Unpopular PTA opinions

Started by Drill, March 03, 2020, 06:59:55 PM

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Freddie Dodd

On twitter there was some fans of Anderson who seem to think it's aged horribly and a mark of an immature artist. Seem this kind of comment after Netflix put it on their streaming output library.  This opinion has been around for awhile now, as I remember David Thomson wrote in his book about the film in a similar tone, though praising PTA for his artistry.

jenkins

have any of you guys read this one btw. he's linked with guy maddin. i haven't read it bc it's not really my thing. i know his personal favorite is pdl

Alethia

Quote from: Freddie Dodd on March 04, 2020, 06:33:51 PM
On twitter there was some fans of Anderson who seem to think it's aged horribly and a mark of an immature artist.

Twitter ruins everything. Ridiculous to take aim at Maggie and not, say, Boogie Nights, too, if we're crying "immature."

jviness02

Not that it matters, but PTA clearly is embarrassed by Magnolia. On his AMA, he even said Junun was better!

Alethia

Imagine being so cool that Magnolia is the work you regret.

Tdog

I love Magnolia but a friend of mine summed up pretty well why he preferred PTA's newer work to Magnolia. He considered Magnolia to be "too emotionally saturate" and preferred the more subtle approach to The Master/Inherent Vice.

ThereWillBeOreos

I agree. I actually think his new project is a sort of retooling of Magnolia, if it'll be a full ensemble.

pynchonikon

Quote from: ThereWillBeOreos on March 05, 2020, 11:27:22 AM
I actually think his new project is a sort of retooling of Magnolia, if it'll be a full ensemble.

My thoughts exactly when the first details of the high school project dropped. He wishes so much he could go back in time to tell his younger self "that's how you should do it". (I don't love Magnolia as much as I used to, but I like it for what it is, a perfect representation of how ambitious a promising artist can be.)

Alethia

"Too emotionally saturate", it's a big splashy melodrama! The breakdowns and outbursts are part and parcel of its cinematic DNA. They're musical numbers! I recognize it doesn't all work 100% but I don't care, it's urgency and earnestness is still a key part of its power for me, and I'll never forget how very much it changed my world when I first saw it. Whatevs, to each their own, everyone's too cool these days, even The Man himself.


wilberfan

Quote from: eward on March 05, 2020, 12:50:19 PM
"Too emotionally saturate", it's a big splashy melodrama!


That's exactly what makes the film so powerfully engaging for me.  Emotional crises are big and splashy.  It's probably what I love most about PTA's "Feels Trilogy" (BN, Mag, PDL): the emotional resonance we have with all of those sweet, broken characters.  I deeply appreciate the films that came after PDL, but I don't love them they way I do those 3 films.  (Although Thread was a slight return towards that feeling.) 

Do we agree that Magnolia & Inherent Vice are his two most polarizing films?  Do they share qualities that makes them so?

jenkins

there isn't evidence that supports the theory of the high school movie as a retooling of Magnolia

wilberfan

Absolutely not.  But the mind of a Magnolia lover easily goes there.  I think the odds are--given his growth as a filmmaker--it won't go there at all. 

Freddie Dodd

Quote from: eward on March 04, 2020, 07:14:47 PM
Quote from: Freddie Dodd on March 04, 2020, 06:33:51 PM
On twitter there was some fans of Anderson who seem to think it's aged horribly and a mark of an immature artist.

Twitter ruins everything. Ridiculous to take aim at Maggie and not, say, Boogie Nights, too, if we're crying "immature."

Some of that crowd don't particularly care for Boogie Nights either, it's just Magnolia had a grandiose sense of style that makes it  more alienating. Boogie Nights flashiness fits the story to a tee, exploring the stylish pornography world that is very seducing, which Anderson conveys so well in the picture, even if much of it is just as jack-off showmanship as Magnolia. My big issue with the latter picture is the screenplay, with cringe dialogue and scenes as Dixon going nowhere without the father scene being shown in the final cut. The acting aside from Moore and Cruise is pretty solid given the weakness of the script.  I'm never sure how Melora Walters did not gain award attraction instead of Cruise, or how she didn't gain a bigger and better career in the midst of the film. Just raw and honest emotions bursting through the screen.

wilberfan

Quote from: Freddie Dodd on March 05, 2020, 02:19:21 PM
I'm never sure how Melora Walters not gain award attraction instead of Cruise, or how she didn't gain a bigger and better career in the midst of the film. Just raw and honest emotions bursting through the screen.
Well, we can certainly agree on this.

Freddie Dodd

Whatever faults happen with the contrived third act(we'll not go deep on that...), that last few minutes of Walters is just heartbreaking. On the level of a Falconetti.


Btw, I was unaware Walters was just 39 when shooting the film. That character reads and is written as late 20's.