Profile of a Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

There are two things that bring us to this post. First of all, Wes Anderson's profile that I did last month. That was the first profile where I saw every movie in his filmography and wrote about it. After that, I was thinking about which director to cover next, which brings us to the second thing. That would be release of P.T. Anderson's The Master(2012) which reminded me that I still had not seen Boogie Nights(1997) by then. I had all the time in the world to see it before but I guess, I needed to set this target for myself - watching all the movies PTA did to do another profile, Wes Anderson style. Over the next month, I got hold of all the PTA movies that I had not seen(that would be 3 including Boogie Nights) which brings us to this post right here, right now. I really don't think that there are many people in the industry who have as much knowledge of the craft as much as Paul Thomas Anderson and that's even more remarkable if you take his age into account. Born and brought up on '70s cinema; which in my opinion was probably the best decade for American Cinema; he not only seeped everything he possibly can from the likes of Martin Scorsese, Steven Spielberg, Francis Ford Coppola and most notably for him, Robert Altman but more remarkably even developed his own distinctive style. There must be something in the water in '70s since, for better or for worse, almost every director from that school has his own distinctive style. Think Quentin Tarantino or Wes Anderson. Let us get right into the filmography of Paul Thomas Anderson.

The Dirk Diggler Story(1988)(short): This is where it all started. First short that PTA made set up the base for what he will make a full-length feature out of 10 years later and call it, Boogie Nights(1997). If you are a fan of movie(and who isn't), you can have a look at it here. As the name suggests and if you have seen the movie, you would know that this is the story of Life and Works of Dirk Diggler trying to make his mark on the porn industry. To tell you the truth, by no means it is anywhere close to Boogie Nights. Most actors working in it are really bad and look and act like actual porn stars(for all I know, they might actually be). But there is a good possibility that if we did not have this, there may not be any Boogie Nights and for that; it needs to be seen. Grade: B+

Cigarettes and Coffee(1993)(short): Another short that is worth your time that PTA did before getting into feature films. For a 24-minute short, it is remarkable to see how many storylines PTA handles in it and it is really exciting to see him slowly merge these seemingly different arcs into each other. A story that revolves around $20 bill and multiple characters that come in possession of the note, we soon realize that even though none of the characters know each other despite being in the same diner, only thing that they have in common with each other is that note. Featuring much better known actors like Phillip Baker Hall who also worked with him in couple of his next movies and Miguel Ferrer, this probably is the first example of great storytelling that PTA has become known for. Grade: A

Hard Eight(1996) aka Sydney: So, this is probably where it all really started. PTA's first full-length feature. It may not be a good idea to start with this but it is probably the weakest of his whole filmography. But then again, it isn't saying much considering I am a PTA Fan-boy through and through which should be clear once you see the ratings below. Basically it is a story of Sydney who is a professional gambler. One day, he meets John sitting outside some cafe somewhere in the vicinity of Reno. He buys him a coffee, lends him 50 bucks and also teaches him how to make the most of them. John - who has no money, no one and nowhere to go - follows Sydney from them on and becomes a small-time and moderately successful gambler. He even finds love in Clementine, part-time waitress, part-time hooker. But something Clementine does threatens to destroy their world. It is completely de-stylized, neither slows down at any point nor speeds up - completely monotonous in pacing and I do not mean any of this necessarily as a complaint. However, some of his characteristics are pretty evident from the very first film - excellent performances all round, simple but tight and interesting story and his photography. If you have seen it, the conversation between John and Sydney might remind you of the conversation in Cigarettes and Coffee but comparison stops there.  Grade: B+

Boogie Nights(1997): This is as good as it gets and no, I am not talking about 1997, Helen Hunt - Jack Nicholson movie. This is as fine a movie you will get to see. I saw this movie very recently and promptly kicked myself for not having seen it early. It is a story of young man, who somehow gets drawn into the world of porn films after one of the directors finds him and thinks that he has a great potential in him. After some initial hesitancy, he follows him and that road takes him to the top very quickly but his ego takes him to the rock bottom equally fast and brings him right where he started it. As I already said above that PTA's first short was the test ride for this ultimate roller coaster of a ride that still makes everyone wonder, how did he do something as amazing as this at such a tender age?, including myself. For a movie about the porn industry, Boogie Nights maintains it's balance wonderfully well that it does not become a porn movie itself but at the same time never looses it's grip on the subject. Maintaining that balance would be a very delicate affair and it's very easy to fall off either way but PTA thrives on it. Another thing that I have to mention here about it is performances. First of all, there are so many wonderful performances in it that I will be here all day. So, I am not even going to bother listing them. Just Everyone, every single one that appears on screen, even for a second. But more importantly, they are all playing actors, bad actors and everyone does a great job of portraying bad actors. I do not know much about it but I presume making a great job of playing bad actor should be pretty damn hard. Grade: A+

Magnolia(1999): Back in the day when I first saw this movie, this movie was my prime example of 'Something that I never thought I would Like and ended up Loving'. I remember watching a little bit of Magnolia and turning it off, not because it was boring but because it felt too heavy to me then. For next six months or so, I kept its same impression and always opted for something else over it. The fact that it is almost 3 hours in length wasn't helping much either. One 'fine' day, I finally bit the bullet, sat in front of the TV and saw it but more importantly, instantly Loved It !! It is really difficult to summarize Magnolia because it is Cigarettes and Coffee's multiple inter-wining story lines concept at its grandest - PTA at his personal best. For the first watch, something which is easily one of the ultimate "WTF!!" moments in cinematic history (Do I even need to tell you what I am talking about ?)was probably the biggest highlight even though it took me some time to know the biblical reference and hence the actual meaning of that scene. Once again in typical Robert Altman style, there is a whole cast full of people with wonderful performances but the first time around Tom Cruize and Melora Walters took the cake for me. When I say that it has a cast full of wonderful performances, I really mean it because I have done its re-runs looking at just a couple of performances every time - Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Juliana Moore once, then William H. Macy and John C. Reilly and so on. I still haven't run out of them after multiple watches. Grade: A

Punch-Drunk Love(2002): Apparently, PTA is big fan on Adam Sandler and his type of comedy. So, he did a movie for him, in his style that will suit Adam Sandler as well. So he did this story of Barry Egan who has seven sisters and the way they treat him or almost abuse him, has had some psychological impacts like it has kept him away from everyone or unpredictable in a way he will react to any situation. However, he finally finds a girl that he likes and who even finds him interesting. But one call he made one day to a phone-sex line threatens to ruin all that. Ohh and I forgot to mention that there is a harmonium and lots of pudding in it as well. Some of the highlights of it were Adam Sandler which surprised me as well but he was really good in it, Emily Watson - Brilliant and it is weird but somehow I noticed her cloths a lot and most importantly, Tracking shots and lots of them. It was a fun movie and I liked it a lot and I do not mean it as a criticism against Punch-Drunk Love but it's such an odd-man-out in PTA's filmography. I actually wanted to check if they got the right Anderson since it is much more Wes Anderson than P.T. Anderson. You see, Barry Egan and his seven sisters, whole plot with Phillip Seymour Hoffman will fit perfectly well in Wes Andersonian world and even more importantly, music used in this. I have never seen anyone else use anything like that. Only real difference was any of the characters or everything around them is that they aren't that stylised maybe and hence feel like they belong to this world. To me, most of Wes Anderson films look like they belong in a completely different world. Grade: B+

So now, I can talk about Couch(2003) but Adam Sandler himself doesn't talk in it and now-a-days we have trailers longer than this or Blossoms and Blood(2003) which is just a collection of alternate takes or deleted material from Punch-Drunk Love which when put together, surprisingly makes a lot more sense than it should. And then there is also Mattress Man Commercial, commercial for a shop Phillip Seymour Hoffman's character runs in Punch-Drunk Love, which is actually quite funny. I like the way he falls off but I'll rather get to the next one.

There Will Be Blood(2007): I think this will be the shortest paragraph I have written for any movie. This is as close to perfection as any movie can ever get. In Every. Single. Aspect. This is my second favorite movie of all time and Daniel Day-Lewis' portrayal of Daniel Plainview is 'THE Best Individual Performance I have Ever seen' and the bowling alley scene is probably THE Scene as well. So, this is where I run out to the street and start screaming "PTA Is God !! PTA Is God !!". Grade: A++(if there is any other Grade higher than that, I would give that too)

The Master(2012): After There Will Be Blood and all the gushing over it, it was imperative that wherever PTA goes, I will be there. Naturally, as soon as I knew that there is going to be a PTA movie in 2012, it went right into my most anticipated movies of the year along with Christopher Nolan's The Dark Knight Rises(2012), another director I obsessively geek over. Strange comparison eh? Wait till I tell you how much similar I think both their career paths are? They might be going in very different directions but I feel like they are following a very similar paths. I can even go as far as to say that PTA is Martin Scorsese to Nolan's Spielberg. Too far? OK. I will stop. So, The Master. Another movie with great cast. I am almost certain that all the three leads will have an academy nominations. Screenplay, Director and Movie nominations seem likely as well. If you ask me, watch the first 'processing' scene. Enough. Great work with Camera, stunning cinematography, haunting score. But as I said in my review previously, decisive factor here is the story. As you must have already seen; if you can connect with story in some way, people will call it a great cinematic achievement. If you don't, you might think of it as boat load of crap and even though I belong to the first group myself, I completely understand those in the other. Funny thing is until The Master, I never realized that PTA's movies can be as divisive. Now that I think back, I realize that every movie he did can be and to an extent, has been. Grade: A-

Previous Profiles:
Wes Anderson
Billy Wilder
Christopher Nolan

Sidney Lumet
Martin Scorsese

Woody Allen