Steven Soderbergh didn't just launch the whole movies-with-all-lowercase-titles craze (as it's commonly written), he also launched the '90s rebirth of independent cinema with this singular effort. Mostly a chatty drama about sex in various levels of perversion, the film's momentum comes from the sudden arrival of a sexually dysfunctional James Spader, who throws a wrench into the lives of the other three principals -- a married couple and the wife's sister, engaged in a sad love triangle. Earnestly acted and expertly directed by Soderbergh in his major directorial debut, the film is a piece for film students and cinema fans alike.