"Inherent Vice" We Need Movies Like This

“Inherent Vice” is a movie written & directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Based on a book by Thomas Pynchon.

It is a fascinating movie. That it is about mood. There is a razor thin plot, but it’s inconsequential to characters. Film students will love this movie, because it does sorta’ remind you of what existential thoughts could produce. Is it good? Yes and no. Yes, because free flow thought does have a dream like quality. Terrence Malick exploited it to no end. It wraps itself into a dream quality, that I think does serve its purpose. And it’s also shitty, because it drags on like living in someone else’s thoughts and not knowing the person.

Also, there is an odd axiom about drug cultured movies have to mirror the “style” of the movie. Movies like this make you feel stoned. Much like “Fear & Loathing in Las Vegas.” It’s a grueling attempt at trying to make heads or tails of their mindset. And…I do think there is a LOT of cheating in these types of movies. Because they’re made for high people, it’s okay to go into odd characters, and non sequitors. This is unfair to the viewer. Since they were promised a story. And a story does attempt to draw you to a conclusion instead of meandering in space until one falls from Manna.

Would I recommend this movie…I was surprised it was even made…but I do. But to a specific audience. One that understands craft of movies and Paul Thomas Anderson fans. And one who know a little about that era. For instance…

….an aging beauty in bikini so small you see every line of the curvature of her figure she steps into an obie light directly above lens. Which her first words to Doc (lead character) are “like the lighting? We had Jimmy Wong Howe do it.” James Wong Howe was a marginally known, highly respected cinematographer within the insiders of old Hollywood who specialized in lighting women.

Also, I don’t know Thomas Pynchon’s work. I get the feeling he’s very similar to typical baby boomer era writers. High on drugs, hate The Man. He seems to have broken a lot of ground back in the day. And in a weird sense, he did stand the test of time (since drug culture recycled itself).