Steven Soderbergh has a strange body of work. I like to think he only takes on projects that are of interest to him. He hasn’t done much I suspect was a work-for-hire.
Take 2019’s The Informant!, for example. Based on a true story (or ”tattle-tale”, as the poster’s tagline has it) about a whistleblower, the exclamation point suggests something subversive is happening here. Then there’s the opening credits which, between the music and even the font choice, says this is going to be taking the piss out of overly-earnest 70’s films—which is kind of strange, given the actual events which inspired this movie happened in the early 90’s.
Matt Damon portrays Mark Whitacre, who was a biochemist and vice-president at Archers Daniel Midland. Of his own initiative, he informs an FBI agent (played by Scott Bakula) of a global price-fixing ring for lysine.
I was a bit surprised the FBI was so interested in a cartel controlling the price of a chemical primarily used as an additive to animal feed. Doesn’t quite have same pulse-raising qualities as an international drug ring, does it? I was also initially wondering what Soderbergh found so interesting about this.
The first hint that something is off is that Damon approaches the FBI. His character is overly excitable and prone to dramatic outbursts. We often hear his thoughts in voiceover, and his brain is a buzzing hive of ideas all bouncing off each other. It is obvious this in an intelligent person, and the connections between those thoughts are ones I wouldn’t be able to make, but simply knowing a great many things does not automatically mean one arrives at the best conclusions.
And yet he’s not as intelligent as he thinks he is. “I speak a number of languages fluently”. Oh, do you mean like the German you just misspoke, or the German you just failed to understand right after that? His weirdest delusion is he thinks he could still become president of the company after successfully bringing it down from the inside.
Damon enthusiastically agrees to wear a wire and record secret meetings about price fixing. In conversations, and voiceover, he keeps referencing the books of Michael Crichton and you just know he’s imagining he’s in the plot of one of them. In a bugged room, he grins like an idiot as he looks directly into the lens of a hidden camera.
In keeping with his dramatic behavior, he is also deeply paranoid. He thinks his house is being bugged by his employer. At one point, he thinks, “Paranoid is what people call you when they’re trying to get you to drop your guard.” Or because people think you’re acting like a delusional lunatic—either way.
A big twist in the movie, which I do not want to reveal here, is his duplicity. It turns out he is a scheming weasel who takes delight in throwing others under the bus. It’s like if the sociopath he played in The Talented Mr. Ripley was a bit oblivious and dense.
I enjoyed this movie. If it has a downside, it is the soundtrack, which is often ironically overdramatic. One recurring touch is scoring some very unsuspenseful moments with music better suited for a James Bond movie.
Kudos to Soderbergh and Damon for this weird little film. Truth is stranger than fiction, doubly so when the truth is amplified and distorted by a delusional mind. I almost feel sorry for Mr. Whitacre, so absorbed in his thoughts they sometimes obscure critical information being communicated to him. His mind is an interesting place to visit, and I appreciate this movie allowing us some time there.
Dir: Stephen Soderbergh
Starring Matt Damon, Melanie Lynskey, Scott Bakula
Watched on blu-ray