INHERENT VICE (2014)

 This commentary was posted on my Letterboxd page on January 22, 2015. It was not only a film review, but a reflection of my state of mind at the time. I'm reprinting it here, with a few modifications.

Cinematic experiences don't just happen to people. We don't just randomly decide to leave the house, jump in the car, and go see a movie. In truth, we are led to see certain films. The gods of cinema, perhaps assisted by the ghosts of Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner, draw us into these dark, cavernous spaces in order to teach us something about ourselves, or, at times, to make us the object of some cosmic joke. 

And so, tonight, I was led to see the new Paul Thomas Anderson film, INHERENT VICE, a film I knew little about, other than it took place in the California of 1970, and reflected the hippie-esque culture of that time and place. In 1970 I was nineteen years old, and life was just beginning. Now I'm sixty-three, recently retired, and trying to figure out what comes next, if anything. So, I went, primarily to soak up the atmosphere and indulge in a little cultural comfort food.

The story, described by the "experts" at Wikipedia (Who are these people anyway?) as a "romantic comedy crime drama", centers on long-haired, drug-using private eye Larry "Doc" Sportello in a mystery so convoluted that it makes THE BIG SLEEP look as simple as an episode of THE DONNA REED SHOW.

Talented actor Joaquin Phoenix portrays Doc. More accurately, Phoenix physically embodies the character so thoroughly that it's almost startling. 

Joaquin Phoenix

I first attempted to follow the plot as it added layer after layer of misdeeds committed by an ever-increasing list of unsavory, and often very funny characters. After a while, my brain synapses began snapping apart, and I almost blacked out. Then, suddenly, I was awakened to a higher plane of thought. I realized that the film was nothing more than an exercise of style over story. Plot details were irrelevant, as they were in THE BIG SLEEP back in 1946. What mattered was the look of the film, the dialogue and interaction between the various bizarre characters, and the overall atmosphere of pointlessness. Having achieved this state of enlightened bliss, I started having a good time watching the movie.

Mr. Phoenix is joined by a list of actors that almost qualifies as a who's who of the modern film industry: Josh Brolin (absolutely brilliant), Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Jena Malone, Benicio del Toro, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short (very, very funny), Peter McRobbie, and Eric Roberts. The presence of all these talented actors made the experience even more enjoyable and added to the concept that this was a shimmering surface of a movie that had no pretense of depth or meaning. It was a completely self-conscious homage to, and parody of, the film noir detective genre of the 1940's and 1950's. As such, it worked beautifully.

Joaquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin

As the film came close to the end, my mood began to shift in a more negative direction. I realized why the gods of cinema brought me to this theater to see INHERENT VICE. I saw this totally pointless picture as a microcosm for what I fear my retirement life might become. The vacuous spirit of this film filled me with existential dread. Maybe it was because the story took place during the time when I was young, and life was filled with wonder and possibilities. It has been exactly one week since I stopped working, and I expect a long, difficult period of adjustment. One thing I've been doing to fill up my time is going to the movies. Tonight, the gods tricked me. I should have stayed home and watched THE DONNA REED SHOW.

Personal traumas aside, this film has some wonderful things in it. It has great acting and some hilarious dialogue. But give your brain synapses a break, and don't take it too seriously. And tell Louis B. Mayer and Jack Warner to take a hike.