Contagio

La visión inteligente y actoralmente atractiva de la catástrofe global y el proceso de su solución, presentada por Soderbergh, tiene calidad. Más que en «gente corriente», la película se centra en personajes que tienen algo que ver con la solución del problema y que, a través de su vulnerabilidad, se convierten también en gente corriente. La atmósfera «química» es apoyada por la música electrónica progresiva sin una sola emoción. Saldría mejor si tuviera más momentos fuertes, y lo mejor no hubiera pasado al principio. La conclusión explicativa pasa muy rápidamente. Una alternativa bastante decente al género catastrófico, como lo conocemos de Emmerich y col. :) Pero Cuarón la hubiera hecho mejor. Recordemos a sus emocionales Hijos de los hombres... (13.10.2011)

Soderbergh doesn’t give a shit about the audience. Zero emotions, little tension, full of stars but without any of them shining too much on screen. Contagion is simply an unbiased and detached look at a global pandemic, and it’s actually that austerity and inhumanity what brings to the surface the horror and hopelessness of the situation. It probably only needed to dig a bit deeper into the issue, the last half hour felt too short. 7/10 (16.12.2011)

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. (13.10.2011)

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. (02.01.2013)

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. (20.10.2011)