1997’s loveable Boogie Nights is heralded as Paul Thomas Anderson’s breakout film due in part to its mainstream critical success and culturally synonymous soundtrack, but especially because of its ability to deliver an honest perspective of its dysfunctional ensemble family. Returning players from Anderson’s debut feature, Hard Eight, join forces with newcomers Mark Wahlberg, Heather Graham and Julianne Moore to assemble themselves as adult entertainment stars working amid the San Fernando Valley porn industry boom in the late ‘70s. Less complex in storytelling than his other work, Boogie Nights, with its cool stylistic eye on a niche place in time, is renowned as a softer, brighter gateway to PTA’s filmography that still maintains his signature approach to character studies.
Adapted from Anderson’s 1988 short film, The Dirk Diggler Story, Eddie Adams (Wahlberg) is a 17-year-old working in food service until he’s discovered by famed pornographer, Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) and leaves his life as a high school drop-out to become the next big name in erotic film, Dirk Diggler. In fact, each member of the Horner Productions family finds an escape from reality in a career that simultaneously promotes authenticity with the occasional embellishments. Maggie (Moore) is a mother estranged from her son who thrives as Amber Waves, the matriarch of the house who takes on a nurturing role to Dirk and her younger castmates, and Rollergirl (Graham), who is known by her playful ‘70s calling card, avoids struggles in academia and takes ownership of her sexuality—while never taking her skates off.
The film’s expositionary stage is where everything feels bursting with unfettered ecstasy, and much of the industry red flags are glamorized. It’s the high that makes success addictive to the Horner crew. In many ways, the film’s structure is like the cycle of addiction; what happens when a group of flawed individuals seek solace from the pain of their realities? To forget their troubles and stitch together a family of misfits where each of them crave validation, comfort and pleasure leads them to temporary satisfaction, but soon the craving becomes insatiable, and their past lives must catch up to them.
The transition into a new decade becomes a marker for the film’s change in tone and the materialization of the ensemble’s collective fear-come-true. Dirk, Amber, Reed (John C. Reilly) and Rollergirl become caught in the throes of heavy substance abuse, which, in an attempt to blur the lines of reality, make their personal anxieties of the future start to interfere with their careers. Pitfalls of the entertainment industry are spot lit as the transition from film to video becomes apparent, and Jack is faced with his own reality that his idealistic filmmaking style will eventually be overpowered by profit and greed. Where previously there was room for predators to cover up a scandal, they are now held accountable for the exploitation and grooming of young girls, and where Dirk only occasionally found himself a cocaine fix, he now falls into familiar patterns of desperation in the pursuit of serving his addiction.
Glamorization of overindulgence disappears, and this gives way to the authenticity in Boogie Nights that keeps the film from being much more than just a nostalgic piece on the porn industry. The movie earnestly identifies the corruption of entertainment, yet never condemns the characters for their field of work. The film occasionally takes on the mockumentary style of the short film, however, there is a sincere feeling of mourning that each of the characters feel—either for their past selves, missed opportunities or the idealization of the industry itself. Among other themes of dysfunction, this heavily established guilt segues the film into its recovery period with Dirk making his awaited comeback to the screen after his rehabilitation, and each of his colleagues come back to the Horner residence to fully repurpose the meaning of having chosen one’s family.
Anderson’s Boogie Nights is the culmination of careful character choices, playful eroticism, attention to craft and the joy of filmmaking that permeates through the script. His later films set in his hometown of the Valley—Inherent Vice and Licorice Pizza—carry a similar distinguished attention to detail and style that is specific to 1970’s Los Angeles. It’s a style that honors the legacy of his, arguably, magnum opus, or is at least a perfect introduction to his nostalgic filmography.
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