Tag Archives: ptadeepdive

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Song of the Day #4,864: ‘He Needs Me’ – Shelly Duvall

Punch-Drunk Love (2002) marks a clear dividing line in the filmography of Paul Thomas Anderson. It is unlike anything he made before or after, and it seems to have broken him out of old habits and helped him forge a vision entirely his own.

On the three films before this one, Anderson wore his influences on his sleeve, delivering his spin on the styles of Scorsese, Tarantino, Altman and Demme. Punch-Drunk Love is his first film that feels in no way derivative.

That doesn’t make it a better movie than its predecessors, necessarily, but it makes it a key step in the maturation of one of our greatest auteurs.

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Song of the Day #4,863: ‘Save Me’ – Aimee Mann

Boogie Nights bought Paul Thomas Anderson enough creative capital to do whatever the hell he wanted on his next film, and he spent every penny of it. He delivered 1999’s Magnolia, a 3+ hour melodrama that follows a dozen main characters and culminates in a rain of frogs.

This is a glorious, full-hearted mess of a movie. It could easily lose 20-30 minutes (something Anderson himself now admits) and yet its grand ambition is one of its greatest charms. And as a time capsule of Anderson’s early development as an auteur, I’m glad it exists in its fascinating, imperfect original form.

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Song of the Day #4,862: ‘Mama Told Me (Not to Come)’ – Three Dog Night

A year after his debut, Paul Thomas Anderson made a major splash with 1997’s Boogie Nights, garnering critical accolades and year-end awards. His trajectory reminds me a lot of that of Wes Anderson, who followed the modest, low-budget Bottle Rocket with Rushmore, one of his most celebrated films.

Boogie Nights is a blast of creative energy so brazen it’s hard to believe Anderson was in his mid-20s when he made it. The sheer number of cinematic techniques on display here is dizzying, and it’s all stitched together with such confidence and bravado.

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