Thursday, February 1, 2018

Oscar Project 2018: Phantom Thread

Movie: Phantom Thread

This looked enjoyable from the trailers - pretty clothes! dramatic relationships! - but it wound up being far more interesting than I expected, which is always a DELIGHT. The plot went somewhere I didn't quite expect, and the two main characters were more complex than I'd feared. (I don't want to spoil, but it was less straightforwardly "great man and his muse" than I'd expected.) But mostly, the whole thing was just put together and executed wonderfully - the writing, the acting, the set design, the score, the cinematography, everything.

I thought this should have been nominated in Cinematography, Film Editing, Production Design, and Sound Mixing as well.

Availability: Not quite everywhere, but in lots of theaters and more starting tomorrow.

Nominated In:
Best Picture: Yeah, sure. Not my first choice in this particular set of nominees, but this was just all-around great and is absolutely deserving.

Actor in a Leading Role: Sure. Daniel Day-Lewis was great at creating a character simultaneously ridiculous and totally believable, charismatic and infuriating.

Actress in a Supporting Role: Nah. Lesley Manville was fine (as Daniel Day-Lewis' character's sister) but the role wasn't particularly complex or nuanced, and she didn't do anything to particularly stand out in my mind.

Costume Design: Yep. This feels like kinda a gimme for a fashion movie, but the clothes are gorgeous and this is definitely deserved.

Directing: Sure! Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed so it's a little hard for me to separate, but I think he did both parts very well and there's a very strong vision and Thing He's Trying To Do here.

Music (Original Score): YES YES YES. The score is great and interesting and fits the movie perfectly, and really added a lot to the viewing experience. I'm listening to it RIGHT NOW.

Catch up on all my Oscar Project posts.

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