PT. Anderson

I thought that was exactly what makes a good filmmaker

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Hard Eight (Sydney, 1996)



Grade: B+

Boogie Nights (1997)



Grade: B

Magnolia (1999)



Grade: B

Punch Drunk Love (2002)



Grade: B+

There Will Be Blood (2008)



Grade: A

Except for the clear and obvious flaws of completely and utterly ripping of Altman and Scorsese, most present in Magnolia. Magnolia has so many similarities to Short Cuts, it's ridiculous, up to and including the bizarre "act of God" ending.

You talk about how technically adept he is, and you are right, but he swiped much of his technical style from Scorsese's films. Again, Magnolia is the worst in this aspect.

That said... I like his stuff. He is certainly not a hack or a bad director, and I think he is a good, if not original, writer. I like the pacing of his films and I have to give props to a guy that takes on a project as difficult to put together as Boogie Knights and pulls it off.

In fact, I would say he is probably one of the better writer/directors working today, but he clearly owes a whole helluva lot to Altman and Scorsese.

I do own and like a lot of his flicks, though. He writes great comedy scenes, as well as some very touching personal scenes that hit home.

You know what they say - If you are going to borrow, borrow from the greats, so I can't completely dislike the dude for lifting so much, but I certainly won't agree with him being some sort of God-like director.

There Will be Blood was stellar, by the by. Arguably his best work, with lots of help from Daniel-Day Lewis.

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I'm going to jump in here for a minute. I can forgive "rip-offs" of style. Especially when the director confesses to ripping things off stylistically. Regardless it's done well. The reason why I love PT Anderson and don't consider him a hack like Taraterpentine, is because he DOES NOT rip off stories. The theme of cancer is in Magnolia and that came from his own life with his father who died of cancer and his good friend, who played The Colonel in Boogie Nights. His content is his own. I guess I'm more about content.

So what? Scorsese "ripped" on Italian Neorealism in Raging Bull looking at films like Year Zero and The Bicycle Thief. Big deal. Taxi Driver was a "ripp" of film noir.



And he certainly does... also Jonathan Demme. Listen to any of his audio commentaries on the DVDs.

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What exactly did he rip from Scorsese ? Well thought out kinetic camera-work ? In that case I'd wish most directors would rip off Scorsese

Hey, like I said, if you are going to "borrow"...

Viddy - Good to see you around! How are things in Viddy-land?

RE: Magnolia - I really think he took a whole helluva lot from Short Cuts as far as the general outline/form of the film, as well as character construction and development.

He has borrowed a lot, true. But he has done it with such style, skill and precision that you can easily forgive the lack of originality.

I also like that his characters are really personal. I agree that his earlier works had more characters than he really needed, but it's his technical skill and pacing that makes spectating them more than bearable.

And for the record, the more I think about There WIll Be Blood, the more I dislike it. I mean, excellent performances, yeah, but I certainly couldn't relate to any of the characters and it just didn't do it for me on an emotional level.

Everyone borrows from everyone.

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"Don't be so gloomy. After all it's not that awful. Like the fella says, in Italy for 30 years under the Borgias they had warfare, terror, murder, and bloodshed, but they produced Michelangelo, Leonardo da Vinci, and the Renaissance. In Switzerland they had brotherly love - they had 500 years of democracy and peace, and what did that produce? The cuckoo clock."

By "obvious flaws" I meant within the context of his own work; character development, dialogue, pacing, editing, visual sense, music, etc - I think he handles all of these quite well. The influence of Altman has always been obvious, and I can't imagine Anderson himself even denying it. (To further the connection, Anderson apparently spent time on the set of A Prairie Home Companion, and it's been speculated that he, to some extent, actually ghost-directed the film for the ailing Altman.) As for Scorsese, I've never thought of Anderson borrowing much from him. Perhaps some camerawork bears the Scorsese influence, but at that point we're getting into the "everybody borrows from someone" argument. I generally shy away from that perspective, because I see it occasionally used a crutch for lack of imagination, but I don't think that's the case with PTA. As for the endings to Short Cuts and Magnolia, in the latter case something essentially supernatural happens, which to me is a whole different ballgame. (It's been 6-7 years since I saw Short Cuts; am I correct in remembering there's an earthquake?)

In any event, he transcended the comparisons with There Will Be Blood, a film I like better than anything Altman or Scorsese ever made.

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the angel stayed until something died, one more murder suicide

I would rank the ones I've seen...

1. Boogie Nights
2. Magnolia
3. There Will Be Blood

I own a copy of Hard Eight, but haven't gotten around to watching it yet.

Boogie Nights, in my opinion, is a masterpiece. Performances, writing, direction, music, all perfect. Magnolia comes close, but it would be hard to beat such a great film.

There Will Be Blood was a pretty good film. I'm not crazy about it, but the towering lead performance from Daniel Day Lewis is more than enough to recommend it.

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"George, this is a little too much for me. Escaped convicts, fugitive sex... I've got a cockfight to focus on."

He's supposed to be making a new movie sometime .... hopefully.

I just watched TWBB recently and while I still favor Magnolia over his other films, I thought it was pretty riveting. Hard Eight was an interesting smaller film that I haven't seen in a long time but thought was quite good.

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Even though Magnolia is so obviously and clearly a rip-off job?

I did not know that. It makes me sad, I rate Magnolia very high. I will have to check out Short cuts.

No, because it's a great film. I liked Shortcuts too, but it isn't nearly as good a film IMO.

And I should add that while the two movies share the interconnected ensemble construction and coincidence/fate theme, IMO their styles couldn't be more different.

Magnolia is very grandiose and melodramatic, which some people might dislike. I do not. Altman's film is very plain and naturalistic, which is somewhat tedious for me personally in a film, especially a very long one.

Short Cuts wasn't a bad film, but it lacked the emotional resonance of Magnolia, and like some other Altman films had a certain distant quality to it that keeps the viewer from becoming fully engaged. I prefer Magnolia because it is a more imaginative and heartfelt experience.

That's how I see it, anyway. I'm sure others disagree. It's more subjective than not.

And one more thing, on this subject of what makes a great director: in my humble opinion, what makes a great director is not just technical skill, but his passion. A truly great director should make a personal investment in the material and have the directing chops.

In the case of Altman, I'd say his best films that were emotionally powerful would be the brilliantly humanistic Mash and the hauntingly sorrowful western McCabe.

Magnolia is like the action movie remake of Short Cuts. Faster, bigger, tighter, and it probably cost 35 million more to make - which is why I prefer it by a mile.