Boogie Nights

this movie is everything it aspires to be and more. as humans, we spend a considerable chunk of our lifes asking ourselves the question: "who am i?", and another big portion looking for our own unique voice to answer ourselves. PTA at 26 years old already knew who he was, and already had his distinct voice to proclaim himself to the world. with boogie nights he did just that. It wasn't his first rodeo behind cameras, but it was the one that made him a household name. and boogie nights is a very very special film. Paul Thomas Anderson's overarching theme of family, real and found, is also vital in what at first glance only seems like a bizarre epic of the rise and fall of a porn actor. Instead of focusing on the fun debauchery and sexual nature of its premise, Boogie Nights instead gives us a quiet analysis on how the lack of love makes these broken people constantly try to impress each other and end up forming a weird dysfunctional family full of dysfunctional people. However, the fact that this movie has this earnest and heartfelt feeling of family and these themes doesn't mean that it doesn't indulge itself on the joys and thrills of the lifestyle it portrays. Boogie Nights is imbued with lively sequences, bright colours and inmaculate pace that allow the viewer to submerge himself in the land of drugs and sex. There are consequences, and we get to live them with our coral cast, but we also have some amazing times with them and at their expense at times. PTA knows very well how to shoot crazy shit going down, and the firecracker scene is a perfect example. Watching this movie, the evil little genie on my left shoulder couldn't stop thinking: this is everything Tarantino wants to be but can't. I know this is like thinking of your toxic ex during sex, but I honestly couldn't help it. The violence, the dialogues, the excentric nature of it all... it just achieves a level of mastery that only PTA is able to grasp. The cast is also a highlight, and how couldn't it be when you have Mark Whalberg in a young but also extremely nuanced performance, the veteran Burt Reynolds offering a great deal of experience, the wonderful Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, Don Cheadle, PHILLIP SEYMOUR HOFFMAN (he is so good, so many little details to his acting, in the awards show ceremony he does something I would've missed 99% of the times and that is SO funny)... The list goes on and on, and Anderson extracts the very best of all of them. It's kind of trippy to have so many Magnolia actors on here too, but can you really blame him for rehashing such a great cast? Anyways, I'm rambling, but it's a very good stamp of quality for a movie to make me ramble this much. It's explosive, it's vivacious, it's touching, it's funny... it's just another example of how PTA navigates the line between high art and humanity, between a good time and a lifechanging experience. That is Boogie Nights for me