Less than six months ago, acclaimed director M. Knight Shyamalan saw the handwriting on the wall and made a statement to the effect that he feared it wouldn’t be long before movies are released simultaneously on the big screen, DVD and/or pay-per- view television, the result of which will be the destruction of the movie going experience for the public and further box office decline. This week, Oscar winning director Steven Soderbergh makes at least part of that prophecy a reality with the release of “Bubble.” Opening in digital format in theaters on January 27, that same night, HDNet Movies will carry the television debut at 9:00 p.m. and 11:00 p.m. EST. Only 4 days later on January 31, 2006, the DVD hits the retail market. Whether the second part of Knight’s prophecy comes to pass should become visible next week.

Essentially unscripted, unrehearsed and using localities as actors, “Bubble” is essentially the story of three individuals with only two things in common - they all work in a doll factory located in an impoverished section of Ohio near the West Virginia border and they are all connected to a murder. Meet Martha. A late thirty-something/early forty-something, friendly, short, dumpy woman, she lives with her elderly and infirm father. She is also quite smitten with Kyle. So, let’s meet Kyle. Martha’s best friend and some 10 years her junior, he lives with his mother in a trailer. (Although I am sure it’s not as nice as my aunt’s pink double-wide in Georgia!) And then we have Rose. New to the area and the doll factory, the chain-smoking, promiscuous single mother is everything Martha is not. Young, thin, pretty and on the prowl for some male companionship.

Life goes along as usual for our trio. Set against the creepy backdrop of the doll factory contrasting with the area’s stark Christian values and ever-present religious imagery, the disposable lifestyles of Martha, Kyle and Rose indicate they, and everyone around them, all seem to be stuck in the same rut. Day in and day out. They go with the flow. But all that is about to change when Rose gets an itch to date. Needing a baby-sitter for her 2 year old, she enlists the help of Martha, who is only too happy to help out; that is until she finds out that Rose’s date is Kyle. Adding a little fuel to the fire is the appearance of Rose’s stalker ex-boyfriend. And did I mention a dead body turns up in Rose’s house after date night?

Using only local residents from the Southern Ohio/West Virginia area both helped and hindered the project. With no acting experience at all, Soderbergh plucked his stars from local eateries, shops and police departments. As Martha, Kentucky Fried Chicken general manager Debbie Doebereiner gives perhaps the strongest and strong willed performance of this group of unknowns. Undoubtedly calling on her 24 years of managerial experience with KFC, her best work comes with a mere look, glance or stance. Somewhere inside, I just know that hair stylist Misty Dawn Wilkins is a wannabe actress. Her take on Rose both while at work with her freakishly exacting doll make-up administration and at home with her soapish play of a sex starved hey-look-at-me single, lonely mother just screams out frustrated-stuck-in-podunkville-woman. Computer student Dustin James Ashley is non-descript as Kyle while various local police officers actually play police officers investigating the murder in the film. Let’s hope they are more convincing in real life than on the reel. Their stiffness and nervousness almost turns the entire film into the ridiculous.

Non-actors added an interesting element to the film and it worked well as a mildly pleasant viewing experience until the story turned from everyday humdrum into a murder mystery. Faced with having to draw from their imagination and act out and emote feelings and concepts, not to their discredit, the “actors” fell far from their mark and detracted from the story. No emotion? No response to a murder? Or is this the way the “real” world reacts to such a tragedy.

Shot on the fly and in HD by Soderbergh, the film is well crafted; simplistic in nature, but with an interesting complexity thanks to the meld of Coleman Hough’s screenplay and Soderbergh’s direction. Using an almost excessive amount of establishing shots (which is not in keeping with Soderbergh’s other works), there is a clean concise feel to the film. Steady, assured and calming to the point of, at times, pushing the envelope to boring, much like the steady, ho-hum life of the town and its residents, Soderbergh’s visuals tell the story, which as to be expected, has some unexpected twists and turns and despite its faults, keeps the viewer engaged and interested.

The first in a six-film series where Soderbergh will direct a cast of non-professionals and shoot in HD video, it will be interesting to see whether the HD format and simultaneous cinema-DVD-tv release “Bubble” bursts any bubbles or bubbles to the top ten.

Martha: Debbie Doebereiner Rose: Misty Dawn Wilkins Kyle: Dustin James Ashley

Directed by Steven Soderbergh. Written by Coleman Hough. A Magnolia Films release. Rated R. (73 min)