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Clean, Shaven (1994)

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NOTE: This commentary is only available on the 2006 Criterion Collection edition.

Commentaries on this disc:

Commentary 1: Director Lodge Kerrigan and filmmaker Steven Soderbergh Rating:10.0/10 (3 votes) [graph]Login to vote or review
Reviewed by Jay Olie Espy on August 28th, 2008:Find all reviews by Jay Olie Espy
This is a quality commentary track between Soderbergh and Kerrigan. They met each other at Sundance in 1994, and have known each other since, but Soderbergh enters this conversation knowing nothing about Kerrigan’s filmmaking process in Clean, Shaven. The curiosity is apparent in Soderbergh’s voice.

This is an excellent track to listen to for new filmmakers who are shooting their films piecemeal. We come to find out that Kerrigan shot Clean, Shaven after NYU film school: it took three years of preproduction, two years for principle photography, and a year for post-production. Soderbergh prods Kerrigan a little about his funding for the film, but it was a matter of knowing the right person.

As expected, Lodge Kerrigan goes into the genesis of the film. He reveals to us that a friend of his from college suffered from schizophrenia. Kerrigan tells us about the research he conducted with a friend who worked at a psych ward. The subjectivity of this film was meant to show people what it is like to suffer from schizophrenia.

The notoriety of this film rests in the “fingernail” scene so Kerrigan tells us that he never intended to exploit that special effect (we do find out how it was done). In Sundance, two people fainted and in Cannes, viewers ran out screaming because of that scene. Tickets for Clean, Shaven then had to be sold with a warning, which in turn created buzz about the movie.

This track between two excellent filmmakers is filled with insight making the time fly. Soderbergh calls out Kerrigan on a “rookie mistake” he made that cost Kerrigan commercial success. Listen to this highly recommended track to find out what it is.

Vote: 10/10
Reviewed by sedna on February 14th, 2015:Find all reviews by sedna
Film school in a box. In the vein of Linklater's "It's Impossible to Learn How to Plow by Reading Books", "Bad Day at Black Rock", "Bubble" where nobody is talking about the film you're watching - but about their filmmaking philosophy.

10/10