Paul Thomas Anderson
-
Trailer Watch: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Phantom Thread
“There is an air of quiet death in this house.” In the 1950s London of Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest feature, Phantom Thread, Daniel Day-Lewis is an exacting dress maker and Vicky Krieps is his latest muse. In these two minutes, their relationship is marked by a guarded formality but there’s just enough here to suggest something more than a stately period romance of sorts. We’ll have to wait until Christmas — or the next trailer — to find out more….
by Scott Macaulay on Oct 23, 2017 -
Laughing Matters (and Not)
The Squid and the Whale The Squid and the Whale was, for Noah Baumbach, a rare and blessed thing: an honest to god new beginning. Baumbach’s directing career started strong (his first two films, Kicking and Screaming and Mr. Jealousy, were both released before he turned 30) but sat idle for eight years between Mr. Jealousy and the 2005 Sundance premiere of The Squid and the Whale, which brought Baumbach back with a passion. Watching the film, you get the sense that the wasteland years created within him a burning passion to scream this autobiographical story as furiously as possible […]
by Filmmaker Staff on Oct 20, 2016 -
Watch: “Radiohead: The Secrets of Daydreaming“
Paul Thomas Anderson’s excellent video for Radiohead’s “Daydreaming” gets broken down in this video essay by Rishi Kaneria. While his analysis involves some questionable number crunching — and specifically the number 23, which calls to mind all kinds of conspiracy theories — it’s also a solid analysis of the easter eggs in the video that tell the story of the dissolution of Thom Yorke’s longterm relationship.
by Filmmaker Staff on Aug 18, 2016 -
Watch: Paul Thomas Anderson’s New Radiohead Video, Daydreaming
Auteur Paul Thomas Anderson, for whom Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood scored his There Will Be Blood, has directed the band’s new video, which has dropped just days after their stop-motion animated clip for debut single Burn the Witch. Check out Dreaming above.
by Scott Macaulay on May 6, 2016 -
Quentin Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson Talk 70mm on Christmas Eve
One of the nice things about a Weinstein Company Christmas Day release of a film by Quentin Tarantino (The Hateful Eight) is that the accompanying marketing material is necessarily cinephilic. Take this yuletide chat between Tarantino and Paul Thomas Anderson, shot in Tarantino’s home theater and moderated by Deadline’s Pete Hammond. Over forty minutes long, it deals with topics like the lifespan of the celluloid format (Tarantino says it has experienced “a reprieve”) as well why both he and Anderson like using the format for shooting films largely set in interiors. Check it out above.
by Scott Macaulay on Dec 25, 2015 -
NYFF Critics’ Notebook: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Junun
I don’t think it’s unreasonable to speculate that any director, following his second ambitious, divisive high-profile theatrical underperformer/probable money-loser (or anyone fresh off a recently completed production, really), might generally welcome a chance to get out of town. It’s unclear how far in advance Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood planned to go to Rajasthan to collaborate on an album with Israeli-born, Indian-residing Sufi convert Shye Ben Tzur, or whether Paul Thomas Anderson initially committed to tagging along; regardless, it seems to have been restorative fun. Junun is a 54-minute music doc in which Anderson shoots whatever he wants, however he wants to. There are five credited camera operators, including Anderson […]
by Vadim Rizov on Oct 8, 2015 -
Watch: Paul Thomas Anderson’s Extreme Close-Ups
Here’s a thorough, succinct look at the rather particular use of extreme close-ups in the films of Paul Thomas Anderson. Note how they are almost never routine inserts or signifiers — there’s always a motion to the shot, either within the frame or as the camera pushes in toward its subject. Check it out above.
by Sarah Salovaara on Aug 13, 2015 -
Watch: A New P.T. Anderson Music Video for Joanna Newsom
Paul Thomas Anderson’s music video for Joanna Newsom’s new single is very much in the loose handheld mode of Inherent Vice. Newsom wanders Manhattan while reeling off some typically complicated lyrics and the camera follows in her wake. Her new album, Divers, is out on October 23.
by Filmmaker Staff on Aug 10, 2015 -
Watch: Long Shots and Adrift Characters in the Films of Paul Thomas Anderson
Not to go overboard with the Paul Thomas Anderson supercuts (but to go a little overboard with the Paul Thomas Anderson supercuts), here is a nice essay from Jacob T. Swinney that strings together a selection of long shots from the director’s first six films — a nice contrast to his application of close-ups in Boogie Nights. Emphasizing the unmoored nature of Anderson’s characters both psychologically and contextually, Swinney notes that “We are often presented with characters lost within the frame, and therefore have trouble connecting with said characters–we become isolated ourselves.”
by Sarah Salovaara on Feb 27, 2015 -
Watch: Objects and Close-Ups in Boogie Nights
This one’s zippy: a two-minute supercut of close-ups of objects and gestures in Boogie Nights, mostly the former. Taken out of context, a formidable amount of art direction and fetishistically shiny framing comes to the forefront. Entitled “Boogie Nights — Close-ups, Objects etc.,” this is the first video uploaded to the Vimeo channel of Justin Barham, who notes, plaintively, “If I knew people were going to actually see it I’d have given it a cool title.”
by Filmmaker Staff on Feb 24, 2015
