Boogie Nights

Director Paul Thomas Anderson has created a fascinating account of a family of pornographers in the late 1970s. It is a frank, compelling, and disturbing vignette of unforgettable characters. Mark Whalberg (in his best performance to date) plays a well-endowed 17 year old who begins working in the porn industry under porn director Burt Reynolds (in an Oscar nominated performance). John C. Reilly plays a fellow porn star, Julianne Moore (never better) as a famous porn queen, Philip Seymour Hoffman as a timid homosexual porn crew member, William H. Macy as a fatalistic loser who's wife is always cheating on him, and Heather Graham (Reynolds daughter) as a rising porn star. Everybody does a fine job. The best scenes belong to former porn star couple Don Cheadle and Nicole Parker who add some of the comic relief to the film. What's intriguing is the way the actors interact with each other and the way they struggle to find their self-identity, plus a bravura script, colorful and startling cinematography, and a rousing rocking 70s soundtrack that make Boogie Nights one of the best films of 1997. It is a touching, humorous, and shocking film bursting with originality with an overall message of: redemption and forgiveness.

Boogie Nights is an excellent picture. You don't have to have be a part of the whole 70's scene either to appreciate it. The title is very misleading to some who do not generally read reviews beforehand. This movie is an exhilerating piece on a late 70's-early 80's porn star. Yes, it sounds like a very simple plot and much gratutious sex. But it's so much more. While you may be thrown off by the violence and the sexuality Boogie Nights is nowhere near pointless. It features great acting all across the board-even Reynolds is very sympathetic. Some advice though, seeing this movie more than once is a good idea. It grows on you. This movie takes you to the deep down threshold of your heart. It shows you the rise of a porn star and the downhill spiral that follows it. Even in some of the sleaziest of characters can a human being be reached out to. Rent this one tonight - and who cares about all that talk about the use of prosthetics anyway. This is the pulp fiction of the 70's porn industry, "a low class subject made in a high class way".

It takes genius to make a believable film about the porn industry that makes us care about its characters, and for me, this movie accomplishes that nearly-impossible task. "Boogie Nights" is a film about the adult film industry in the 70's and early 80's, and even though the "sleaze" is there--it is done with style, humor, and taste. Eddie Adams aka Dirk Diggler (Mark Wahlberg) is a charming but not-very-bright 17-year old dishwasher who is "discovered" by Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), a fatherly adult filmmaker in 1977. The movie tracks his career and life over the next 8 years, as well as the other members of Jack's "family." The camera follows its many characters from scene to scene with a certain joyfulness, and we come to care about all of them deeply, no matter how small their roles. There is a perfect balance of the hilarious and the tragic, and the fast pace never lets up. The end of the '70s' ends with a literal *bang*, which is totally appropriate and marks not only the end of a decade, but the shift in mood from a party-atmosphere to one of growing tension. The soundtrack is wonderful, with the songs not only appropriate for the time period, but also to underscore the feeling of each scene. There is a scene, late in the film, that must be seen to be believed. In it, Dirk Diggler and two of his druggie friends go to the home of a drug-dealer to try to rip him off. The interplay of hilarity and tension is almost unbearable. A little Chinese boy walks around the room setting off firecrackers as a crack-addled bathrobe-clad Alfred Molina (as the drug lord) rants and raves and sings along with "Sister Christian" and "Jesse's Girl" which blast on the stereo. We can feel the characters' uneasiness and sense of danger each time another firecracker goes off. Everyone should see this movie. There's never been another like it.

Boogie Nights is perhaps one of the greatest examples any would-be filmmaker should take a long hard look at. Sure, you could spend loads of quality time reviewing the clasics from Hitchcock to Scorsese; but lets follow suit for the modern generation and study half-heartedly.

Where to begin, I suppose one could look at the film as simply a story, perhaps even docudrama which focuses on the late 1970's porn industry-and what an industry it was! The other half could focus on the incredible detail one brillant filmmaker can achieve simply by using polyester and *ahem* rubber. But honestly, Boogie Nights brings back the pure, no-bul!shi$, in your face kind of cinema I haven't experienced since the film greats of the 1970's...ironic...or stroke of genius. The story is full of richly detailed characters, all of which you either can relate too, love, or hate; but the impact is clear-you are feeling something for them. Among the characters the two performances which stand out are: Burt Reynolds as Director Jack Horner, and Mark Wahlberg as Eddie Adams/Dirk Diggler. Julianne Moore is also brillant, as is Heather Graham...but if I focus on any one actor it would have to be John C. Reilly. John's performance is a perfect balance of comedic timing and character driven emotion...I'm a sucker for the line "Ever see the movie Star Wars?...People say I look like Han Solo." Anyway, the look of the film is incredible, the Director of Photography and Director/Writer/Producer, have come up with a vibrant colour, and flashy style that compares to Martin Scorsese, and Stanley Kubrick(in terms of his perfection of his craft); but with creating his own unique look, and pushing the edge with the longest single shot I'ver ever seen...that being the New Year's party sequence.

The music, like in any great film, is a character of its own. At times, it consumes oneself with sorrow or grief...but mainly its all about fun, dancing, and having a good time; the spirit of the 1970's. OK, back to the performances.

Burt Reynolds plays the character of Jack Horner, a porn director who feels the burden of what the future of "film" means to his genre. The awful transition from shooting on film to recording on magnetic tape. The lose of his art, as it were...and the changes in mentality to the people he works with. Walhberg adds the perfect blend of innocense and sexual bravado needed for the character. For all those individuals who have seen Burton's Planet of the Apes, pay no attention to the performance of Wahlberg in that film...rent boogie nights and see what a difference a good script can make!

Julianne Moore plays the would-be mother to all, and with that comes the torment and anguish she feels, as life imitates art; and she loses all those close to her. Heather Graham is the eye-candy, but later holds her own, and steals some of the scenes from even the great Mr. Reynolds himself. Each character is multidimensional, rich with life, and performed by actors that seem to be picture perfect for the part.

The film itself is often funny, tragic, exciting, and provides a uncompromising look into the turblulant lifestyle of the fast-pace 1970's. It makes no excuses, and tells no lies; and offers the audience a trip back. But even more importantly, the movie gives us a grand example of how films should be made; and a new director whose bold visions bring back art in film.

Great filmmaking, a true masterpiece by a then young and hungry director with a boatload of influences. It's a wonderful story with colorful characters and excellent performances. It could've been a mundane and uninteresting affair but the movie has a secret weapon, comedy. A lot of the characters have this "dumb innocence" that makes the story so side-splitting funny and real. Mark Wahlberg and John Reilly have that "stupid guy" charm that results in so many laughs. The actors are aware of these funny personality gags and are self conscious of it, and that is what makes the drama work.