Inherent Vice (4/10): The First time I was disappointed with a PTA film

“She came along the alley and up the back steps the way she always used to. Doc hadn't seen her for over a year. Nobody had.”

Before I get a lot of hate for disliking this film I just want to say that I have a lot of respect for Paul Thomas Anderson as a director and have rated all of his previous films with at least four out of five stars. Inherent Vice was one of my most anticipated films for 2014 because his recent movies have been mesmerizing. The Master and There Will Be Blood are both films that I absolutely love. Inherent Vice unfortunately didn’t work for me and I had a very difficult time keeping up with the movie’s plot. I was unfamiliar with Thomas Pynchon’s recent novel which this film was adapted from, and perhaps the movie works best for audiences who have read it, but I just couldn’t follow what was going on. There are many characters who seem to be mumbling their lines and stoned out of their lives, so at times it was hard to figure out wether we were seeing actual events or simple hallucinations. I also had difficulty understanding a lot of the dialogue and found the pacing extremely slow. I put a lot of effort into trying to understand the plot of the film, but I simply didn’t get it. The comedy didn’t work for me either and at times I felt like I was missing a lot of the jokes everyone else seemed to enjoy. It was one of the rare films that I thought I wasn’t going to be able to finish, because I felt tempted to walk out of the movie. I kept with it out of the respect I have for Anderson’s work, but in all honesty I wasn’t able to engage with the characters.

There are some great performances in Inherent Vice. Joaquin Phoenix is impressive and delivers a solid and believable role as Doc Sportello, a private eye who is constantly getting high. Josh Brolin also delivers as Bigfoot, the tough detective who is always on Doc’s back. Katherine Waterston plays this sort of femme fatale who had been Doc’s girlfriend in the past and needs his help investigating her current lover (Played by Eric Roberts). I don’t want to get into details into the plot because it isn’t really important in Inherent Vice. This isn’t your conventional detective mystery story. The narration is hard to follow and many characters are introduced in the story with no specific purpose other than to invade Doc’s world. 

Anderson tends to choose projects that center on the end of an era, and in Inherent Vice it revolves around the end of the psychedelic 60’s. You get this sense of nostalgia towards that era where the hippies dominated the scene. Anderson does a great job at capturing that period very well and he transports us to this time. It is perhaps the greatest thing about this film along with the strong performances, but the lack of a cohesive narrative and its extremely long running time made it very difficult for me to endure. This is the first Anderson film that I have to admit I didn’t enjoy and that I won’t be revisiting any time soon. The story is completely absurd and the humor wasn’t for me. I kind of feel like I’m the odd one out when everyone else is praising the comedy because I simply never got it. It was a very boring and non engaging experience personally, but I still haven’t lost my respect for what Anderson does. I just wasn’t interested in these character and wasn’t able to follow the story (which I think is purposely done this way). I think The Big Lebowski does a much better job of creating a fun experience for the audience with engaging characters without having an important plot. 

My Review: The Immigrant (6/10)

"Don't give up the faith, don't give up the hope. The American dream is waiting for you."

The Immigrant is Joaquin Phoenix's fourth collaboration with James Gray in the director's chair, although this time the lead role went to the beautiful and talented Marion Cotillard who gives a subtle melodramatic performance without going over the top. She always delivers great work and watching her alongside Joaquin Phoenix was near perfection. The major problem I had with this film was that the story really didn't engage me despite the potential it had. The Immigrant takes the American dream premise and turns it upside down by focusing on characters who were much less fortunate during that time. Despite the great performances I never warmed up to the characters and found the melodrama a bit tedious. I'm on the minority when I say this because critics have fallen in love with Gray's work, whose fan base has been growing over the years. I still prefer his earlier film, We Own the Night, but this is the film he will probably be remembered for from now on. It was a bit disappointing for me, although I did enjoy a couple of scenes (especially Phoenix's revelation near the end) and the talented actors who were cast in this film. The 20's atmosphere created by Gray didn't really impress me either, but there is enough here to give it a mild recommendation. 

The screenplay co-written by Gray and Ric Menello (who also collaborated with Gray in Two Lovers) begins by introducing us to two polish sisters, Ewa (Marion Cotillard) and Magda (Angela Sarafyan), who have just arrived at Ellis Island from Poland. Their dreams of a better life are shattered when the officials take Magda away because they discover she has tuberculosis. Ewa isn't allowed entrance either because the officials claim that the address where they were supposed to stay (their aunt and uncle's home) doesn't exist and that no one from their family is here to account for her. A man named Bruno (Joaquin Phoenix) happens to be there at the right time and offers her an opportunity to stay with him. Having no other option she accepts. Bruno takes advantage of the situation and tricks the innocent Ewa into working for him as a prostitute. Wanting to save her sister, she will do what it takes but Bruno is a deceiving man who has fallen for her. When Bruno's charming and charismatic cousin, Orlando (Jeremy Renner), arrives he teaches her not to lose hope and have faith that she will be able to meet her sister again. But Bruno isn't too happy with Orlando's arrival and sees him as a potential threat so a jealous rivalry ensues and so the plot thickens.

Jeremy Renner was perhaps my favorite character in this film and I enjoyed his performance. Perhaps it helped that he had a likable character and was the less restrained of the actors, but I thought he was the highlight of this film. I really enjoyed Phoenix and Cotillard, but Renner was the one that helped me get engaged with the story. The scene near the end is perhaps my favorite moment and by far Phoenix's best performance in the film. Phoenix is such a talented actor and he has made a lot of great films so this performance might be forgotten over time, but Cotillard does shine in her first English language lead performance. The scene where she is confessing her sins to a priest is the one that audiences will remember her for. It would have been very tempting and easy for her to be more melodramatic in a harsh film like this, but she gives a restrained performance that allowed the story to feel more real and believable. I still think she is better in the roles she gets in foreign films, but this was a great opportunity for her. The Immigrant has a pretty straightforward narrative with melodramatic moments that would have failed tremendously if it wasn't for the cast who managed to pull off believable performances. 

My Review: Her (8/10)

"She's not just a computer."

Her is a beautiful and melancholic film written and directed by Spike Jonze which benefits from a wonderful and sweet performance from Joaquin Phoenix (who goes through a 180 degree transformation from his disturbed and troubling character in The Master to this sympathetic one) and one of the best voice performances I've seen on screen from Scarlett Johansson. I wonder if this film would've worked without her considering that Samantha Morton was originally the voice of Samantha, and only during the editing process did Jonze feel something was missing and decided to recast Johansson. In a film like Her where the need for connection is vital, Jonze found it between Phoenix and Johansson creating a believable and unique love story. It is a touching film that the audience can identify with because it deals with universal themes such as trying to move on from past relationships that we thought would last forever and the void that's left from it. Phoenix captures that melancholy perfectly through his facial expressions contrasted with those flashback scenes where he seemed blissfuly in love. This need for connection is perfectly represented in this film, which also manages to introduce a social commentary as to where we seem to be heading with all the technological advances. The sci-fi elements work really well because we definitely seem to be heading towards this futuristic world and Jonze blends those elements with this beautiful and sad love story. Her is philosophical at times and despite turning into a pretty much standard love story halfway through the film it still manages to be a great meditation on our need as humans for establishing connections (and they no longer need to be human connections). Her is a genuinely nostalgic romantic film that manages to touch its audience and speak to the heart.

The story centers on Theodore (Joaquin Phoenix) a letter writer who's been separated from his wife Catherine (Rooney Mara) for an year, but still hasn't found the strength to sign the divorce papers. He is very good at his job as he excels at expressing feelings through letters, but he's not doing so well at managing his own feelings around others. He is rather lonely and spends most of his time playing video games when he's not at work. He does have a very close friendship with his neighbors, Amy (Amy Adams) and Charles (Matt Letscher), especially with Amy as they both seem to share a sort of brother sisterly kind of love. His life turns around when he purchases a new artificially intelligent operating system, OS1, and immediately connects with Samantha (Scarlett Johansson), the voice behind the system. As they continue to spend more time together they begin falling in love with each other which excites Theodore because he's starting to feel alive again, but at the same time fills him with doubts and fears as he's conflicted about having a relationship with an operating system. Samantha also begins to grow intellectually as she experiences new things and is capable of having human emotions. Their unconventional love is what's explored in this film as the two connect and bond with each other.

Jonze has crafted a very unique and original story which I found to be a great psychological study on human relations. I wish I would've connected more with this film as I've found it to be on most of my friends top 10 lists for best films of the year, and despite liking this film quite a bit it still didn't manage to make my list. The premise is very interesting and Jonze directs this film masterfully, but I couldn't help and feel that halfway through the film it does become a rather conventional love story (at times it felt like a normal long distance relationship) with some familiar trials that couples go through. I actually never felt a true connection in their relationship until a key moment near the end of the film and that is where I really bought their love story. The elements I connected the most with where the nostalgic feelings of lost love as we got to see some interesting flashbacks between Theodore and Catherine. I also loved the score of this film, the music was lovely and touching. I also enjoyed the social commentary quite a bit which never felt forced. The scene where Theodore is worried about how he will be perceived by his friends for having a relationship like this and how relieved he is when Amy approves is proof that we not only seek connections in life, but we also search for social approval. It's a clever and melancholic film and one that we can all come out of experiencing something completely different (and that is a good thing).

My Review: The Master (9/10)

¨If you figure out a way to live without a master, any master, be sure to let the rest of us know, for you would be the first in the history of the world.¨

The Master is a magnetic and hypnotic film, one that is definitely not for the casual viewer and that will require multiple viewings if you want to grasp the many different meanings of the film. I am not sure I really understood everything, but I can honestly say that I was hooked from the beginning and attracted to these characters that were searching for answers in life in an unusual way. Paul Thomas Anderson himself has become a master in directing these films with multiple meanings and interpretations through his character studies. He takes more time than other directors (this was made five years after There Will Be Blood, and 10 years after Punch-Drunk Love) and this is only his sixth feature film since he began directing in 1996 (between 96 and 99 he directed three films: Sydney, Boogie Nights, and Magnolia). He has slowed down and taken time with his movies now trying to perfect his craft by creating fully developed characters. Anderson has created a fan base and critics tend to love his films, but his movies aren’t for everyone as they require a serious audience because they can be challenging at times. Another thing Anderson has learned to do very well over time is to get the best performance from his actors. In There Will Be Blood, Daniel Day Lewis was spectacular, in Punch-Drunk Love we saw Adam Sandler give the performance of his life time, and now in The Master Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman give tremendous and powerful performances. Their characters in this film are what make this movie so hypnotic and engaging. They have tremendous chemistry together and there are several hidden meanings behind their performances open to various interpretations. They had a tremendous script to work with as well since Anderson has become a master at creating these challenging character studies. This is a very smart and well crafted film and one that you need to pay close attention too.  

We are introduced from the very opening scene to a World War II naval veteran, Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), who seems to have suffered a very traumatic experience. He´s an alcoholic, in one scene we even see him drinking gasoline from the ship, and he is constantly mixing alcohol with toxic substances. He´s a very disturbed and troubled man suffering from PTSD breakdowns, we see him having trouble to adapt to normal society picking fights with his customers while working as a photographer and constantly drinking and thinking about sex. He has an incident where he might have killed a man when he offered him one of his poisonous drinks which he has learned to digest. While running away from a couple of men after that incident he hides out on a ship where he´s introduced to a sort of strange cult known as The Cause. He befriends Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), who the rest of the crew call the Master, and the two take a liking for each other. The Master is a very charismatic leader who finds in Freddie someone who he can help to clear his emotions. Through a series of questions which the master calls processing he tries to help Freddie. Freddie becomes part of the movement as he joins Lancaster and his wife, Peggy (Amy Adams) as sort of their right hand man. The Cause begins to grow thanks to the Master´s leadership, but Freddie still has trouble controlling his emotions and alcohol abuse. The only person in the cult that seems to like Freddie is the Master himself, who seems to be coming up with his ideas as he goes along with the movement. Freddie himself has some doubts about the movement as they go along.

This is really a fascinating psychological drama with some of the greatest performances of the year. Phoenix´s physical performance stands out above the rest, but Hoffman is so charismatic that he even attracts the viewer and makes us stick with this confounding film. It demands the viewer’s complete attention, and in the end it rewards it with a fascinating ending open to many interpretations. There are several outstanding scenes like the processing scene where Hoffman questions Phoenix and brings up some things about his disturbed past. The scenes these two actors share together are all memorable; among my favorites are the jail scene and the final scene between them in London. Everything happening here can be processed in very different ways, but it really did satisfy me. Many people have said this was going to be a film about scientology, and there are perhaps some underlying hints that can make you think that way, but most of all it is a character study between two men who seem to have problems of their own. I felt that by the ending of the film, despite Freddie´s consistent troubles, he in a way tries to become a master himself. Perhaps he is the future Ron Hubbard, but of course the film is open to several different interpretations. This is a movie that hooks you from the beginning and will have you thinking about it long after the credits role. That is how you measure a truly successful film.

   

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My Review: Reservation Road (5/10)

“To find the truth, you have to find who's hiding it”

Reservation Road is one of the last three movie`s Joaquin Phoenix acted in before announcing his retirement from acting (which I still don`t know if I believe or if it`s just a publicity stunt for the documentary that Casey Affleck is directing about his life as a musician, I`m Still Here). It is a pity such a talented actor wasn`t able to leave the circus with a bang, although we have Gladiator and Walk the Line to remember him by. In Reservation Road he gives a pretty decent performance along with the rest of the cast, but the material they had to work with was just not good enough. Much more could have been done with such a talented cast considering Mark Ruffalo and Jennifer Connelly were also in this film. The film is based on John Burnham Schwartz`s novel, who co-wrote the screenplay along with director Terry George. George has received two Oscar nominations in the past for writing (In the Name of the Father and Hotel Rwanda), but this time the writing just didn`t translate right to the big screen. There were too many coincidences that didn`t seem very believable and the movie felt really long considering we were all expecting how the movie was going to end. It was as if they stretched the film way too much, it began as a sad drama focusing on the guilt and mourning of the characters and by the end it tried to be a thriller with unrealistic situations and coincidences. It began with great promise, but the movie began to lose itself which is a pity because the cast was excellent.

The movie opens with two parallel stories; first we are introduced to the Learner family who are attending their son`s concert. Josh (Sean Curley) plays the cello and his proud parents Ethan (Joaquin Phoenix), a college professor, and Grace (Jennifer Connelly) are listening attentively. Their daughter Emma (Elle Fanning, Dakota`s younger sister) is also at the recital and after it`s over the family begins to head back home. At the same time, Dwight (Mark Ruffalo) is attending a baseball game with his son Lucas (Eddie Alderson). They are both Red Sox fans and the game has gone to extra innings. Dwight`s ex-wife, Ruth (Mira Sorvino), is worried that they are taking so long and calls Dwight telling them it is time he brings her son back home. After the game Dwight and his son head back home, but something happens that will change both families life`s forever. The Learner`s stop at a gas station in Reservation Road because Emma has to go the bathroom and while they are waiting, Josh gets out of the car and is unexpectedly hit by an SUV and killed. The driver happens to be Dwight who realizes what has happened but is so scared that he drives on with his son Lucas who never realizes what happened. The movie develops from this terrible accident where Ethan and Grace cope differently with their son`s death, while Dwight is haunted by guilt and considering whether or not he should turn himself in to the police.

The plot seems interesting and the movie could have been great considering the cast was very talented and they all did an excellent job at transmitting their emotions. The characters were interesting, but the problem I had with the movie was that there were too many coincidences. First of all Dwight`s ex wife was Josh`s music teacher, Josh and Lucas went to the same school together, and when Ethan hires lawyers to help find the hit and run driver he just happens to hire the firm for which Dwight works for and he is assigned the case. The film really loses itself after awhile when it tries to swift from being a dramatic character study to a thriller. It should have stuck with focusing on the emotional aspect that each character had to deal with considering that the actors were doing just fine with that. Reservation Road ends up being a forgettable film and just another one that looked a lot better in the trailers. I really hope Joaquin Phoenix decides to return to doing what he does best which is making movies. Mark Ruffalo is always a reliable actor and he does a great job in this film. I would only recommend this movie to those of you who are fans of these actors because they show a small glimpse of their great talent in this film, although it is a pity that the movie switched gears in the second half. Reservation Road is a forgettable movie.

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