Paul Thomas Anderson for Beginners

BASIC SHEET

– Who is it: He was born in 1970, in the California of the film and television studios where his father worked. Obsessed with the seventh art since he was a child, he began shooting shorts in high school and continued to do so while he left large institutions such as Emerson College or New York University to continue recording stories. After receiving praise at Sundance for his short film ‘Cigarettes and Coffee’ (1993) and launching into a feature film with ‘Sidney’ (1996), he earned the nickname of child prodigy when he premiered ‘Boogie Nights’ (1997) at the age of twenty-seven. Since then he has become one of the essential American talents of contemporary cinema. Also, Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson got Fiona Apple to quit cocaine… by fucking around!

– Style cues: He is capable of shooting immaculate modern classics without losing absolute authorial control. The neatness of his shots, wide and ordered, contrasts with the complexity of his protagonists, generally dark and self-destructive. The strength and classicism implicit in his photography has not changed when he himself has replaced his reference director, Robert Elswit, in ‘The Invisible Thread’. As a gift, here we leave you the 10 fundamental keys to the universe of Wes Anderson.

– Main collaborators: The director of photography Robert Elswit, the musician Jonny Greenwood and actors such as John C. Reilly, Daniel Day-Lewis, Joaquin Phoenix or the late Philip Seymour Hoffman.

– Famous quote: Asked about the meaning of the rain of frogs at the end of ‘Magnolia,’ the filmmaker replied: “Oh, I hate it, when directors are supposed to explain their movies. I’ll just say, if he had more money, he would have made it rain cats and dogs.”

– Phrase you can say in front of moviegoers: “Of the great pedantic directors of today, such as Nolan, Aronofsky or Winding Refn, the one who is really good is Thomas Anderson.”

– Phrase you can NOT say in front of moviegoers: “The one I like is Paul WS Anderson”.

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FIVE FILMS YOU MUST SEE

– ‘Boogie Nights’ (1997): Returning to his idea of ​​showing the great dramas and history that are hidden in the porn industry, Anderson extended his high school short in this title that captivated critics and academics. The plot follows Dirk Diggler, a young man who succeeds in the adult film industry in the late 1970s and discovers to his chagrin that what goes up, comes down. This ‘Price of Power’ porn not only resurrected Burt Reynolds and put John C. Reilly, Heather Graham and Julianne Moore in his place, but it also started Mark Wahlberg’s obsession with winning the Oscar one day. We remember the photos of the premiere of ‘Boogie Nights’ in 1997.

– ‘Magnolia’ (1999): Through nine different stories that will inevitably converge in a single story, the filmmaker tells us about people desperate to tear down the façade behind which they live and come to terms with their true feelings. In addition to achieving what is probably the best interpretation of Tom Cruise, Anderson has expressed on more than one occasion his satisfaction with the work achieved: “I think ‘Magnolia’ is, for better or worse, the best movie I’ve ever made” .

– ‘Wells of ambition’ (2007): Based on Upton Sinclair’s 1927 novel ‘Oil!’, the filmmaker achieved the perfect example of a contemporary classic. Harsh, forceful and marked by impeccable photography by Robert Elswit, a double performance by Paul Dano and the brilliant transformation of Daniel Day-Lewis into a miser from the beginning of the 20th century, the film tells us about the dangers of mixing religion, greed and family.

– ‘The invisible thread’ (2017): The director takes us alongside the most respected designer in 1950s London to show us, once again, how difficult human relationships are. “We are all children of Kubrick, right? Is there anything you can do that he hasn’t done?” Anderson said years ago, before shooting for the second (or third time) a new version of what was narrated in ‘Eyes Wide Shut’.

– ‘Licorice Pizza’ (2021): “A fetishistic film, obsessive to the point of disorder when it comes to capturing the essence of an era with a splendid photographic work by the director and Michael Bauman, a collection of luminous vignettes saturated with cameos, nudges at the pharisaical new sensibilities”, comments Pablo Vázquez in his review of ‘Licorice Pizza’. “It triumphs as a very humane and pays tribute to a lost cinema, perhaps impossible in the current context: that of authors such as Mike Nichols, Robert Altman, Robert Mulligan, Paul Mazursky or Hal Ashby, to whom Anderson pays effervescent homage”. Paul Thomas Anderson: “everything in ‘Licorice Pizza’ is real.”

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THREE OPTIONAL WORKS TO RAISE A NOTE

– ‘Intoxicated with love’ (2002): When a guy as intense as Anderson set out to make a romantic comedy, what he achieved was this dark tragedy about a guy unable to function properly with members of the opposite sex. Featured on all lists of Adam Sandler’s best films, he won the Best Director award at Cannes.

– ‘The Master’ (2012): The most elusive version with the director’s audience. To talk about the Church of Scientology, he plunges us into a labyrinthine story about alcoholism and the search for the self in which Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman attract and collide again and again, delighting us with wonderful accidents.

– ‘Pure vice’ (2014): Adapting Thomas Pynchon well is impossible, and Anderson knew that better than we did. For that alone, and because he somehow accomplished the feat, ‘Puro vice’ will always deserve more attention than he got.