THE LIMEY

This is one of those films where the director Steven Soderbergh makes it all look so easy. 

Just take an aging British film star from the 1960s (Terence Stamp), drop him into LA trying to find out the truth behind his daughter's death, and let him rub up against a variety of unsavoury or odd characters, chiefly Peter Fonda as a vacuous and sleazy film producer.  

There isn't even much of a plot to keep track of, or denouement, so we can just relax and enjoy Stamp single-mindedly stomping through the landscape.

But of course it takes a master director like Soderbergh to make this kind of thing sparkle.

The sound editing is very tricksy, juxtaposing dialogue and sound from other scenes into the current scene.  Maybe this is intended to convey Stamp's disorientation, or maybe Soderbergh just likes to give himself technical challenges.  Or maybe Soderbergh was concerned about the basic simplicity of the story and felt the need to tart it up (to use a technical term).

And if all that isn't clever enough Soderbergh also uses actual footage from a 1960s film starring Stamp as flashbacks for his character in this film.

RATING: ✓ If You've Nothing Better To Do