You can always count on Paul Thomas Anderson to create a unique, bizarre and layered experience and he definitely delivers again with Inherent Vice. This groovy, sunny '70s noir comedy is a challenging watch that is unlike anything released in mainstream cinema this year. With a terrific lead performance from Joaquin Phoenix, a great supporting cast and several layered, complex storylines, Inherent Vice is a film that will baffle, provoke and amaze you in equal measure. I walked out of the film knowing that I had seen something, but I wasn't entirely sure what that something was. And I still don't. I definitely didn't understand everything that happened in the film and the final act took a leap that I had trouble following. However, there's just a vibe about Inherent Vice. A feeling. Something that can't be described. Maybe it was the soundtrack or the terrific visuals or the spot-on humor, but there is just something about this movie that makes it memorable.
Inherent Vice is set in 1970 at the end of the drug-fueled '60s and the dawn of the paranoid '70s. Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a private investigator who ends up trying to help his ex-girlfriend (Katharine Waterston) solve a mystery involving a billionaire land developer (Eric Roberts) and a plot by his wife and her lover to kidnap him and send him to a mental institution. Soon, Doc finds himself over his head, investigating a brothel, a mysterious ship/heroin cartel known as the Golden Fang, a secret society of dentists, the disappearance of a saxophone player (Owen Wilson) and the murder of a former inmate, all while smoking a lot of weed and being sucked into various problems by Lt. Christian "Bigfoot" Bjornsen (Josh Brolin). Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
Did I fully understand the plot of Inherent Vice? Absolutely not. This film is a tangled web of characters, events and some truly bizarre occurrences. Not all of it makes sense and for me, the final act of Vice gets even more muddy and insane. But something about Inherent Vice is pure magic. I saw this film a week ago and I'm just putting my finger on what I loved about it so much. It's just got this sense of time, place and atmosphere that is absolutely contagious and you end up getting lost in the film's tangled web. I felt like I was truly transported to 1970's Los Angeles. That is a feeling that you don't get often when watching a film. It's a testament to the great production values, the terrific performances and Paul Thomas Anderson's great directing.
Inherent Vice has a stacked cast, complete with a hundred actors that show up for what essentially amount to extended cameos. Leading it all is Joaquin Phoenix as Doc Sportello, the perpetually stoned detective that stumbles into a bizarre web of kidnapping, murder, drug dealing and corruption. Even Sportello seems to not understand what is going on most of the time. Phoenix is pretty impressive as Doc, giving his all to this uniquely funny role. Backing him up is Bigfoot Bjornsen, the tough LAPD detective who "has civil rights violations written all over him" as our trusty narrator states. Bjornsen is played with a deadpan flair by Josh Brolin who gives a terrifically funny performance in this film.
Katharine Waterston is also incredibly impressive as Shasta. She doesn't have a ton of screen time, but she makes the most of what she has and is absolutely mesmerizing. Martin Short plays a dentist who's coked out of his mind and he gives a hysterical performance. Other great actors like Benicio del Toro, Owen Wilson, Jena Malone, Maya Rudolph, Reese Witherspoon, Eric Roberts and Hong Chau make brief, but memorable appearances in this film (especially del Toro and Malone).
Paul Thomas Anderson's script based on the Thomas Pynchon novel is also very amusing, consistently putting Doc into a series of situations that are absolutely preposterous. Anderson's dialogue ranges from being gut-bustingly funny to a more subdued sort of dry humor that ends up being just as hilarious. It's an extremely interesting and eclectic script and I'm glad that it got some awards attention.
Anderson's direction is just as impressive, collecting an impressive collage of beautiful, dark and interesting situations that manage to look and feel gorgeous. He captures sunny Southern California so beautifully with the help of his cinematographer Robert Elswit.This movie has a very distinct and interesting composition to it and I loved the visual flair. Anderson creates some truly wacky and weird sets here. It almost felt like PTA was trying to channel his inner Wes Anderson, which was cool to watch.
Inherent Vice also has the best soundtrack since Guardians of the Galaxy, filled with weird, funny and awesome songs from the 1970's. Chuck Jackson's "Any Day Now" and Can's "Vitamin C" are both used memorably, but we can't talk about this film's music without mentioning Jonny Greenwood's terrific score. He complements the songs with a soft and beautiful instrumental score that varies from creepy to light to sorrowful throughout. It's a great score and a brilliant achievement from Greenwood. In many ways, it felt like a classic Hollywood score, which made it even more special.
As many critics have noted, this film is impossible to judge from a single viewing. It simply cannot be done. However, I think that time also makes this movie better. If you don't rush to conclusions and just let the movie simmer for a while, I think that you'll like it even more. I saw Inherent Vice last Saturday and I wasn't sure what to think. The ending left me hanging and I was just baffled and confused by what I had just seen. And I kinda liked that. I enjoy when a film doesn't immediately reveal its greatness to you on the first viewing. Films that are challenging and tough to get a grasp on appeal to me. That's what Inherent Vice delivers and if you're up for that, then this film is great on so many levels.
Now that's not to say that Inherent Vice is a perfect film. Because it certainly isn't. There are flaws that I don't think re-watches will improve upon. For one, characters come and go with no real consequence. A character will pop up in one scene, then they'll never be heard from again. It's a very weird twist that I just couldn't get into. Maybe that was the point, but I was not a fan of that part. Also, the final act is even more muddled than the previous two. It jumps to a conclusion that comes out of left field and it was really confounding.
With a film as ambitious as Inherent Vice, we were always bound to run into a few issues. That doesn't stop it from being a great achievement. Paul Thomas Anderson has concocted a film that can't truly be compared to anything else. Inherent Vice is its own rambling mix of insanity and it makes for one fun time at the movies. I don't know if Inherent Vice is a masterpiece, but something about this film has stuck with me and I can't wait to examine and revisit this film in the future.
THE FINAL GRADE: A- (8.2/10)
Image Credits: Hollywood Reporter, Indiewire, Huffington Post, The Guardian, Screen Rant, Live for Films
Inherent Vice is set in 1970 at the end of the drug-fueled '60s and the dawn of the paranoid '70s. Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) is a private investigator who ends up trying to help his ex-girlfriend (Katharine Waterston) solve a mystery involving a billionaire land developer (Eric Roberts) and a plot by his wife and her lover to kidnap him and send him to a mental institution. Soon, Doc finds himself over his head, investigating a brothel, a mysterious ship/heroin cartel known as the Golden Fang, a secret society of dentists, the disappearance of a saxophone player (Owen Wilson) and the murder of a former inmate, all while smoking a lot of weed and being sucked into various problems by Lt. Christian "Bigfoot" Bjornsen (Josh Brolin). Yeah, it's pretty crazy.
Inherent Vice has a stacked cast, complete with a hundred actors that show up for what essentially amount to extended cameos. Leading it all is Joaquin Phoenix as Doc Sportello, the perpetually stoned detective that stumbles into a bizarre web of kidnapping, murder, drug dealing and corruption. Even Sportello seems to not understand what is going on most of the time. Phoenix is pretty impressive as Doc, giving his all to this uniquely funny role. Backing him up is Bigfoot Bjornsen, the tough LAPD detective who "has civil rights violations written all over him" as our trusty narrator states. Bjornsen is played with a deadpan flair by Josh Brolin who gives a terrifically funny performance in this film.
Paul Thomas Anderson's script based on the Thomas Pynchon novel is also very amusing, consistently putting Doc into a series of situations that are absolutely preposterous. Anderson's dialogue ranges from being gut-bustingly funny to a more subdued sort of dry humor that ends up being just as hilarious. It's an extremely interesting and eclectic script and I'm glad that it got some awards attention.
Anderson's direction is just as impressive, collecting an impressive collage of beautiful, dark and interesting situations that manage to look and feel gorgeous. He captures sunny Southern California so beautifully with the help of his cinematographer Robert Elswit.This movie has a very distinct and interesting composition to it and I loved the visual flair. Anderson creates some truly wacky and weird sets here. It almost felt like PTA was trying to channel his inner Wes Anderson, which was cool to watch.
Inherent Vice also has the best soundtrack since Guardians of the Galaxy, filled with weird, funny and awesome songs from the 1970's. Chuck Jackson's "Any Day Now" and Can's "Vitamin C" are both used memorably, but we can't talk about this film's music without mentioning Jonny Greenwood's terrific score. He complements the songs with a soft and beautiful instrumental score that varies from creepy to light to sorrowful throughout. It's a great score and a brilliant achievement from Greenwood. In many ways, it felt like a classic Hollywood score, which made it even more special.
As many critics have noted, this film is impossible to judge from a single viewing. It simply cannot be done. However, I think that time also makes this movie better. If you don't rush to conclusions and just let the movie simmer for a while, I think that you'll like it even more. I saw Inherent Vice last Saturday and I wasn't sure what to think. The ending left me hanging and I was just baffled and confused by what I had just seen. And I kinda liked that. I enjoy when a film doesn't immediately reveal its greatness to you on the first viewing. Films that are challenging and tough to get a grasp on appeal to me. That's what Inherent Vice delivers and if you're up for that, then this film is great on so many levels.
Now that's not to say that Inherent Vice is a perfect film. Because it certainly isn't. There are flaws that I don't think re-watches will improve upon. For one, characters come and go with no real consequence. A character will pop up in one scene, then they'll never be heard from again. It's a very weird twist that I just couldn't get into. Maybe that was the point, but I was not a fan of that part. Also, the final act is even more muddled than the previous two. It jumps to a conclusion that comes out of left field and it was really confounding.
With a film as ambitious as Inherent Vice, we were always bound to run into a few issues. That doesn't stop it from being a great achievement. Paul Thomas Anderson has concocted a film that can't truly be compared to anything else. Inherent Vice is its own rambling mix of insanity and it makes for one fun time at the movies. I don't know if Inherent Vice is a masterpiece, but something about this film has stuck with me and I can't wait to examine and revisit this film in the future.
THE FINAL GRADE: A- (8.2/10)
Image Credits: Hollywood Reporter, Indiewire, Huffington Post, The Guardian, Screen Rant, Live for Films
Can't wait to see this one. Paul Thomas Anderson is my favorite director of his generation. Just wish he'd work more.
ReplyDelete