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Author Topic: Phantom Thread  (Read 8895 times)

Keil S.

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #10 on: February 08, 2018, 11:14:37 AM »
Interesting list.  Plenty of them I love, some I’ve yet to see, and some that I wouldn’t rank that highly still made for interesting choices and a truly personal, colorful, and inspired list.  Side note: I love In Bruges so much that it’s largely why I included a brief stop in Bruges on our trip to Europe last summer.  Also, any list that bothers to include Superstar: The Karen Carpenter Story has to be respected.
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Bondo

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #11 on: February 08, 2018, 02:40:48 PM »
I was In Bruges last August for the same reason  :D

don s.

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #12 on: February 08, 2018, 07:34:59 PM »
Now I remember why I stopped visiting webboards for so long.


My instinct (and old habit) would be to reply rather caustically and sarcastically
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pixote

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #13 on: February 08, 2018, 10:38:14 PM »
I keep hoping people start a fight here so I have reason to delete this whole conversation. And then people will ask where the thread went, and I'll be like, "What'd you expect? It was a phantom thread."

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Bondo

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #14 on: February 09, 2018, 05:52:09 AM »
Well, that pun might get the fight started. Shameless. ;D

Smoke

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #15 on: February 09, 2018, 08:34:38 PM »
I was warned that the Master was a letdown, so strongly that it was several years before I caught up with it on video...I vowed never to make that mistake with PTA again. I'll keep my short review more to standard movie stuff and leave the feminist critiques to others. I wouldn't call Phantom Thread a letdown but I would say it doesn't have the "punch" of most PTA movies. It moves slowly and is quieter in general than any others I can think of. There was literally a person snoring several seats over. It isn't that it's slow by "art movie" standards, but most PTA can appeal to more of a standard Hollywood audience and I just don't see that with this one. For my money I found it consistently engaging and I feel I need to see it again not to decide if I love or hate it, but just to luxuriate in it and presumably notice some things I didn't the first time. A few things seem to beg for clarification, and while I doubt I'll find any definitive answers I'm fairly confident I'll find more to think about and explore. I don't think the (wonderful) music was overused, I think the visuals would be worth watching no matter what, and I think acting this good from the 3 principals could rescue just about anything. And that's enough about my thinking.

Beavermoose

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #16 on: February 12, 2018, 02:28:41 AM »
I think people sort of forget how schlocky pta movies are because they always look really nice.
I found it to be mostly a comedy. I'm not sure how tongue-in-cheek the film was intended to be but Day Lewis is just such an asshole, such a cliché of the tormented genius that I couldn't help be laugh at everything he did. I sort of just really liked watching the two of them argue considering how mismatched they actually are. The dinner scene was great, with Alma emoting scoffs and sounds instead of words. When they're playing backgammon as well, he just gets so patronizing.
I think we are expecting a deep character study because we are given the esthetic of one but the film is actually more like a black comedy, the ending sort of cements that.
I don't think it's a masterpiece but I enjoyed it.

¡Keith!

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #17 on: February 13, 2018, 03:29:02 PM »
I keep hoping people start a fight here so I have reason to delete this whole conversation. And then people will ask where the thread went, and I'll be like, "What'd you expect? It was a phantom thread."

Keep visiting web boards! Be the change you want to see in the posts!

pixote

I came here for this... carry on with your discussion of actual things.

smirnoff

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #18 on: February 16, 2018, 02:20:18 AM »
It wasn't a complete slog but I must say I wasn't thrilled that these were the characters I was going to be stuck with for the duration. An unpleasant genius and the woman who inexplicably can't seem to live without him. One is as frustrating as the other. Their existence and the film's decision to focus on them gives rise to two questions: Why is he unpleasant, and why does she love him. Two questions which may share one answer.

Anyways, you do what you can over the course of a couple of hours. You study the characters, watch their reactions... it's all very interesting, I'm sure.

Behold! Two passive aggressive people try to have an argument!
"I purposesly gave you butter!"
"I purposely ignored your giving me butter!"

It truth these were the highlights of the film for me. Noisy tea pouring, noisy bread buttering, getting lectured about backgammon... these two deserve each other. Those parts made me laugh.

There are moments when I almost came around to the point of rooting for the characters. I thought, if they could just have a breakthrough of some sort they might be less unhappy. But that went away when I realized they weren't unhappy. This is actually just them. They don't change, they just come to an understanding. Good for them. Happy ending.

5/10
« Last Edit: February 16, 2018, 02:22:11 AM by smirnoff »

Teproc

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Re: Phantom Thread
« Reply #19 on: February 20, 2018, 10:13:47 AM »
Re: the "tormented genius" thing... is he a genius ? I don't know that he is, and I don't know that the film cares whether or not he is: he's a boy. She calls him that after their first meeting, and that's really the crux of their relationship: he's an boy who wants his mother, but he's talented (maybe a genius but again I don't think it's really the point, as PTA never really tries to convince us he is), which is not exactly the most original character either... but the film is not about him anyway.
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