For the real film buffs among us, especially F2:
Saw this film last night. Paul Thomas Anderson wrote it and directed, even doing most of the cinematography himself because his cinematographer, Robert Elswit, whose shot all his other films, was unavailable. Paul writes his own films so to also be cinematographer, well don’t know how he does so much. You might know the name from his films, Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Punch Drunk Love with Adam Sandler, or his last film Inherent Vice. Phantom is the second time Paul and Daniel Day Lewis have paired up. Their last venture together was There Will Be Blood. All of Paul’s films are phenomenal, and this one is no exception. He is one of the best 2-3 directors alive in my opinion and I see some of Stanley Kubrick in his work. Boogie Nights and Magnolia are some of the best films I have ever seen. They had a party for the film recently in Hollyweird, shortly after the Globes. When reading up on the film it was amazing to learn of all the other directors that attended. Paul Thomas Anderson commands a lot of respect. He is no Kubrick, but his work is genius and the other directors know it. He doesn’t make a lot of films but when he does they pay attention.
In Phantom Thread, Daniel Day Lewis, per his usual, steals the show. He plays an extremely complicated individual. A fashion designer with his own fashion house in the 50’s. His clients are royalty and the famous. A very exhaustive occupation, coupled with a very unique upbringing makes a complicated and detailed man that only Daniel could play. A very irregular man who does not like his time wasted or anything in his day changed. I can’t think of another actor who could perform this role. Daniel’s acting was cold and calculating.
Vicky Krieps plays his love interest Alma. Never seen her before and this will be a breakout role for her leading to a lot of work. Her performance was without flaws and acted like she is 20 years older. She is also very beautiful. Same for Lesley Manville, playing Woodcock’s sister and co-owner of his business. She is as cold and calculating as her brother and really blew me away with her performance as well. She plays a stern, cold, and calculating woman who does not like compromises. Most of the film these two women and Lewis, and the acting was flawless by the trio. I can’t remember when I have seen a film of just a couple of actors carry the whole film and do it with this level of expertise. If I try to find anything wrong, I fail, almost a perfect film.
The cinematography was beautiful, the colors, lighting, capturing the 50’s in England. You feel right there, 1060’s England. The score was also absolutely brilliant and scored perfectly. Definitely one of the best films of 2017, top 3 of the year. It’s a near flawless film. Good story, extremely well written, beautifully directed, acted, and scored. 9/10 stars. This is a dialogue film, so expect slow but extremely steady pacing, with some humor at just the right time for breaks in the extreme intensity. Paul’s films are always intense, but relish and soak in any frame, because the man makes film frame by frame, every single frame, important, and detailed, and I mean every single detail. Paul writes books with his films. I will definitely be seeing this again when it hits disc.
Sadly, it may be Daniel Day Lewis’s last film. He is only 60, and in his prime, so if it’s his last I will not like it. Losing Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and Heath Ledger, well I hate to see someone else leave the screens of this caliber because there numbers are getting fewer and fewer.
But if it is indeed his last he went out on the very top of his game and he could not have chosen a better project and director to work with for his last. Paul is his equal in the directing world. Up until I saw this, Oldman was a shoe in for best actor at the Oscars. After seeing this film, Lewis, imo, should get his 4th Oscar, and put him up with Streep as the goat or one of the goats. Daniel submerges himself into his work and becomes the person he is playing to the point you don’t know Daniel anymore and only know the character. Bill the Butcher, Daniel Plainview, Abraham Lincoln, Hawkeye, John Proctor, Danny Flynn, Newland Archer, Gerry Conlon, Christy Brown, and now Reynolds Woodcock. Thank Danny, your work will be remembered for centuries.
What am I doing? I'm talking to an empty telephone
