PHANTOM THREAD: Paul Tomas Anderson, Daniel Day-Lewis, Fifties London

texture, babe

grain

scratches

PTA's best film.

very possibly!

I can't tell whether the gowns are any good though.

I didn't expect the last 15 minutes, I gotta admit. I'm still thinking about it.

I'd say the opening sequence, first breakfast scene, Victoria Hotel (rarebit!), and through Alma's full integration in the business is the most sustained, exciting of PTA's career. I was holding my breath.

"chic"

FILTHY littlte word

Manville as Cyril smoothing her hair over her temples was great throughout.

Every time PTA held Manville's face in close-up I froze. What a marvelous camera object. She gave the best performance.

I liked that despite being a “period piece” this could easily have taken place in the future

― The Bridge of Ban Louis J (silby

like A Quiet Passion, it shows the Archers' influence.

Every time PTA held Manville's face in close-up I froze. What a marvelous camera object. She gave the best performance.

― morning wood truancy (Alfred, Lord Sotosyn), Saturday, January 20, 2018 4:00 PM (one hour ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

agreed, she is quite something.

I may go to Memphis next week to see this on a large screen. There's no way it will come to my little rooty-poot town.

seeing this tomorrow morning, v excited

me too. can't wait!!!

I really liked it. Nevertheless I'm not sure I'd rate it higher than Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love, Inherent Vice, or The Master. I loved There Will Be Blood at the time but its meme saturation in the decade since its release has diminished my memories of it. Magnolia was my favorite movie when I was 11 and I don't think I've sat it thru the whole thing since, so I'll reserve judgment. Still, this was a fantastic film. Unfortunately Sofia Coppola beat PTA to the punch with the poisonous mushrooms device in The Beguiled last summer. The "arthouse 50 Shades of Grey" comment ended up being pretty otm! Their tastes were indeed unconventional. Love wins.

spoilerz!

The Beguiled is actually from 1971 btw

in the last cooking scene, during which DDL chews so meticulously, I thought his much-loathed butter would knock him over.

oh hoy haw, you know what I mean. lighting & atmospherics of PT & Coppola's movie were very similar, especially in the mushroom scenes. not a knock, just an unfortunate coincidence. took some of the dramatic edge off for me, but didn't matter in the end when it was just a kink for them.

"I'm hungry"

I can't tell whether the gowns are any good though.

They're gorgeous. I'd say they were true to the period, but do they ever specify when in the 1950s this is supposed to be?

And I was reminded of The Dragon Painter (1919), regarding the relationship between an artist and his muse...and the idea that it may be the muse's responsibility to shake up the artist's life in one way or another.

do they ever specify when in the 1950s this is supposed to be?

No, and I was trying to make out details in the New Year's Eve radio address, no luck.

If you like the dressmaking part of this, definitely worth seeing the Dior & I documentary from a few years ago about Raf Simons putting together a couture collection over two weeks. Many resemblances, and also time spent with all of those lifers doing the sewing.

ughhhh i loved Dior & I, gorgeous doc that

I think decoding the climax requires thinking of it as a "mother" movie to the core (hence the explicit Norman Bates peephole quote). I don't entirely buy it, but close enough. Plus, people are fucking weird.

I still haven't seen it, but intrigued by the idea that it's a mother! movie

The mother material was unnecessary, an attempt to flesh out a man who needed no fleshing -- the man loved work and was his job. Goodness knows we know plenty of people like him.

I still haven't seen mother!, but don't be sassy, Simon.

Almost everybody I know hates their job afaik.

This is a vocation.

well sure, and one that could plausibly be traced to Momism.

and PTA's shortest since Punch-Drunk Love.

― Badmotorfinger Debate Club (MFB)

ha yeah by 35 minutes

Def gonna see this again, sitting really well with me. Really feel my opinion of it will only go up.

~spoilers~

.

I had one of those hypnotized, out of body movie theater experiences when Alma gave the "i'm going to make you sick, and i'm going to take care of you" speech in closeup in the final minutes.

I'm unnerved by the universal acclaim. I'm afraid to look up to see if Armond has reviewed it.

can't wait for that!

Here it is!

Here’s where Anderson reveals the essence of his indie revisionist sarcasm. Phantom Thread is essentially a smart-ass retort to Alfred Hitchcock’s Vertigo (1958), repeating Hitchcock’s basic plot of a psychotic male making over a common girl (James Stewart selfishly “correcting” Kim Novak) into his erotic ideal. But Anderson denies viewers the complex pleasure of Kim Novak’s beauty-to-beauty transformation for something that’s even uglier morally — and does so with a self-satisfied sneer. Hitchcock’s film relayed a private tragedy that explored timeless anxieties; Anderson’s revision deliberately counters those conventions with a fascination for modern decadence.

Well, Mr. Anderson, if that’s your indie definition of love — or cinema — I don’t want it. ***

Read more at: http://www.nationalreview.com/article/454995/phantom-thread-paul-thomas-anderson-downsizing-alexander-payne

Saw it with my woke girlfriend who didn’t connect with the toxic male protagonist and the world he was able to create around him, and that was a bit how I felt despite the acting, cinematography, and dialogue all being extraordinary. Up for giving it a second watch.

if that’s your indie definition of love — or cinema — I don’t want it.

If there's a remedy, I'll run from it, from it.

I thought PTA's POV was Olympian in seeing the roundedness of things.

Saw it with my woke girlfriend

lmao

Haha

Woke is good and all but yr gonna have a bad time with a lot of good art if characters are disagreeable to you and not, like, sufficiently shamed or something.

(Haven’t seen this, want to)

Thanks to both Eazy and VG for the Dior and I doc -- we just watched it here and both loved it. It is an interesting complement to be sure, obviously not exact, but the idea again of female labor as a strong link throughout both films, in different ways is especially great. The lifers were all amazing.

Though talk about how things turn on a dime when the full runway/premiere happens and who's noticeable in the front row in one room? Harvey Weinstein. (With Sharon Stone two seats away.)

oof forgot abt that

Poison mushroom omelette made me hungry

Great movie!

I enjoyed this - much funnier than I expected. And I liked how early on Alma was the barometer for the rest of us like, yeah these ppl are WEIRD af... for a while at least lol

So much toast! Made me hungry. And her noisemaking -biting the spoon while eating her cereal, the dramatic water pouring, DDL’s imma kill u glares, it all made me looool so much

Definitely glad I saw Dior & I - as discussed it is highly recommended for anyone who is interested in the mechanics. it’s a very good reference point for the inner workings of the atelier - the Dior atelier is almost identical to Woodcock! Crazy how so little of the traditions have changed over so many decades.

I would like to see it again

The costume designer interview Morbs posted upthread is fascinating

I thought it was so bitingly accurate that Woodcock would rail against “chic” because you do see that he is a little bit more traditional/old fashioned with his lace and that velvet caped gown from the opening. Not that the dresses arent gorgeous but they aren’t very “young”, his style seems more stately.

Bought a copy of the Balenciaga bio, I’m curious now

also this made me laugh

ME: A Welsh rarebit, with a poached egg on top -- not too runny -- bacon, scones... butter... cream... jam -- not strawberry. What else?
BURGER KING DRIVE-THRU: [inaudible]

— Vichy Thought Leader (@i_zzzzzz) January 20, 2018

Also good

when you tell me there’s only digital and vinyl and no CD release. pic.twitter.com/E5IiikhRMK

— Bruce Levenstein (@BruceLevenstein) January 22, 2018

lol