Tuesday Top Ten: PTA Performances

Paul Thomas Anderson makes me feel so unaccomplished. He’s 37 and I haven’t directed four great films at this age! Argh. Hate him. But I love his movies. From Hard Eight (also known as Sydney) to Boogie Nights to Magnolia to Punch-Drunk Love, they’re all really something. As are the performances inside of them. While we're anxiously awaiting There Will Be Blood, let's look at the performances in his fine filmography.

PTA is often compared to Robert Altman and though I think the comparison is a little simplistic, he invites it too. He’s often cited Altman as an influence and he even helped out with A Prairie Home Companion (Altman needed a standby auteur should his health prevent completion –thankfully it didn’t)

Top 10 Performances in Paul Thomas Anderson Films

10 Fiona Apple in numerous music videos.
I’m cheating here because there were too many performances to choose from (these are huge consistenly excellent ensembles) plus I’m Apple obsessed and still miffed about that breakup. I love all the videos he made with her including "Limp", "Fast As You Can", "Paper Bag" and "Across the Universe"

09 April Grace as “Gwenovier” in Magnolia
Her enemy combatant interview with Cruise is a marvel –my second or third favorite scene in the movie. No matter what one thinks of Tom Cruise as an actor, it’s hard to match his intensity in any given scene. Gwenovier is so formidable a scene partner (without doing much) that doesn’t it feel like even Frank TJ Mackey has to overreach to fight her off? And can someone get Grace more movie roles?

08 Mary Lynn Rajskub as “Elizabeth” in Punch-Drunk Love

I still thrill to the way she comically rampages into every scene. There’s just no brake fluid in her system. That anger problem runs in the family.

07 Philip Baker Hall as “Sydney” in Hard Eight.
I’ll admit that I don’t remember this movie, PTA’s first that well. I sought it out after being stunned by Boogie Nights and Magnolia and I recall immediately understanding what PTA always saw in this character actor mainstay. Gwyneth Paltrow is also quite good in this film.

06 Heather Graham as “Rollergirl” in Boogie Nights

What a gift this role was. It’s perfectly suited to Graham’s considerable yet slightly vacant charisma. It’s a great role as written but it’s also the best performance of her career: engaging, well judged, and more than a little raw once it needs to be.

05 Tom Cruise as “Frank TJ Mackey” in Magnolia

This sexist self-help monster role needed either a charismatic movie star or an intense but "off" actor to serve it. It was lucky enough to be channeled through both.

04 Julianne Moore as “Linda Partridge” in Magnolia

Possibly the most divisive performance on the list but I love that it doesn’t feel like other Moore performances. It’s large, stylized and forceful... Moore at her bravest as an aging trophy wife carrying tons of weight in guilt. I still remember the New Yorker review which deemed her work both nonsensical and mesmerizing.

03 Burt Reynolds as “Jack Horner” in Boogie Nights

It always alarms me when I hear about the actors who turned this role down. Reynolds almost didn’t take it himself. Insanity


02 Mark Wahlberg as “Dirk Diggler” in Boogie Nights

When this film premiered this star turn felt like a leap forward for a young actor and the promise of great things to come. Now it feels like the realization of promise. It's so right for both the demands of the film and the truth of the character that I'm doubtful Wahlberg can top it. A hilarious, sweet and sad take on a guy who is in over his head especially once his pants are down.

01 Julianne Moore as “Amber Waves” in Boogie Nights
Not just the best performance in PTA's fine filmography but one of the best of the past couple of decades. It deserves at least a 1000 words, not just a few sentences. too many things (to say)... too many things.

Agree? disagree?
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