Directed by:
Steven SoderberghScreenplay:
Scott Z. BurnsCinematography:
Steven SoderberghComposer:
Cliff MartinezCast:
Marion Cotillard, Matt Damon, Laurence Fishburne, Jude Law, Kate Winslet, Elliott Gould, Bryan Cranston, Gwyneth Paltrow, Tien-you Chui, Josie Ho Chiu-yee (more)VOD (1)
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When Beth Emhoff (Gwyneth Paltrow) returns to Minneapolis from business in Hong Kong, what she thought was jet lag takes a virulent turn. Two days later, she's dead in the ER and the doctors tell her shocked and grieving husband they have no idea why. Soon more cases are reported as the virus begins to spread. Researchers mobilize to break the code of this unique biological pathogen as it continues to mutate. Deputy Director Cheever tries to allay the growing panic despite his own personal concerns, and must send a brave young doctor into harm's way. As the death toll escalates and people struggle to protect themselves and their loved ones in a society breaking down, one activist blogger claims the public isn't getting the truth about what's really going on, and sets off an epidemic of paranoia and fear as infectious as the virus itself. (Reel Entertainment)
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Reviews (19)
A sterile clinical procedure that goes against the greatest genre conventions and its brilliantly organized yet pedantic narrative proves that Soderbergh is equal to Fincher in this regard. Unfortunately, there are a few pointless scenes and schemes, but with some passages of resolution and distrust, Contagion is close to its maximum. It shows better than any other disaster film that fear is the worst contagion.
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One might have expected the film to go against traditional audience expectations, yet Soderbergh manages to surprise us mainly through the optics he applies to the sloppy plot. He makes do with a documentary-like tone instead of spectacular crowd scenes and quite sovereignly lets the famous Hollywood names have minimal parts, for which they reward him with great performances. This is minimalism that digs deep under the skin. PS: This is the second film this year that was largely "made" by Cliff Martinez.
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Watching this with flu is only for the hard-nosed. The main protagonist is the contagion itself, that’s what it’s all about. An entirely new kind of movie, an emotionally sterile (and all the more impressive because of it) documentary about future things, which creates, through it’s infectious atmosphere, the insistent feeling of “so this is how it’s going to be, this is what’s gonna happen..." Of course, when it breaks out, it will be without Martinez’s perfect soundtrack. Which will be a crying shame.
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Typical Soderbergh, a cold, atmospheric (music, camera filters), surgically precise film. Contagion basically imposes nothing on us, it just shows the possible origin of an infection (banality) and its consequences in the context of human infection (captivating). This is followed, of course, by other things like hysteria, looting, religious problems, ethnicity, basic needs, etc. Perhaps a slight advantage for the director is the fact that he’s working with a topic so interesting in itself that even if the film wasn’t that good, its potential to captivate would still sweep away the shortcomings. Essentially, a film that is impossible to tear away from.
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People will always wonder why I'm terrified of public transport, that I don't touch any of the handrails and every coughing person scares me, and that I wash my hands more thoroughly than a doctor before entering the operating room. All credit to you, Steven Soderbergh, you did it. A virus lurks around every corner, a simple handshake or use of a credit card becomes a mortal danger, tens, hundreds, thousands and hundreds of thousands of people die... And I'm not bored by any of it. Contagion is actually a classic disaster film, of which there used to be many. Just like When Time Ran Out, The Towering Inferno, The Swarm and others, this film is full of familiar faces who (understandably) attract the audience but also do a disservice to the script. Thanks to their performances, we are in fact interested in those characters who would otherwise be completely ordinary, and it doesn't matter that none of them is the main character. The plot, which unfolds according to the expected pattern (contagion-dying-antibodies-question mark), looks mundane, but also feels pleasantly dramatic and somehow heavy thanks to the cold and unsettling direction, cinematography and music. It's a great pity that Contagion isn't at least half an hour longer. The sophistication of the story and the characters would certainly have benefited from it, and the film would perhaps have gotten rid of the somewhat rushed ending. Otherwise, there is nothing to complain about.
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