#618: SODERBERGH, Steven: Gray's Anatomy (1997)

SODERBERGH, Steven (United States)

Gray's Anatomy [1997]

Spine #618
Blu-ray

One of the great raconteurs of stage and screen, Spalding Gray, came together with one of cinema's boldest image makers, Oscar-winning director Steven Soderbergh, for Gray's Anatomy, a spellbinding adaptation of Gary's 1993 monologue of the same name (cowritten with Renée Shafransky). In it, Gray, with typical sardonic relish, chronicles his arduous journey through the diagnosis and treatment of a rare and alarming ocular condition. For the monologist, this experience occasioned a meditation on illness and mortality, medicine and metaphysics; for the filmmaker, it was a chance to experiment with ways of bringing his subject's words to brilliant, eye-opening life.

79 minutes
Color/Black & White

5.1 Surround

1:85:1 aspect ratio

Criterion Release 2012

Director/Writers

Written by Spalding Gray and Renée Shafransky.

Steven Soderbergh was 34 when he directed Gray's Anatomy.

Other Soderbergh films in the Collection:

#938: Sex, Lies, And Videotape (1989)
#698: King Of The Hill (1993)
#199: Schizopolis (1996)
#151: Traffic (2000)

#496: Che (2008)
#617: And Everything Is Going To Be Fine (2010)

The Film

Film Rating (0-60):

60

The Extras

The Booklet

Twenty-page booklet featuring an essay by film critic Amy Taubin.

Commentary

None.

Interviews

With Soderbergh and monologue cowriter Shafranksy.

A Personal History of the American Theater

A ninety-five-minute monologue by Gray, originally produced by the Wooster Group in 1980 and videotaped in 1982.

Swimming to the Macula

Sixteen minutes of footage from Gray’s actual eye surgery.

Trailer

Extras Rating (0-40):

39

60 + 39 =

99

By Director
By Spine #