Word: soderbergh
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There are enough complications in this relationship to fill a book--or a screenplay. But for Leonard and his smart adapters--director Steven Soderbergh and screenwriter Scott Frank--that's just a promising beginning. There's a tricky diamond heist to be not quite perpetrated and many wild cards to be dealt into surprising, plausible play. Notable jokers in this deck include Ving Rhames and Steve Zahn as Foley's accomplices--the former prone to careless confession, the latter a blitzed former hippie not sharp enough for the criminal life--and a comically menacing Don Cheadle making Albert Brooks' white...
...industry in which 12-hour days are considered short, Pleasantville was not an especially arduous production. But the fact that Hershman was killed on a relatively routine shoot instead of a challenging picture with big effects only underscores the danger. Says Steven Soderbergh, Pleasantville's co-producer: "It's amazing that it didn't happen on other projects where these specific kinds of abuses are rampant...
Gone is the sense of security and reassurance, as Soderbergh ("sex, lies and videotape," "Kafka") uses brooding music and lighting to throw his viewers out in the cold along with Aaron. We feel Aaron's hunger pangs as he cuts pictures of food out of a magazine and eats them off a plate. We worry whether or not Aaron can evade the creditors one more day. Survival seems improbable...
...assembling such a wonderful cast of grim supporting characters, Soderbergh allows Bradford to shine even more. Spalding Gray as a suicidal ex-millionaire and Elizabeth McGovern as a bitter and jaded prostitute darken the tone and mood of every scene they are in, giving the second half of the film an eerily acerbic edge. Also featured is the underrated Karen Allen as Aaron's (almost overly) benevolent teacher...
Despite the film's dual nature, "King of the Hill" is a cohesive body of work, genuinely enchanting throughout. Soderbergh has done the impossible: he has made a great film about a child's life without resorting to sentimentality and intelligence-insulting plot-twists...