Boogie Nights: BD Review
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Page 1 of 3 Warner / 1997 / 155 Minutes / Rated R / Street Date: December 15, 2009 (Best Buy Exclusive)
Perhaps it is just the kind of person I am, but for years I'd been waiting for someone, anyone to make a movie about the rise and fall of the 70's porn industry. It always seemed like such an operatic and cinematic subject that until the trades announced that young filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson had begun production on what would become Boogie Nights, I was surprised no one had done it any sooner.
While I'm sure on the surface a nearly 3-hour epic on the porn industry would seem like either a sure recipe for box office disaster or some sort of camp extravaganza, Boogie Nights is neither of those things. Instead, it somehow manages to be both touching and funny while also being respectful and satiric of its subject matter and characters all at once. While certainly a ensemble piece, Boogie Nights is nothing if not a loud, ringing declaration of confidence of its director. With only one film under his belt (the rather somber and subdued Hard Eight) Anderson's aggressive style and nearly-manic camerawork here blew many away (though his frequent copping of Scorsese's techniques bothered even more.) While personally I feel that Anderson's style can border on the pretentious at times, he is quite simply a natural born filmmaker, and a true auteur in every sense of the word. As the multiple commentaries on this disc can attest to, he lives and breathes every frame of his films, and attempted something truly audacious with Boogie Nights.
Opening with a two-minute-plus tracking shot that continues to dazzle, the film is methodically paced with Anderson's camera sublimely slowing down over the course of the two and a half over film, so by the end it is startling to realize how deft and assured Anderson was at controlling the tone of the piece without being heavy-handed. Mirroring the heady heights that the porn industry achieved by the late 70's then its gradual decline, Anderson introduces us to his cast of characters but never condescends to the industry or us. While many could see Mark Wahlberg's Dirk Diggler (a role that finally rid the actor of the "Marky" tag once and for all) as a caricature, a fool to pity or worse, simply a loser, Anderson in both his writing and direction manages to find his humanity but still casts a critical if distanced eye on the proceedings throughout. And what a cast he has assembled, featuring the return of Burt Reynolds, the always-great Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Philip Seymour Hoffman and the underrated Melora Walters. This is a true ensemble piece, and Anderson gets strong performances out of everyone. The production also capture the tone of the hedonistic 70's and then the cold realities of the 80's vividly, and despite what is really a small budget, the film never looks cheap and boasts an impeccable attention to detail. I'm not sure how many thrift stores they raided to bring Boogie Nights to life, but some of the clothes they found, eek! Brings back (scary) memories indeed. If I have any issues with the film, it may be one of structure. While I'm not certain it is what Anderson intended, the film indeed starts to play like a morality tale, with the carefree 70's giving way to a pessimistic, corruptive and often violent 80's. It almost seems like the implication is that once the use of film gave way to video and any art-film pretentions 70's porn filmmakers may have had went out the window, the industry as a whole turned violent and self-defeating. While I certainly understand that this reflects in many ways the realities of the time and Anderson is making larger points about the industry and our culture itself, not a documentary, I wonder about the validity of portraying the two decades as being so diametrically opposed to each other. Indeed, an entire subplot of the film seems to be setup up, if only so Anderson can have a really cool (and violent) visceral transition from the 70's to the 80's. But no matter, Boogie Nights fulfilled my desires to finally see a cinematic examination of adult film world, and certainly tapped into a desire on the part of mass culture to see it as well, at least if the rash of recent documentaries on the porn world is any indication. An audacious work, it is worth noting that the less interest you have in the world of pornography, the more you may like Boogie Nights... |
Comments (1)
They are used hardly at all just like the SD DVD. They do not even turn on the subwoofer lights in my surround speakers.