Boogie Nights - The PTA Series
In 1997, a 26 year old Paul Thomas Anderson presented us with the exuberant and exhilarating drama Boogie Nights. - Trailer
Characters
Eddy Adams (eventually Dirk Diggler) our protagonist played by Marky Mark Whalberg, is a man with an incredibly large downstairs. It’s his gift and in a unique way, his hope to make a name for himself in the world. We don’t know much about Eddy other than he’s a 17 year old high school drop out who works in a Los Angeles nightclub. Eddy is also enclosed in a hostile home environment. His alcoholic, invective mother makes an effort to put-down his lack of education while his feeble father earns no respect from either Eddy or Eddy’s mom. The time focused on the family isn’t much, but it’s enough to know Eddy doesn't belong.
Just before Eddy enters the initial ecstasy of porn superstardom, he is fooling around in his bed with his friend, Sheryl Lynn. In a fantastic shot between Eddy's standing legs, fixed on her infatuated face, she says
“Do you know how good your are at doing this Eddy?"
Eddy replies “Everyone has one thing, y’think? Everyone is given one special thing right? I want you to know; I plan on being a star. A big, bright shining star. That’s what I want and that’s what I’m gonna get."
With a natural physique for the business and a little luck with catching the eye of the director Jack Horner, Eddy seizes his once in a lifetime opportunity. He leaves his bleak life behind and finds his people who accept him with open arms. The unpromising life of Eddy Adams is deceased and the auspicious life of Dirk Diggler is born.
Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) is an adult film director in search of something greater than making films that help people fulfill their passing, lustful desires. He has the audacious ambition of creating an adult film where the audience sticks around after they’ve finished their task to see what happens in the end. Jack wants to have his name tied to an adult film that endures and one with soul. He’s tired of being associated with the one-dimensional adult films filled with laughable acting and trivial narratives.
Boogie Nights is filled with supporting characters that have their own visible passions, motives, and struggles. We have Amber (Julianne Moore - who I think gives the film’s stand-out performance), the porn star who no longer has access to her son, Buck Swope (Don Cheadle) the black adult star who loves country music and struggles to find his true identity, Little Bill (William H. Macy) the assistant director whose wife is constantly having sex with other people in front of all his friends. There's also Reed (John C. Reily) Dirk’s partner in crime and hopeful magician, Rollergirl (Heather Graham) who like Dirk, dropped out of high school and found the people who welcomed her for who she is, and of course, the unforgettable Scotty J, (Philip Seymour Hoffman) the homosexual boom mic operator who shelters an unrequited crush for Dirk.
The characters of Boogie Nights, who were so scrupulously constructed and exceptionally casted, serve as our friends. We’re there with them when life appears it couldn't possibly get better, and we’re there when all seems hopeless.
Family
Boogie Nights is brimmed with sex, drugs, and rock n roll, but in the end it strikes me as a film about family.
Dirk has split from his senseless home life in search of something bigger. Jack and Amber provide him with a home and a family where he is not only accepted, but exalted for who he is. Jack becomes the defending, present father figure Dirk never had. Jack knows that Dirk is the star he’s been searching for all these years, but he isn’t using him. He cares for him and looks out for what’s best for the young star. Amber is an unfit mother who has no access to her biological son and seizes the opportunity to be the motherly figure to Dirk. Both parties benefit as Dirk's relationship with his mother has been tarnished and Amber can feel a sense gratification for being a mother. Dirk needs a motherly figure and Amber craves a son.
Jack and Amber serve as family to more than just Dirk. There is a scene with Rollergirl and Amber are snorting cocaine and expressing what they really want to do with themselves that is beautiful in an unconventional way. Rollergirl, says to Amber candidly, “I love you, mom. I want you to be my mother, Amber. Are you my mom? I’ll ask you if you’re my mother and you say, ‘yes' OK? — Are you my mother” These are two women whose relationship with their own families is obsolete and they allow each other to fill their mother-daughter void.
Jack establishes a community of talented stars who are supportive of one another. While the rest of the world may view what they do as vile and immoral, this entourage sticks together and stands by their careers and decisions. Dirk Diggler says in an acceptance speech, “Sometimes these movies are considered filthy by some people, but I don’t think that’s true. These movies we make, they can be better. They can help, I really mean that. We can always do better.” Together, these people make up one big family who will love each other when nobody else will.
Directing
The opening 3 minute take of Boogie Nights is perhaps its most famous sequence. Anderson derives influence from fellow American great Martin Scorsese with his flashy, lively long takes and tracking shots. In these first 3 minutes, we meet just about every major character of the film, all compacted in this convincing illustration of 1970's spry lifestyle. It immediately sets the upbeat tempo Boogie Nights exudes. All of our characters are dancing and interacting while the club feels alive. Everyone is constantly moving, and thus, Anderson's camera is always moving. Using his camera as his instrument, PTA transports his audience into this vivacious time filled with carefree people.
Anderson uses other tracking shots in many other scenes such as an active pool party - where he tracks multiple characters and this scene from New Year's party (Possible spoiler!!) - where the attention remains on one singular character. These reappearing, but definitely not overdone long takes are examples of a director engaging his audience in a way that compliments and enhances his film.
Another noticeable gift of Anderson's early work is his ability to emphasize what the viewer should be paying attention to. What you don't get to see in the clip above of the movies first scene, is the across-the-room initial interaction between Jack and Eddy Adams. Amidst the club's chaos, these two faces meet one another in an undeniably special moment. While Eddy may expect this to be another pervert examining him, Jack sees a star and is overcome with intrigue. It's one of those moments in life where we look at someone and have no clue the eventual impact they'll have on us.
Anderson's style overall in Boogie Nights is one of backbone and bravura. He tackles a touchy subject and makes a movie that's ebullient, unsettling, and poignant all at the same time.
Bottom Line
It's astonishing that Paul Thomas Anderson was a mere 26 when he filmed Boogie Nights. It’s an endlessly confident picture from a young, zealous film aficionado who was ready for his creative voice to be heard with his second film. The film introduced many to the grand director that is Paul Thomas Anderson, one of the most revered directors of the past 20 years and likely my own personal favorite. No director today injects more enthusiasm about cinema within my bones than the great PTA.
