View Poll Results: Phantom Thread

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Thread: Phantom Thread (Paul Thomas Anderson)

  1. #76
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    I thought this was incredible. I'm a huge fan of everything PTA except perhaps Inherent Vice which was way too long and unshaped for me, but this hit all the right notes for my sensitivity. I think it's amazing how the movie keeps us at bay or perhaps only half informed about the characters and their motivations at times, yet they come alive like few characters do in modern cinema. By the closing scenes their relationship has a complexity that's not easy to communicate in 120 minutes. And by the way, was it even explicitly stated that Cyril and Woodcock were brother and sister? I have to watch it again but I think we got that piece of information through the actors and not a specific line of dialogue.

    There are too many great aspects or scenes in this film to mention. I love the ambience because it manages to make a period and a setting that have been explored to death seem new and exciting and it's the same feat Anderson managed with There Will Be Blood and The Master.

    As usual I don't understand the lame pseudo-feminist inquisition, specially applied to a film that depicts a certain opressive attitude towards ladies. For me feminism is a struggle for equality and against injustice. It doesn't mean movie plots should be rendered stupid and inoffensive. I don't go to the cinema to learn life lessons from the exploits of virtuous heroes. I've enjoyed movies about gun-wielding sociopaths (Taxi Driver), obsessive dreamers (Close Encounters of the Third Kind) and hopeless addicts (Trainspotting). Why couldn't any human find traces of themselves in flawed characters like Woodcock and Alma? I find that line of criticism arrogant and hypocritical.

    I think with a rewatch this could become my new favorite Anderson.
    Last edited by Grouchy; 04-07-2018 at 05:51 PM.

  2. #77
    Since 1929 Morris Schæffer's Avatar
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    The dialogue established they were siblings.
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  3. #78
    Scott of the Antarctic Milky Joe's Avatar
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    Great thoughts Grouchy.

    But haven't you heard??

    https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cu...ic-masculinity

    This is why we can't have nice things.
    ‎The severed arm perfectly acquitted itself, because of the simplicity of its wishes and its total lack of doubt.

  4. #79
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Dillard (view post)
    Alma certainly does manipulate him back, but that leads to another problem I have with the film: I have no idea why she stays with him. I didn't find it convincing at all. There were a couple of obvious moments where I was thinking: just leave! This is ridiculous! This "love" Anderson writes into her character came out of left field and is completely unbelievable!
    I didn't think it was unbelievable. First of all, you have to realize this takes place in another time period and separations or divorces weren't as easy for the woman. Second, the script doesn't give us any information about what she did before being a waiter. Becoming Miss Woodcock gives her economical stability and social position that she obviously craves. Her deal would be perfect if Woodcock wasn't emotionally unattainable.

    And third and most important, she's in love. I think the scenes of their first date are key to understanding this. Woodcock obviously behaves strangely as early as that, delaying any sort of kiss or normal intimacy until he finishes the dress. And she enjoys the fetishistic and ritualistic process until the sister comes in, at which point it becomes awkward.

  5. #80
    A Platypus Grouchy's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Milky Joe (view post)
    Great thoughts Grouchy.

    But haven't you heard??

    https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cu...ic-masculinity

    This is why we can't have nice things.
    That article carelessly conflates political propaganda in war movies with the psychological trappings of the protagonist of a drama.

  6. #81
    Scott of the Antarctic Milky Joe's Avatar
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    I can't wait for the think-pieces about how The Shining is a celebration of toxic masculinity too. Let's not even speak of A Clockwork Orange.
    ‎The severed arm perfectly acquitted itself, because of the simplicity of its wishes and its total lack of doubt.

  7. #82
    Hodge shan't be shot Kirby Avondale's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Milky Joe (view post)
    Great thoughts Grouchy.

    But haven't you heard??

    https://www.newyorker.com/culture/cu...ic-masculinity

    This is why we can't have nice things.
    Phew, what a crap essay.

    The first 40% isn't even about the movie: "I saw a propaganda film once that I won't compare this film to in any substantive way...[hint: it, too, is propaganda]", "One might argue several claims about prominent films, but I won't be, because now I want to talk about this other movie sort of..."

    The notion that because Woodcock is a dominating presence in this movie that it's uncritical of him is pretty baffling. Yes, the "I'll give you breasts" comment was creepy as fuck. That's the cherry on top of a scene chocked full of purposefully creepy shit. You haven't hit on some nefarious, unexamined subtext. You're describing the very obvious and discomforting intonations that literally everyone else in the audience was feeling.

  8. #83
    Producer Yxklyx's Avatar
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    I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes of this.

  9. #84
    In the belly of a whale Henry Gale's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Yxklyx (view post)
    I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes of this.
    This is a common, even understandable, reaction. I've heard people who've end up loving it say the same thing.

    Just keep going.
    Last 11 things I really enjoyed:

    Speed Racer (Wachowski/Wachowski, 2008)
    Safe (Haynes, 1995)
    South Park: Bigger, Longer & Uncut (Parker, 1999)
    Beastie Boys Story (Jonze, 2020)
    Bad Trip (Sakurai, 2020)
    What's Up Doc? (Bogdanovich, 1972)
    Diva (Beineix, 1981)
    Delicatessen (Caro/Jeunet, 1991)
    The Hunger (Scott, 1983)
    Pineapple Express (Green, 2008)
    Chungking Express (Wong, 1994)

  10. #85
    Quote Quoting Yxklyx (view post)
    I couldn't get past the first 10 minutes of this.
    Was it too low-key on the whole for you? If so, then I admit that I felt somewhat similarly about it in the theater, but it did get more eventful as the central relationship developed, and was still ultimately worth watching, so you may want to give it another go sometime, if you can.

  11. #86
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    First time feels like watching a captivating, impeccably crafted battle of wills between two uncompromising people, until a most delightfully unusual compromise is reached. This second time, with the whole arc known, the film keeps ping-ponging its tone between romantically perverse and perversely romantic, until it just plain becomes one of the most romantic films I've ever seen. Need to rewatch Magnolia, a film I watched so long ago in my formative years, to be sure, but this is edging closer to being my favorite PTA film now. 9/10

    And I so want Maya Rudolph's commentary of this film, in the same vein as Chelsea Peretti's reply on Get Out
    Midnight Run (1988) - 9
    The Smiling Lieutenant (1931) - 8.5
    The Adventures of Robinhood (1938) - 8
    Sisters (1973) - 6.5
    Shin Godzilla (2016) - 7.5

  12. #87
    Producer Yxklyx's Avatar
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    Quote Quoting Henry Gale (view post)
    This is a common, even understandable, reaction. I've heard people who've end up loving it say the same thing.

    Just keep going.
    I tried again and got through less than before. I just don't want to watch a film about a "haute couture dressmaker". I mean if you were to rank all the millions of professions on the planet this one would definitely be at the very very bottom of the list of interesting ones. Also, I think that Daniel Day Lewis overacts a lot so I a have pre-disposition to not like films where he's the lead. It feels like some rich billionaires who love haute couture dressmakers want us to feel with them - like a total disconnect between the producers and us lowly folk.
    Last edited by Yxklyx; 03-07-2021 at 03:33 AM.

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