The movie Steven Soderbergh called a “perfectly modulated piece of filmmaking”
There’s no such thing as a perfect movie, but Steven Soderbergh is adamant that one of the all-time greats is about as close as possible as any filmmaker could hope to get.
Throughout a career that’s been defined by versatility, the Academy Award winner has seemingly made it his mission to tackle as many disparate forms of cinema as possible. There’s nothing Soderbergh won’t try at least once, and as a result, it’s made him one of the most well-rounded auteurs in the game.
He writes, directs, produces, and edits. He’s an experienced cinematographer who is more than capable of working in the sound and art departments, too. He’s helmed everything from drama and comedy to thrillers and heist flicks, hard-hitting action films, and star-crossed romances.
Soderbergh has the Oscar to prove he’s capable of seeing his directorial efforts recognised and celebrated by his peers, while he’s also penned plenty of accomplished screenplays, steered his actors to incredible performances, and composed his images with elite-level visual artistry.
Not all at once, though, because that’s a plane of cinematic greatness he believes only one feature has ever attained. In his defence, he’s not far wrong because there aren’t many who’d try to deny Roman Polanski’s seminal Chinatown as being a masterpiece in writing, editing, acting, directing, and cinematography all at once.
“If you watch, say, Chinatown, there’s no one better than Polanski about knowing precisely when to put the camera on the shoulder and when not,” he told The Playlist. “Chinatown is like a perfectly modulated piece of filmmaking.” Perfection is almost impossible to achieve, but Soderbergh helpfully explained how the director’s effortless shift between static and handheld imagery achieved it.
“You’d think in a period film shot anamorphic, well you don’t want to be throwing the camera,” he mused. “But they’re isolated, very important instances where he goes handheld, and it’s exactly the right thing to do.”
Inspired by the California water wars unfolding at the start of the 20th century, the stone-cold classic trails Jack Nicholson’s private investigator, Jake Gittes, as he becomes embroiled in a web of dark corruption after being hired by an imposter on his latest job.
It received a mammoth 11 nods at the Academy Awards, including ‘Best Actor’, ‘Best Director’, ‘Best Picture’, ‘Best Actress’, and ‘Best Cinematography’. However, it secured just one triumph on the night via Robert Towne’s ‘Best Original Screenplay’ victory.
Trophies aren’t the barometer of any movie’s standing in the annals of cinema history, and Chinatown is living proof. It may have only scooped a solitary Oscar, but for Soderbergh, the moving image has never come as close to perfection. It was, is, and will always continue to be a towering achievement, one Soderbergh doesn’t think will ever be bettered.
