There's a mystery of sorts, a case for Doc to solve. He has an ex-girlfriend, you see, this lady named Shasta (Katherine Waterston) who's all suntan and wet eyes, someone who needs some help to find out what's what. She's turned to the one guy that didn't let her down. From there we learn about the vagaries of maritime law, how getting pancakes is a form of respect, why the keyboard player from Spotted Dick is relevant, and, most importantly, how improving a sax solo vs. simply repeating the second and third chorus can be revelatory for a practitioner of surf sax.
Are you OK? You don't seem OK.
Yeah, man I'm cool. And "Inherent Vice" is pretty cool, too. It's dense, sure, but it's also very much sets itself along a groove. So, yeah, by any formal aesthetic or definition, Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film is "groovy."
I see what you did there.
Right on, man.
So, Joaquin Phoenix again, huh?
Let's be clear, the guy's a hell of a performer, and here he's almost as intoxicating while acting intoxicated as he was in the previous Anderson outing. All things "Vice" stem from the Thomas Pynchon novel, and while I can't claim to have read the book, there's a delightful literary bent to the piece that Phoenix manages to bring forth.
He's joined by a slew of fantastic performers, topped by a square-topped, Fred Flinstone-looking cop played by Josh Brolin. The yang to Doc's yin, this symbiotic character is very much at the heart (or the tooth) of what passes for plot in this wild and crazy ride.
Michael Kenneth Williams makes a brief appearance, as does Hong Chau (who was terrific on "Treme") and Eric Roberts. Yet the interplay between Doc and Shasta, played flawlessly by Katherine Waterston, provides the film some of its most electric and eclectic moments.
So, wait, this is a mystery? I still don't get it, you're just babbling.
Like waves in the ocean, you have to let this stuff flow over you, man. The film is fuzzy. It's not going to give all it can give on first watch, and for many that will be annoying as hell. This is a perfect example of a film you shouldn't try to get ahead of, since we're following a protagonist who himself must struggle with the cobwebs that cloud his comprehension.
It's anathema to those who'll be annoyed the first time, but this really is a film that needs a couple viewings to really get into its vibe. This is not to say that its density is making a deeper profundity. This is no "Big Lebowski" -- that Coen masterpiece is superficially silly and stupid, but deeply, intensely profound. "Vice" is superficially dense but on repeated viewing actually quite elegant and concise, far more a character study than a deep insight into the human condition.
Many will not have the patience for trying to find out just what's up with Doc, and that will be a shame. For "Inherent Vice" is, at its core, a lot of fun.
So I have to see this thing twice to get it?
Well, at least. I'm not saying the first time around isn't highly enjoyable, but we humans have a tendency to want to set things in order, and disorder becomes discomforting. "Vice" revels in the disorder, and this unsettling due to unsettlement is greatly ameliorated when you just don't really care about "plot" and can sit back and worry about "character." That's what a multiple viewing does in this elliptical film.
But you're not even making me want to see it once, let alone twice.
Well, here's a pro tip: go in, and let things simply unfold. If you find yourself confused or anxious because it all seems like a scattered mess, calm yourself. There's method here for sure, but, really, much of this is about going along with what's going on. Enjoy the tunes -- a couple from Neil Young and Kraut/prog band Can, as well as a deliciously epic use of Minnie Ripperton's "Les Fleurs." Minnie's daughter (and wife of Anderson) is in the film too, and when Maya Rudolph sits there and treats Doc's patients with patience, it's a beautiful thing.
I'm not convinced.
Many won't be. Yet Anderson's latest is a total gem, with wonderful dialogue ripped from the pages of its source, and assured direction that really does make more sense than at first appears. There's a scene down by the docks where Doc is trapped in fog, the most clear visual metaphor for the film. There are shapes there in the distance you can make out, and when you get a bit closer, you see that really this is a film about helping a guy get back to his kid, while righting some wrongs that happened to the partner of a colleague. Along the way, we meet Nazis and socialites and baseball bat-wielding goons, and eat an astonishing number of pizzas.
Having seen this thing three times (and counting) I can humbly proclaim that "Inherent Vice" is one of the best films of the year. Sure, that's cheating as we're only a few weeks in, but it also made my best-of list for 2014 since it came out in time for Oscar eligibility. So that means it might be one of the best films of this year and last year.
Far out, huh?
"Inherent Vice" is now playing in theatres.
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