6. Out of Sight (1998)

Adapted from Elmore Leonard's novel, Out of Sight was at the time Soderbergh's most accessible film, a light-hearted romantic comedy with attitude that, unlike his previous films, didn't leave you feeling sad or confused. The film's likeable characters can be attributed to Leonard's original text, but its overall success is owed to two things: one, the chemistry between Jennifer Lopez and George Clooney is very real; and two, Soderbergh was able to tone down his experimental streak just enough to appeal to cinephiles and average moviegoers alike. At a moment when the director had delivered enough willfully oblique critical and box-office disasters to have him nearly ousted from Hollywood, Out of Sight seems to have shown him a new path, making him realize that commercial success didn't have to mean dumbing things down.

5. Schizopolis (1996)

In what he would later admit "probably crossed the line from personal into private film making," Schizopolis is both Soderbergh's most bizarre film and most personal. The auteur shot, wrote, directed, and starred in this thinly veiled exploration of his failed marriage with actress Betsy Brantley. Schizopolis is an explosion of creative energy and hilarious ingenuity, featuring invented languages, a schizophrenic aesthetic, and nearly every film trick ever conceived. Unsurprisingly, it's not very coherent, but Soderbergh doesn't seem to have worried about that, so why should we? Love it or hate it, Schizopolis has a freedom and spontaneity that place it among the director's best experimental works.

4. Che (2008)

Like the guerilla leader himself, Che is divisive. While many praised Benicio del Toro's portrayal of Ernesto "Che" Guevara, others thought Soderbergh failed to explore the character thoroughly, arguing that the figure of Che was as enigmatic at the end of the film as he was at the beginning. I'll offer a third angle: Che is more concerned with Guevara as a totem of war and its process than as a man of flesh and blood. Viewed in this light, Che is one of cinema's most in-depth studies of war. Acting as his own director of photography, Soderbergh delivered a controlled epic about the bloody inches traveled in pursuit of a revolutionary ideal.

3. Erin Brockovich (2000)

2000 was a good year for Soderbergh, in large part due to the success of Erin Brockovich, an independent drama with a hefty financial backing and a star-studded cast. Julia Roberts gives a great performance as the title character; a startling departure from her persona as America's sweetheart. She went on to win a Best Actress Oscar later that year, with co-star Albert Finney receiving a nomination for Best Supporting Actor; Soderbergh was also nominated for Best Director. What ultimately makes this film a highlight of Soderbergh's career is the empathy in which he treats the subject matter, giving the film a depth of emotion beyond the detached intellectualism of some of his earlier work.

2. Sex, Lies, and Videotape (1989)

At the tender age of twenty-six, Soderbergh kicked in the doors for independent filmmakers everywhere with the success of his low-budget, psychological debut. Written in a frenzied eight days, the film depicts the sexual neuroses of a group of acquaintances and the lies they tell to keep each other at arm's length. Though Videotape is staged in a deceptively low-key way, each frame feels like like you're spying on a group psychiatry session. Among its many honors, the film received the Palme d'Or at the 1989 Cannes Film Festival (making Soderbergh the youngest director to ever receive the prestigious award), and in 2006 was added to the Library of Congress's Film Registry for being "culturally, historically or aesthetically significant."

1. Traffic (2000)

With Traffic, Soderbergh synthesized a decade of experimentation to produce an in-depth analysis of our nation's war on drugs. Set on a grand scale, the film interweaves three complex narratives to show the interconnectedness between drug lords, dealers, politicians, and addicts. To keep his intricate story clear, Soderbergh employed a distinctive look for each of the three main threads, experimenting with filters, lenses, and even a "flashing" technique where film negatives were overexposed (at the potential risk of losing a day's footage) to give the picture an acidic, grainy quality. Along with Erin Brockovich, Traffic earned Soderbergh another Best Director nomination for the year 2000, making him only the second director in sixty years to achieve a double nomination. Traffic works on every level.