Unsung Heroes: The Sound Design of Punch-Drunk Love

Michael C here from Serious Film.



The opening moments of Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love feature a prolonged stretch of silence broken by the crash of a truck doing flips down the street. In most movies this would be the cheapest trick in the book, giving the audience a jolt by hitting them with a loud noise out of nowhere. It doesn't feel that way here. The sound design in this scene, as in the rest of the movie, is wired to the off-kilter psyche of Adam Sandler's Barry Egan. He too harbors the constant threat of sudden violence under an ocean of surface calm.

The sound work on Punch-Drunk Love is a study in discomfort. It's not just a case of Jon Brion delivering yet another brilliantly original score, though there is no question he does that. It's the fact that the score doesn't behave according to any of the rules audiences have been trained to expect from years of movie watching. Punch's score comes and goes at right angles to the material, sneaking in unnoticed only to drop out suddenly giving the viewer a cold splash of silence.

In the early sequence when Barry is hounded by incessant, abusive phone calls from his seven sisters, the sound mix works with them as a team to drive Barry over the edge. The twitching, relentless score is layered over top, ratcheted up until it competes with the dialogue, so that we are having as hard a time focusing on work as Barry. The tension mounts steadily as the score gives way to the sound of his sisters' chatter. The wall of sound builds until Barry is forced to smash a glass door to get a few precious moments of peace. With barely any exposition we know all we need to know about Barry and his rage and repression issues. The sound design is as big a part of the story as the dialogue.

Most other movie soundtracks are there to soothe the audience, to underline emotions and essentially pat the viewer on the back for feeling what he feels. Not here. The soundtrack doesn't bother to take much note of actions that would have most scores swelling like mad. It keeps the same steady rhythm whether Barry is doing his memorable little soft shoe shuffle in the supermarket or he is attacking the brothers with a crowbar. Even the use of a pop song breaks with the expected. The movie's main love theme, Shelley Duvall's sweet and goofy rendition of Harry Nillson's He Needs Me, may climax with that swooning embrace in Hawaii but it meanders its way there, beginning over talk of pudding. The soundtrack, like Barry, cannot get in step with the rhythm of normal behavior.

The sound design of Punch-Drunk Love incorporates all the story's elements into a seamless piece, from the gentle sliding motif of the harmonium through the sickeningly matter-of-fact realism of the violence. We feel like we know what Sandler is thinking or feeling at any given moment, since, whether we register it consciously or not, the sound has given us a map of Barry Egan's mind. It accomplishes without words what most other movies require a voice-over narration to do.

The Master Is Dead! Long Live The Master

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JA from MNPP here. In case you missed the news, it seems that Paul Thomas Anderson's next film The Master - which was to star Phillip Seymour Hoffman as the leader of a new Scientology-like religion in the 50s with Jeremy Renner as his disciple and Reese Witherspoon as his wife - has turned into a pillar of salt and gone poof. It's E-meter done gone and flat-lined. I'm sure it supposedly being a thinly-veiled critique of a religion intertwined with a large portion of the Hollywood establishment had nothing whatsoever to putting a pox on PTA's house, I am sure. Sure. Why not.

Anyway this is depressing news for those of us that worship upon the altar of Paul Thomas Anderson. I promised him my first born and all I get are empty promises! It's enough to make you not believe in a higher directing power after all. My faith in movie-making is shaken! I am having a crisis of cinematic conscience! To quote a well-known philosopher renowned for his wise words and his hammer pants, what we need to do is pray. But who does one aim this sort of prayer towards? Christian God is too busy editing all the boobs out of movies to get them down to PG-13. Muhammad doesn't show his face at the cinema. And unless you're willing to sing and dance it Bollywood-style Buddha doesn't take movie requests. Who is the god of movies? Is it Morgan Freeman too?

..Can you hear me, Morgan Freeman? It's me, JA.
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In all seriousness, if this movie is indeed dead as a dead dormouse, what should PTA turn his attentions to next? Something to get the tweens with their sexting and such on-board could definitely raise his stock I think. Maybe a Love Story 2010 with Zac Efron and his girlfriend. I know, he could remake Boogie Nights and have Katherine Heigl play Amber Waves! It's genius. Fifty million dollar opening weekend in the bag!
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Save Me Elmer Gantry, Save Me!

Fifty years ago today, Elmer Gantry (Burt Lancaster) started preaching to moviegoers. He started howling "Repent! Repent!" and multiple beautiful women started moaning "Save me! Save me!" to paraphrase a line from the satiric 1960 Best Picture nominee.


Elmer Gantry, a Richard Brooks adaptation of the novel by Sinclair Lewis, introduces us to a drunk womanizing salesman and churchgoing Christian who finds his calling when he decides to combine the two, hawking old timey religion with Sister Sharon (Jean Simmons), a revivalist. She's been making quite a name for herself converting the common folk wherever she pitches her tent. It goes without saying that once Elmer spots her, he also pitches his.

Once Sharon and Elmer have joined forces, there's no stopping them. They develop a perfect good cop/bad cop salvation routine: Elmer provides the sweaty fire and shouty brimstone and Sharon swoops in later to offer the soothing sotto voce God is Love denouement. (How anyone hears her quiet words in a huge tent with all the shouting and live musical accompaniment is a mystery the film never explains.) Sharon resists Elmer's sexual swagger at first but eventually succumbs like all the other women.

Of course, if you want your sweaty god-fearing rants to be charming and your aggressive "Repents!" to actually convert women into horny disciples, you'd better look quite a lot like Burt Lancaster, one of the manliest of film stars.


In fact, I suspect how one feels about Elmer Gantry the movie would be closely tied to how one feels about Lancaster as an actor/star. It neatly boils down to which of these two arguments you agree with.

1. A Doubter. Bill, Sharon's manager, doesn't trust Elmer. "Everything about you is offensive," he says to the new revivalist star. "You're a crude vulgar show off. And your vocabulary belongs in an outhouse."
2. True Believer. Sharon herself, finds him disarming and charming. "You're so outrageous! I think I like you. You're amusing and you smell like a real man."
   

So which side of the argument do you fall on with this sweaty, loud, extremely physical actor? I'd like to know but, for myself, I'm agnostic. I can't choose a side. I fall in and out of love with Lancaster but I like him best when he's dialing it back a little to assess how well Elmer is performing his (usually successful) seductions OR when he can't control his impulses at all and just lets Elmer carry on like a mad men. It's the inbetween stuff that's hard for me to take. It's in those moments when he's merely laughing too loud, smiling too big, or talking too much that he's a crude vulgar show off to me ... unless he's so outrageous that he's amusing. It's then that I think I like him.

Being a loud show off or playing one successfully is a great way to win an Oscar, which Lancaster did for this preacher man star turn. Another great way to win an Oscar is to show up in a movie that's well under way and breathe new bracing life into it (See Frances McDormand in Fargo and Renée Zellweger in Cold Mountain for polar opposite examples of the same trick.) I had never seen Elmer Gantry before and I was shocked that Shirley Jones, who won for playing Lulu the hooker, doesn't even show up until almost exactly the halfway mark. It's a two and a half hour movie! Lulu's revenge plot (Elmer has skeletons, y'see) derails Gantry's burgeoning success until Lulu reveals that heart of gold. She's a hooker so you know she has one. It's the movies!

Lulu's schizo back and forth between loving and hating Elmer and her strange waffling between Christianity and sacrilege (in one scene she'll make a dirty joke about God, in the next she'll talk about the Bible with a beatific look on her face) is perfectly in keeping with the movie's indecision about whether to join true believers or mock them.

The movie actually starts with a too-careful disclaimer, suggesting that it's not going to have much satirical bite. Hollywood loves to play to as many demographics as it can which means that satire is not their strong suit. I'm not sure what the political/religious climate was like in 1960 when the film premiered but it was a hit. The film can't seem to make up its mind (at all) as to whether or not these preachers are hypocritical con artists or benevolent spiritual leaders. The only gospel Elmer Gantry seems truly comfortable selling is the gospel of showmanship.

And that, dear reader, it sells well. Lancaster's sermons still play like gangbusters in 2010. They even feel timeless. It was impossible not to see today's politician/preachers in his antics. Sarah Palin's winking 'lamestream media' anti-intellectualism was instantly recognizable in one pointed private moment between Elmer and a reporter (an excellent Arthur Kennedy) which plays out in a public forum.

"I admit I'm not smart like some of them -- some of them smartalecky professors, wiseguy writers and agitators. I don't know the first thing about philosophy, psychology, ideology or any other ology. But I know this. With Christ you're saved. And without him you're lost.

And how do I know there's a merciful god? Because I've seen the devil plenty o times.

Lancaster's sizzle in the sermon scenes has the unfortunate effect of making Sister Sharon seem like a dud in the charisma department. It's hard to suspend disbelief that she is the bankable person on their joint ticket. Could that be why the arguably miscast Jean Simmons was denied an Oscar nomination despite the Academy's love for the film?

The movie's finale is weirdly botched, opting for something like holy sentiment mixed with you-get-what-you-deserve moralizing while also trying to take one last dig at the salvation through donation con game. There are so many competing agendas and you cannot serve both God and Mammon (Matthew 6:24). B-

<-- Lancaster and Taylor with their Oscars in April 1961.

Since it's a muddled effort, is it sacrilegious to suggest that Elmer Gantry really deserves a remake? It's totally topical. Perhaps the novel needs a new set of filmmaker eyes on it. No matter, I suppose. We'll have to make do with a Paul Thomas Anderson double feature starring huckster preachers Paul Dano (There Will Be Blood) and Philip Seymour Hoffman (Untitled).

Have you seen Elmer Gantry?
I'd love to hear other perspectives on it.
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Modern Maestros: Paul Thomas Anderson

Robert here with another installment of my Modern Maestros series. This week one of America's best directors.

Maestro: Paul Thomas Anderson

Known For: Movies about unique individuals and takes on modern Americana.
Influences: A little bit from everywhere but first and foremost it’s all about Altman
Masterpieces: You could pick any film or films. For me it’s Magnolia and There Will Be Blood
Disasters: zero
Better than you remember: I know some people who aren’t enamored with Punch Drunk Love. They should be.
Awards: Nominated for five Oscars. Best Director in Berlin and Cannes.
Box Office: 40 million for There Will Be Blood. Who says Oscar nominations don’t help?
Favorite Actor: Philip Seymour Hoffman appears in all of his films but for the most recent.

A lot of movies are about outsiders. If most films were about normal people leading normal lives, well, they wouldn’t be. But Paul Thomas Anderson’s characters are beyond outsiders. It’s almost as if they were born without the ability to fit into this world. And immediately we're at the place where Anderson and Altman differ. Altman’s characters were often outsiders, down on their luck, anti-authority, non-conformist but always actively rejected society or were actively rejected by. But not Anderson’s. Barry Egan never made the decision to reject society (neither did Daniel Plainview, Dirk Diggler, or the cast of Magnolia for that matter). Their outsider status was less a choice and more of an inevitability.  I wouldn’t be the first to suggest that Anderson is amplified Altman. For example, where Altman connects his characters with an earthquake, Anderson uses a plague of frogs. And he’s assisted in creating these amplified realities by artists like Jon Brion, Robert Elswit, and Jonny Greenwood, at the top of their game.

But Paul Thomas Anderson’s larger than life characters and situations don’t exist for their own sake (though they could stand alone as the sole purpose of his films). They are in fact around to explore the elements of (often American) life. Whether it be how fame and money corrupts, love redeems or all lives are coincidentally connected.  And with a wide knowledge of film history Anderson finds inspiration in directors besides Robert Altman.  Elements of directors as varied as Welles, Kubrick, and Kalatazov can be found in his films.  Like Tarantino, P.T. Anderson is considered a child of the VHS generation, one that had access to cinema unlike any generation prior (his father hosted a weekly B-movie show in my hometown of Cleveland).  And there is a "can't believe your eyes" unpretentious B-movie quality to Anderson's pretentious (meant as a compliment) A-movies.  Movies are in Paul Anderson's blood. Having dropped out of film school after a short time, he confirms the theory that directorial talent can't be taught.  It has to be inherent (like the outsider status of his characters).

inevitable outsiders

Despite all the heightened realities and odd characters in Paul Thomas Anderson films, there’s a strange honesty that comes through. Perhaps its from demonstrating how certain truths stand up even when applied to the most unusual situations or people. And there's an essential modernness to the films as well.  Even a period film such as There Will Be Blood combines elements of performance, score, and cinematography into a surreal almost postmodern statement.  For his next act, Paul Thomas Anderson is will be directing The Master (working title, I presume though there’s nothing wrong with it) which will star favorite Philip Seymour Hoffman as a 1950’s intellectual who founds a faith-based organization. Religion gets the Anderson treatment, and my guess is we can expect more characters who aren’t exactly average, every-day guys... like Maestro P.T. Anderson himself.

Favorite Movies of the Decade #15-1

the list #100-76, #75-51, #50-31, #30-16 and #15-1.

Awards for 2009 begin tomorrow or thereabouts.

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Let's wrap this sucker up!
I had really intended to rewatch the top ten (why not?) before I ventured into the mental hospital. Trust me, that's where I've been heading as I've tried to rank the movies I love more than people (kidding! sort of) but who has the time? The 10th Annual FiLM BiTCH Awards begin tomorrow so I have to get a move on to wrap up the 2009 film year. It's possible I'll revisit this rundown at some point for a special project but who knows. These rankings are NOT final. God... I'm not ready for the straightjacket yet. I need my hands free so I can talk.

What follows is more like tiers. The numbers function as mere placeholders.

Tier 3

You could group them with #16-20... It doesn't mean
I don't worship them. I got a whole lotta love to go round

15 Vera Drake dir. Mike Leigh (2004)
Vera Drake (Imelda Staunton) whistles while she works. Though her "work", you soon discover as you follow her into crowded residential blocks, is not something you'd normally think of whistling to. It's part of the genius of Mike Leigh's best film (yeah, you heard me) that Vera doesn't question her calling or the tune in her head. When the bomb finally drops on Vera's happy-go-lucky existence, Staunton returns Leigh's faith in her with one of the most devastating closeups in cinema. It's the moment everyone remembers from the film but my mind often drifts to the aftermath, diminutive Vera in her coat in the snow heading to the police car, terrified. She's warmly dressed but the chill is already down to the bone.

14 There Will Be Blood dir. Paul Thomas Anderson (2007)
If it's not quite this world great's best film (that prize to Boogie Nights saith I) it's definitely his most audacious and technically thrilling. There are so many sinister and seismic moments, it's a wonder the earth doesn't open up while you're watching it, and drag you to hell with Daniel Plainview. "I'm finnnissshed"

Tier 2

I think about them so much that they have
ceased to be movies. They're now life events.

13 The Lord of the Rings dir. Peter Jackson (2001-2003)

Magic. Especially the first one.

12 Mulholland Dr. dir. David Lynch (2001)
So much has been written about this movie that I sometimes worry that familiarity will rob it of its mystery. Yet when Laura Elena Haring starts whispering "Mulholland Drive" I'm hypnotized again. I'm an amnesiac myself, and I've never heard her whispery chant.

11 Requiem for a Dream dir. Darren Aronofsky (2000)
"I like thinking about the red dress."

10 A History of Violence dir. David Cronenberg (2005)
In the past I've likened this movie to a machine, it's so finely calibrated and efficient. But that doesn't get at its emotional fire, its guttural poetry, and its savage eroticism. It's more like a cyborg.

9 Wo Hu Cang Long (Crouching Tiger Hidden Dragon) dir. Ang Lee (2000)
Ang Lee is not the only filmmaker with three movies in the countdown. But he's the only filmmaker with two in the top ten. How great is Ang Lee? And how glorious was/is this utterly transporting adventure?

8 Rachel Getting Married dir. Jonathan Demme (2008)
God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change... like the fact that so many people don't love this movie. Their loss. I'm ready to dive back into this immersive, noisy, eclectic, spontaneous, superbly acted, wonderfully sustained, bleeding heart of a movie right this very second. Pass me the DVD.

7 Hable Con Ella (Talk To Her) dir. Pedro Almodovar (2002)
So imaginatively structured, exquisitely controlled, and enigmatically moving that it's nearly impossible to wrap your head around in one go. It's a good thing then that Pedro's movies miraculous improve with repeated viewings... even when they were brilliant to begin with. "Cucurrucucú paloma, cucurrucucú no llores."

Tier 1

As sustaining as oxygen or water or pets or friends.
If you try to take them away from me, I will cut you.

6 Fa Yeung Nin Wa (In the Mood For Love) dir. Wong Kar Wai (2000, released in 2001)
In a perfect world, I would always be fetching noodles or trying on cheomsangs with Maggie Cheung. Either that or writing wuxia and smoking with Tony Leung Chiu Wai. I'd gladly pay the price of heartbreak in the end.

5 Far From Heaven dir. Todd Haynes (2002)
Of all the things we have to thank Todd Haynes for: new ways of looking at Barbie dolls, Bob Dylan splintered, restless experimentation as cinematic life-blood, a mini Douglas Sirk revival, Ewan MacGregor naked and covered in glitter... this is the gift I cherish most: Julianne Moore in a purple scarf, waving love goodbye.

4 Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind dir. Michel Gondry (2004)
The Eyes: a singularly imaginative visualist in Gondry. The Brain: the twisty intellect of Charlie Kauffman. The Body: a great acting ensemble operating as one powerful machine. The Heart: a comic (Jim Carrey) positively aching with true drama. The Soul: one of the most elemental faces and emotional forces in cinematic history (Kate Winslet); It's the collaborative miracle movie of the decade, all its parts made greater by their interconnectedness.

3 Brokeback Mountain dir. Ang Lee (2005)
A love story for the ages. And one that quietly enrages.

2 Dancer in the Dark dir. Lars von Trier (2000)

1 Moulin Rouge! dir. Baz Luhrmann (2001)

List-making is, by its very nature, personal. If you're doing it right that is.

Selma & Satine. To quote the hilarious Moulin Rouge! FYC ads:
"SHE SINGS! SHE DANCES! SHE DIES!"

The story of the Aughts for this particular moviegoer was the rebirth of the musical. To yank the dead genre from its unfortunate grave, fearless visionary filmmakers and prodigiously gifted musicians were required. The impish deconstructionist (von Trier) provoked such genius from a totally modern composer (Björk) that ten years later you can still be transported with just a bar of "New World" or "I've Seen It All".

Then, the party of the decade. The inspired mashup conductor (Baz) and his darling stars (Nicole, Ewan, Jim) put on the messiest craziest livelest funniest tearjerking "Spectacular! Spectacular!" show on earth. I'd never claim it's a perfect movie but flaws are endearing when you love madly and deeply. and Love Is All You Need.

~ finis~
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The Most Romantic Exchange of All the Aughts

JA from MNPP here, chiming in with what I consider to be what that there title proclaims: the most romantic exchange of the Aughts. It came at us in 2002, the year Nat's literally just finished giving some love to and has moved on from. But Paul Thomas Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love refuses to be pigeon-holed with such small simple concepts as time! All is fluid in the land of Barry Egan's erratic brain. Anyway, that exchange:

Barry: I'm lookin' at your face and I just wanna smash it. I just wanna fuckin' smash it with a sledgehammer and squeeze it. You're so pretty.

Lena: I want to chew your face, and I want to scoop out your eyes and I want to eat them and chew them and suck on them.

Barry: OK. This is funny. This is nice.

If Eternal Sunshine hadn't come along two years later, PTA's light-dappled ode to two crazy people finding solace in each other's crazy would've gotten my vote for the most romantic movie of the Aughts, period. As is it has to take solace in being only the second most lovely thing I saw in the whole decade. But nothing Clementine and Joel spat at each other came as close to making my heart burst into little interstitial title-cards of undulating color and star-fields like this bonding moment between sweethearts Barry Egan and Lena Leonard. I like to think their whispering sweet horrible violences at each other today, in some hotel in Hawaii, where it really looks like Hawaii there.

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"I still prefer the exuberance of Boogie Nights..."

...over the formalism of There Will Be Blood." says Quentin Tarantino when raving about Paul Thomas Anderson's auteurial genius.



On this we can agree though we love both films passionately.
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$100 Million. No Questions Asked.

Twitch asked a great question on Friday that has been dancing around in my head naked all day: which auteur would you like to see handed a huge pile of money ($100 mil') and complete freedom to make whatever the hell kind of picture they wanted to make with it? Our pal JA answered (always worth a read) and I should, too.

My five.

Jonathan Glazer. Birth and Sexy Beast are both so well directed and imagined with limited budgets. They're also the kind of features that scream 'this director will have trouble getting his films financed!' Imagine how pissed the cinephiles of 2050 are going to be if his feature career ends with Birth, only his second, a movie that will undoubtedly be revered by then.

Terry Gilliam. He makes every list like this... and that's out of more than pity. Even when he doesn't have a lot of money, the visuals are memorable. And an always fascinating if not always great filmography that includes Baron Munchausen, Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas, Tideland, The Brothers Grimm, Brazil, The Fisher King ... he so deserves a major comeback.


Paul Thomas Anderson. Because, for such a contemporary auteur, he does period incredibly well (Boogie Nights & There Will Be Blood) and I love that its hard to predict what he'll come up with. That said he's never going to get $100 million to work with since he's never made a sizable hit. That's the audience's fault, not his. His films are so thrilling. Why isn't everyone lining up every opening weekend? He should be a household name by now.

Warren Beatty. Mostly because I want to see him work again one last time. He's getting up there in years (72) and he's only directed four pictures: Heaven Can Wait, Reds, Dick Tracy, Bulworth; none of them looked cheap so he'd need a lot of money to play with. No conditions but if there's another Reds in him, my god it needs to come out.

I'm cheating for the last picture with both conditions, cast and theme. I want a Women's Picture omnibus film. Each entry must be as obsessed with actresses as your average Almodóvar picture and Dianne Wiest must appear in all ten segments.

portraits from Portroids

Other suggested cast members: Kristin Scott Thomas, Julianne Moore, Jane Fonda, Kerry Washington, Samantha Morton, Emmanuelle Béart, Holly Hunter, Ari Graynor, Ludivine Sagnier and Catherine O'Hara. The following 10 directors gets $10 million and 10 minutes for their entry: Lynne Ramsay, Jonathan Demme, Claire Denis, Jane Campion, Richard Linklater, Wes Anderson (but only if it's completely about Angelica Huston), Patrice Chéreau, Brad Bird, Brian de Palma and Jodie Foster (provided her segment is an abbreviated version of Flora Plum. That's the only way we're ever seeing it)

I know that only 20 people would buy tickets but I love all 19 of you who'd join me in the theater.
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Oh Isabella, You Crazy Thing

I'll wrap up those initial Oscar predictions tomorrow! (Frustrating busy day) For now, links...

Green Porno Isabella Rossellini is at it again with Season 2 of her Sundance series. It's so awesomely wrong and fascinating.

When needed I can have an erection that's six feet long.

I'll never understand how she and David Lynch broke up. They seem like soul mates... at least from the perspective of an outside observer. They both push envelopes and effortlessly combine risque adult subjects with such strangely sincere innocence.
Bright Lights explains the difference between Paul Thomas, Paul Thomas Anderson and Paul W.S. Anderson. Important stuff... commit it to memory.
House of Mirth and Movies "The Unofficial Female Film Canon"
Victim of the Time asks 'Whatever Became of Christina Ricci?'
Notes from the Culture Bunker reexperiences Pinnochio (following Some Came Running's lead) and is terrified. I've got to watch that again.
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Happy Birthday, Claudia Wilson Gator

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By whom I mean Melora Walters, the actress who played that character in Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia, who turns 40 today. I know PTA's films - and especially Magnolia - can be a divisive bunch, even around these parts, but Walters will forever and always be etched into my brain as Claudia, swooping across the dinner table to kiss John C. Reilly in a fit of coke-fueled abandon and then mere seconds later asking if he'd mind never seeing her again.

Of course, she might be etched into my memory as that character since, looking through the films she's made since then there are only two things she's been in that I've seen - The Butterfly Effect and Cold Mountain - both of which I have taken great efforts to wipe from my memory.

Apparently she's a recurring character on Big Love though? I do wish I watched that show.

Anyway, a very happy 40th birthday to Melora! I would mind it if I never saw you again! Maybe PTA will use some of his regulars again whenever he decides to make another movie and I can look forward to seeing you there.

PS - Happy Birthday, Princess Leia!

There Will Be First Viewings

I neglected to mention Tuesday that P.T. Anderson's epic There Will Be Blood is now on DVD. That event easily dwarfs the other new releases (awards season non-starters like Reservation Road and Lions for Lambs). Those of you about to fall under its antisocial mesmerizing spell for the first time will certainly want to read about it --if you haven't already spoiled the whole strange thing with a solid 4 months of hype to maneuver yourself around.

It sat atop my top ten list and won 7 gold medals at the Film Experience's annual awards jamboree: Picture, Actor, Adapted Screenplay, Cinematography, Art Direction, Original Score and Line Reading.

If you're seeing it for the first time this week, by all means speak up. If you're seeing it again and have something new to work out, feel free...

Punch-Drunk Link

Bright Lights Film Cotillard vs. Tatou, who will win the French gamine sweepstakes?
Kenneth in the (212) takes the words right out of my mouth in regards to Madonna's induction into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
YTMD Can Luke Skywalker get anything right? Hee
Dave Kehr wishes the new DVD set Forbidden Hollywood didn't have so much Norma Shearer. Nathaniel's Shearer lovin' response: grrrr
I Watch Stuff has seen the Meet Bill poster somewhere before
Fabulon Why is Thombeau always showing me things I want that I can't have? Check out these movie dolls
Reverse Shot doesn't want to play Haneke's Funny Games anymore
Victim of the Time Appreciation of The Lovely Laura Linney reveals the terrible truth about IMDB. Nobody who spends non-research time there knows anything about movies (except for possibly superhero and other genre movies)

And check out this cool tribute to Paul Thomas Anderson films... (thanks, Rob) It's beautifully put together, imaginatively so, even if there's not quite enough of the incredibly sad female characters that man has created in favor of those equally well-written lonely men


Greedy Bastards!
Coming Soon it's official that Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows will be two films. This is one of the worst ideas I've ever heard in the history of franchise greed. The middle act in the book could be summed up in about 2 minutes of screen time. Zzzz. It's such a weirdly paced and padded novel -lots of dead space in the middle, too much crammed in at the end. Why add extra padding for the movies. Just work on the pacing. Oh, right. Money. That's all it's about. Not the desire to make the finale the best film it could be.

Oscar Symposium is a Go! There Will Be Chatter

Please welcome Sasha, Nick, Dennis, Kim, Boyd and Tim to the 3rd Annual Oscar Symposium hosted by Nathaniel (c'est moi) right here @ the Film Experience...


Three to four days of detailed Oscar talk. And we're a go...

DAY ONE
In which our correspondents discuss Daniel Day-Lewis's milkshake, George Clooney's "fixer", nomination morning rituals, The Wizard of Oz, "kabuki" acting, the odd case of sexual draaaaaiiinnnage from 2007 movies and so much more.

Got something to add to the conversation? That's what "post a comment" for. Join in.
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DGA Nominations

and the nominees are...
Paul Thomas Anderson -There Will Be Blood
The Coen Bros -No Country For Old Men
Tony Gilroy -Michael Clayton
Sean Penn -Into the Wild
Julian Schnabel -The Diving Bell and Butterfly

how'd I do on my predictions?
4/5 from the predix I submitted to Tom O'Neill's panel of experts, missing only Julian Schnabel (I still didn't quite believe that Diving Bell had garnered enough steam to compete for Best Picture at the Oscars --I could be wrong) thinking that maybe Reitman would get his first notice for Juno instead --even though I didn't see him making it to Oscar's shortlist.

what it means
The Best Picture race at the Oscars has been combative all season but this is a very good sign for Michael Clayton ... I've been confident about its prospects for months but others haven't so it's nice to see some vindication. Into the Wild and No Country still look like the frontrunners for the win. Schnabel (Diving Bell) and Anderson (Blood) are most definitely in contention for the directors' shortlist --they always were-- even if their films don't come through for Best Picture. Prediction updates will be up tonight in both categories. (my time is finally freeing up this evening)

previous blather
...will be announced very shortly. Refresh your screen to see the results when they come in. The DGA sometimes offers up twists. Complicating the matter is that their list often reads closer to Oscar's eventual Best Picture list than what you'd think of as a directorial list. So you might see names you haven't been hearing under "best director" like, say, Jason Reitman for Juno or Tony Gilroy for Michael Clayton. Or you might just hear the usual suspects: Anderson, Burton, Coen Bros, Penn, Schnabel or Wright. That's 8 names already and we haven't mentioned DGA favorite Ridley Scott. We shall see. News should be up around 1:00 PM EST.
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Giant "100 Times Better Than I Remembered"

I had the pleasure of attending a DGA event for Paul Thomas Anderson's There Will Be Blood the other night. I was just as mesmerized the second time through this mysteriously potent monster and --oops, I didn't take notes. But a couple of things from the interview afterwards stuck with me.


Martin Scorsese was the interviewer, Paul Thomas Anderson the interviewee. Their conversation vacillated from working with Daniel Day-Lewis (both seemed rather awed by him and from the examples cited he sounds more than a little bit like a co-director on his films rather than just an actor) to the difficulties of location shooting and the complex tasks of cinematography, scoring and editing. Scorsese was such a fine choice to interview Anderson and he was well prepared with fascinating questions and anecdotes of his own. It was also amusing to see an old school filmmaking giant paired with a still rising young auteur, both coasts represented. NY: Scorsese; LA: Anderson. One of the draws for Anderson to make There Will Be Blood was that the history of California (his home) has always fascinated him.

They talked influences as artists often do. Robert Altman, to whom There Will Be Blood is dedicated, was cited (of course) and Anderson talked about his understudy gig on A Prairie Home Companion. Though he was there for insurance purposes, Altman too frail during filming to be properly insured, the young director didn't get to do anything but watch. During the conversation they name checked so many films I lost track but I remember hearing The Treasure of the Sierra Madre mentioned a few times and they spent some time discussing the great epic Giant (1956) which is also about oil men.


P.T. said that he rewatched Giant (1956) before filming and found it "a hundred times better" than he had remembered it being though he'd always liked it. I wanted to pop Giant in the DVD player right then and there. It's been ages since I've seen it, too. During the recent screening Anderson found himself most impressed by Rock Hudson. Liz Taylor was also praised but he revealed that he had, as a younger film fanatic, always been firmly focused on James Dean whenever he watched it.

The best movies always do that though, don't they? They shift and shape change, growing right along with us. The best ones reveal themselves anew whenever we pop in for a visit.

Better Get to Linking

It's no secret... I'm not much of a "new years" guy. I don't like the pressure. In most years the first few days of January make me panicky, as in 'ohmygodwhat canyoudo tomakethisyeargreat? whyarent youexercizingthis morning? youpromised tochange yourways do something----ohgod nathaniel get it together! dosomethingimportant timeiswasting! itsday2already and... whathaveyoudone? gah. Nothing' so while I attempt to work around this specific self sabotage quirk, enjoy these links...

Acidemic fascinating piece on the year of Apocalyptic Texas Cinema
In Contention Gerard Kennedy dissects the year's best film scores
Sunset Gun's top ten list
IMDB Tilda Swinton gets her polyamorous freak on
Radio Allegro has a new podcast up and it's all movies. I didn't guest this time but I'll be an enthusiastic listener
The Reeler liveblogs 699 minutes with the king of meandering greatness Paul Thomas Anderson. A worthy but surely destabilizing adventure

European Films Boyd has his top ten 2007 list up. You'll recognize some of the titles even if the movies themselves prove elusive in theaters
Joe's Movie Corner the "endings" blog-a-thon. Finis
The Rec Show, which professes a mysterious dislike of year in reviews, gives a shout out to Cyndi Lauper for a live music highlight from last year. Everybody I ever have known who's had the pleasure to see her live knows she's wondrous. It continues to be one of the top ten mysteries of my entertainment watching life that she's never had a mainstream comeback.

Now Playing: Delusional Oscar Hopefuls

It's here, the last weekend of the year. Or as I like to call it "the annual slaughtering of the movie lambs"... a bunch of random movies inexplicably surface in an already flooded marketplace in some delusional bid at Oscar glory. Meanwhile everyone ignores them in favor of watching Nicolas Cage do his blockbuster shtick (really America? Yeesh) or discussing real Oscar contenders that have already started expanding.

exception to the rule
There Will Be Blood -Paul Thomas Anderson's latest intimatepic is a real deal PICTURE though this might not go as far as people hope with Oscar. Even if AMPAS voters embrace it, it seems like a likely Best Picture shut out --something along the lines of a They Shoot Horses Don't They? or a Hud or even a Children of Men... pictures that they'll recognize as great (who wouldn't?) but that they can't quite go all the way with because they have this hangup about "warm" movies. Which it's not. Plus, Paramount probably erred slightly here opening it up so long after No Country For Old Men giving that film ample time to cement itself as the consensus critical darling. We might have had a real war for that crown if this had entered the popular discussion earlier. Oscar ballots are, remember, just delivered.

Magnolia (1999), P.T. Anderson's last conceivably Oscar-bound piece, also tried its hands at the late December game (though a bit earlier, premiering before Christmas). It drew some "masterpiece" citations but had to settle for 3 nominations (screenplay, supporting actor, original song). There Will Be Blood could follow suit with something like (screenplay, lead actor, original score) but we'll hope that it's more of a force. The technical elements are quite attention grabbing.

non contenders in contenders clothing
The Bucket List and The Great Debaters sweet talked their way into Oscar-punditry consciousness with NBR and Globes mentions, but it's probably game over in both cases now that they're in full view. And, again, the field is already set. That happened a few weeks back.

the delusionals
Honeydripper -Gee... way to bury a John Sayles film, Emerging Pictures. December 28th. Sure you wanna do that?
The Orphanage -This is the Spanish horror film that they want you to think is Pan's Labyrinth Two. I really was going to see this today. The last time I tried (at the NYFF) I had some sort of unusual rush hour train delay and missed out. Today I had a complete and total train stoppage (rare) on my second attempt. I'm not a superstitious person by nature: I'll walk under a ladder or smile if a black cat crosses my path (so cute!) but two strange train incidents on the way to the same movie. I'm giving up. I have too many other movies to get through before my 'year in review' rundown.

other stuff
Alien vs. Predator: Requiem -no comment
Water Horse: Legend of the Deep -no thanks
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There Will Be Whining

I just got back from There Will Be Blood and it's still sinking in. See, P.T. Anderson movies aren't the sort that you can (or at least should) have a fully developed opinion of the second you walk out of the theater. I'm totally suspicious of "masterpiece!" reviews from any critics about any film that they've written within a day of the screening. And from my limited experience with other film critics I can tell you that they usually are. Which means that all reviews are suspect. I wish that I were joking. My apologies if that offends anyone.

Instant overstatements we can blame on the "first!" thing with the self-employed and the deadline thing with the corporate worker bees but it amounts to the same thing: rushed opinion-making. My point is this: There Will Be Blood isn't Enchanted... or, even um Rescue Dawn (which, unless I missed something, is a pretty bare bones and straightforward war drama). Ambitious movies are meant to be grappled with, not flushed out of your system before any nutrients have entered the bloodstream. I still find my opinion of Magnolia shifting slightly on occasion and that came out eight Decembers ago.

This is why I always bitch about awards entities throwing prizes around the second they're done with their last screening. That said, I'm going to have to be a hypocrite and start giving out awards this weekend on account of ... it's almost 2008. Arrrrgh. The year got away from me. The dreaded December deluge defeated me ...again.

Linking Out in the Evening

IndieWire critics polling. There Will Be Blood dominates
Guardian John Patterson reshoots this year's cinema history. I love this post.
Towleroad Channing Tatum and the surge of fight movies
Deep Focus says that There Will Be Blood is a flat out masterpiece, although Boogie Nights is dissed in the process. Which...well, that just ain't right.
The Reeler ...speaking of PTA. He's only in his 30s and he's getting a retrospective in NYC next month. So is his contemporary Apitchatpong "Joe" Weerasethakul
Jim Emerson's Scanners really interesting "guess the top ten list" I can only figure out the top 5.
OMG Kevin Spacey's full moon. omg it's hilarious
Being Boring greatest things about 2007 in no particular order
Lazy Eye Theatre a Christmas wish list
Hollywood Elsewhere on audience shock when Sweeney Todd starts singing. I've long since given up hope on American audiences but it's not like the studios aren't partially to blame. They encourage the ignorance.

I was gazing at this 1948 Life Cover on Flickr "New Male Movie Stars Montgomery Clift". It made me smile and made me curious. That was a plural. Who was on the inside? Didn't anyone know who they were by 1955? And then I got a little sad. And it reminded me of the Vanity Fair series I'm doing... everything that's new today will be yesterday's news will one day be classic and then will one day be gone. *sniffle* This is hardly revelatory news. Just a reminder. god, what is it about holidays that bring out less than totally joyous feelings?

Naked Gold Man: Fear of 1999 Redux

He's 13 1/2 inches tall. He wears only a sword. He's shiny. Everybody wants him. A new weekly Sunday series --my attempt to keep Oscar discussion corraled in the weekends until we're truly in the season.

Previously: The Supporting Actress Stock Shortage

I’ve never met an Oscar devotee who didn’t have pet peeves about or outright disdain for some element of the whole circus they stay enthralled by. With the Academy of Motion Pictures Arts and Sciences and their external “fans” for lack of a better word -- it’s not really the right word – Oscar season, night, nominations, wins inevitably lead to a love/hate relationship. Dedicated long term viewers develop pet years where they feel especially grateful to the Academy for surprisingly good decisions, a particularly satisfying nomination that wasn’t a foregone conclusion or indelible moments within the actual ceremony but, flip side now, they’ll also have the bizarro version of all of those things: decisions that continue to rattle one’s psycho with their boneheadedness. Certain years haunt like clingy unwelcome poltergeists, always threatening to wreak havoc in the repeating, tossing good films to the side violently and sliding mediocrities into the center and forefront. 1999 is just such a year for me. I always fear that its specter will return. Will 2007 go there?

I’ll be more specific. There’s a solid block of cinephiles and critics who praised 1999 to the heavens at the time for its wide array of “masterpieces”. I was less enthusiastic about the year as a whole having reservations about many of the hosanna’d but there was no denying that the films people became wildly enthusiastic about were worth discussing and contemplating, even if you fell on the negative or reserved praise side of the divide. What a vivid array of films the Academy could choose from: Fight Club, Eyes Wide Shut, The Iron Giant, Run Lola Run, All About My Mother, Being John Malkovich, Election, Three Kings, American Beauty, Magnolia, The Insider, The Straight Story, Topsy Turvy, Boys Don’t Cry, The Blair Witch Project to name a dozen or so of the year’s most loved/argued about pictures, an all you can eat buffet of real cinema. The Oscars saved room for fast food.

Read the Rest... I fear for No Country For Old Men and There Will Be Blood
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