Paul Thomas Anderson has maybe three distinct phases of his career so far. First there’s the style of his early period, when his films were bombastic, forcefully kinetic, grand, sweeping melodramas with lots of yelling. These were Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999) and Punch-Drunk Love (2002). These films also display an impulsive originality, with odd characters and an indulgence in the unexpected. And they’re serious dramas that remain fully immersed in comedy.
But what happens in Magnolia and Punch-Drunk Love is that Jon Brion composes original scores that take prominence in the mixing of the soundtrack, and additionally are featured heavily throughout the entirety of these works. It's a pivotal moment in Anderson's development as a filmmaker. (I saw Magnolia five times in the theater when it came out and cried every time.) Then after many years came There Will Be Blood (2007).
The next phase would be marked by a refined cohesion of tone; a slower, more calculated fluidity of camera moves; and original scores by another brilliant composer who drops the H, Jonny Greenwood. These are There Will Be Blood, The Master (2012), and Inherent Vice (2014). These are Anderson’s 3 masterpieces. Two dark epics about obsessive capitalism and a pure comedy Pynchon-faithful to the finest detail adaptation. These are the 3 I can rewatch for days. Each is perfect.
Inherent Vice gets funnier every time I watch it. Eventually I realized my favorite parts involve the chemistry between the performances of Phoenix and Owen Wilson on screen together. The fog scene is amazing. DOC: “I don’t know what I just saw.” COY: “Me neither. In fact, I don’t even wanna know.”
For now, it seems like he may be in the final phase. I didn’t like Phantom Thread (2017) at first. I still don’t really, but it’s fun to watch because of Day-Lewis’ and Manville’s performances. And the Greenwood score—especially the high point of the film, the entire sequence where the socialite gets wasted in Woodcock’s dress, with the expressionist music accompanying and underscoring it.
If Phantom Thread is an anti-romance, fittingly it’s followed by the nostalgic youth romance Licorice Pizza (2021). If I tell you I didn’t like a movie does the reason why even matter? Mostly it’s because it’s a romance about two characters whom I really don’t care whether or not they even get together. Or maybe it’s because there’s not a single aspect of either of their young lives I find remotely appealing, nor does L.A. or Encino or whatever in 1970 whatever look cool, fun, or exciting.
Like Anderson’s early period, Licorice Pizza revisits his long since passed mode of rough camera work, with documentary-like whip pans, and in-camera editing, suggesting something like a return to his youthfulness technically to match the subject matter? Licorice Pizza also feels like it’s trying to be spontaneously odd, but I don’t know if it works this time. And does anyone else think it’s funny? I don’t. The biggest offence I took at unfunny is the John Michael Higgins character who speaks to his Japanese wives in a thick mocking American trying to sound Japanese accent. Not like racist offensive, like this is so painfully not funny offensive.
This movie was just such a disappointment to me. The motorcycle jump scene was excruciating. The buildup was not exciting. The jump was weak. The aftermath was a letdown. Symptomatic of the whole experience. Also what’s up with the characters running everywhere?
Trivia: Alana Haim is the star of Licorice Pizza. When I first heard of Haim I thought it was pronounced Haim like Corey Haim. I just watched Magnolia again on streaming (yes I cried 5 times again) and saw this scene I totally forgot about where as soon as the Michael Bowen character, STANLEY SPECTER’S dad, asks that Felicity Huffman character if she’s heard anything about the new Corey Haim pilot, he mispronounces it like the group HAIM.
12/25/2021 AMC Phipps Plaza 14
Atlanta, GA
DCP
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