Films of Paul Thomas Anderson | Livestream Zoom

Course Description:

This cinematic journey explores the oeuvre of director Paul Thomas Anderson (aka PTA), one of the most innovative and celebrated filmmakers of our time. Known for his bold, bodacious visual style and his acclaimed collaborations with actors Philip Seymour Hoffman, Daniel Day-Lewis, John C. Reilly, and Joaquin Phoenix, Anderson's sweeping storylines often depict life in his native San Fernando Valley in tragi-comic tales of desperate, driven and dysfunctional characters. Despite his accrued accolades at Cannes, Venice and Berlin, and his eleven Academy Award nominations, Anderson describes himself as "just a real homebody and a San Francisco Giants super-fan." This course will feature four films from his body of work: "Hard Eight" (1996); "Punch-Drunk Love"(2002); "The Master" (2012); and, "Phantom Thread" (2017). We'll view these films on our own prior to class.