Inherent Vice (2014)
Certified: 18
Duration: 194 minutes
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom
KRS Releasing Ltd
Paul Thomas Anderson has delivered one critically acclaimed film after the other. Boogie Nights (1997) was his breakthrough, Magnolia (1999) was a large cast revelation, Punch-Drunk Love (2002) presented Adam Sandler in a very different mode, There Will Be Blood (2007) is one of the decade’s most vital films, while 2012’s The Master is a thinking man’s piece.
Anderson has here taken celebrated author Thomas Pynchon’s novel about a 1960s stoner detective and made a film-making piece that is as epic and laid back in spirit as its source material.
The year is 1970 and the hippie dream has turned into a pot-addled haze. Joaquin Phoenix is Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello, who seems to be more of a detective than a medical doctor.
He is a bit curious when his ex-girlfriend Shasta Fay Hepworth (Katherine Waterston) tells him that her lover, who is married and involved in real estate, is in trouble.
‘Mickey’ Wolfmann (Eric Roberts) is facing a threat from his wife Sloan (Serena Scott Thomas), who has the backing of her confidante Riggs Warbling (Andre Simpson). She is taking steps to have her husband placed in an asylum.
Doc can take the case to his girlfriend Penny (Reese Witherspoon), who is also a deputy district attorney. But instead he checks things out himself and ends up in a massage parlour with Jade (Hong Chau) in a piece of real estate owned by Mickey.
He loses consciousness and when he comes to his senses, he finds Glenn Charlock (Christopher Allen Nelson), Mickey’s strong man, next to him. Mickey is missing and LAPD detective Christian ‘Bigfoot’ Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) thinks that Doc is the one who did it, whatever ‘it’ is.
The intervention of lawyer Sauncho Smilax, Esq. (Benicio Del Toro) leads to his release. He gets a call from Hope Harlingen (Jena Malone), saying that her husband Coy (Owen Wilson) is dead and the story is very similar to that of Shasta.
Doc realises that something is afoot, that a girl from his past may be in the mix and the plot complicates itself as he tries to make heads and tails of what is happening.
The essential factor of this movie is not its plot; the film soars in its spirit, its pot-heavy atmosphere and in its delightfully wildly comic performances as the protagonist wrestles with a myriad of conspiracies.
Inherent Vice is a visually and emotionally engaging movie. It is very difficult not to be mesmerised by the ongoing shenanigans and the movie’s feel.
In its cinematography, the film is also a reflection of the environment and its people. It continuously portrays a sunny California, relaxed and carefree, yet struggling with a tug of war with itself and its inhabitants – greedy people with an element of darkness that provides for an unusual set of vibes.
Phoenix seems to have been born to play the role of this detective, while Brolin is superlative in his role. The ensemble cast is spectacular as each character is played in an endearing oddball manner.
Anderson lures his audience back in time and knee deep in the antics of the film. It’s this mix of melancholy, 1970s atmosphere and a raw understanding of human nature that makes Inherent Vice such an addictive watch. In a way it also shows the sad way in which the big hippie dream ended up lost in its own ways and words.