Paul Thomas Anderson is an American film director, producer, and screenwriter. Born in Los Angeles, he developed an interest in filmmaking from a young age. He made his feature-film debut with Hard Eight (1996). He found critical and commercial success with Boogie Nights (1997)
Paul Thomas Anderson is a Director who knows his stuff. He focuses more on Characters rather than the plot and while giving his characters depth he beautifully rotates the plot around perfectly crafted characters... For most of the times I've seen PTA hit the mark perfectly and the way he focuses on relationships in his movies is beyond perfect.
Here is a Ranking of Paul Thomas Anderson's Filmography according to my understanding and taste
8- Hard Eight
PTA's Earliest Feature Length tries to explore the Life of Sydney but remains quite surface level with the approach and rather than having a true meaning this movie feels shallow
PTA wanted to go with the name sydney at first and I would say that both of the titles have a different meaning to them.. be it Hard Eight or Sydney... But the point of view title Hard Eight provides does not quite live upto the Character study nature of the movie as Sydney does... although Hard Eight quite depicts the point where sydney has lost his prime but the title sydney actually works beyond that, it actually talks about sydney in all his ranges be it prime or his fall (somewhat) cause it is just the character's name, nothing more, Hard Eight on the other side is just an incident in entire run... So it being a proper character study, I would side with the title "Sydney" But then again PTA was forced to have the name to Hard Eight. And Although the name doesn't translate into movie being good or bad but it does enhance the feeling of viewer attached with the movie
So the Hard Eight stays at Last because of not being as well made as PTA's others
7- Inherent Vice
As Nolan says for his movie tenet "Don't try to understand it, feel it" fits cleverly for this movie. Although the main actor Joaquin himself feels confused at moments, Inherent Vice turns out to be an extremely fun adventure
To be honest, When I was introduced to this movie I watched this 3times in a row... i couldnt guess what the actual plot was.... In first two watches, I was finding the plot, but in the third watch I followed the character (as guided by some cinema mates) and I would say I really enjoyed it in the third time Its a comedy mainly and it does justice to its genre, most of the jokes landed for me, especially the Photo one or the last Josh Brolin scene This movie does have a story or a plot but that is so vague that if someone tries to understand it he might get a stroke So as an advice I can only say that follow the character of Joaquin and you are in for a crazy crazy ride
6- Phantom Thread
A movie exploring a toxic relationship with beautiful Cinematography and perfect performances
This movie marks retirement of DDL and crashes my dream of watching him on big screen at least once... DDL as always is immersed in his character so much that you cant really say that he is acting or is he for real like that... Vicky Kreips as Alma really does a commendable job in what she is given, poisoning her husband, she really does great in her role, I'd kill the person trying to poison DDL but here if he himself doesnt have any problem what can we say PTA writes his characters in such depth that it feels like they are real people and not just some characters written on paper.. PTA gives importance to the characters and in term makes a really compelling story around them
PTA explores the relations beautifully and shows us how a Toxic Relationship was beneficial for a Couple that in normal circumstances would've parted ways
5- The Master
More than anything else this movie features 3 Legends and 3 Legendary performances namely PSH, Joaquin and Amy Adams.
This movie talks about a religion, submission, puppetry, past, love, exhaustion, therapies, alcohol and many more subjects and does that in a great manner.... I love how PTA showed Master Sentimental for his religion and I loved how puppetry was shown throughout, Every master is a puppet to some other master... and I love how PTA connected the dots between Love and that therapy... I loved How PTA kept it as realistic as possible.... I loved how he showed that no one waits long enough
People usually just praise Joaquin for what he did in this movie and Although i do agree that this was his finest work but according to me PSH's performance was far more composed and he leveled Joaquin in every way possible And that's not even the worst twist... Most of the eople who praise PSH forget that Amy Adams existed in this movie while according to me she nailed her role and her acting even tho wasn't as great as the other two but still was subtle worthy enough to be called Perfection
4- Magnolia
Its rain Frogs. Keeping that aside this movie really well explores the relations and it surprisingly has the best Tom Cruise Performance
The movie talks about past, regrets, relations, reservations, traumas, and things that actually happened... I mean really it did happen, There are sequences where you question yourself that is it for real but at the same time you get you answers that really, it is real.. at points you think that this is fiction, how can this be true then after a bit of research you'll come to conclusion that really it did happen and it is strange but it did happen My Favorite thing about this movie is the efforts PTA put in developing the characters, each and every character was well written and well developed as well as perfectly directed... PTA is a genius in case of writing characters and directing his characters... And I love the way they all land at their places The story doesn't feel connected but it surely is connected in the fact that everyone is dealing with some kind of regrets but crazily enough it taught me something that text books never did that it rains Frogs. It does and I know it, know it because of Magnolia
3- Boogie Nights
In short words, if I had to explain this movie, it would be Goodfellas but instead of Mob we got P*rn Industry
This movie shows how chaotic lives can be, it talks about how high a person can go, it talks about relations, it talks about struggles, it talks about backstage lives of cast and crew members, it talks about how low a person can go, It talks about evolution in industry, this talks about Karma... This movie talks about all that along with many more things in great manner that you actually will symphathize with all of them at points
I would say PTA hits it out of the park with his direction with this one, every decision he took was on point.... I love how he goes after characters rather than following the plot strictly but following the characters in terms glorifies the plot itself.. and that is the beauty of PTA's writing, everything fits in perfectly.
2- Punch Drunk Love
The most Visually Rich movie of PTA with beautiful Sandler Performance and a Perfect Mattress Man cameo. It feels like every frame talks with you
This one defines Masterpiece... Punch Drunk Love is actually definition of "A-R-T".... Each and every aspect is sheer perfection and is an epitome of brilliance... After seeing this movie you get to know the brilliance of PTA's decision making sound and clear... The subtely is evident in each and every frame of this one This one talks about Love, power of love, awkwardness, oppressive nature of relations, how the oppressiveness can turn a sane person socially awkward... This one goes beyond a romantic movie and dives into being a character study as well, that too is done in a great manner Costume, props and set designs needs a special mention before anything else, how well a director can talk with audience with help of designs, contrasts, sets, colors can be seen here evidently... Each and every thing talks and gives out information about either the character or the scene or the situation... This one is by far Visual Storytelling at its peak
1- There will be Blood
What happens when PTA gets his hands on a great script with perfectly written characters and a perfect plot, he creates a Giant out of it. With the best performance of all time from Daniel Day Lewis and another Brilliant performance by Paul Dano, This movie becomes one of the best movies of all time and by far the peak of both PTA and DDL.
This movie sheds the light on relations, search of relations, greediness, business booms, revenge, hard work, business and many more subjects... PTA really puts forward this in a kind of serious mode, although there are a few joyous sequences but it has kind of serious tone as compared to his previous works which all have somewhat of slight comical relief too but this one seems strict in nature and that is what makes it different and intense (Although every other PTA movie is intense too but this one is on another level of intensity) Story is really well written and is compact in nature... It is very profound and got true representation of many morals like "Greed is Curse", "Happiness is only real when shared", "Pride hath a fall" and several others... Screenplay was great, every scene was given good space and every scene was well edited.
So What is your favorite PTA movie?
By @cinemaa.wiz
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