Boogie Nights (1997)

reviewed by
Harvey S. Karten


BOOGIE NIGHTS By Harvey Karten, Ph.D. New Line Cinema Director: Paul Thomas Anderson Writer: Paul Thomas Anderson Cast: Mark Wahlberg, Julianne Moore, Burt Reynolds, Don Cheadle, William H. Macy, Heather Graham, John C. Reilly, Ricky Jay, Joanna Gleason Paul Thomas Anderson, who wrote and directed "Boogie Nights," is just twenty-six years of age. This is only his second feature, made shortly after a fine independent work, "Hard Eight," which had limited success at the box office. Yet already there are signs that Anderson could be our next Martin Scorsese. Without taking credit away from two other youthful directors, Harmony Korine ("Kids" and "Gummo") and Sal Stabile ("Gravesend"), Anderson is something else. He seems to have transcended the world of the small indy work for which Stabile has just made a name--the sort of stuff that Harmony Korine does not romanticize but describes as "the same as studio films but cheaper, so they look worse." "Boogie Nights" features lenser Robert Elswit's flamboyant cinematography, a delightfully garish production design by Bob Ziembicki, and some fine, on-site shots of Los Angeles which could give a foreigner watching the film the impression that the whole town is a big, adult Disneyland made for snorting, partying, and dealmaking. "Boogie Nights," a title derived from the name of a dazzling night club, deals with the porno industry in L.A. from 1977 to 1984, and while this controversial form of adult entertainment is certainly not glossed over or used simply as metaphor, the enterprise is exploited as an example of family values. Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds), a well known, successful director of adult films, is the sort of fellow who might be considered a sleaze-bag by those who disapproves of his movies and who do not know the man. Yet as portrayed by Mr. Anderson in this startling, original and daring film, Horner is a good family man who welcomes outcasts into his extravagantly designed estate and acts as surrogate father to those who are unable to find places of warmth that they could call their homes. The folks who do the dirty deeds in front of Horner's camera perform their hard-core sexual acts openly and before the eyes of a dozen or so onlookers, yet they consider their behavior no more scandalous than they would social dancing. Yet Horner, ever the craftsman, will not tolerate indifferent work but insists they show passion for what they are doing. While "Boogie Nights" possesses a strong plot and is not simply character-driven, Anderson has furnished each of his principals with solid and individual personalities. Dirk Digger (Mark Wahlberg), as he becomes known, is the young stud whom Horner finds bussing in a restaurant, immediately recognizes his potential for the trade, and makes him a star. An uneducated, naive lad suffering from putdowns by his terrible mother (Joanna Gleason), he finds affection and success as the sexual partner of Amber Waves (Julianne Moore), who becomes the seventeen-year-old's surrogate mother. Others who inhabit the Horner estate include Little Bill (William H. Macy), an aging assistant who does a slow burn over his own wife's promiscuity; Buck Swope (Don Cheadle), who insists that he is a bona fide actor and dreams of opening a hi-fi store; Rollergirl (Heather Graham), a high- school failure who demands respect from her sexual partners; Maurice TT Rodriguez (Luis Guzman) as Dirk's chief supporter and co-actor; and The Colonel (Robert Ridgely), who finances the projects. Anderson has no problem mixing dark and serious concerns with comic vignettes, breaking away from Horner's filming studios to uncover scenes of particular poignance, hilarity, and violence. The film sprawls out increasingly so that during the second half it virtually breaks up into a pursuit of individual dramas only to come together during the closing moments--revealing its characters with both optimistic and tragic outlooks. Yet Mark Wahlberg firmly centers the movie as the school dropout who is discovered by Horner, succeeds as a porno star beyond his wildest imagination, and devotes his years to pornography, partying and living in palatial splendor (his vast wardrobe is arranged according to designers), until his ego gets the best of him. Even James Bond gets sent up in a series of short films starring Dirk as a Bond-type character whose prowess with women leaves nothing to the imagination. Nudity is flaunted from time to time, yet discretion by the camera allows the film to avoid an NC-17 rating. One scene is a classic of 1990s film-making, a model of anarchic hilarity. When Dirk and two of his buddies go to the home of drug dealer and compulsive user Rahad Jackson (Alfred Molina), violence ensues, but not before Molina turns in some side-splitting shtick as an easy-going fellow who just wants to party throughout the day. Burt Reynolds turns in perhaps his best character role ever as Jack Horner, ably assisted by Julianne Moore as his leading lady of lechery, with a particularly good performance by Heather Graham as a free spirit who has found warmth in the home of a porno king but whose lack of education catches up with her. And Mark Wahlberg, hardly a household name, with films like "Renaissance Man" and "Fear" in his resume, will emerge a star. Director Paul Thomas Anderson probably cares no more about the porno industry than Martin Scorsese cares about boxing. Like Scorsese, Anderson believes that form and emotional design are more important than the facts of the industries they study, and are far more involved with making personal journeys into the hearts of their characters. Anderson has chosen his time period well, the early eighties, symbolic of greed and drugs and other forms of excess throughout the country. (It's no coincidence that Ronald Reagan's picture figures prominently in one scene.) For all its gloss--its throbbing soundtrack and exploitation of a libidinous enterprise--"Boogie Nights" is a work of art, an unusually vigorous work and exceptional accomplishment for its 26- year-old creator. Rated R. Running Time: 152 minutes. (C) 1997 Harvey Karten


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