Originally published on metropolis.co.jp on July 2010

Steven Soderbergh, whose typical style is best described as atypical (Che; Sex, Lies, and Videotape; Ocean’s Eleven), checks in with this artful, cryptically structured, voyeuristic character study of a $2,000/hr call girl (played with cold eyes by real-life porn star Sasha Grey). Her services include sex, of course, but her forte is understanding what her clients want in a girlfriend, and then morphing into that person. Sometimes there’s no sex at all. But she’s so good at pretending that she’s lost touch with her true self. Don’t expect porn here; there’s no titillation, and it’s depressingly true.