Double Bill Mini Musings: Troubled Grooves and Opening Night Jitters...

Inherent Vice:
What's it about?
A complex tale situated at the death of the 1960s in and around the fictional seaside L.A. area of Gordita Beach, in which Private Investigator Larry "Doc" Sportello becomes involved in a twisted, sprawling string of crimes including, but not limited to, kidnap, murder, fraud, and drug trafficking. Based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon.
Who would I recognise in it?
Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio Del Toro, Jena Malone, Maya Rudolph, Martin Short, and more.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Not quite Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson's best, but pretty close. Read the book and then watch the film for the best viewing experience. Don't try to unwind every mystery and understand every event - that's not the point - indeed, as Anderson himself said, the best thing to do is just let the movie wash over you. It's more about an atmosphere and an experience, than a neatly tied-up story. Even with some nips and tucks moving from book to film (the whole Vegas angle is reduced to a brief newspaper headline, various side characters' parts are reduced or removed, etc) Anderson manages to remain strikingly true to the source material, so much so that - at times - the film feels more like a book than it does a movie. The pacing and rhythms are different to your usual film, while Pynchon's world is beautifully recreated - cannily helped by deploying the side character of Sortilege as the narrator. Undoubtedly it's a divisive film, but it is one that will find its audience in the home viewing market, where it will reveal deeper layers with repeated viewings. Good.

Click "READ MORE" below for Elijah Wood tinkling the ivories...

Grand Piano:
What's it about?
An extraordinarily talented pianist returns to the stage after five years away following a public meltdown, only to find himself the target of an unseen sniper hiding in the theatre wings demanding he miss not one single note if he wants to make it through the performance alive. From the writer of Whiplash.
Who would I recognise in it?
Elijah Wood, Kerry Bishe, John Cusack, Alex Winter.
Great/Good/Alright/Shite?
Like a mix between Phone Booth and Dario Argento's Terror At The Opera, Grand Piano is a contained thriller that moves at a brisk pace; backstory, characters, and premise are all established efficiently. The film also boasts some exceptional directing that continually breathes life into a setup that could have easily gone stale in lesser hands. Sharply edited, the film seizes the viewer's attention early and never relinquishes its grip, propelling itself with some tense verbal sparring sessions between Wood and Cusack, whose presence is almost entirely vocal. Grand Piano is a hidden gem. Good.