This film seems to have divided people quite a lot. Many folks waxed poetic about it upon its release, and several critics named it their #1 film of 2012. And yet, there was a lot of negative press about it, as well, mostly about it not really going anywhere and the characters ending up essentially in the place they started.
I can’t agree with that point. Freddie, Joaquin Phoenix’s character, does seem to have changed a bit by the end of the film. I think he hates himself less. I think he’s trying to learn to make himself happy, and that this is the point of the scene with the lady he met in the pub right at the end. Now, if Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman) and his wife Peggy (Amy Adams) have changed, it’s only to the extent that they’ve become even more insular and paranoid, but the story isn’t about them, it’s about Freddie. Well, in so far as the story is really about anything.
It is certainly true that not much happens, or more precisely, that none of the stuff that happens seems to mean anything. I suppose there’s a lot of symbolism I’m not catching when, for example, Freddie rides the motorcycle too far across the desert, but I’m not especially clever so for me that scene is just kinda there, you know? And why does Dodd’s daughter Elizabeth come on to Freddie, and then pretend that Freddie’s into her, and then nothing ever comes of that? The movie keeps giving hints of subplots that vanish.
All three main actors got Oscar nominations, and totally deserved them. It’s no surprise how good Hoffman was, of course, but Phoenix really surprised me. Even the bits where he seemed to be channeling Popeye were good. Adams is a favorite, and one of the most talented actresses out there. Her character is actually kinda scary. I’m not sure why. She never harms anyone, or threatens anyone overtly, but she does give the impression of being very dangerous somehow. The scene where she’s reading pornography to Freddie is really hard to watch. She's intelligent and focused, while her husband is prone to drink and excess. It's even implied, briefly, that she does the actual writing, and he takes her dictation: there's a scene where she's declaiming, and he's typing, and when she stops talking, he stops typing. Perhaps I misinterpreted that, but the movie makes it quite clear that she's an equal partner at least, and possibly even pulling his strings (though the fact that Freddie is still around after she explicitly wants him gone might idicate otherwise).
But she’s the third wheel. It’s really a love story between Freddie and Dodd, and those scenes, for the most part, really work. When Phoenix and Hoffman are on screen together, this is a great movie. I feel like I could put together a 25-minute set of clips from this that I’d be willing to just watch over and over again. Plus, the film looks amazing. I read that Paul Thomas Anderson put the actual film stock through some unusual chemical process that I didn’t understand, but I know it worked. This is one extremely bright movie, you know? Like, if there’s sunlight in a scene, you feel like the sun is actually shining on you. The images are incredibly crisp. There’s one shot that’s used several times, of the ocean as seen looking over the back of a ship, that’s incredible. I could watch 90 minutes of that, really. I might enjoy it more than I did the film.
See, like I say, there are great moments. Dodd’s first examination of Freddie stands out, as does the bit where Peggy’s asking Freddie to change the color of her eyes. And the scene where Freddie finally goes back to the love of his life is very good. But here’s the thing: those scenes are beautifully written and shot, and yet they don’t make me feel anything. This is a really beautiful movie, but also a terribly empty one. To be honest, I really feel like Anderson wasted these three tremendous performances; how could they be so good, and yet so unaffecting?
Too few great moments, or more accurately, too many meaningless moments between them. Too little emotional impact. I’m glad I watched it, because I would hate to have missed the best bits, but they don’t save the picture. It’s beautiful and cold and I’ll never watch it again.
BEST THING ABOUT THE FILM: Phoenix. I knew he was a decent actor, but I had no idea he could do this. I haven’t seen Lincoln so I can’t say he was robbed of the Oscar, but I can say that if he’d won it, that would have been fine with me.
WORST THING ABOUT THE FILM: I feel like I’ve been watching a sport I don’t know the rules of. It starred the best players in the world and they accomplished amazing feats, and I just didn’t understand any of it.
SCORE: 6/10
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