"Sailing Away, Like A Crest On A wave, It'sLike magic, Rollin' &Ridin', Slippin' & Slidin', It's Magic." - Livin' Thing - ELO
As this song storms over the end credits of Paul Thomas Anderson's knockout film Boogie Nights, the lyrics almost accurately reflected the state of euphoria I found myself in after experiencing this movie in a theater one December night in 1997. Like Sid Vicious' mad dog holler that played over Goodfellas end credits, the song "Livin' Thing" by ELO wops your senses, much like the events in Boogie Nights. When people describe movies nowadays they tend to do so in short single sentences like, "Well, Boogie Nights is about a bunch of people who work in Porn." I always get very irritated when people do that. It's like saying Lawrence Of Arabia is about a guy in the desert. The person who gets a reply like that is being cheated. As Roger Ebert professes: "It's not what a movie is about, but HOW it's about it." I beleive such a statement was made for movies such as Boogie Nights And as for that simple summary of it being about people working in Porn well, that's half the case. It's not so much about porn as it is about the people who work and live in it. It's about the world they live in, the bonds they form with each other while the rest of society looks down at them and the family they form.The events of Boogie Nights take place from 1997 to 1984, and from it's dazzling, spectacular, single full three minute opening shot which starts on a movie theatre marquee, winds down to the street and takes us viewers right into the heart of a jumping disco night club, we are grabbed and transplanted to a place and time. The movie is vibrant and alive in it's first 90 minutes, bathed in bright, loud flashes of whirlwind and color. The second half of the film takes on a more concrete and washed out look, as the world became more industrial and Reagonized in the early 1980's. Certain scenes such as, Julianne Moore's court scenes actually look like they could very well be filmed in the early 80's. A lot of director's try to get a "feel" of a certain era by using, clothes, music, or cinematography lighting, but apart from perhaps Martin Scorsese and Paul Thomas Anderson, I haven't felt it. It works tremendously, here.And what a cast that's in this film. Mark Wahlberg certainly is a popular actor today but 11 years ago was a different story, but this movie proved he had what it took. His John Holmes-inspired Dirk Diggler, diswasher turned porn-god over night was a perfect fit for an actor looking for the same kind of oppertunity. The two married wonderfully. Burt Reynolds as director Jack Horner played Jack with a real gravity that given Burt's personal life, really adds depth to the character. Julianne Moore is amazing in anything she does. You can't look at her in this without wanting to break down. (She was eqaully devastating in The Hours) She's a powerhouse. Heather Graham is so charming in her early scenes as Rollergirl that when she delivers the movie's most brutal scene near the end, it's like watching youthful innocence die in front of our eyes. William H. Macy is amazing as always, so is Philip Seymor Hoffman, Don Cheadle, John. C. Reilly, Luiz Guzman, and Alfred Molina. That cast alone makes Boogie Nights belong in a time capsule. A lot of comparisons have been made between Boogie Nights and Goodfellas. Both are ambitious, epic accounts of people living extraordinary lives in past eras, both hypnotize the viewer with it's complelling story and characters, both can be considered true stories (more so Goodfellas as Boogie Nights is more a fictionalized version of some real life individuals) and both display amazing technical framing, brilliant cinematography and lighting, Gliding camera work, long, masterful tracking shots (which in Nights case probably owes more to Brian DePalma than Martin Scorsese) and both have often been named as two of the top five films that represent true, amazing, visceral, and daring filmaking of the 1990's.
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