Written and Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson (The Master, Punch Drunk Love) Boogie
Nights is a story of talent, fame, success and excess set in and around the
San Fernando Valley during the late 1970s and
early 1980s. The script focuses on the rise and fall of Dirk Diggler (Mark
Wahlberg) a young porn star known for his physical similarities to Michael
Fassbender. Diggler is spotted while working at a nightclub by famed porn
Director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) and soon becomes a star of the adult
entertainment world. With the help of a select crew and actors, Horner attempts
to go beyond making pornography and tries to create movies which people will
stay to watch when they’ve ‘completed the task in hand’. With the aid of his
adept crew (William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman) and on screen talent
(Julianne Moore, Heather Graham, John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle) Horner’s films
become actual movies and the stars get rich.
This is the forth of Director Paul Thomas Anderson’s six
feature films I’ve seen and unsurprisingly it is excellent. Anderson creates a wonderfully vivid and
detailed world which changes gradually with the story. The characters are well
written and the soundtrack is perfectly chosen. Anderson’s
films have a tendency to attract awards recognition and even this story of sex,
drugs and moustaches picked up three Oscar nominations including nods for Anderson (screenplay) as
well as Julianne Moore and Burt Reynolds. In fact Anderson’s six films have thus far picked up
seven acting nominations at the Oscars. Here the acting is superb from the top
to the bottom of the cast.
