• Number of discs: 1
• Dimensions: .20 pounds
• Running time: 73 minutes

Features

• Romantic tragedy unfolds in a small Midwestern town when a bizarre love triangle at a doll factory turns to murder. Brought to life with startling realism.Features:Deleted Scenes. , Audio commentary (by Steven Soderbergh). , Interview(s) (with the director, cast and crew). , Documentaries ("Bursting the Bubble" making-of). Format: DVD MOVIE Genre: DRAMA Rating: R Age: 87696

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 twentysomething 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

From The New Yorker
Martha (Debbie Doebereiner), large in body and heart, toils alongside Kyle (Dustin James Ashley) at the local doll factory. Although their relationship is platonic, she assumes that he is hers until a new hire, the sly and brazen Rose (Misty Dawn Wilkins), enters the scene. Filming on location with nonprofessional actors drawn from locals along the Ohio-West Virginia border, Steven Soderbergh revitalizes the eternal triangle with a low-key yet ravishing homespun neorealism. He deftly sketches the quiet grace of his trio as they bear their frustrations at work and their burdens at home, and he enhances their drama to vital effect through his use of high-definition video. The technique's wealth of visual detail lets him capture his characters in long shot, rendering them inextricable from their industrial setting and its dazzling profusion of artificial colors and forms. Together with the tersely efficient script by Coleman Hough, Soderbergh's images raise the story from the crime blotter to a coolly damning meditation on modern moods in the land of two jobs and no benefits.
Copyright © 2006 The New Yorker

Customer Reviews

Abnormal in a good way
In a small town on the Ohio and West Virgina border, Martha and Kyle work together at the local doll factory. Martha is a middle-aged, unmarried woman who lives with her infirmed father and takes care of him. Kyle is an unfocused young man, who never finished high school and still lives with his mom in the local trailer park. Martha and Kyle are "friends." Martha picks Kyle up for work everyday, and she even drives him to his other job at the shovel factory in the same town. Everything is normal until the doll factory hires a new worker. The new worker, Rose, is a single mother around Kyle's age. Rose and Kyle become good friends, and even go out on a date together. All of these incidents come together to lead to tragic consequences about halfway through the film.

Bubble is really an odd, intense film. The character of Martha seems to paint a picture of a life of pointlessness, loneliness, and sadness. Martha obviously thinks more of her relationship with Kyle than he does. Their conversations are never complicated, and are filled with plenty of awkward silences. In fact, the silences are some of the best parts of Bubble. All the conversations feel completely real. Maybe it was Steven Soderbergh's choice to use non-actors for the film's main roles, or maybe it was the writing, but either way, the film feels very normal and realistic.

Some people would argue that nothing actually happens for the first 40 minutes of the film; and they would be right. The first 40 minutes consist mostly of talks between Martha and Kyle, and silent shots of Martha going about her pathetic, lonely existence in the small town. However, once the murder happens, the film becomes much more interesting on a more normal level of film entertainment. I personally enjoyed the entire film, which runs a very short length of about 75 minutes.

Obviously, the point of the film isn't the mystery. It's more about life in this small, poor town, where no one can seem to get out and make a good life for themselves. Martha's father is still there. Kyle's mother is still there. Rose's ex-boyfriend is still there. And when all their lives intersect for that one night, there are terrible consequences. I really enjoyed the film, but I don't think I'd watch it again, and normal filmgoers will probably not enjoy the slow, deliberate pacing and lack of action.

Hey, it is a step up from Ocean's 12, at least.

Must see minimalist cinema
Another brillant piece of work from the director who refuses to be pigeon-holed, his work reminds one of not only American indie stalwarts like Jarmusch, the Coens, etc... but also European and Asian minimalists like Kiarostami, Antononi, Wong Kar Wai, Kaurismaki and Renaisis.

Soderbergh coaxed great performances for the non-professional cast and his visual is a treat as always.

Definitely not a plot-driven multiplex fare, not a masterpiece, but a must see nonethless, for any who values cinema not only as a storytelling medium BUT rather, a VISUAL-AUDIO experience.

Real people-NOT actors 3 and 1/2 Stars
What sets this movie so far apart from others, is that real people were used, and NOT actors.
Actually, I think they did an excellent job.
Though if you are looking for an action movie, or a fast paced drama, this is not for you.

It focuses on a small town, and only a handful of characters.
It's about a middle aged woman who lives with her Father and has pretty much no life, besides her job at the doll factory.
She has a crush on a very young man, young enough to be her Son, at the factory. Obviously, the feeling is not mutual, and he is only being kind to her.

Enter a young attractive woman, and mother of a small child, who begins work at the Doll Factory.
The two youngsters decide to hook up, and Martha (The older woman) babysits for her co-worker while she dates her (Martha's)crush.

Jealousy erupts and it turns tragic.
The whole feel of this movie is very laid back, as is life in a small town, and although it IS slow paced and lacks action, there is still an interesting little story here about the desperation of an aging lonley woman whose life has passed her by.

Must have a liking for art house films to appreciate and enjoy it.