Since I saw The Master five or six years ago, I have evolved. My taste has changed and I've learned to appreciate different kinds of movies. I think it might be time to revisit The Master, widely praised as one of the greatest films of the century (for some reason). I clearly was too young to appreciate Paul Thomas Anderson back then. And now? Well I didn't hate Phantom Thread; in fact, I really liked it. Anderson is so carefully deliberate in crafting this film with a delicate hand as Woodcock crafts his dresses. The sumptuous orchestral score by Radiohead's Jonny Greenwood paired with Daniel Day-Lewis's effortless acing is just marvelous. I'm not sure how they play together so well if it was Greenwood composing in Day-Lewis's style or vice versa. More likely it is Anderson's meticulous direction. Early on in the movie, there is a delightful scene in which Woodcock is ordering food at a restaurant and it's difficult to explain why but the combination of the music and acting just make me smile. What I liked most about the film is the tone that it evokes through these elements. I don't know how he pitched the movie because I'd have a hard time telling you what it's about. The trailer for the movie put forth a premise of a dressmaker hiding things in his dresses--maybe I missed the point but it turned out to be a relatively minor part of the movie. At its core, the movie is a romance and the fashion setting, while gorgeous, is secondary. Perhaps most baffling is the left turn it takes in the last fifteen minutes. I don't want to simply chalk it off to love is strange but romance is strange, isn't it?
