Phantom Thread

 

⭐⭐⭐⭐

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written by: Paul Thomas Andersom
Gross Revenue: $32.8 mil





      Please bare with me because I am still trying to digest what I just saw. I truly believe I should view it a second time before I review it but screw it, I'm gonna just go for it here. After seeing one stellar review after another for  Phantom Thread I decided what the hell Ill give it a shot. Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Thomas Anderson are my only reasons for even considering this film, I mean I'd never even seen the trailer. He engulfs himself in a role and doesn't come up for air until the final shot. I am ever so grateful for that, because his roles are always amazing and potent almost to a point the entire movie no longer matters, at least that's what happens to me when I see him on screen.

    Now, I hate to sound like another PTA groupie because I mean people worship the ground he walks on, I feel like a cornball being one of them but the man is a genius. Not only can he write a fantastic screenplay but his films are beautiful. Frame after frame is nothing short of perfect, but what else can you expect from the man who gave us There Will Be Blood? That movie put me in a state of lustful passion when I saw it and Phantom Thread was along the same lines. The shots held my attention, the dialogue was  intriguing, the score was beautiful and fit so unbelievably well. The thing is though, I wanted more, I know! I sound like a sniveling, snot nosed brat but I did. I feel like a horrible human being saying this, I truly do.The movie was intimate, very well made and in a way a character study, it had a lot less then what I desired to see between them both.

      The dynamic between Reynolds, Alma and Cyril is what kept me in it and is why my complaint is minuscule compared to the level of adoration I have for this film. My thoughts on Phantom Thread at about an hour and a half in began to change due to the amazing turn of events that not even I saw coming, and for me that took this movie to a whole other level. Call it a twist of sorts if you will, and everyone loves a good twisty end. This was a great love story that wasn't your cookie cutter, run of the mill romance, the people are flawed and everyone understands that from the very beginning. This wasn't a romance seen through "rose colored glasses"  it was real and uncomfortable at times. Mushy "too good to be true" romances make my stomach churn. Phantom Thread is what most real love stories look like, and that is another reason Paul Thomas Anderson is an astonishing filmmaker.