Movie of the Week #8


Boogie Nights
1997, Directed By Paul Thomas Anderson

There are certain taboos a director doesn’t dare touch when he wants to become a “respected filmmaker”. In my opinion, it takes a truly gifted director to incorporate such themes in their work while still keeping widely acknowledged critical credibility. For instance, Stanley Kubrick was a master at this. He touched on subjects such as pedophilia, rape, and even the horror genre, and he never lost an ounce of brilliance nor credibility. Coming off his modest, low-key debut Hard Eight, Paul Thomas Anderson made an extremely bold decision on the subject matter of his follow-up: the adult film industry.

There is a certain indefinable mastery that seemed to flow through the veins of young directors in the 1970s. Films like The Godfather, Chinatown, and Apocalypse Now had it on rampant display. Anderson is one of the very few modern filmmakers with this mastery within him.



Boogie Nights opens with an explosion of color and sound as the camera glides through a bustling street of ‘70s nightlife with liquid ease. We are introduced to the cast one by one in a nightclub before finally arriving at a young busboy (Wahlberg). Adult film tycoon Jack Horner (Reynolds) spots him and immediately knows he is something special. He is correct, as this busboy is endowed with an enormous “talent”, if you will. Horner takes him under his wing and nurtures him into the biggest thing in the industry (no pun intended).

Never before has a modern film encapsulated the spirit, fashion, and sound of the 1970s as well as Boogie Nights. The soundtrack is incessantly infectious, the sets and wardrobe vibrant, and even the cinematography is lush and colorful.



The 1980s start off with the bang of a suicide on midnight of January 1st. Thus begins the fall of class and decency (if that’s what you want to call it) in the porn industry. I would say that the early half of this decade is nothing but drugs, sex, and debauchery, but those were the ‘70s. Those were the good times. No, the ‘80s are filled with violence, serious drug addiction, despair, and the general fall of the mighty.

As I have said, Boogie Nights is a fantastic sensory experience. However, its real strengths lie in its characters. It may sound odd to hear Boogie Nights described as an epic, but it really is. In a lot of ways, it’s a modern Gone With The Wind. It doesn’t make itself big through massive sets and thousands of extras, but through the journey it takes us through with the characters over the span of two decades: the rise, the top, the fall, the bottom, and the triumphant return.

And Anderson orchestrates it all with a presence, ease, confidence, and mastery atypical of a director on his second film. The music is perfect. The visuals are perfect. The acting is perfect. The editing is perfect. The writing is perfect. The direction is perfect. Anderson makes his cinematic influences subtle yet apparent, and even his obvious influence Martin Scorsese could not have pulled this film off as impeccably as he.

It would have been easy for a filmmaker to turn Boogie Nights into a parody of the pornography industry. After all, it’s not exactly held in high regard. But Anderson crafts a loving portrait of these characters, and the audience likes and cares about them just as much as he does. Boogie Nights is a funny, depressing, uplifting, exciting, heartbreaking, and strangely beautiful film. It truly is a masterpiece in every sense of the word.

Previous Movies of the Week:

#1: Gladiator
#2: The Passion of the Christ
#3: Cool Hand Luke
#4: Fight Club
#5: American Beauty
#6: The Texas Chainsaw Massacre
#7: GoodFellas

love this movie


btw, how is one delegated to choose a "movie of the week"?

Frank asked stip if he could do it, and then he asked me if I would like to collaborate. Simple as that.

If you have one you'd like done, you could PM Frank or me.

Jordan, you stole my next pick for Movie of the Week. Still an excellent pick, buddy.

Your summation pretty much sums up how I feel about the film, so I'll just throw one more thing out there. My favorite scene takes place in the drug dealer's house towards the end. There is one shot where the camera holds still on Walhberg's face -- as he sits contemplating where his life has led him -- for over a minute. No dialogue from him, just off-screen sound. You don't see shots like this in Hollywood movies. This is part of what I love about Anderson's writing and direction. He is a master of the nuance.

I remember hearing about Boogie Nights when it came out and thought it would be a big joke. When it came out on video, I realized it was anything but. What immediately stuck out to me was how well-rounded each and every character was. Anderson didn't intend to make a mockery of these characters, but instead show how tragic their lives are. This is almost comparable to a Greek tragedy transferred to the 1970's porn industry.

An easy 5 stars from me.

Shit, man - sorry.

Awesome film...love it love it love it

Hey, are there only a few of you guys picking these? I want in on the action.

PM me.

This scene is also my favorite. I have had a similar experience where a friend of mine takes me with him to buy some weed and we end up in a situation kind of like this where I am in a strange house with some drug dealer who I don't feel very comfortable with. It brought back the feeling I had being in that guys house, although my situation didn't end in a shootout.

Great movie!!!!

another one with a great soundtrack...

sister christian and the transformer's song (you got the touch or whatever it's called), with wahlberg acting like he's a bad singer, great scenes...

One of the best long shots is in this movie. In the begining when Whalberg first visits Reynolds house, the camera goes through the party then goes into the pool without one cut. Another one is at the start when the camera goes through the night club and introduces all the main characters with a single shot.

Great movie. The actors are able to make you care about these characters even though the things they do are looked down upon in society. One of the best scenes (imo) is when rollergirl is in the limo with Jack for their new 'gimmick'. She is used to having her life viewed as 'normal' as she surrounds herself with other adult entertainers. The person they pick to 'shoot the scene' with her happens to know her from her life before porn. All of the shame she actually feels comes to the forefront when he calls her on it. First she denies that she is the girl he is thinking of, and then she, well, smashes him in the head with her rollerskate. It's just one of the scenes reminding the audience of how these people are treated and viewed outside their inner circle, and the actors did a great job conveying the emotions involved.

"I'm an actor!"

This has got have one of the best ensemble casts of all time.

Burt Reynolds
Mark Wahlberg
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Luis Guzman
Alfred Molina
Heather Graham
Don Cheadle
John C. Reilly
William H. Macy
Julianne Moore
Melora Walters
Thomas Jane
Philip Baker Hall

Seriously. Holy shit. Not too bad for a movie about porn written and directed by a filmmaker on his second movie.

Don Cheadle's character in this movie is perfect, well everyone in this movie is perfect for their roles. But I remember seeing this a second time and thinking damn, Cheadle has this character down. Going from this to the prison thug a years later in Out of Sight is fucking impressive.

No, actually, why'd I say that? Edited.

Anyhow, 4/5.

Don Cheadle is one of my favorite actors working today. I seriously love everything he does.

This is a movie I liked the first time I saw it and loved the second time.

Heather Graham is so great in this. What happened....

As much as I hate to say it, she's not a good actress, never has been, never will be. I still love her though, always have, always will.

Marky Mark is awesome.


If you have the special edition DVD...fish around in the special features disk and you'll find a nice surprise.

man, i can't decide if i agree with this statement or not. I'm not really a porn historian, but I think I view this film as an (admittedly early) salvo in the mainstream-ization of porn that's taken place over the past 10-15 years.