Soderbergh tries something new

If you decide to go see "Full Frontal" because it's Steven Soderbergh's new film and you are expecting another "Traffic," "Out of Sight" or "Ocean's 11," you're in for something different. Not just different for Mr. Hitmaker/Big Star Director, different from all movies. "Frontal" is a good film, it's just not for everyone. Many may say that a good film can't have shaky camera work, out-of-focus framing and virtually no plot, but "Frontal" proves this theory wrong.\nThe plot of the film -- and by even classifying it as a plot is stretching it -- is basically a day in the life of a group of actors, writers and producers in Los Angeles. And the shaky, blurry camera work is due to Soderbergh's hand-held digital cam, and it creates a voyeuristic look for this film. It's almost as if we are watching a fake documentary about the inner-workings of the Hollywood crowd.\nThe only times that the film changes this look is for the interjections of "Rendezvous," a movie inside the movie starring Julia Roberts and Blair Underwood acting as actors. Nowhere is there any explanation of why these interjections occur, and frankly it just makes the movie more confusing. Maybe Soderbergh didn't want people getting sick in the film from his shaky camera work, and these breaks let the audience members' stomachs settle before coming back for more.\nThe one thing this film does, though, is prove that a film can be made with big actors for a small budget. The film was made for around $2 million, and no movie that stars names like Roberts, Brad Pitt and David Duchovny is usually made for such a small price. Not only that, but the entire film was edited on Final Cut Pro, a digital editing program that you might have on your computer at home.\nBut even with all these big names, the star and scene stealer of the film is Nicky Katt, who plays a character rehearsing for his role as Hitler in the play "The Sound and the Fuhrer." Words cannot express how weird and hilarious his small part is in this film.\n"Full Frontal" is a worthy film to see, but by no means an amazing work like the director's past films. It seems that Soderbergh just wanted to follow around some of his famous friends with a camcorder, and he succeeds at that.