Logan Lucky on France 4: when Steven Soderbergh came out of his “retirement”…

The director made his return, in 2017, with this heist film with an XXL cast (Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough, Daniel Craig…). To be seen (again) this Saturday evening on television.

Who remembers that Steven Soderbergh once announced that he was quitting cinema? Four years later, he was already back behind the camera to sign Logan Lucky (to be seen again this evening on France 4 and in streaming on France.TV), which had won over the editorial staff of First when it was released. Since then, he has signed 9 films in 8 years…

Who believed in Steven Soderbergh’s retirement? In 2013, during the promotional tour ofSide effectsthe Stakhanovite of US indie cinema explained to anyone who would listen that he was done with cinema. Four years later, when he returned to business with Logan Luckya quick glance in the retro is enough to see that he really hasn’t been idle in the meantime: two seasons of the series The Knick carried out on his own, the launch of several “variations” of flagship titles from his film (the sequel to Magic Mikethe series The Girlfriend Experience), mentions as executive producer from right to left (Red Oaks, CitizenFour)… The most overbooked retreat in the dream industry.

But this overactivity does not prevent Soderbergh from testifying, from the intro of Logan Luckywith a rediscovered appetite. On the surface, the man is playing on velvet here. It’s a heist film with a chic electro soundtrack by David Holmes, a convoluted plot, knowing and meta winks at the viewer, claimed carelessness… Three adorable losers (Channing Tatum, Adam Driver, Riley Keough) and a peroxide safe dynamiter (Daniel Craig) want to rob a Nascar circuit during the biggest race of the year. Ocean’s Eleven in the countryside? Exactly. That’s the idea.

Yet, despite the feeling of déjà vu, Soderbergh films certain scenes here with the energy of a starving man. The film’s intro is thus one of the most beautiful things he has ever shot: in West Virginia, on an afternoon like any other, Channing Tatum repairs a car engine while explaining the story of the song to his daughter Take Me Home, Country Roads by John Denver… Not much happens but we believe in everything: the “Virginian” atmosphere, Tatum as a pro-dad with a heart of gold, the well-felt pop-cultural commentary…

This is the best aspect of the film, and of the script written by debutant Rebecca Blunt: the truth in the description of a specific environment (unemployed miners and veterans who eke out a living in the bars of West Virginia), the mixture of documentary precision and wry humor in the painting of a underworld wickedly endearing rural. We’re a stone’s throw from Kentucky in the series Justifiedand we of course often think here of Elmore Leonard, to whom Soderbergh owes his masterpiece Out of reach. Logan Lucky seems to be dedicated to him.

The filmmaker actually loves his characters so much that he takes an inordinate amount of time to present them and characterize them, first stretching out the plot as much as possible to better linger and enjoy the simple pleasure of the ride. Too bad the machine seizes up as soon as the serious things start, and we move on to the actual heist. On this level, that of suspense, tension, “heist movie“, the purely cinematic pleasure of the countdown, it is a failure. We start looking at our watch right at the moment when the plot is supposed to make us sweat profusely. Ocean’s Eleven ? Instead Ocean’s ThirteenIn fact…

But, as long as we have tenderness for Daniel Craig’s platinum hair, Tatum’s extra pounds or the way Riley Keough shifts gears, we can decide to turn a blind eye to these failures (and to the lame valves on Game Of Thronesyes, too). As Channing Tatum explains in the first scene, if he loves that much Take Me Home, Country Roadsit’s as much for the song itself as for the story behind this song. And the story behind Logan Luckyit is that of Soderbergh’s comeback, the story of a director who, contrary to what he tried to make everyone believe, could not do without cinema. We really want to like this story.