Inherent Vice
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Katerine Waterson
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Reviewed by Brendan Dousi
[Rating: 4/5]
It’s March! Finally! Now it’s time for film in 2015 to truly begin. January/February in Australian Cinemas is an interesting time. It consists of an unholy amalgamation of the left over Oscar-Bait films from 2014 that for some reason weren’t released here last year and the horrible ‘dud’ films that the distributors have no idea what to do with (I’m looking at you Project Almanac). So, it isn’t until these get out of the way that we can truly start to see what the New Year has to offer. Lucky for us, visionary Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson has decided to skip Oscar season this year and release his latest artistic venture, Inherent Vice. Will the first true film of 2015 bode well for the year ahead, or is it perhaps just a late contender for one of the beginning of the year ‘dud’ films?
Inherent Vice follows the crazed, drug-fuelled haze of Private Investigator Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix) as he stumbles his way, surprisingly competently, through an intricate and often very confusing web of conspiracy when ex-girlfriend Shasta (Katherine Waterson) disappears suddenly after asking for his help. Both antagonised and working in cahoots with the deranged Lt. Det. Christian F. “Bigfoot” Bjornsen (Josh Brolin), Doc constantly finds himself in a myriad of situations where it seems he might have bitten off a lot more than he can chew…or swallow…or snort. Yeah, he does a lot of drugs.
More like Incoherent Vice, am I right? Inherent Vice isn’t the kind of movie where you understand everything that’s happening on screen all at once. Thanks, mostly, to the point of view of Phoenix’s Doc who happens to be a drug-addled hippy and, hence, the story unfolds onscreen in a convoluted and often confusing way. Don’t get me wrong, the overall story is very clear and most of the time you will follow, but there are points where you will think you’re on the ball when all of a sudden you might catch yourself going, “Wait, what?”. This is, of course, the pure intent of Paul Thomas Anderson who really wants you to get swept away just as Doc does, truly planting you in his shoes as you believe you are grasping what’s going on and then another curve-ball (or 8-ball) gets thrown your way. It’s a very effective way to tell this story, and one that definitely lends this film towards repeat-viewings. For the first viewing, though, just let everything wash over you. Don’t try to follow too hard, just let it happen, man. It’s all good.
Like most of Paul Thomas Anderson’s other work, Inherent Vice does often lend itself to pretention. But, that’s what we love him for. He has an uncanny ability to make everything seem human and real on-screen while flirting with the artistic and pretentious. This, in part, is effective because of his ability to balance all of these elements. For every long-winded monologue delivered by a sometimes naked femme fatale you get ten hilarious scenes of Josh Brolin’s Bigfoot inserting a very phallic frozen banana into his mouth. This film is as close as Anderson will ever get to a slap-stick comedy and all of the comedic elements are pure gold, yet perfectly balanced out with elements of wit, charm and mystique. And, let’s face it, with a cast lead by Joanquin Phoenix and Josh Brolin, how could he have gone wrong?
Inherent Vice is certainly a film that isn’t for everyone, but fans of Paul Thomas Anderson will definitely be pleased. It has the level of depth and artistic sensibility of his other works, but is balanced out with fantastic elements of fun and craziness. If you’re sick of all the Oscar-Bait and early year ‘dud’ films that are currently plaguing our cinemas, Inherent Vice might just be the cure you’re looking for. Definitely a good start to 2015.
