The depth of Paul Thomas Anderson’s filmography is undeniable. Within his films, an exploration of layered themes adds to a collective complexity of human experience and life. What we see on screen are individuals framed singularly, who find a way to cultivate their own purpose. This purposefulness is found by way of different means, all bearing as much importance and relevance as the other. But Anderson, as he does, finds a way to invert purpose and the journey to find it in both positive and negative light. In analyzing PTA’s filmography, we come across characters who are yearning to make their own way in life, leaving the singular, cold frame to become their own master.
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In a video essay by Jack’s Movie Reviews, the complexity of purpose in Paul Thomas Anderson’s films thus far is artfully explored, giving immense analysis and attention to detail. The video essay is broken down into four discernable parts. Each segment delineates how the theme connects to each character’s journey to find purpose. Family, chaos and control, redemption, and religion, are each shown through Anderson’s films “Hard Eight,” “Boogie Nights,” “Magnolia,” “Punch-Drunk Love,” “There Will Be Blood,” “The Master,” and “Inherent Vice” (essentially, each film leading up to his recent, “Phantom Thread”).
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The depth by which the video essay explores each film is given much care. Looking at specific scenes and character arcs, we come to find the various ways characters cultivate their purpose. Characters are compared and contrasted to demonstrate how their determination and means to have a more purposeful life can influence them negatively and positively. And how the interactions between characters and the personal growth or decay they experience ultimately leads to their destiny. Anderson has a way of molding weighted ideas into a concise film. Rarely does he treat the human experience flippantly. With the wide-release of “Phantom Thread” approaching, these themes and paths to purpose will add a thoughtful, extra layer to the stunning fabric we will see Daniel Day-Lewis handle.
