Phantom Thread - SPOILERS!

Started by matt35mm, November 24, 2017, 07:59:23 PM

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JG

Nice film! I'll gush without really saying anything at all... still throwing it in the spoiler thread cos i'm scared of upsetting someone!

Up until Inherent Vice, all of PTA's films left me breathless and held me in a way that few other films/filmmakers do. I had a lot of trouble with Inherent Vice, but I'm happy to say that this one brought back all those old feelings. There are moments that felt like absolute magic to me - unusual cinematography, beautiful music, captivating performances. Krieps face guides us through so many of the scenes - she's amazing to watch and perfectly cast.

Its perhaps the most linear and straightforward of his movies (at least since PDL), but its consistent with his recent work in that its not really concerned with traditional three-act plot mechanics... Its episodic and free. Like the Master and Inherent Vice there are portions of the film that might be described by some as "meandering" but it always recenters itself... pta seems aggressive with theme here. there's a kind of repetition to the plot, and as the scenes go on, the editing seems to hone in on a few key ideas on the nature of relationships. in that way it doesn't feel far from what mother! was trying to do. but aronofsky's approach is so, so different from from PTAs. everybody's got worlds inside of them and its fascinating to see how different two visions can be!

i''ll admit - there are several movies i saw this year that i like more than phantom thread, but phantom thread contains some of the most inspired bits of filmmaking I've seen in years... i don't think that's a bad thing at all..

csage97

Quote from: JG on December 21, 2017, 11:58:47 AM
Nice film! I'll gush without really saying anything at all... still throwing it in the spoiler thread cos i'm scared of upsetting someone!

Up until Inherent Vice, all of PTA's films left me breathless and held me in a way that few other films/filmmakers do. I had a lot of trouble with Inherent Vice, but I'm happy to say that this one brought back all those old feelings. There are moments that felt like absolute magic to me - unusual cinematography, beautiful music, captivating performances. Krieps face guides us through so many of the scenes - she's amazing to watch and perfectly cast.

Its perhaps the most linear and straightforward of his movies (at least since PDL), but its consistent with his recent work in that its not really concerned with traditional three-act plot mechanics... Its episodic and free. Like the Master and Inherent Vice there are portions of the film that might be described by some as "meandering" but it always recenters itself... pta seems aggressive with theme here. there's a kind of repetition to the plot, and as the scenes go on, the editing seems to hone in on a few key ideas on the nature of relationships. in that way it doesn't feel far from what mother! was trying to do. but aronofsky's approach is so, so different from from PTAs. everybody's got worlds inside of them and its fascinating to see how different two visions can be!

i''ll admit - there are several movies i saw this year that i like more than phantom thread, but phantom thread contains some of the most inspired bits of filmmaking I've seen in years... i don't think that's a bad thing at all..

Very nice. What films did you like more this year, if you don't mind me asking?

csage97

New sneak preview trailer! I love the camera movement. Just gorgeous!


JG

Quote from: csage97 on December 21, 2017, 02:12:04 PM
Quote from: JG on December 21, 2017, 11:58:47 AM
i''ll admit - there are several movies i saw this year that i like more than phantom thread, but phantom thread contains some of the most inspired bits of filmmaking I've seen in years... i don't think that's a bad thing at all..

Very nice. What films did you like more this year, if you don't mind me asking?

some of the movies at the top of my list this year:

the other side of hope
the day after
good time
ex-libris
blade runner 2049
twin peaks: the return

but then, it feels so silly to rank any one of these movies over the other..  all are wonderful in very different ways!

Robyn

Quote from: csage97 on December 21, 2017, 02:17:14 PM
New sneak preview trailer! I love the camera movement. Just gorgeous!



why did I tear up watching this? I want this film so bad :(

ono

I can't make out what is said at :43.  Anyone?

wilberfan

Quote from: ono on December 21, 2017, 05:10:45 PM
I can't make out what is said at :43.  Anyone?

It sounds like a woman's name ("Helen" "Eileen"?) and then "...ready?"   But I'm not really sure about that.

wilder

This is a scene that's interesting to compare stylistically to what's come before - there being the similar part in the department store in The Master. Here, Alma isn't modeling this dress so much for the patrons as she is for Woodcock...the camera's straddling the line between being Alma's POV of the people she's showing to while keeping enough distance so we can simultaneously look at her. It's like a culmination of a lot of the things said in the for Madame de... In the earlier department store scene, the girl seems more beholden to the blocking, hitting marks so she can interact with the customers, whose positions have been pre-decided. Here, Alma's movements are controlling the frame, and the camera's going to go where she goes, keeping the story about Alma and Reynolds' interior world even when they're not physically together.

Riley Jonathawinn Drake

Vicky Krieps mini interview with a new clip starting at 1:41


Riley Jonathawinn Drake

Here is an 8 minute radio interview with PTA + some new scenes from the film but sadly, only audio is available.
Thought about posting this in the interviews thread but,I think the interview is a little spoilerish.



https://knpr.org/npr/2017-12/phantom-thread-director-paul-thomas-anderson-offers-audiences-intimate-film

wilder

It's been said that the protagonist of a movie is the character who changes most. Both Alma and Reynolds change, to different degrees, but it seems like people's liking or disliking the movie is based partially on whose story they primarily see it as, and if they perceive one of them controlling the leash by the story's end, vs. that leash continually and cyclically changing hands. The question "Who changes more?" is a hard one to answer here. One fascinating aspect of the movie to me is whose story it is continues to shift back and forth in my mind, and how the one you choose maybe says more about you than the movie itself.

jenkins

great post with a great close. great overall perspective. the bare minimum should be Vicky Krieps in every conversation, has been what's been on my mind. Paul and Jonny and Dan, i know i know, i agree. Vicky Krieps brings it is what i've said will say. she's the emotional thread in the movie you watch. how quickly everyone wants to discuss the mother! Vicky in relation to Dan, not Vicky on her own. and Jonny's score. and PT's direction. for sure the guys did a great job. but Vicky Krieps did a great job too.

although i believe the above post was referring to other conversations taking place regarding toxic relationships and whatnot, like i said that was a great post and a great overall perspective.

samsong

head still spinning, and im debating going to see this again in an hour, but i absolutely loved this.  all i'll say right now is that my initial impression is that the film is a resolutely romantic one (and instantly one of the greatest movie romances of all time), and the most incisive and challenging essays about romantic love since certfied copy.  film of the year after twin peaks.

wilder

Quote from: Tictacbk on December 20, 2017, 01:41:05 AM
Anyway, does anyone have any recommendations of classic films to pair with this? I'm not so familiar with gothic romance stories. I'd love to dive in.

Quote from: The NY TimesMr. Anderson is an admirer of suspenseful romances like "Rebecca" (1940) and "Gaslight" (1944) and pictured Mr. Day-Lewis as a darkly debonair leading man in the mold of Laurence Olivier.


And

samsong

ended up seeing this a second time less than six hours after getting out of the first go.  repeat viewings (well, at least two) are rewarding, if only to luxuriate in the film's expert craft by everyone involved, especially jonny greenwood's score for the ages.  his "house of woodcock" piece is one of the single greatest pieces of [movie] music ever written.  the world it creates is so alluring and utterly pleasurable to spend time in.  this is his best film.

having gone through the thread, i agree with a lot of what's being discussed, and not sure i have much else to articulate except to say that, as aforementioned, the exploration of romantic love is the context with which i personally view the whole thing, and to that end find the ending to be a wry, lovely, perversely hopeful send-off.  the film strikes me as the inverse of the duke of burgundy, which used outwardly kinky sexual proclivities to explore the mundanity of relationships.  phantom thread takes the form of a traditional prestige romance to explore the thornier subtext of what brings and keeps two people together, and as such appropriately defies categorization, is ineffable, and at times completely fucked up.  the portrayal of a creatively burdened individual consumed by their work is the most hypnotically mundane it's been since rivette's la belle noisseuse, but i think as most people are pointing out, that aspect of it isn't as pertinent as the personality traits that come with being that kind of person that inform reynolds's character.

is there are more exquisitely understated first meeting of two lovers in all of cinema?  as for exquisitely understated, my second viewing gave me a deeper appreciation of ddl's performance.  the way his micro expressions bely how he actually feels versus what he's saying is a thing of humbling beauty.  vicky krieps and lesley manville are equally staggering. 

still mulling, still basking, still fighting the urge to jump in my car and go see this again, and again, and again.