Mind The Gap: Paul Thomas Anderson
After watching Licorice Pizza, Paul Thomas Anderson’s newest project, I found myself in a conversation where I admitted I didn’t have much experience with the director. I had seen There Will Be Blood when it came out and my only solid memory was related to how baffled my father and I were in regards to how utterly bizarre it was. (Later, I’d realize this was because I thought this was going to be No Country For Old Men, which had a similar poster and release date and then NOTHING else.) I had enjoyed Phantom Thread a bit but wasn’t wowed. I also watched Boogie Nights for a Baking & the Big Screen blog, but that’s where my knowledge ended. So I decided to check out a few of his most notable directorial projects: Punch-Drunk Love, The Master and Inherent Vice.
First up, The Master. I’ve discovered I tend to like movies a lot more when I don’t know much about them going into it, and that definitely held true here. I’ve learned there is a level of weirdness for most PTA films that draw it just out of the realm of the die-hard realistic, but it really worked for this story. I got oddly emotional getting to see Philip Seymour Hoffman on screen in a new-to-me role. I also had a moment of disbelief where I thought Amy Adams was playing his daughter, discovered she was supposed to be his wife, looked it up and discovered there was only a SEVEN YEAR AGE GAP between them and then got invested once again in the story. It was a rollercoaster ride. But once I got over that, I thought it was a really unique film and that all the acting was truly fantastic.
Punch-Drunk Love was next on the list and I was more hesitant going into this movie since I’m not the biggest Adam Sandler fan. (My last movie experience of his was Uncut Gems that was basically a two hour panic attack.) I was intrigued to see how he fit into the PTA normal cast of characters, and he did hold his own. This one just didn’t click for me, though, and I spent a lot of time just squinting at the television, befuddled. I couldn’t get on board with a lot of the choices made and it was disjointed and difficult for me to follow, which isn’t really a problem I’ve had with his other work, so it threw me for a loop.
I wrapped up my deep dive on PTA with Inherent Vice. It combined elements of the other two movies in a way that made me enjoy it more than Punch-Drunk. Joaquin Phoenix is a very believable drug-addled sometimes-PI that actually helps with the more confusing nature of this movie’s plot. We understand that we are learning things as he does, and both he and the other characters are unreliable - and often stoned - so our confusion isn’t limited to just being the audience. It feels more intentional. The cast on this one also blew me away, and it was fantastic to see some actors (i.e. Reese Witherspoon) play roles I wasn’t expecting.
I kind of love the idea of doing some director deep lives as a part of my movie education. Any I should definitely check out?