Director Steven Soderbergh is a rarity among the new crop of Hollywood directors – he’s actually got range.

He succeeds at the big budget crowd pleaser, “Ocean’s Eleven,” yet he can still please the indie crowd in “The Limey.” He seamlessly moves from spotlighting a solo star in “Erin Brockovich” to wrangling a collection of actor heavyweights into one film like “Traffic.”

But take it from me, none of that can prepare one for his newest film – Soderbergh’s “Full Frontal” is treading on unfilmed territory.

Despite being called the unofficial sequel to his 1989 ode to sexual voyeurism “Sex, Lies and Videotape,” “Frontal” bears little resemblance to it, except for its skewed version of reality.

Taking a cue from “The Blair Witch Project,” Soderbergh skipped the high-tech gadgets in favor of a grainy home movie style, which makes the movie seem more like an invasion into the lives of real people as opposed to just another popcorn flick.

The movie chronicles the lives of six showbiz individuals, all connected in a six-degrees-style with the mysterious Gus (David Duchovny).

Calvin (Blair Underwood) is a TV actor making his big screen leap playing actor Nicholas, who stars opposite Hollywood superstar Francesca (Julia Roberts, but with ugly hair), who is playing reporter Catherine.

Also hooked to the film are the married team of funny-brownie baking screenwriter Carl (David Hyde Pierce) and cut-throat executive Lee (Catherine Keener).

The final pair in the sextet is Lee’s masseuse sister Linda (Mary McCormack), who has been carrying on an Internet romance with stage director Arty (“Just Shoot Me’s” Enrico Colantoni).

Although the commercial benefit of such a recognizable cast is immense, Soderbergh’s artistic vision is actually restrained by a lack of realism.

Sure, it’s easy to picture Roberts as an acting megastar, but much of the remaining cast is dogged by their other projects. Pierce may be a very talented actor, but he never becomes Carl – he’s always Fraiser Crane’s geeky brother Niles.

Perhaps Soderbergh should have gotten a bit more out of “The Blair Witch Project” about how to shoot a realistic home video film – mainly casting smaller talent to introduce another level into the film.

Still, the rampant rumors about Roberts or Keener fulfilling the title’s naked state should draw plenty of guys into the theater, but the film’s only naughty bits belong to Duchovny. His bits may be covered by a towel, but the scene was still racy enough for a trailer featuring the scene to be rejected for being too risqué (Soderbergh opted for just a black screen with the stars’ dialogue over top).

While the film will disappoint casual film fans expecting more of an “Ocean’s Eleven” Soderbergh, the director’s techniques do make this an interesting study for the true film connoisseur.

Part of the reason for Soderbergh’s hand-held technique is to prove he could make a film for less than $2 million. Since this figure is extremely low by Hollywood standards (Roberts’ usual paycheck alone is ten times that budget), Soderbergh also cut a few other corners when it came to on-set luxuries.

Among the requests Soderbergh had of his cast, they had to provide their own wardrobe, hair and transportation to the sets. There were no trailers for the stars nor was there any craft service.

Luckily for Soderbergh, these cuts aided his artistic intent, as the film does have a quirky, low-budget quality to it.

Nevertheless, the film remains an obtuse art house film – an anti-Schwarzenegger-style-action character study that seems more intent on confusing the audience than being mindless entertainment.

The general audiences will be lost because the storyline is about a movie within a movie within a movie within a movie within a movie, but the experimental techniques Soderbergh grasps with the film are more than enough incentive for true film buffs to give this one a look.

Todd LaPlace is a junior in journalism. He thinks “The Limey” is Soderbergh’s most underappreciated film. He can be reached for comment at [email protected].