Review: Contagion

Gwyneth Paltrow comes back from a HK business trip with an illness that rapidly turns serious, and then just as rapidly, fatal. Her young son also subsequently dies, yet her husband Matt Damon and his teen daughter (Anna Jacoby-Heron) from a previous relationship, appear to be immune. Before long, the virus has spread worldwide, with the CDC and World Health Organisation both working to understand the contagion and deal with the increasingly dire situation. The CDC are represented by the Deputy Director Ellis Cheever (Laurence Fishburne), a dedicated research scientist played by Jennifer Ehle, and Kate Winslet as Cheever’s expert reporting out in the field. Marion Cotillard plays a WHO investigator who travels to HK. Jude Law plays a noise-making blogger who spouts of theories about the government being in bed with drug companies. In smaller roles we have Elliott Gould as an independent researcher, Sanaa Lathan as Fishburne’s wife, and John Hawkes plays a janitor at the CDC who becomes concerned for his family.

This 2011 flick from Steven Soderbergh (“sex, lies, and videotape”, “Erin Brockovich”, “The Good German”, “Traffic”) is essentially a remake of the 1993 TV movie “And the Band Played On”, except instead of the AIDS virus, we have just your run of the mill deadly and contagious virus. It’s still the same story, really, with the overabundance of characters, the involvement of the CDC, the back-and-forth between American and French reaction to the outbreak/search for cure, etc. Instead of a role for Alan Alda of TV’s “*M*A*S*H*” we get a role for Elliott Gould from the film “*M*A*S*H*”. “And the Band Played On” focused on facts and figures and was dense with information, whilst featuring too many characters to really deal with them in a strong, dramatic way (The only thing that had me tearing up in that film, was the end where a list of AIDS afflicted famous people flashed on screen whilst Elton John’s unforgettably moving “The Last Song” played over it). Soderbergh is also seemingly uninterested in characters, drama, or frankly, entertainment value. At least “Outbreak” managed to be entertaining schlock, if nothing else. His approach to the potentially frightening and moving (if slightly old-hat if you ask me, unless a new virus pops up sometime soon) subject matter is so remote and aloof that it’s almost like a documentary. But it’s not a documentary, and thus, it’s a failure. Just ‘coz something’s realistic, doesn’t make it interesting or involving. At least most documentaries will give you a clear protagonist or individual subject to latch onto (if not like), and it’s essential in fictional drama.

At least “And the Band Played On” had its moments and some good performances, This one? Not so much, and that’s a shame given Soderbergh (a seriously overrated director) has assembled what is a potentially great cast (Four Oscar winners, Four nominees) that he and screenwriter Scott Z. Burns (“The Informant!”) don’t use nearly well enough. You really know you’re in dire straits when the best moment in the entire film is when the flap of the top of deceased Gwyneth Paltrow’s head covers her face. Lovely. In fact, that might be my favourite moment in that actress’ entire underwhelming (and Oscar-stealing) career, though I’ve warmed to her a bit in recent years (or at least thawed a bit). And don’t bitch about spoilers (I hate spoilers too!), she’s coughing in the trailers, for cryin’ out loud, so everyone knows what’ll happen to her. I kinda loved the idea that Gwyneth Paltrow was the vehicle for spreading the deadly virus to the US. She’s a menace, I tells ‘ya! Hmmm, Maybe John Doe was doing us all a great service after all when he put her head in a box.

I’ll give Soderbergh credit for subtly (at least for this kind of thing) playing with audience’s germaphobic fears, with little touches like showing Laurence Fishburne’s frost breath at one point. He points his camera at things that someone has just touched, etc. in a way that whilst perhaps not subtle, are at least not as ham-fisted as they might’ve been. I liked that. I also liked the cinematography by Peter Andrews whom I hear might be a close relation of Soderbergh’s. I don’t normally like filtered cinematography, but Soderbergh is one of the few filmmakers consistently managing to get away with it. That’s because his films are usually crisp-looking and well-lit, and this film is no exception. For a film about a dirty, icky virus, it’s damn good-looking, not dim at all, and the cameraman thankfully doesn’t seem to have Parkinson’s (Soderbergh does overdose on editing and fancy scene transitions, however, to an insufferable degree). Unfortunately, the music score by Cliff Martinez (“sex, lies, and videotape”, “Pump Up the Volume”, “Traffic”) is another story, one of those irritating and monotonous collections of random beeps and boops sure to give you a headache.

As I said earlier, Soderbergh wastes a top-drawer cast here in a story that would seemingly allow for great displays of emotion and theatrics, but a directorial approach that works against such opportunities. The extremely talented Matt Damon probably gets the most well-rounded character to play, but unfortunately, he hits a rare dud note here in his least interesting performance to date. Presumably following Soderbergh’s instruction, Damon never allows the audience to get inside his character’s head. He’s supposed to be a grieving husband, but it’s not until the final passages that his character lets out any emotion whatsoever. For someone whose wife has just died, Damon strikes the entirely wrong note from just about that moment onwards. There’s a difference between being overwhelmed or in denial (for the sake of looking after his still living child), but I believe some freakin’ tears are in order, surely. If you ask me, Anna Jacoby-Heron, who plays Damon’s teenage daughter, is vastly superior (though there’s no way in hell she listens to U2’s “All I Want Is You”. Good song, but no frigging way). At least she acts like a real flesh and blood human being. Damon doesn’t appear to be grieving so much as he needs to go have a lie down. When he finally blubs, you’re thinking ‘Where the fuck were you two hours ago?’.

Kate Winslet is good as per usual, though for a doctor, she really ought to know better than to not cover her mouth when she coughs. I mean, what the fuck? Her character seems to get a bit lost in the shuffle after a while. Marion Cotillard doesn’t get much to do, but I rather like her, same goes for the usually entertaining Elliott Gould, who ends up being forgotten about. Laurence Fishburne can usually be depended upon to deliver some gravitas, cool, or at least something, but sadly this isn’t his finest hour. The role and performance are extremely dry, low-key, and bland. Jude Law seems to be a sticking point for everyone. I honestly was never bothered by his accent (I always assumed it was meant to be cockney, others have suggested a poor Aussie accent), but was more bothered by the uncertainty of his character and performance. By the end of the film, one feels that the character was meant to be a villain (check out those ridiculous teeth!), and Law’s performance certainly isn’t underplayed (it’s the liveliest thing in the film, though, at the very least). However, there are times when he appears to have more complexity and virtuous qualities to him than I ultimately think Soderbergh and Burns really wanted him to. **** SPOILER ALERT **** Yeah, I’ll give you fair warning this time. It’s a very strangely schizophrenic character, because although we ultimately learn his character is a complete sell-out, and what he’s plugging is utterly worthless, the points he actually makes in the process in interviews and on his blog, are nonetheless such convincing arguments (despite Law portraying him like he’s basically nuts) that for much of the film’s length, I felt like he was the most sane character in the film. And once his true motives were revealed, I didn’t exactly hate him as much as Soderbergh (who seems to despise bloggers on evidence here) probably intended. Maybe because the multi-character, docudrama approach doesn’t allow for much character depth or character arc, the character ends up looking a bit confused. **** END SPOILER ****

Jennifer Ehle, like everyone, doesn’t get much to do, but in her one big scene with her dying father. It’s the only scene in the film with any emotion in it whatsoever, whilst the rest is dreary docudrama. Sorry, but applying a docudrama approach to a potentially moving drama/thriller is just wrong. It’s an average and dull film, especially if you’ve already seen the alarmingly similar “And the Band Played On”. Give me a doco or a drama, not an unsatisfying blend of both.

Rating: C