Every Friday Chris hand-selects a streaming recommendation for your weekend.
This Week’s Featured Flick
Punch-Drunk Love on Netflix
THE TRAILER
THE DETAILS
DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson
WRITER: Paul Thomas Anderson
CAST: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Luis Guzmán, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Robert Smigel, Philip Seymour Hoffman
GENRE: Dark Comedy / Romantic Comedy
RUNTIME: 95 min
YEAR: 2002
THE PLOT
Barry, prone to spasms of rage, tries to escape constant harassment. He finds his life refreshed when he meets Lena, who falls in love with him.
THE REASON
Why am I recommending Punch Drunk Love this week? Because it’s my absolute favorite P.T. Anderson film. That’s really all I’ve got.
I have seen Boogie Nights many, many more times, and I’m not going to argue with anyone who says There Will Be Blood or The Master are greater cinematic achievements. But Punch-Drunk Love still my favorite.
Anderson is a master at telling stories on a scale that could make your head explode as you try to comprehend them, but PLD is proof that he can also get small and intimate and still command your attention. It is unassuming, but immaculately crafted on ever level, from the gorgeous, lush cinematography by Robert Elswit, to the playful, almost classic hollywood score by Jon Brion. Watson and Hoffman are stellar, and even if we ragged on him quite a bit last week, Sandler give a performance is so good it actually angers me that we haven’t seen anything from him that is even remotely close since.
I get a sense from talking with friends that this may be the the PTA movie folks have seen the least, and that blows my mind. With the shortest runtime in his entire feature catalogue (You can watch this TWICE in the amount of time it takes to view Magnolia.) you’d expect it to be an easily consumed morsel, but maybe it’s been miscategorized as “minor-Anderson” and overlooked as a result. Treat yo self this weekend and watch Punch-Drunk Love on Netflix.
BONUS CLIP
This fake commercial featuring Philip Seymour Hoffman doesn’t appear in the film, but you should watch it anyway.You should probably also watch “The Career of Paul Thomas Anderson In Five Shots”.
Did you catch Punch Drunk Love this weekend? Let us know what you thought on Facebook or Twitter.