Inherent Vice
2014 · Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Original language: English
- drama
- mystery
- comedy
The story
In Los Angeles at the turn of the 1970s, drug-fueled detective Larry "Doc" Sportello investigates the disappearance of an ex-girlfriend.
What it’s like
Hazy, sun-bleached Los Angeles rendered in warm, slightly washed-out 35mm tones: pastel motel rooms, smeared sunset oranges, fog rolling over Pacific shorelines and the sickly green of fluorescent police corridors. Paul Thomas Anderson's camera drifts through rooms and cars with loose, roving movement, lingering on faces in soft close-ups and letting scenes spill into crowded, cluttered frames where something is always happening at the edges. The score, built on shimmering Jonny Greenwood strings, lounge-jazz guitar and offbeat 1970s pop, carries a loose, woozy pulse. The vibe is smoky, languid unease with a dry streak of comedy: a lazy Sunday with the blinds half-drawn, or a late-night watch where the plot can drift and the mood does the work. Pacing is shambling and conversational, with long digressions that feel more like hanging out than chasing a case. Emotionally it stays wry and melancholy, following a stoned, sad-eyed private eye who keeps softening toward the past he can't quite let go of. Violence is occasional and mostly brief, with sudden scuffles and a few sharp moments of menace; there is some sexual content and very heavy drug use throughout, and nothing is graphic in a gory sense. It suits people who love shaggy, character-led films, retro California atmosphere and off-kilter humor.
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