You Know It’s Paul Thomas Anderson IF…

We explore the 9 director trademarks of Paul Thomas Anderson, the director of the upcoming Phantom Thread, as well as Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, The Master and Inherent Vice. Support ScreenPrism on Patreon: https://www.patreon.com/user?u=7792695

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Transcript provided by Youtube:

00:01
You know you’re watching Paul Thomas Anderson if…
00:04
We meet characters out of time and an America in transition.
00:08
PTA often sets his films during periods of upheaval,
00:12
and gives us characters who are alienated by these transitional periods,
00:16
people who feel like they’re left behind during formative moments in American culture.
00:21
In “Boogie Nights,” the 80’s usher in the home video camera,
00:25
so Jack Horner’s “professional quality” porn becomes obsolete.
00:29
“Goodbye, 1979.
00:31
Hello, 1980.”
00:33
“Inherent Vice”’s Doc Sportello is still a hippie in the 70’s, when it’s no longer
00:39
fashionable to be one —
00:40
“Everything’s gone from ‘groovy’ and ‘where you at, man,’
00:44
suggesting a high level of fear and discomfort with the way things are headed.”
00:49
“The Master’”s Freddie Quell is a WWII vet who feels like his country has moved on without
00:53
him.
00:54
Anderson’s films show us growing pains — both communal and personal —
00:58
to reveal deeper insights about how our culture has been formed.
01:03
It’s a sneaky period piece.
01:05
Many of Anderson’s films are period films, but we don’t notice this too much.
01:08
They aren’t what we tend to think of when we think of “period piece.”
01:12
He chooses very specific slices of time and space —
01:15
ones that haven’t actually been extensively visited or dramatized on screen.
01:19
But maybe the biggest reason his films don’t feel typically “period” is the music —
01:24
his later films like “The Master,” “There Will Be Blood,” “Inherent Vice” and “Phantom
01:29
Thread”
01:30
feature avant-garde tracks by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood,
01:34
So the music gives the vision a modern or out-of-time feel.
01:41
We get expressive, syncopated scores
01:43
that give us a window into the the inner turmoil Anderson’s characters are feeling.
01:49
Greenwood’s jumpy, syncopated score for “The Master” feels out of joint with the images
01:57
—
01:58
so this music makes us feel tense and uneasy — it’s telling us something is deeply wrong
02:02
with Freddie.
02:03
In “Punch-Drunk Love,” Jon Brion’s score mixed with songs taken from Altman’s “Popeye,”
02:11
create a charming but nervous mood that captures how this is different from your average love
02:17
story.
02:18
“Until the day I die / I won’t know why / I knew he needed me.”
02:27
It looks at the impact of religion.
02:29
Anderson is a humanist — his focus isn’t what any religion preaches, but how belief
02:34
influences his characters.
02:37
Freddie joins The Cause, an analog for Scientology.
02:39
And he finds meaning in his life, even though the religion behind The Cause is clearly a
02:44
hoax.
02:45
“You’ve also said that these methods — Cause methods — can cure leukemia, according to
02:51
your book.”
02:52
“Some forms of leukemia.
02:54
And being able to access past lives,
02:57
we are able to treat illnesses that may have started back thousands or even trillions of
03:02
years.”
03:03
In “The Master” or “There Will Be Blood,” Anderson shows the dark sides of religions,
03:06
too, and services our skepticism.
03:08
The preacher in “There Will Be Blood” strikes us an over-the-top performer,
03:13
but he’s the one who forces Daniel to reckon with his dark past.
03:17
“Say it.
03:19
Say it.”
03:20
“I’ve abandoned my child.”
03:22
“Say it louder!
03:24
Say it louder!”
03:25
“I’ve abandoned my child!”
03:27
Anderson seems to be saying that belief, whether based in fact or fiction,
03:31
can help people transcend a more basic existence.
03:34
“Man is not an animal.
03:40
We are not a part of the animal kingdom.”
03:45
And even if the rituals may be artificial or phony, truth can still emerge.
03:51
There’s a dynamic camera.
03:52
PTA likes to have his camera moving in most of his shots.
03:56
We can see his flair for showy camera movements especially in his earlier films.
04:00
Take the iconic opening of “Boogie Nights.”
04:02
And this quick dolly-in from “Magnolia.”
04:05
It’s full of frantic energy that draws attention to itself.
04:09
In his later work we get a more deliberate, subtle moving camera.
04:13
So compare that shot from “Magnolia” to this dolly-in from 2014’s “Inherent Vice.”
04:17
It’s much slower and contemplative —
04:20
and PTA now seems focused more on composition and movement within the frame.
04:25
And of course, Anderson is known for his visual prowess.
04:28
His movies look like oil paintings.
04:30
PTA is known for his exhaustive knowledge of the technical side of cinematography.
04:36
A running theme in Anderson’s stories is that
04:38
human connection is the one thing that helps us rise to a higher level of existence.
04:43
Fame or financial success are unfulfilling distractions.
04:47
Anderson rejects the rugged individualism that’s celebrated in many classic American
04:51
films.
04:52
In “There Will Be Blood,” we see what happens when individualism goes unchecked.
04:56
Daniel’s greed and obsession prevent him from caring for his adopted son.
05:01
In the end, PTA’s films champion compassion and human bonds.
05:05
His films often give us a surrogate family.
05:07
Anderson’s ensemble casts show the dynamics of surrogate families in all their love and
05:12
weirdness.
05:13
Makeshift families give the characters purpose and belonging.
05:16
By the end of the movie they tend to fracture or deteriorate,
05:19
but PTA tells us that there has been value in that connection.
05:23
And in a lot of the goal seems to be accepting ourselves.
05:27
Anderson’s characters often lie about who they are, especially to themselves.
05:32
In “Magnolia,” Frank TJ Mackey tries to forget a painful past by lying about his father’s
05:37
death
05:38
and about going to college at Berkeley.
05:39
“See I have some trouble locating your score records at UCLA and Berkeley.
05:44
And your name changed.
05:46
Why would you lie, Frank?”
05:49
In “The Master,” Lancaster asks a series of rapid fire questions,
05:53
and Freddie lies at first, but the truth pours out of him uncontrollably.
05:57
“Where’s your father?”
05:59
“Dead.”
06:00
“How did he die?”
06:04
“Drunk.”
06:05
“Where’s your mother?…Where’s your mother?”
06:09
“Loony bin.”
06:11
Anderson digs into the lies we tell ourselves to cope with the pain of reality.
06:15
In the end, his films argue that, before we can do anything else worthwhile,
06:20
we have to face the truth and accept ourselves for who we really are.
06:24
“I have a love in my life.
06:27
It makes me stronger than anything you can imagine.
06:33
I would say “That’s that,” Mattress Man.”
06:41
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06:42
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06:45
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06:47
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06:51
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06:55
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