Screening Log

This new site feature is a collective effort to summarize our viewing habits. Occasionally, you will find titles here that are coming to a theater near you, in addition to films viewed on television, and even films viewed in piecemeal. The screening log is archived each month; to view past entries select a month in the menu below.

August 2006 activity

Total Log Entries: 61

Total Comments: 60

Full Archive

Advertisements

Punch-Drunk Love / USA / 2002

In an early scene novelty prop entrepreneur Barry Egan exits his warehouse and looks toward a rising sun in the early morning. A steadicam closely in tow, the sunlight pours in to the frame, refracting in a kaleidoscope of pastels that introduce a rich palette—in a later scene in a grocery store, even, the colors are vibrant and ethereal. Aesthetically, this renders Paul Thomas Anderson’s fourth film a fantasy in its carefully designed artifice. And, by this measure, its romantic trajectory is somewhat traditional, but this all obscures the gravity, desperation, and brimming hostility available in almost each of the principle characters: Barry and his sporadic bursts of violence, his sisters’ incessant abuse, the brothers who steal his money (for an indecent sum), or the phone-sex operator who blackmails him. The entire film is summated in a brilliant scene in which Barry and his romantic pursuer, Lena, engage in indescribably violent pillow talk—that it is also totally adorable is Punch-Drunk Love’s defining idiosyncrasy.

by Rumsey Taylor | Source: Sony Pictures DVD
24 Aug 2006 9:45 AM | Comments (1)

Comments / 1 total / Submit Comment

  1. Andrew Anderson / 24 August 2006 / 6:51 PM

    I understand why audience’s didnt like the film in its initial release. The film is not your typical “Adam Sandler” comedy. Its brilliant, funny, romantic, and oddly poignant. Its also Sandler’s best performance to date.

Submit Comment

Please note that your email address will never be displayed on this page.

HTML is enabled; line breaks (<br />) and paragraphs (<p>) are automatically converted. Apostrophes, ellipses, em- and en-dashes, and quotes are also automatically formatted.

Recent Updates