Strong performances from Philip Seymour Hoffman as a smooth cult leader and Joaquin Phoenix as his angry protégé are among the strengths of director/writer Paul Thomas Anderson's sixth feature, likely to earn him (and them) more Oscar nominations. Anderson's oeuvre (Hard Eight (1996), Boogie Nights (1997), Magnolia (1999), Punch-Drunk Love (2002), There Will Be Blood (2007), and some shorts) is all pretty terrific and this is no exception, though Phoenix's (last in these pages in I'm Still Here) Freddie Quell is as hard to like as Daniel Day-Lewis' Daniel Plainview in There Will Be Blood. Hoffman (most recently in The Ides of March) shines, as usual, as the intense Lancaster Dodd and Amy Adams (The Muppets and so much before) supports as his wife.
Cinematographer Mihai Malaimare Jr. (Francis Ford Coppola's Youth Without Youth (2007) and Tetro, among others) shot the glorious images entirely in 70mm (or is it 65? I've read both) and production designers David Crank and Jack Fisk (won the Art Directors Guild award for Excellence in a Period Film for There Will Be Blood as well as being Oscar-nominated for the same work, and were recognized for The Tree of Life (we didn't like that movie but loved the production design) and Water for Elephants, among others) deserve recognition as well (Fisk is married to Sissy Spacek). Costume designer Mark Bridges (won the Oscar for The Artist and worked on, to name a few, all of Anderson's features, Blow (2001), The Italian Job (2003), and The Fighter) also does a great job with the 1940s and 50s wardrobe.
So far the movie has won the FIPRESCI Prize (International Competition), Best Director, and shared Best Actor for Hoffman and Phoenix, as well as a nomination for the Golden Lion at the Venice Film Festival. More to come, despite tepid audience response (59% average on rottentomatoes) but love from critics (85%). Those fascinated by the work can read a spoiler-filled review and blog post from the New Yorker.
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