Phantom Thread

Absolutely phenomenal. This movie is both more or less what I expected of it off synopsis alone, yet is also so much more than I could have possibly expected. Every single part of it is believable to a point where I forget they are actors on a set, and I feel I am intruding upon someone’s most personal thoughts and parts of their life.  It starts off as extremely intriguing in its use of visual storytelling (especially via its striking color theory that traipses through the scene’s backgrounds), followed into the melodrama that I expected and fully relished for every minute of it, and then took such a strange turn of events that I felt blindsided. And yet, it made total sense within the context of the story, in such a manner that made me feel exceedingly inferior regarding everything I have ever created. The third act in particular is such an emotional roller coaster in plot, character development, and cinematography, that I couldn’t take my eyes away from it for a second. This is generally not my type of movie, and yet I felt so immediately drawn in by the story, soundtrack, and especially the acting, that it’s impossible not to like regardless of your personal preferences. Daniel Day-Lewis and Vicky Krieps are both phenomenal in this (although that’s to be expected) to a point where I forgot Day-Lewis in particular has played other characters. Their chemistry is so realistic and investing in a way that I haven’t seen in such a long time, and I am both rewarded and pained for it. The ending haunts me in a way few other endings have in the past, and yet every part of me is glad for having experienced it. I have not had this much enjoyment analyzing and diving into a movie in such a long time, and it’s been some time since a movie of this type has made me feel so drawn in.  Autism be damned my boy can make a dress