Music as a Balm: My Appreciation for Magnolia’s Mid-Film Sing-Along

|David Potvin| Paul Thomas Anderson’s 1999 magnum opus Magnolia is sonically chaotic. There’s no two ways about it. Within the first eleven minutes we meet no less than nine members of the film’s ensemble cast amidst a cacophony of these characters’ morning routines… Continue reading

From the Valley to the Mountain: The Inevitable Success of Paul Thomas Anderson

|Brogan Earney| “I have seen the new Quentin Tarantino, and his name is Paul Thomas Anderson,” wrote Entertainment Weekly’s Owen Gleiberman after watching the premiere of Boogie Nights at the 1997 Toronto International Film Festival. A line that recognizes the achievement… Continue reading

Meet Sydney: On Paul Thomas Anderson’s Hard Eight (1996)

Philip Baker Hall with cigarette dangling from his mouth

|MH Rowe| Some films are short stories; others are novels. The difference is not a question of length or running time, for even a novel can have the soul of a short story, while a short story can be a novel in miniature. A novel must possess, as an essential characteristic… Continue reading