Phantom Thread

Are you really all fine with the ending that almost made me knock a star off my rating? Such a detailed and focused, professionally cold and intelligent study of the relationship between two people – one from the farthest corner of Mars and the other from the farthest part of Venus – with such brilliantly escalating tension and a creeping threat of tragedy... coming to such inadequately banal nothingness that, in terms of the script, does not resolve anything? Yes, that’s what would probably happen in real life, but I expect something more from P.T. Anderson’s movie. All three actors are wonderful and the constant use of Greenwood’s music with a touch of classicism is interesting, helping to set the movie in its period and harmonizing with the distinguished character of Woodcock’s robes. (03/04/2018)

It's been a long, long time since I've seen a film that flows so gracefully. P.T. Anderson is an Artist, Day-Lewis displays an excruciating lightness of acting, Vicky Krieps is a tremendous acting discovery, and the music, the brilliant music, suits the film as well as Woodcock's dress suits the women. The way the story builds up and ends cynically was a feast for my senses and black-humored soul. Fantastic experience! (04/12/2018)

Acting-wise, there's probably nothing much to fault with Phantom Thread, although it's too bad that Daniel Day-Lewis is saying goodbye, but it's his choice and it's a good send-off, showing once again what a great actor he is. But plot-wise, the film failed to pull me in as much as I had hoped, but that's almost always the case with Anderson's films. (02/18/2018)

This is what Basic Instinct could have looked like in the sixties. Lots of dark thoughts and inner motivations wrapped up in the irresistibly aristocratic style of the mid-twentieth century British bourgeoisie. A clash of two completely different personalities, a duel of two strong characters, a battle of an outwardly powerful man vs an inwardly even more powerful woman. There's no point in addressing the fact that Paul Thomas Anderson is a master of emotions, Daniel Day-Lewis plays "the grand finale" and Vicky Krieps doesn't act but just "is". Is there any point in addressing why this strong melodrama, heading towards a crushing finale, suddenly turns towards black-humour in the very end? That is such a shame! If that doesn't bother you, you’ll have a five-star experience. (04/02/2018)

The aesthetics and thoroughness are so phenomenal that I only regret the amount of space Reynolds' ego receives in the story. If his repetitive manners and utmost despotism were replaced by the richer background of Alma or Cyril, this deliberately unpaced, original, and falsely dramatized display of audiovisual beauty would perhaps have reached even the unattainable. (01/31/2018)