Behind the Candelabra

dvd of the week

Steven Soderbergh’s film about Liberace and his last lover, the young, blond and clueless Scott Thorson, was too gay and too sexy to be a feature film, supposedly. HBO, however, was thrilled to produce Behind the Candelabra, which stars Michael Douglas as the flamboyant Vegas pianist and Matt Damon as Thorson. It never would have crossed my mind to have the man who did Traffic and Oceans 11 direct, nor to cast Douglas and Damon, but the result is a masterpiece. Douglas hasn’t been so good in anything in more than a decade; he’s ridiculously narcissistic and yet lovable. Damon is good, but not as good as Rob Lowe is as Liberace and Thorson’s stretched and stoned plastic surgeon. Soderbergh’s direction is impeccable. The film was nominated for 15 Emmys.