"Phantom Thread"

Yikes, yet another contender for best movie on Sunday!  Some years I see none of the movies and this year I have seen seven out of the nine nominated.  The ones I have missed are "Darkest Hour" and "The Post" which are both based on fact, of course.  None of the others are, well, unless you include the horror movie "Get Out" (totally based on recent factual brain transplants..... oh, no! Spoiler???) and of course, the much lauded and yet misinterpreted "Shape of Water" which is as true as real life, given the shape of real life right now.  What's truer than true love, no matter the size, shape and molecular composition of the love interest? And what's a bigger fantasy, loving a creature from the Blue Lagoon or accepting the political climate in which we currently find ourselves?  (OK, enough of front page headline news.  Sorry.)

I digress.  Today I saw the very lovely Daniel Day Lewis in "Phantom Thread" which was a true Paul Thomas Anderson film. If you don't know his work, don't worry. His movies are, well, odd at times. His first movie that garnered critical acclaim was the unforgettable "Boogie Nights" followed by the totally bizarre "Magnolia" and then it went on from there.  

"Phantom Thread" was quite different than I had anticipated but of course I had forgotten that it was a Paul Anderson movie. Once I remembered that, it all made sense. It is really lovely to watch; who knew that Daniel Day Lewis could mesmerize us simply by sewing something by hand! The costumes are lush and the settings are as well. There are really only three characters in the movie, everyone else is just a feather stitch on a bodice. But those three characters change in ways you do not expect, and your like/dislike of them changes as well.

DD Lewis is superb, but we all know he is.  He cannot be anything but superb.  The surprise is his equal in the film, Vicky Krieps,  who plays his much younger lover. She is, at first glance, simple and very pretty and a foil for his talents. Ah, but as the movie progresses, she is much more than that. No spoilers here, but be prepared to have your complacency about her character challenged.

This is a very good movie, although it could have been a bit tighter.  However, that's Anderson's milieu, he is a master at slow scenes and quiet plot moves that eventually pay off for us. Whether it wins any awards at this Sunday's Oscar extravaganza remains to be seen, but as an intelligent, intense and intriguing film, it's one of the best I have seen this year.  It has a scope of the meaning of love that is difficult to explain.  The movie was a surprise to me, and that always wins points in my book.

Check it out when you have a chance.



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