FEST2003

Punch-Drunk Love
Paul Thomas Anderson, director  

 Review by Rada Djurica   

If you liked "Magnolia" from 1999, you will definitely like this one, too. It looks like it's low budget, but its not. It is actually done like that on propose. Paul Thomas Anderson's film "Magnolia" was nominated for three Academy Awards. And I agree, there are people who like this kind of movie. But, others will be definitely falling asleep. Even if the idea is great, I think that this film, "Punch Drunk Love," needs a lot more work. It looks like it was done in the great hurry and is unfinished.

Barry Egan is a small business owner who works in a warehouse in the San Fernando Valley. He's single and alone (no wonder, you might say). His sisters mock him all the time, and he's unable to move away from them, making silly excuses to avoid them. He is equally ill-treated at work and in the clutches of his seven sisters, who run his life outside of the warehouse. Emotionally wounded and unable to love, this colourless creature finds a challenge in a little sex phone provocation. And then enters the attractive Lena with the mysterious past. But, don't get your hopes up yet. This is not a thriller with a pleasurable, erotic twist. This is an earthy boring film about the boring little life of Barry (Adam Sandler). I think that whoever picked Sandler for this part got it absolutely right. However, I'm not sure what was the aim of this film. It is not good to expect something, and get nothing. This film doesn't gets where it should be, because it disappoints you. And I'm not sure that was done on propose. The emptiness of a shallow little life comes naturally, as when the end strikes. And you simply can't wait until the end.

This is, indeed, a well-edited piece of story telling, for the film students, not for the big screen viewers. It has all the characteristics of technical fluidity but has no charm and no excitement. By the first hour you lose the desire to see anything further. Anderson is a technically clean director. Sandler is intense and bizarrely sweet, with unproductive energy. His radiance hits the right spot as well as his measured actions and reactions. But if it's a rollercoaster that you are after, you'd be better off choosing bird watching.