Voice and The Auteur Theory (Paul Thomas Anderson)
Having a voice through filmmaking can be a hard thing to use, especially when you want to tell your stories to a large audience. Wether based on ideals, beliefs, ethnicities, ideologies, or personal senses of thought, telling a story about a topic through a specific tone.
Throughout the past week I've watched three movies by filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, an American filmmaker best known for abstract takes on life, and how we feel between them. The movies I've watched (in no order specific to the release dates of the movies) were There Will be Blood (2007), The Master (2012), and Boogie Nights (1997).
Each of the three movies follows different protagonists, but each also follow similar themes of human emotions, ideals, and all have incredible acting in each of them. In chronological order, each of the movies follow under a timeline I've theorized as "The P-TA Timeline." From the dates, and periods in which these movies play out, it begins with "There Will Be Blood" (1898 - 1927), "The Master" (1945 - 1946), and "Boogie Nights" (1977 - 1983). This doesn't have much to do with the themes, but it is interesting to think that these all may take place within the same continuity as each other.
The three movies follow similar themes of characterization, and Anderson always works hard to ensure his films are centralized to human conflicts, and emotions. In There Will Be Blood especially, actor Daniel - Day Lewis shows conviction as his character Daniel Plain-view. A man who over the course of the film grows increasingly obsessed with money, and power through oil, and even abandons his son for his own need. He's a selfish, conniving character, and one that has strict ideals throughout the movie.
Another common theme throughout Anderson's movies are that sometimes they are hard to watch, at- least to myself, for how real they can feel with what the actors are going through. From sexual/pornographic scenes in Boogie Nights, to killing a man with a bowling pin in There Will Be Blood, each of the movies demonstrate the anger of the human soul over time.
That said, Anderson's films have been praised in the past for being some of the best films ever made, especially The Will Be Blood. While I cannot fully agree with them all being masterpieces, I can see the themes he tries to show throughout all of them. Themes of frustration, anger, contempt, and sorrow. And to me, that's what makes them special.
Throughout the past week I've watched three movies by filmmaker Paul Thomas Anderson, an American filmmaker best known for abstract takes on life, and how we feel between them. The movies I've watched (in no order specific to the release dates of the movies) were There Will be Blood (2007), The Master (2012), and Boogie Nights (1997).
Each of the three movies follows different protagonists, but each also follow similar themes of human emotions, ideals, and all have incredible acting in each of them. In chronological order, each of the movies follow under a timeline I've theorized as "The P-TA Timeline." From the dates, and periods in which these movies play out, it begins with "There Will Be Blood" (1898 - 1927), "The Master" (1945 - 1946), and "Boogie Nights" (1977 - 1983). This doesn't have much to do with the themes, but it is interesting to think that these all may take place within the same continuity as each other.
The three movies follow similar themes of characterization, and Anderson always works hard to ensure his films are centralized to human conflicts, and emotions. In There Will Be Blood especially, actor Daniel - Day Lewis shows conviction as his character Daniel Plain-view. A man who over the course of the film grows increasingly obsessed with money, and power through oil, and even abandons his son for his own need. He's a selfish, conniving character, and one that has strict ideals throughout the movie.
Another common theme throughout Anderson's movies are that sometimes they are hard to watch, at- least to myself, for how real they can feel with what the actors are going through. From sexual/pornographic scenes in Boogie Nights, to killing a man with a bowling pin in There Will Be Blood, each of the movies demonstrate the anger of the human soul over time.
That said, Anderson's films have been praised in the past for being some of the best films ever made, especially The Will Be Blood. While I cannot fully agree with them all being masterpieces, I can see the themes he tries to show throughout all of them. Themes of frustration, anger, contempt, and sorrow. And to me, that's what makes them special.
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