Films & Career of Paul Thomas Anderson

Paul Thomas Anderson has established himself as one of Hollywood's most gifted contemporary auteurs. As writer and director (and sometimes producer) of his movies, Anderson not only maintains artistic control, he brings a personal signature to his high concept movies. The themes that interest him the most are present in all his films and they are imbued with influences from his life. Anderson's brand of personal cinema is marked by an artistic expression that goes beyond commercialism. This research will discuss the films "Hard Eight," "Boogie Nights," "Magnolia" and "Punch Drunk Love" focusing on Anderson's career, his techniques and thematic material.

Born in Studio City, California in 1970, Anderson grew up in the Valley and all his films, with the exception of "Hard Eight," are set in the environment of the San Fernando Valley. Anderson's debut feature, the low-keyed "Hard Eight," was released in the United States in 1997 following its 1996 release under the title "Sydney." The movie was based on a short film Anderson made in 1992 titled "Cigarettes and Coffee," that was financed by Anderson from a refund of his tuition after he dropped out of New York University film school. Following a successful screening of "Cigarettes and Coffee" at the Sundance Film Festival of 1993, Anderson was offered the opportunity to expand it into a feature, which he did. Reworking his short films into features is an Anderson characteristic, and his earlier short film about the porn

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ollection of old disco hits" (Bernardinelli). Overall, "Boogie Nights" is a memorably, penetrating motion picture (Bernardinelli). Anderson's next film, the 1999 "Magnolia" (which received two Academy Award nominations) is as ambitious as "Boogie Nights." Anderson's trademarks and multiple characters and storylines and the theme of forgiveness and redemption are at play here. As Chris Vognar wrote in The Dallas Morning News, "Remorse, regret and redemption, played out in a family or surrogate-family setting, have been key elements in all three of Mr. Anderson's films" (Vognar). Roger Ebert called the film "operatic in its ambition, a great joyous leap into melodrama and coincidence, with ragged emotions, crimes and punishments, deathbed scenes, romantic dreams, generational turmoil and celestial intervention." He added that "Magnolia" was a rejection of the "timid post-modernism of the 1990s." Anderson called "Magnolia" his favorite film and in a preface to his screenplay he wrote: "I'd like to think that "magnolia" is written about what I know, who I am and what I want to be. This screenplay gives me the chance to say things that I want to be able to say in my own life. It gives me goals for my own relationships and feel

Category: Film - F