Boogie Nights is a film that documents the rise of fictional adult film star Dirk Diggler and subsequent fall when his ego and life of excess overtakes him. This is director Paul Thomas Anderson’s first film, and in it he proves that he has a very distinct style and aura with a lot of breath in cinematography and editing. From the opening crawl alone Anderson establishes his own unique style by crafting long, continuous shots and using jagged camera angles that give a breath of antirealism to the portrayal of excess. Aside from traditional film analysis this film also has a lot to offer in terms of cultural analysis being that it’s set from the late seventies to early eighties and features elements that reflect the setting.
Boogie Nights’ soundtrack may be one of the best soundtracks for a film ever, reflecting both the setting and guiding the story. These songs play a heavy role in scenes that in the beginning of the film are mostly happy disco hits but as the movie continues the mixing of these songs during the scene are turned down so that the feeling is less sugary and more realistic. These songs are matched with brilliant color grading throughout the movie. As with the songs, the colors are very vibrant and sugary during the opening scenes of excess but as the story gets darker the color grading does as well, adding to the depressing events that occur towards the latter half of the movie.
This transition from a more blissful tone to a darker one occurs after a fade transition made to jump to a much different time, and P.T. Anderson’s direction in editing is expertly executed in parallel editing that portrays the twists each character’s life goes through after the decline of their pornography career. The twists ultimately culminate in a climax scene that brings the character’s stories all back together to the tune of “God Only Knows,” by the Beach Boys. Perhaps one of my favorite uses of a song in a movie ever. The subject matter of the tune and it’ sugary pop tonality also usher in an uplifting mood towards the end of redemption that I key to the conclusion of the film.
The characters in this film are all quirky and evolve to emotional depths throughout the duration of the film, with a cast who all contribute career defining performances in my opinion. Seventies icon Burt Reynolds redefined his acting career as a caring father figure for Mark Wahlberg’s Dirk Diggler. Wahlberg’s performance is probably the best of his career and by far his most dynamic as he portrays the innocence of starting in the porn industry then shifts to an egotistical brat during a transitional phase in filmmaking.
This transitional phase is ultimately a product of cultural change during the 1980’s and the plot ties into that fact as well. A picture of Ronald Reagan can be seen in a court scene during a montage of downfalls for each of the characters, possibly commenting on negative views of Reagan in a movie made during the Clinton presidency. Additionally, the popularity and prevalence of cocaine in the eighties is well documented throughout the film and contributes to many of the downfalls that occur in the latter half of the film. Not to mention the changing state of pornography production with the introduction of new technology.
The set design and costumes also are carefully detailed to put the reader in the setting of the film during the seventies and eighties. Classic cars, flamboyant wallpaper designs, water beds, and posters of classic seventies pop culture contribute to setting the tone of the era and to understanding the characters. Something unique about how this film portrays the time period is how they use camera filters to look like old school, low production pornography movies from that era of film. Most pornographic movies in the seventies were made with low production costs, so director P.T. Anderson puts the audience in the seat of pornographic moviegoers by grading down the quality to have a light brown color grading, grainy quality and rounding the edges of the camera shot.
Paul Thomas Anderson uses his own unique skill in creating a space in which the story feels both real and fantastical in its portrayals of both excess and harsh realism. The way he manipulates camera shots, film editing, and sound design all contributes massively to the mood of each scene to guide the story, develop characters and ultimately create a unique, if not vulgar film that succeeds in showing the good, the bad and the ugly of the porn industry.
Sources Used:
Barsam, Richard Meran, and Dave Monahan. Looking at movies: an introduction to film. New York: W.W. Norton & Company, 2015. Print.
Boogie Nights. Dir. Paul Thomas Anderson. Perf. Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, and Burt Reynolds. New Line Cinemas, 1997. DVD.