Phantom Thread

Saw this in a theatre. Movie aint that good but Daniel Day-Lewis' acting was phenomenal. He superbly potrayed the character of Reynolds Woodcock, who is obsessed with order, symmetry n following an organised routine. DDLs mannerisms, facial expressions n costumes were spot on. Many may hate the characters controlled behaviour but Woodcocks breakfast time was superb n so was his appetite. The film does hav repetitive trope of breakfasts for foodies. Also noteworthy is costume designer Mark Bridges incredible work, the look of Woodcocks suits n the gorgeous female dresses added a charm. Another aspect one cannot ignore is the mesmerizing musical score.

An aggravating and tediously slow storytelling that is about nothing, and goes nowhere, unless happy endings built on sadomasochistic relationships are your thing. The sister's icy gaze and mannerisms are worthy of the Nurse Ratched Award, and kudos to the background collective of seamstresses who gave the film it's only glint of humanity. For those who willing to endure the over two hours of self-indulgent posturing and loathsome, dis-functional bickering, the truly sick abhorrence of the ending may make you holding back your vomit. A feel-bad movie where the award should go to - if you were hoping for any inspiration, beauty and form - the car.

Much like mother!, Phantom Thread is an unnerving 2017 auteur look at a tortured artist and his neglected spouse / muse. But where mother! was a slow descent into abject insanity and (literal) barn-burning chaos, Phantom Thread is as uptight and dry as an aristocratic dinner party on Ambien. As an overwhelmingly opaque Paul Thomas Anderson film, it's the kind of movie that people seem expected to at least appreciate if not adore, especially given the universal praise poured upon it. I, for one, just found it boring at best and pretentious at worst. A successful clothing designer (Day-Lewis) in the 1950s meets and falls for a younger woman. The movie sets them on a cyclical course of love-fight-make-up-repeat that to anyone ever in a long-term relationship will certainly feel familiar, though hardly revelatory. Like a Victorian-era costume drama, it's all so stodgy and stiff, much of the apparent filmmaking "beauty" and unimpeachable performances went nearly unnoticed by me. I became preoccupied with Krieps wife-character's inexplicable interest in this man and getting irrationally enraged imagining method-actor Day-Lewis sewing dresses between takes. Now Anderson is inarguably a master director, so there are certainly some high points: the moody, bouncy piano score; Manville's strong sister character; individual scenes that spark up the otherwise monotonous proceedings (dinner arguments, fever-dream visions). Apparently, there is an underlining dark comedy to it all, but I just must be incredibly dense or simply missing something to not notice anything even dryly droll on screen. From my vantage, Phantom Thread is neither funny, compelling, nor even that beautiful; it is, however, maybe the most overrated film of 2017.

I cannot understand the praise this movie has received, aside from that for Daniel Day-Lewis' performance. It is, frankly, an insult to the movie-going public. My wife and I are both very well-educated individuals, which I think is important for anyone to know who thinks we just "didn't get it" with this movie. The same can be said about the couple who saw the movie with us. When it ended, we all looked at each other and felt that we had been had. The movie's title has no apparent connection with what passes for action in the film. Is this movie a love story? A study of the fashion industry decades ago? A battle of the sexes? Well, whatever it purports to be, it fails. It's pretentious, with lingering shots of couples or individuals passing for deep meaning. Long silences that do nothing to advance, or even explain, what passes for the story. Moody stares and shadowy lighting do not make a great film, or one as lousy as this. The musical score is probably the most intrusive of any film I've ever seen. Music swells to let you know that "This is important!" That doesn't work, and it interfered with scene after scene. Maybe the producers and director thought it added gravity to a movie desperately trying to show you that it is meaningful in so many ways. For many years the movie that most offended me, as an utter waste of my viewing time, was "Titanic." It has now been supplanted by this overwrought couple of hours of cinema. The worst movie I've ever suffered through, and that includes many of the ones lampooned on "Mystery Science Theater 3000." Come to think of it, that might be an appropriate venue for future screenings of this pretentious bore.