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 Inherent Vice is the seventh feature film of Paul Thomas Anderson (Boogie Nights, There Will Be Blood, you know everything he's directed why am I listing these credits?), and, more importantly, the first film to be adapted from the novels of Thomas Pynchon. As one of Pynchon's "California novels," it's a natural fit for Anderson, who's demonstrated how at home he is in LA, and with stories featuring densely-woven narratives, drugs, sex, and melancholy. It's also one of the few novels of Pynchon's that could realistically be made into a film, and even given how slight it is compared to Gravity's Rainbow, Mason & Dixon, Against the Day, or Bleeding Edge, that's still not a short order. Significant portions of the novel had to be excised, and the plot, originally far more convoluted, is comparatively streamlined. Still, all that in mind, this is for the most part a very successful adaptation. Inevitably, you lose something of the depth - and especially the humor, as PTA is no match for Pynchon's wordplay - of the novel, and compared to the Looney Tunes freneticism of the novel, this is a more melancholy, somber affair, but PTA manages to hit on the core of misguided nostalgia and humanism in the face of increasing bureaucratization that's central to Pynchon's work. It's not the Inherent Vice I expected, or maybe even the one I wanted, but it's nonetheless a very worthwhile take on the material. (And, Jesus Christ, I got to see my favorite author adapted by PTA - eat your heart out.) I wouldn't rank it with my very favorite PTAs, but all that really means is it isn't one of my favorite movies ever. I can't help but wonder what a non-Pynchon reader would make of this, since even given how much more straightforward this is compared to Pynchon's usual excess it still presents a fairly winding and dense novel, and his sense of humor doesn't perfectly translate to the screen.
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Jan 9, 2015 22:29
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| # ¿ May 21, 2024 03:23 |
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Uncle Boogeyman posted:one line from the book near the beginning when they're at the pizza place that i was hoping would show up but didn't: "Can I have that piece of tofu?" "That's a marshmallow." I thought it was great that they still went to the trouble to have the marshmallow pizza and it went completely unremarked.
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Jan 11, 2015 05:39
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