STACK Magazine April 2015 Issue 126

28 / 114

Director Paul Thomas Anderson always
leaves a lasting impression. Heir apparent
to the rambling multi-layer narrative
brilliance of Robert Altman, turning his hand to
a drug-soaked alternate universe presentation of
The Long Goodbye seems a logical step.
Joaquin Phoenix is exceptional as the chain-
smoking stoner, ‘Doc’, asked by his ex to thwart
a kidnapping plot. As he carves his way through
two-and-a-half-hours of, at times, an unexplainable
mess of dope and mirrors, we completely feel his
groggy puzzlement. But like his character, we latch
on to moments that stick, excite, bewilder and
bemuse us with such nonsensical shock – it’s an
addictive joy.
Much like one huge long-night conversation
that when under the influence is remembered
via polaroid snapshot retention, Inherent Vice
feels like a collection of ideas, moods, scenes
and imagery designed for sensory stimulation
and occasional cerebral indulgence following a
thin line of bread crumbs resembling a plot, not
narrative storytelling. Go with it and you’ll be
rewarded with a dreamlike excursion into author
Thomas Pynchon’s vision of post-‘60s ‘free love’
going down the toilet with a bullet, a needle, a
spoon, and the birth of organised corruption and
‘bad people’.
Paranoia and escapism as a defense mechanism
is what emerges here, with amazing offbeat
comedy punctured with poignant tragedy. Josh
Brolin’s bullish, heartbroken and militant cop,
‘Bigfoot’, complete with a phallic addiction, could
easily have walked out of a Coen Bros meets
Twin Peaks universe. In fact, he steals the entire
film playing a man incapable of succumbing to a
higher consciousness; his post-war ‘work hard,
live clean’ world is being torn apart, his ideals
crushed, his spirit slowly broken. Meanwhile, not
too far removed from The Dude, ‘Doc’ floats on
through these people’s lives (including a bizarre
cameo from Martin Short as a pervy, drug-pushing
dentist, and Owen Wilson as a sax-playing,
ex-junky informant) following the White Rabbit;
it matters not if he finds it… perhaps that’s the
entire point.
Inherent Vice is no Boogie Nights, nor a
slapstick Big Lebowski for that matter – it’s instead
an examination of society’s loss of innocence and
hope through the pot-tinted lenses of a free spirit.
Hey, it’s a gas! Chris Murray
028 APRIL 2015 JB Hi-Fi
‘70’s pot-smoking cluedo, Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello, tries to unravel a bizarre
kidnapping which quickly becomes a conspiratorial behemoth involving an
ex-girlfriend, a property mogul, the FBI, Nazi bikers, drug-trafficking dentists,
endless hippies and a overzealous cop called ‘Bigfoot’. Yep, weird!
INHERENT VICE RELEASED: March 12
DIRECTOR: Paul Thomas Anderson
CAST: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh
Brolin, Owen Wilson
RATING: MA15+
visit REVIEWS CINEMA
ALSO SCREENING
IN APRIL
Marvel's mighty superhero alliance returns in the
biggest movie of 2015 (and likely to join the first
film as one of the biggest of all time). Fanboy
writer-director Joss Whedon is back at the helm,
which means this will be just as awesome as
The Avengers. The titular menace that comes
of age is a dormant A.I. peacekeeping program
fired up by Tony Stark, which decides to eliminate
mankind, a la Skynet. Bring. It. On. April 23
AVENGERS: AGE OF ULTRON
Skydiving cars. Destruction in Dubai. Exploding
houses. Kurt Russell. The Stath. "This time it ain't just
about being fast," growls big Vin Diesel. You better
believe him! Start your engines people. April 2
FAST & FURIOUS 7
Middle-aged couple Ben Stiller and Naomi Watts
attempt to recapture their lost youth after befriending
twentysomethings Adam Driver and Amanda Seyfried,
in Noah Baumbach's new comedy. April 16
WHILE WE'RE YOUNG
Sparks fly, of the romantic and Nicholas variety, in
the latest adaptation from the prolific author of The
Notebook. Expect passion and heartbreak between Britt
Robertson and Scott (son of Clint) Eastwood.April 9
THE LONGEST RIDE