mostfilmsaredumb
Very hard to be very good at very different things. Directing requires knowledge of many things. Story telling/writing/screenwriting requires knowledge of many things. A few people have managed to have both skill sets. They are the exception. But it seems people who go into film and are into shots and camera lenses and directing actors seem to think that they also have something to say. They almost never do. Compare with theatre. How many playwrights direct their own plays? How many theatre directors write their own plays? Very few. But in Hollywood, it happens quite often. And usually the result is garbage. For explainer videos, the key lesson is that all that really matters is plot. But for the whole pretentious "film" crowd, concern with plot is viewed as somehow indication that one doesn't really grasp a directors "vision" or that one doesn't grasp that "film" should not be judged like a play.It's all BS of course. It's story telling. Films tell stories. Small children can explain this to you if you are in doubt. They last about 2 hours just like plays. But if you don't have anything to say about human beings, you are going to bore people. If you are really good at choosing lenses and handling actors and setting up shots, it's really really unlikely that you also have any real insight into human beings and how write that down.Compare all these silly movies to Chinatown. Why are there so few scripts like Chinatown? Is Robert Towne really that unique? I don't think so. I think that, for the reasons mentioned above, Holllwood is just utterly clueless about plot. Anderson may be a good director. But he's a terrible screen writer who knows nothing about human beings. Yes, their are all kinds of weird people in the world. It does not follow that anything goes for plot. The story is idiotic in the extreme. You will learn nothing about human beings at all. If you love somebody poison them twice. Wow. So deep. Evidently actors are just as clueless about human beings as directors. Why else would the star of this movie choose this as his swan song? Hollywood, I know your middle name.
carlareac
Daniel Day-Lewis at his very very best. Proving once more that he is arguably the finest actor of his generation. As in his performances in There Will Be Blood and Lincoln, every second he is on the screen is a wonder to behold and every sound he utters is believable and real. He will indeed be missed. The support from Vicky Krieps and Lesley Manville work perfectly. The script, costumes, sets, lighting and cinematography are faultless. But what lets this film down is the score which although at times is sublime, is at others, intrusive. Someone should have told Jonny Greenwood that sometimes, 'Less Is More'. Given their collaboration on so many projects previously it sounds as if that person is not Paul Thomas Anderson. If only Malcolm Arnold were still alive and composing.
Stay_away_from_the_Metropol
PHANTOM THREAD just annihilated me. It's completely worthy of all the immense hype (such as, most cinephiles considering it the best film of 2017). It grows and builds in as organic a manner that a film possibly can. At first, I wasn't sure how I felt - I needed to get to know the characters, then, through most of the movie, I was cracking up at all the tension and the misery between them, then, by the last 10 minutes, I was in tears - a flow of tears which increased each minute as I processed the power and uniqueness and realness of what I had just witnessed. They were "profound" tears. I don't know that I've ever seen a movie that so tastefully glamorizes the toxicity of love. The poison that so many of us romanticize, the poison that we NEED in our lives. There are two types of people in the world: people who feel at home in perfectly "healthy" relationships, and then there's the rest of us. This film is for the rest of us. It stands in a league of it's own. I could never have expected the conclusion - the way that the ribbon is tied, the way the final thread is sewn. It hit me like a bag of bricks. It is all of the pain in love and all of the beauty, all at once. I have never seen this story told before. It's completely original, and completely shattering. The three leads are absolutely astonishing - Daniel Day Lewis and Lesley Manville are terrifying - Vicky Krieps is the most real. The writing and directing is impeccable - P.T. Anderson's legacy continues, it's fire burning brighter than ever. Yes, this is a masterpiece. I am dead.
Luis E. Pineda
I went to see "Phantom Thread" with a little bit of expectations, the "last movie" of Daniel Day-Lewis and another one from Paul Thomas Anderson, of who I haven't seen yet his entire filmography, it looked promising and it didn't disappoint me. The film is one of the most beautiful I saw from 2017 and also from many recent years, this word (beautiful) simplifies a very complex and well done film, and maybe many people won't think as me because of the plot and that's something I can understand but in my opinion is all the little and big components of the film which make it a brilliant piece of art.Let's begin with the big components, first: Daniel Day-Lewis. What can I say? He is one of the best actors in the world and maybe in the history of cinema, and he proof this in every second of this film, literally, in every second. Since the firsts scenes he appears you can see the enormous category he has, takes when we only are watching him combing his hair, shaving, dressing and polishing his shoes. Then his performance only improves and improves, portraying a very deep and complicated character. Sometimes charming, sometimes rude... A very complete performance. His co-protagonists don't stay far, principally Lesley Manville (who plays Cyril), his performance as a strong woman that even controls Reynolds is incredible, she's practically the leader between the Woodcock's siblings. Vicky Krieps performance is also good, Alma has also many faces, sometimes fragile and dependent, and then the opposite, strong and independent with non necessity of Reynolds.And we see all this special characters accompanied with Jonny Greenwood's music, wonderful and beautiful, maybe the best soundtrack in a movie from 2017. The piano represents all the beauty and horror in the film. And other aspects that for me are very well done are the photography (that is supposedly made by the same Paul Thomas Anderson) and the costume design (in charge of Mark Bridges) which are incredible in every part of the film.If someone, apart of Daniel Day-Lewis, has to take all the applause is, obviously, the director: Paul Thomas Anderson. Wonderful director and writer, the script of this film is what make it so incredible, the characters and the plot, and then there's how he takes all this to the cinematographic language. The takes, the composition of the takes is terrific, how he puts the camera makes him one of the best director of our times. There is three takes I want to highlight, because I think proof what I say; the first one is when occurs the "parade" with the presentation of some dresses in the house of Woodcock, the "camera in hand" when Alma goes out is beautiful made, with a great harmony and, accompanied with the music, you can feel the tension that Reynolds feels. The second is a long take, no cuts, when Cyril goes to see the work that the ladies are doing with the dress (after Reynolds falls, ruining it) we have a long take of Cyril walking around the table, stopping when she started, with Alma behind. This long take is beautiful, it is soft and quiet and has a great illumination. Last, is the take when Reynolds is recover and goes to see Alma in the couch, the camera frame shows Alma, Reynolds and the dress (that it's finish), the camera moves toward Reynolds and Alma, leaving the dress while Reynolds proposes marriage to Alma, then there's only they, we don't see the dress.For end this review, of this wonderful movie, I think this is the perfect goodbye (if it is) for Daniel Day-Lewis, a career of successful that we won't forget. And is also perfect for Paul Thomas Anderson, consolidating himself as a master of directing, and I hope one day everyone recognize this.
