2. Boogie Nights (1997)
Boogie Nights is Paul Thomas Anderson's non-judgemental exploration of the porn world and the people that inhabit it. The central focus of Boogie Nights is Eddie Adams or Dirk Diggler as he comes to be known and sixteen years later, it is still Mark Wahlberg's best performance. Around him, there is Burt Reynolds as a successful pornographer, the brilliant Julianne Moore as a pornstar who seeks her son, Heather Graham as Rollergirl, William H. Macy's tortured assistant director Little Bill, Dirk's best friend and fellow pornstar Reed played by John C. Reilly, Don Cheadle's Buck Swope who is a pornstar who wants out and Luis Guzman who plays a nightclub owner and aspiring pornstar. Anderson wisely limits the nudity in the movie so it does not distract from the seriousness of the piece, though there is wry humour in abundance. Boogie Nights is a movie about youthful ego enthralled in a world of sex, drugs, greed and envy and Anderson's bravado camerawork hypnotise us with this hedonistic world where no one seems to be absorbing any pleasure. Boogie Nights is a film that is permanently alive, the picture reverberates and there is always something interesting for your eyes to examine. Anderson's direction and the ensemble cast draw us into their world of which we are unfamiliar. Their human flaws and emotional authenticity are what entices us into their world of sex and economics. Boogie Nights isn't about enjoying and having lots of sex, it's about creating a great product that can make them rich and successful, sex is discussed in economic terms, pleasure is not what they are interested in. When The Colonel (the financier of the porn productions) first meets Dirk, he asks Dirk to show him the 'goods', he wants to see what the fuss is about. Anderson lingers on The Colonel's face for longer than necessary but we don't get to see what made him stare for so long until the final scene as Anderson brings down the illusion and shows the star-power of Dirk Diggler in the iconic scene. Boogie Nights is a film that explores excess and the dangers that come with it and despite its lengthy running time, Boogie Nights is not the slightest bit excessive, it is a wonderful, masterful film that signalled the arrival of Paul Thomas Anderson.