Girlfriend Gang

Steven Soderbergh‘s The Girlfriend Experience (Magnolia, 5.22) had its big Tribeca Film Festival showing last night. It’s a superbly made film about (a) Soderbergh’s view of himself as an artist dealing with a series of “Johns,” and (b) the anxious psychological currents created by collapse of the U.S. economy in the fall of ’08. The after-party was at 675 Bar (675 Hudson, 9th Ave and 13th St.), a basement-level place that used to be an S & M bar in the ’70s and was a hospital in the Civil War days.


Tony Gilroy, Girlfriend Experience costar Mark Jacobson.

Soderbergh and Sasha Grey attended; ditto costars Glenn Kenny and Mark Jacobson. The great Tony Gilroy (Duplicity, Michael Clayton) stood near the bar for most of the evening. Extremely bright and seasoned fellow — one of the best in the industry. Great food, delicious drinks, superb film, classy crowd, beautiful women.


Outside lower Manhattan’s BMCC theatre just before the end of tonight’s Girlfriend Experience screening.

(l. to r.) Roger Friedman, Girlfriend Experience director Steven Soderbergh, Gilroy at the after-party.

Girlfriend Experience star Sasha Grey.
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50 thoughts on “Girlfriend Gang”

  1. Glad to hear you liked it – I look forward to seeing it this weekend.

    Did you get Gilroy to explain ‘Duplicity’ for you?

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  4. Sorry to go DZ, but this is the kind of snobby shit that makes me resist Blu-ray. From a dark horizons review of MARLEY & ME:

    “While it can be argued that Marley and Me is not essential to be watched in high def, there is no denying the film has an added depth in its Blu Ray incarnation. Visually, the film is sharp, images are rich, and the Miami sequences look breathtaking, with deeper blue hues and other lush colours brought out by the 1080p resolution.”

    God help us.

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  6. “…a basement-level place that used to be an S & M bar in the ’70s”

    I KNEW I recognized the joint from somewhere! The old Vault! Ah, memories…

    (Actually, I wrote about the place under the pen name “Dixon Steele” for a Penthouse offshoot, several eternities ago…)

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  8. I won’t see this film on principal. Who wants to see a movie about prostitution STARRING a porn star with minimal nudity?

    Soderbergh is one of these intellectual types that is scared to death of sex, but yet he keeps making films about it.

    Interestingly enough, he doesn’t have a problem with graphic scenes of people getting shot in his films.

    I’ll never see another American intellectual film about sex again. They’ll sell you sex with the poster, title, but once the movie comes on, you fall asleep.

    The last one I saw was Wayne Wang’s Center Of The World. Or whatever it was called. What a piece of shit.

    I’ll gladly watch a film about sex directed by Catherine Breillat, Francois Ozon, or any halfway decent European director. Or even any young director with some balls like Wayne Kramer (he’s South African btw).

    But to watch one of these “smart” sex films, where their idea of sexy is shooting nudity with the lights off or from an obscure angle because they’re afraid of being called gratuitous, or the actress is insecure about her body, so they can only shoot from the side or from 10 yards away.

    Fuck that.

    Or even worse when they have sex with their tops on, or my favorite is when a couple has sex and minutes later they’re both covered in a blanket or have to throw something on to go to the bathroom or kitchen.

    It’s so distracting. Who the fuck does this in real life?

    When a director shows sex on screen it should be raw. It should make you FEEL not THINK.

    Some of my favorite films that are great films AND feature raw interesting sex/nude scenes are Swiming Pool, Y Tu Mama Tambien, Romance, Sex and Lucia.

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  12. Center of the World has some problems, but at it’s core is one of the best performances by an actress in that or any other year. Molly Parker is astounding, creating a character so nuanced that had you never seen her before you would think Wang made a documentary. A high-wire turn that is let down by a mediocre film.

    And yes, there’s plenty of nudity for the mouth-breathing crowd.

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  13. Oh, and Punk, getting older is going to be a bitch of a payback for you after that statement. Wait to you see what age does to the typical woman.

    I’ll be having drinks at Bar Schadenfreude taking it all in with a smile…

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  14. Looks like Soderbergh is still wearing his pretentious glasses.

    If he wasn’t rich, he’s be one of those nerds cowering in the corner of some lame JDate party.

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  15. Mike,

    I sort of agree with most of your points, but I think you’re barking up the wrong tree using Soderbergh as the scapegoat. I believe Sex, Lies, and Videotape was a great, influential, and groundbreaking film because it took a lot of people’s — especially Western, and specifically American — subliminal “issues” with sexuality, and tackled them head-on.

    That was not a healthy portrayal of sexuality in America, and he seemed to be implying (at least to me), more often than not in this country it’s not healthy due to narcissism, an irrational fear of our bodies/desires (and jealousy of others), moral hypocrisy, inability to see sex and love as separate acts (which can be combined under ideal circumstances), cultural/peer pressure, etc.

    Also, it was pretty prescient in 1989 to portray Spader’s character as impotent unless he was sitting all alone in front of a monitor watching other people talking or engaging in sex. Twenty years later, somehow this character feels more representative than ever.

    Looking forward to TGE. And I assure you Sasha Grey is not insecure about her body. Or at least she sure doesn’t show it.

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  18. @ DeathTongue – I’m sorry but I remember seing that film at the Angelika in NYC when it came out, and while I don’t remember much about the film, I remember the dialogue was just awful, the male lead performance was even worse, and all the “sex/nude” scenes were shot in a way that distracted the hell outta me. Bad lighting. Even worse camera angles.

    I don’t remember her performance at all. I don’t know how I sat through the whole thing, cuz I was dying to leave after 30 mins.

    @ CitizenKaned – I remember reading somewhere that Soderbergh actually talked one or both of the female leads in Sex, Lies, and Videotape OUT of doing nudity in that film.

    While it’s still a good film, I find it ridiculous that a director would do that. Only an American director would do something like that.

    It reminds me of Vicky Cristina Barcelona. One of my favorite films of last year. While I thought the screenplay was brilliant, I can’t help but wonder how great it could’ve been in the hands of a better director.

    I remember how in the months leading up to VCB’s opening, the buzz was all about this steamy threesome between the smokin hot lead actors. When I finally saw it, I started laughing out loud. I remember saying give me a fucking break, Woody.

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  20. Gilroy is tres tres hot. Keep posting piccies please. He’s also made one of the most transcendent American films of recent times – that would be Michael Clayton of course. Duplicity doesn’t even get to touch its skirt-hems.

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  24. I have to second Mike Ock on The Center of the World. It is flat-out horrible. Carla Gugino’s nervous breakdown in the hotel suite is embarrasing, with some of the worst “dirty” dialogue I have ever heard. Yes, Molly Parker is a babe, but Peter Scotchguard is a black hole, fey and irritating. I also agree with Mike Ock about American filmmakers having no idea how to shoot or talk about sex, a few psuedonymous filmmakers in Chatsworth being the exception to this rule. The only honest moment dealing with sex in an American film I can think of is the sex scene between Holly Hunter and Billy Crudup in Jesus’ Son, where it is awkward and uncomfortable. In every other movie the sex is fucking incredible. The women cum instantly. Always. In a way, Hollywood films are about as unrealistic when it comes to sex as most porn is. Even in movies I liked, like Two Lovers, the sex is ridiculous. Here’s Joaquin Phoenix’s character, a stammering, suicidal bi-polar mess living with his parents, yet the dude gives it two Vinessa Shaw and Gwyneth like he’s freaking Manuel Ferrara.

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  25. Is it that American filmmakers really have no idea how to shoot sex scenes, or are they just realistically portraying Americans — most of whom have no idea how to have sex?

    It’s the old chicken and the egg debate. Or sperm and egg (master)debate, as it were…

    For the record, I’d put a guy like Tony Scott in the former camp, and Woody Allen in the latter camp.

    Oh, and one final word defending Soderbergh and his “lackluster” direction of sex scenes: that scene between Lopez and Clooney in Out of Sight was about the hottest thing I’ve seen onscreen in the last 10 years. And you don’t even see anything (and I never found J-Lo particularly attractive, either).

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  26. @ Citizen Kaned – I completely disagree. Soderbergh had at the time, 2 of the hottest, sexiest people in the world, and the best he could come up with was a montage?

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  27. Gilroy is tres tres hot. Keep posting piccies please. He’s also made one of the most transcendent American films of recent times – that would be Michael Clayton of course. Duplicity doesn’t even get to touch its skirt-hems.

    Reply ↓

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