Upon its release, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Inherent Vice” was met with critical fanfare, a lackluster box office, and confusion amongst the general audience. Anderson does not present himself as a director tethered to any sort of genre. His films are explorations of humanity in the darkest and, at times, most absurd circumstances. ‘Vice’ finds Anderson not just balancing on the wire of these qualities, but leaving us confused while doing so. The reality of the matter is, however, “Inherent Vice” leaves us perplexed not by its story, but how Anderson executes the details.
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In a video essay by Ryan Charles from Nitty Gritty Studios, PTA’s 2014 cinematic drug trip weaves together five elements that bring about the bafflement of audiences. The first and more obvious point is the plot. Within the grander scheme of Doc finding Shasta are ventures into subplots involving various characters, main, supporting, and seemingly unnecessary. This only pulls tight the veil of confusion. Anderson, however, is telling the audience everything they need to know regarding the plot; we watch and learn everything just as Doc does.
The language characters use bolsters befuddlement, which undoubtedly adds to a more humorous tone for Anderson’s most recent work. Manipulation of time, even in the slightest edit, leaves us second guessing what we’ve seen on screen. Anderson’s more recent collaborations with Jonny Greenwood offer a distinct sound for “Inherent Vice.” Greenwood’s score adds an intensity and dread to the otherwise colorful characters, almost like the film is coming down from its stagnated high.
Anderson uses suspension of disbelief as a reflexive and diegetic tool. Not only do we see Doc grappling with a convoluted, drug-laden haze, sober audiences are generating this same evocation for the duration of the film. There appears to be a regression to a serious darkness with Anderson’s latest venture, “Phantom Thread.” A masterful writer and, subsequently, manipulator, Anderson may again have us wondering.
