a movie a week: punch-drunk love

P.T. Anderson's Punch-Drunk Love is a polarizing film, it seems. I've talked to those who have applauded it and talked with those who have allegedly tried seven times to watch it but simply can't stomach it. I am of the former variety.

The first thing to note is that Adam Sandler, in all honesty, does a great job in this movie as Berry Egan, a depressed, bipolar business owner. Like Jim Carrey, I will always appreciate Sandler's dramatic performances over his comedic ones. Does this mean I don't like movies like Liar Liar or Happy Gilmore? No, of course not. Those are fun, harmless movies, but watching them now I can't help but feel that Carrey and Sandler have their gloves on, instead of the gloves being off. This said, Sandler's list of A-list dramatic performances is actually quite minuscule, as his other dramatic outings haven't been under the same quality of direction that Anderson delivers. Trust me, it's not like I consider movies like Spanglish or Reign Over Me milestones by any stretch of the word.

Still though, if Sandler never does a "good" dramatic movie again, it'll be okay, because his performance in Punch-Drunk Love is so, so good. I understand this seems hyperbolic and sort of ridiculous (but when wasn't I known for those things?), but it's not like while you were watching The Wedding Singer you were thinking, "Man, he could really pull off a socially scared, violently disturbed sociopath." Sandler's at times understated and at other times explosive performance is something that those truly interested in "characters" should study. Everything he does sounds like a ticking time bomb - each movie closer to cracking, each word closer to him losing his cool. While Sandler obviously can't hold a candle to "true" character actors like Daniel Day Lewis, Robert DeNiro, or Philip Seymour Hoffman (who does an awesome job as a minor character in this movie), he certainly shows them he knows what he's doing by crafting the disturbed Berry.

But not all the credit can go to Sandler. The man behind this film, P.T. Anderson, did an equal job creating Berry and the world he inhabits.

It seems to most people, this is considered a "minor" P.T. Anderson film, sharing the shelf with his first film that I actually haven't seen, Hard Eight, and possibly even Magnolia. It is usually used as a foot-note in discussions about Boogie Nights or There Will Be Blood, which I find to be unfair and certainly doesn't give this film the credit it deserves. Love is arguably one Anderson's more original and unique films, and it certainly deserves the credit it deserves when it comes to that.

The first thing one notices, or at least I noticed, in Love is the use of color. The movie is perpetually blue and red, even going as far as dressing our two main characters, Berry and Lena, in these colors. This creates a "colorful" world so to speak, but not in any sort of garish or cartoon-y way. Fellow film-maker and last-name-sharer Wes Anderson uses colors to create a striking, vibrant world that is alive and breathing well. P.T., on the other hand, uses these colors to subdue his world, to make you feel sunken in and uneasy and not welcome. Berry adorns himself in a blue suit throughout the entire movie, and it's quite the interest to his sisters, who continue to ask him when he got it and why he's wearing it. It seems Berry's suit is a sort of metaphysical object placed coyly into the movie (along with another item I'll get to later). Berry obtains this suit curiously as the movie begins to clue the viewer into the personality and mind of this character. At it's most basic, the suit simply means Berry is blue - sad and depressed, and as he wears the suit, his sisters, those who have known him his whole life, start to question Berry and his current state of mind. The suit allows him to be able to evaluate who he is and begin to make changes, to seek help, or just to find a place to hide within himself.

Another object that very curiously appears at the beginning og the film is the harmonium. Berry walks outside of his office to find a barren street when suddenly a van flips over and appears in front of him. The doors open and a man places a harmonium on the street and leaves. Who are these people? Why did they place the harmonium there? Anderson says, simply, "who cares?" The harmonium functions solely as a symbol and not a tangible object, just as Berry's suit does. His co-workers and sisters also question when he got the "piano," to which Berry never answers, as he never does when questioned about his suit. This is because these things function only as symbols, and not as actual objects in their world. When Lena calls the "piano" by it's proper name, a harmonium, the symbol becomes fully realized. Berry, when under stress and wishing to calm down, rushes to his harmonium and plays random keys, calming himself. Berry wasn't sure what it was that made him attracted to and subsequently calmed by the harmomium, but it becomes obvious when Lena recognizes the harmonium for what it actually is.

It represents love, the tenderness and yearning that Berry needed in his life. Lena can deliver this to him. Berry's violent tendencies and yearning for some to simply listen to him (which is why he calls the phone sex hot line and why the conversation is so stilited: Berry doesn't wish for the "sex" part of the call, just the talking) is finally corrected and fulfilled by Lena, who wears a red dress. Red can be found as a sign of progress and safety throughout the film (notice the ticket takers at the airport - they're wearing red suits). Berry can finally be happy and calm, and most of all, love and be loved. He can shed his blue suit and be rid of his harmonium.

There is so much more to appreciate and love in this movie. The amazing use of music to build almost hair-pulling stress and tension, the use of lens flair and washed out lights and color, and superb acting on everyone's part. To me, this is more than a "minor" Anderson film, but a full fledged, fully realized, and fully engorssing expierence. If you have yet to see the movie, I'll lend it to you. Seriously.

Seriously.