Post by wilcinema on Feb 12, 2018 15:54:11 GMT
So I decided to rewatch PTA's filmography before Phantom Thread hits the Italian theaters, and I want to share my thoughts about each rewatch on this thread. Maybe someone will be interested in discussing them.
Sydney: I hadn't watched this one in a long while and I didn't remember it being this good. It has an amazing lead performance (as per usual with Philip Baker Hall and PTA) and fantastic supporting turns from John C. Reilly and Gwyneth Paltrow. What I really love about this movie is how it completely subverts the tropes of the noir genre. Usually, Sydney would be portrayed as a shady guy who sends John on a dangerous mission, with ensuing drama and bloodshed. Instead, it's actually the opposite, and the same happens with Clementine. Actually, the drama bursts when Sydney is NOT there, so when the revelation comes at 2/3 of the movie, you don't really know how to feel about Sydney. It's a sort of chamber piece (almost David Mamet-style) with an ensemble of lonely characters searching for human connection (which never arrives, with the help of Robert Elswit and his numerous closeups), and the performances make it such a juicy watch, even as there are themes laid out that PTA explores thoughout his career, especially this father-son relationship that is so present in Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and The Master. It's PTA's first and displays his flare and talent: it's like this was his final test before jumping into the big epic of Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
Boogie Nights: I know it has its detractors (although not as many as Magnolia's), but god, I love this film. It's where PTA most borrows from Scorsese, imo, and to a lesser degree Altman, os if not exactly original, it still has energy, exhilaration, life defy description. It's completely unjudgemental, it follows these weird individuals through thick and thin, accepting their flaws and their quirks, their mediocrity, their crashing dreams and ambitions, and in doing that, it also gives a realistic portrait of an age of excess and empty gold. This rewatch has reinforced my opinion that the movie works better describing the rise of the porn industry (late 1970s) than it does its fall (early 1980s). There is a slight derailing after the climax of 1980's New Year's Eve, where the movie kind of doesn't know what to do with itself, and where some characters almost feel unnecessary. Scotty, for example, has always seemed underdeveloped to me, and to a certain extent Don Cheadle's character too (although his scene in the bank was really great). On the other hand, Reynolds and Moore are at their best in their roles, and some of the supporting performances are among my favorites of all time (Alfred Molina single-handedly makes his scene an all-time favorite for me). The strength and the vision in PTA's direction lie mainly in the audacity of the subject matter and in the vitality injected into this story of decadence, and since PTA's career launch I've yet to witness a young director bring forth something this magnetically seductive to the general public. Despite all its flaws, Boogie Nights really showed the world what incredible talent Paul Thomas Anderson has always been.
Magnolia: PTA at his most visionary, ambitious, ferocious, melodramatic. I know it has become uncool to love this movie - unlike it was when it came out -, but I will always have a spot in my heart for this movie. It kinda changed the way I looked at movies. I've heard it described as a "spectacular failure", and I think those words apply because, in a sense, it is a failure: it definitely fell short of what it was aiming at, this cross-generational depiction of life and death and hopes and dreams. It was something that even a seasoned director would have had trouble with, let alone a talented, yet immature director as PTA was at the time. It is overlong, it's a pile of stuff (even just the music is an example of that, literally each piece music is over the other), it has too many characters (Linda anyone?), it has way too many quirks. But it's also spectacular, in that it's probably the most visceral movie PTA will ever make, it's a work of sheer audacity, it's an overflow of ideas, it's like PTA's stream of consciousness speaking. It has amazing acting (John C. Reilly, PSH, Cruise, Walters), it's like Robert Altman on viagra, it's profoundly imperfect, and I've always been here for each and every second of it.
Punch-Drunk Love: Remember that time when Adam Sandler gave a fantastic performance and yet he decided to keep making moronic comedies after that? Punch-Drunk Love lies on Sandler's shoulders and it's a hell of a treat. I confess I had watched this movie only once, and that was 15 years ago, when it came out. I didn't remember much about it, but it's just so hysterically funny, neurotic, charming. Sometimes PTA takes its weirdness a bit too far (Barry running to Utah with the phone in his hand all the time), but the combination of colorful cinematography (Robert Elswit is so underrated), dreamlike music (Jon Brion
), and slick direction make the movie worthy. You can feel that PTA is just having fun with it all, that he wants to let go of all the hysteria of Boogie Nights and Magnolia and just tell the simple story of two weirdos falling in love. This was a necessary stepping stone before entering the kingdom of world auters with his next phase.
There Will Be Blood: This movie will never fail to amaze me. It's cinema at its best, perfection on every level. It's the cinematic son to 2001: A Space Odissey: if Kubrick depicted the dawn of man and technological evolution he generates, There Will Be Blood investigates the dawn of America's capitalism and its evolution to greed and avarice. The oil rig becomes the monolith that brings people together and tears them apart at the same time. It's the estranged brother of Gangs Of New York: Scorsese's movie showed how "America was born in the streets"; PTA's movie goes far west, destroys its myth by showing its dark side, and there's no better actor than Daniel Day-Lewis to depict the diabolical forces behind America's history. His Daniel Plainview is one of the most frightening characters in film history, a winking devil, he's what Satan would look like if he were human. His duel with Eli (the incredible Paul Dano) is an unforgettable anthology of feelings, retorts, accuses, that wrench the guts of the viewers. Jonny Greenwood's spellbinding sinister music and Robert Elswit's camera angles and movements give flesh and blood to this incredible story. I will never get tired of watching this masterpiece.
Sydney: I hadn't watched this one in a long while and I didn't remember it being this good. It has an amazing lead performance (as per usual with Philip Baker Hall and PTA) and fantastic supporting turns from John C. Reilly and Gwyneth Paltrow. What I really love about this movie is how it completely subverts the tropes of the noir genre. Usually, Sydney would be portrayed as a shady guy who sends John on a dangerous mission, with ensuing drama and bloodshed. Instead, it's actually the opposite, and the same happens with Clementine. Actually, the drama bursts when Sydney is NOT there, so when the revelation comes at 2/3 of the movie, you don't really know how to feel about Sydney. It's a sort of chamber piece (almost David Mamet-style) with an ensemble of lonely characters searching for human connection (which never arrives, with the help of Robert Elswit and his numerous closeups), and the performances make it such a juicy watch, even as there are themes laid out that PTA explores thoughout his career, especially this father-son relationship that is so present in Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood and The Master. It's PTA's first and displays his flare and talent: it's like this was his final test before jumping into the big epic of Boogie Nights and Magnolia.
Boogie Nights: I know it has its detractors (although not as many as Magnolia's), but god, I love this film. It's where PTA most borrows from Scorsese, imo, and to a lesser degree Altman, os if not exactly original, it still has energy, exhilaration, life defy description. It's completely unjudgemental, it follows these weird individuals through thick and thin, accepting their flaws and their quirks, their mediocrity, their crashing dreams and ambitions, and in doing that, it also gives a realistic portrait of an age of excess and empty gold. This rewatch has reinforced my opinion that the movie works better describing the rise of the porn industry (late 1970s) than it does its fall (early 1980s). There is a slight derailing after the climax of 1980's New Year's Eve, where the movie kind of doesn't know what to do with itself, and where some characters almost feel unnecessary. Scotty, for example, has always seemed underdeveloped to me, and to a certain extent Don Cheadle's character too (although his scene in the bank was really great). On the other hand, Reynolds and Moore are at their best in their roles, and some of the supporting performances are among my favorites of all time (Alfred Molina single-handedly makes his scene an all-time favorite for me). The strength and the vision in PTA's direction lie mainly in the audacity of the subject matter and in the vitality injected into this story of decadence, and since PTA's career launch I've yet to witness a young director bring forth something this magnetically seductive to the general public. Despite all its flaws, Boogie Nights really showed the world what incredible talent Paul Thomas Anderson has always been.
Magnolia: PTA at his most visionary, ambitious, ferocious, melodramatic. I know it has become uncool to love this movie - unlike it was when it came out -, but I will always have a spot in my heart for this movie. It kinda changed the way I looked at movies. I've heard it described as a "spectacular failure", and I think those words apply because, in a sense, it is a failure: it definitely fell short of what it was aiming at, this cross-generational depiction of life and death and hopes and dreams. It was something that even a seasoned director would have had trouble with, let alone a talented, yet immature director as PTA was at the time. It is overlong, it's a pile of stuff (even just the music is an example of that, literally each piece music is over the other), it has too many characters (Linda anyone?), it has way too many quirks. But it's also spectacular, in that it's probably the most visceral movie PTA will ever make, it's a work of sheer audacity, it's an overflow of ideas, it's like PTA's stream of consciousness speaking. It has amazing acting (John C. Reilly, PSH, Cruise, Walters), it's like Robert Altman on viagra, it's profoundly imperfect, and I've always been here for each and every second of it.
Punch-Drunk Love: Remember that time when Adam Sandler gave a fantastic performance and yet he decided to keep making moronic comedies after that? Punch-Drunk Love lies on Sandler's shoulders and it's a hell of a treat. I confess I had watched this movie only once, and that was 15 years ago, when it came out. I didn't remember much about it, but it's just so hysterically funny, neurotic, charming. Sometimes PTA takes its weirdness a bit too far (Barry running to Utah with the phone in his hand all the time), but the combination of colorful cinematography (Robert Elswit is so underrated), dreamlike music (Jon Brion
), and slick direction make the movie worthy. You can feel that PTA is just having fun with it all, that he wants to let go of all the hysteria of Boogie Nights and Magnolia and just tell the simple story of two weirdos falling in love. This was a necessary stepping stone before entering the kingdom of world auters with his next phase.There Will Be Blood: This movie will never fail to amaze me. It's cinema at its best, perfection on every level. It's the cinematic son to 2001: A Space Odissey: if Kubrick depicted the dawn of man and technological evolution he generates, There Will Be Blood investigates the dawn of America's capitalism and its evolution to greed and avarice. The oil rig becomes the monolith that brings people together and tears them apart at the same time. It's the estranged brother of Gangs Of New York: Scorsese's movie showed how "America was born in the streets"; PTA's movie goes far west, destroys its myth by showing its dark side, and there's no better actor than Daniel Day-Lewis to depict the diabolical forces behind America's history. His Daniel Plainview is one of the most frightening characters in film history, a winking devil, he's what Satan would look like if he were human. His duel with Eli (the incredible Paul Dano) is an unforgettable anthology of feelings, retorts, accuses, that wrench the guts of the viewers. Jonny Greenwood's spellbinding sinister music and Robert Elswit's camera angles and movements give flesh and blood to this incredible story. I will never get tired of watching this masterpiece.
That frenetic, flashy style to me really worked for that coked out 70s world. However, with Magnolia, I agree with everything you said. He went a bit too far and overestimated its importance, I think. He's come into his own now.
