note : some may consider portions of the following text to be spoilers . be forewarned .
like its own opening shot , from out of the darkness boogie nights triumphantly explodes upon the film scene with stunning authority and clarity , persuasively heralding its helmer paul thomas anderson as a bonafide major talent .
a sprawling epic set in the heart of the disco era and focused upon the ascension and decline of a troupe in the adult film industry , boogie nights is an astonishingly ambitious feature film which is completely effective both as an utterly entertaining joyride and as a strikingly impressive piece of filmmaking .
the film follows a soft - spoken young man , eddie adams ( mark wahlberg ) from torrance , through his induction into the erotic picture business to stardom , and later , to a harrowingly precipitous drop .
as boogie nights opens , he 's toiling as a dishwasher in a trendy san fernando valley nightclub , and living at home under the thumb of a tyrannical mother who denigrates him at every opportunity .
recruited by fatherly jack horner ( a rejuvenated burt reynolds ) , a successful porn filmmaker , eddie abandons his old life in favour of a new one as dirk diggler , pornstar .
wholeheartedly embraced by jack 's troupe , including the maternal amber waves ( julianne moore ) , reed rothchild ( john c . reilly ) , buck swope ( don cheadle ) , rollergirl ( heather graham ) , dirk and his " one special thing " are quickly propelled to the top of his field , fulfilling his mantra of being a " big bright shining star " .
his lack of discipline , however , incites a chain of circumstances which sees dirk and his friends unravel as a new decade is ushered in .
the element of boogie nights which literally commands attention is the bravura direction by mr .
anderson , whose fascination and prowess with the camera is obvious .
from the terrific tracking shot throughout a nightclub which opens the film and introduces the players through to the showy sequence in the camera follows a female partygoer diving into a pool , mr .
anderson 's accomplished command of the camera is without question .
while novice directors often demonstrate an unfortunate lack of restraint in terms of flamboyant camerawork which ultimately proves to be aggravating , impertinent and self - congratulatory ( case in point : marc rocco 's unforgettable perpetual - motion helming of murder in the first ) , in boogie nights every zoom or pan by mr .
anderson , be it slow and deliberate or energetically sharp , is purposeful and potent .
it 's a rarity and a delight to discover such a confidently assured work so early in a filmmaker 's career -- boogie nights is only his second feature film , following up his debut feature from earlier this year ,
hard eight -- and
although it 's somewhat derivative ( his storytelling style is reminiscent of robert altman , while in terms of visuals he 's clearly influenced by martin scorsese ) , at least he 's borrowing from some of the best , and it 's entirely effective within the context of this film .
while boogie nights is astonishingly polished from a technical perspective , in terms of sheer entertainment value it 's also rollicking good fun , with a wickedly deadpan sense of humour .
the film perfectly captures the essence of the disco period in terms of music , clothes , hairstyles , dance , idioms , and culture , aided immeasurably by impeccable production design by bob ziembicki and costume design by mark bridges , and boogie nights convincingly catapults the audience back to this recent , pre - aids - scare period in american history where uninhibited , free - wheeling lifestyles abounded .
while much of the film 's humour pertains to the characters ' obliviousness of now - outdated aspects of their lives then prevalent in society -- a prime example is part - time salesman buck swope 's demo of a stereo system with an eight - track tape , and inviting a prospective customer to get ' freaky deaky ' with the music -- it 's elicited with an undercurrent not of ridicule , but of wistful reminiscence , and some the throwback elements in the film are strangely wondrous .
a giant ensemble disco dance production number in a nightclub is funny , to be sure , but oddly magical , and the sequence which lovingly explores eddie / dirk 's bedroom , completely adorned with posters and elements of iconic 1970s figures ( farrah fawcett , cheryl tiegs , bruce lee ) is breathtaking .
ably supported by a well - selected collection of period music ( all of which purportedly came straight from mr .
anderson 's personal collection )
, there 's a clear affection for the era in boogie nights .
it 's the period aspect and the playfully comic nostaligism of boogie nights which has been played up in its marketing campaign in deference of the pornography element of the storyline ; the film 's promotional trailer markedly avoids any explicit reference to the adult film industry which unites its characters .
after the debacle with 1996 's milos forman film , the people vs .
larry flynt , another finely - crafted work which was knocked off the market prematurely due to controversy regarding its pornography - related storyline , the new line marketing team faced a unique challenge with boogie nights in terms of attempting to deemphasize the relatively risque erotic picture element of the story in order to increase salability to the general public .
however , while boogie nights delves into the world of the adult film industry of two decades ago , it 's hardly a lurid or seamy film -- given the subject matter , there 's very little nudity , and virtually none of it can be construed as gratuitous -- and boogie nights smartly depicts
erotic filmmaking not as a hotbed of carnality , but simply as a business .
the glimpses on the sets of jack horner 's shoots reveal that while the films he makes are intended to titillate , there 's a candid matter - of - factness in terms of sex ; his cast and crew are professionals who are merely doing a job , and it 's refreshing that the obvious cliches of depravity and sinful lechery often linked to dismissive portraits of adult filmmaking , such as coercion or debauchery , are avoided .
if anything , boogie nights is more interested in the process of adult filmmaking than the adult films themselves .
jack horner 's dream is an honourable one -- he genuinely aspires to make a great film -- and to some degree boogie nights is reminiscent of ed wood ( albeit lacking a certain wistful innocence ) .
in both films , the world of quickie low - budget filmmaking is explored , and both jack horner and the version of ed wood by tim burton , scott alexander , and larry karaszewski share similar mindsets -- jack 's retort of " there are shadows in light , baby " to his cinematographer 's complaint about poor set lighting echoes back to ed
wood 's
" it 's not about the little details , it 's about the big picture !
" rant when it is pointed out that his graveyard set for plan 9 from outer space appears patently false .
in boogie nights and ed wood , the aspirations of the respective filmmakers ' prove to be bemusing , not in their intentions -- there 's nothing inherently silly in the goal of making an ' artistic ' erotic picture -- but in the degree that they miss the mark .
much like the humour lacing ed wood , the laughs involving jack horner are double - edged ; after viewing a hilarious excerpt from one of his latest films which hybridizes the james bond and porn genres , when jack breathes " this is the best work i 've ever done " , it 's genuinely funny , but given his utter sincerity , also possesses a tinge of sadness .
mr .
anderson is at this point clearly a greater talent as a director than a screenwriter .
while boogie nights shows great inventiveness in staging , there really is n't any clever dialogue in the film , though a valid point certainly can be made that none of the film 's characters particularly lend themselves to thoughtful verbal exchanges ; when one considers that the film 's * protagonist * literally does n't say a single insightful thing throughout the entire 152 minute running time , it 's no wonder why the playfully inane " how much can you bench ?
" banter between dirk and reed constitutes one of the film 's finest exchanges .
and while mr .
anderson creates a rich collection of fascinating characters
, it 's problematic that some of the the threads given to the film 's characters are simply stale material -- julianne moore 's child custody battle is fairly cliched stuff , better suited for a less risque and uninspired tv - movie version of her character 's story , and far less interesting than the thread dealing with her woefully hackneyed filmmaking ambitions .
still , even if he does n't always know what to do with his characters , mr .
anderson most definitely captures their essences , and his resolutely nonjudgemental affection for them is infectious -- misguided , even aimless , hopelessly naive , self - destructive , insufferable : i loved them just the same .
in any case , it 's hard to pick nits with a screenplay which contains one of the most audacious and inspired ( and ultimately best - executed ) scenes of the year :
a scene where dirk diggler and reed rothchild are dragged along by their loose - cannon compadre to the home of drug baron rahad jackson ( a mesmerizing alfred molina in an unforgettable performance , even if it 's a small one ) in a suicidal drug deal scam , only to find that the millionaire is a crazed eccentric ( the part where he stops the deal to listen to the crescendo of night ranger 's " sister christian " on his stereo system is sheer brilliance ) flanked by an armed bodyguard .
if this scene already was n't tense enough with these elements , mr .
anderson introduces a chinese boy that wanders through the scene , who for no discernable reason is tossing firecrackers around the room , pushing the scene to a new , surreal level of delightful giddiness .
there are some other interesting touches in boogie nights .
mr .
anderson recycles the use of long methodical chimes on the soundtrack from hard eight ; here , it accompanies the violent intercut sequences which depict the prostration of various characters to frightening effect .
similarly , a painful scene where crew member scotty j ( philip seymour hoffman ) breaks down in tears in the driver 's seat , sobbing " i 'm so stupid " after being rebuffed by dirk after an awkward but heartfelt advance is strikingly played out exactly as a later scene with dirk in the driver 's seat after a particularly tumultuous and traumatic evening .
boogie nights is exceedingly well cast , and each of the actors rise to the occasion ; the ensemble cast is uniformly good .
while most of the acting accolades will no doubt go to mr .
wahlberg ( fulfilling upon the sparks of promise he demonstrated in some of his earlier films ) and mr .
reynolds ( terrific as the father figure and stable anchor of the film , ringing true in every respect ) , a handful of other performances
which might otherwise be overlooked deem mention .
mr .
reilly demonstrates here , as he did for brief glimpses in ulu grosbard 's georgia , a genuine aptitude for comedy -- many of his scenes in boogie nights are among the very funniest in the film .
i 'm not sure how much of his performance as reed was scripted and how much was done on the spot , but he plays the quintessential second banana character to a tee .
mr .
reilly is the best part of the big disco dance production number , and
it 's wickedly funny to watch his reed join in with dirk after the fact in threatening the new stud on the block during a macho altercation .
worth the price of admission alone is the glimpse of him getting down in the recording studio while the dirk character is laying down a numbingly bad ( and dead - on period ; it sure sounds like bad early 1980s to me ) demo track
" you got the touch " in a vain attempt at a musical career .
mr .
reilly plays his vacant character with utter conviction which is convincing and effective .
ms .
graham , with her long dirty blonde hair , innocent demeanour , and huge hazel eyes , looks like a disney animated heroine come to life -- or in this case , a disney animated heroine who came to life , made a wrong turn , and ended up on the new line lot in a film focused on the late 70s / early 80s adult film industry .
consequently , it 's a bit incongruous to see this cheery sweet - faced starlet whizzing about the set on her roller skates , but in a scene where she 's lounging in a limousine prowling the streets , garish red lipstick messily smeared on , giving the camera a hilariously pouty come - hither look , all one can do is gulp .
her role in the film sadly needs more fleshing out ( err -- in a figurative sense ) -- she 's essentially a glorified extra -- but she does score impressively in her key scene which is unnerving in its sheer primal ferocity .
( if only mr .
anderson had filmed the scene so that we could actually see the expression of rage and anguish on her face , though ! ) and a cautionary tale for the strict and prudish : as a teen , ms .
graham 's parents forbade her to take a part in the twisted cult classic heathers ; since then , her most notable roles have been as a junkie ( gus van sant 's drugstore cowboy ) and now a porn starlet .
draw your own conclusions .
perhaps the most quietly touching performance in boogie nights is that of mr .
cheadle , who lends dignity to his role as a character in search of his identity , and whose quest is comically manifested by a series of changes in his sense of fashion .
his relationship with his cheerfully supportive new wife jessie st .
vincent ( an interesting melora walters ) is wholly compelling has genuine sweetness , and although his general longing for acceptance from others is perceptible , it 's no more so than in the bank scene where his loan application to open a stereo store is rejected due to his background in the porn industry .
while the scenario is familiar , the wounded look in cheadle 's eyes makes the scene unforgettable .
luis guzman 's most famous work is possibly in brian de palma 's carlito 's way , and here he plays a variation on the same character : maurice t .
rodriguez is a hapless but good - natured nightclub owner who 's a hanger - on to jack 's group , ingratiating himself into the clique and constantly hounding jack , with little disguise made of his desperation , for a part in one of his erotic pictures .
jack 's eventual acquiescence to maurice 's request leads to one of boogie nights ' biggest comic payoffs .
boogie nights is a stunning achievement due to the virtuoso direction by mr .
anderson , who immediately asserts his presence in the film industry as a presence of note with this work .
striking a fine balance between humour and drama , and exceptionally well - crafted , there 's no doubt that boogie nights is among the very best films of the year .
Output: P