Inherent Vice (2014)

Don't worry if you don't follow the plot. Nobody does. And that's entirely the point. This week we're lighting one up and drifting into Inherent Vice (2014) — Paul Thomas Anderson's deliriously funny, achingly melancholy, and deliberately bewildering adaptation of Thomas Pynchon's novel, and one of the most singular, purely cinematic experiences of the last decade. This is the film that rewards surrender over comprehension.Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and based on Pynchon's 2009 novel — the first Pynchon work ever adapted for the screen — the film follows Larry "Doc" Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), a perpetually stoned hippie private investigator in 1970 Los Angeles, who gets pulled into a labyrinthine web of missing persons, shadowy cartels, real estate conspiracies, and lost love when his ex-girlfriend Shasta (Katherine Waterston) shows up at his door asking for help. The extraordinary ensemble cast includes Josh Brolin as the square, frozen-chocolate-banana-eating LAPD detective "Bigfoot" Bjornsen in what might be the funniest performance of his career, alongside Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Jena Malone, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, Eric Roberts, Michael K. Williams, and — narrating the whole gorgeous fog of it — singer-songwriter Joanna Newsom as Sortilège.We're going deep on everything: what Inherent Vice is actually about beneath its deliberately tangled plot — the death of the counterculture, the end of the 1960s dream, paranoia as a way of life, and the unbearable weight of love you can't hold onto — Jonny Greenwood's extraordinary score recorded with the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra and featuring an unreleased Radiohead song alongside tracks from Neil Young and Can, Robert Elswit's warm and hazy 35mm cinematography, and why this is the Paul Thomas Anderson film that gets better and stranger and more heartbreaking with every single rewatch. Anderson has described it as "like a Cheech & Chong movie" — which is both completely accurate and wildly undersells what it's doing.We're also asking the essential questions: where does Inherent Vice sit in the PTA filmography alongside Boogie Nights, Magnolia, There Will Be Blood, and The Master? Is it genuinely his most personal film? And why does a movie deliberately designed to confuse you feel so emotionally devastating by the end?Whether you're a Paul Thomas Anderson devotee, a Joaquin Phoenix fanatic, a Thomas Pynchon reader, a neo-noir enthusiast, a lover of 1970s Los Angeles atmosphere, a Jonny Greenwood score obsessive, or just someone who wants to watch a great film and not understand a single thing that happened and feel completely fulfilled anyway — this episode is essential.Topics covered: Inherent Vice 2014 | Paul Thomas Anderson | Joaquin Phoenix | Josh Brolin | Katherine Waterston | Owen Wilson | Joanna Newsom | Thomas Pynchon adaptation | first Pynchon film | Jonny Greenwood score | Radiohead unreleased song | Robert Elswit cinematography | neo-noir films | 1970s Los Angeles | stoner detective films | end of the 60s counterculture | best PTA films | Paul Thomas Anderson filmography ranked | best films of 2014 | Boogie Nights vs Inherent Vice | There Will Be Blood vs Inherent Vice | most confusing movies | movies that reward rewatching | Benicio del Toro | Martin Short | Reese Witherspoon | Maya Rudolph | movie review podcast | film analysis | best literary adaptations | Pynchon novel explained | Doc Sportello | Golden Age Hollywood noirSubscribe, rate, and leave us a review — and tell us: did you understand Inherent Vice on your first watch? And does it matter?YouTube: http://www.youtube.com/@RegularorMentholContact us: [email protected]