Our Favourite Paul Thomas Anderson Films
There’s no question that Paul Thomas Anderson is one of America’s most influential living filmmakers. His films chronicle people on the fringes of society and tackle subjects as varied as porn, gambling, cults, fashion, and whatever genre you’d call Punch-Drunk Love. To celebrate the UK release of his latest flick, One Battle After Another, we’ve revisited Anderson’s illustrious filmography and picked our five favourites.
Punch-Drunk Love
A bizarre car accident and an abandoned harmonium trigger a strange chain of events in this unnerving, thrilling, and oddly heartfelt film. In a role that proved to the world he could truly act, Adam Sandler plays Barry Egan, a novelty toilet plunger entrepreneur with seven overbearing sisters. When Barry meets Lena Leonard (Emily Watson), the two fall into an unconventional romance that takes them from LA to Hawaii-all while Barry is pursued by a sleazy extortionist (Philip Seymour Hoffman). His crippling social anxiety, which occasionally erupts into fits of uncontrollable anger, produces the film’s most unforgettable moments. Roger Ebert praised it as a movie that “deconstructed the Adam Sandler films and put them back together again in a new way at a different level.” Punch-Drunk Love subverts rom-com tropes and stands as one of the most distinctive films of the early 2000s.
Phantom Thread
Fashion, obsession, and sadism are stitched together in Anderson’s elegantly reticent period drama. His first film shot outside the United States, Phantom Thread follows the meticulous designer Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis) and his muse, Alma Elson (Vicky Krieps), in 1950s London. As their romance blossoms, Woodcock’s austere, neurotic personality-along with his relentless work ethic and jealous sister-begins to strain the relationship. Their dynamic reaches newfound territory when a deliberately poisoned meal manifests into a ritual of illness and care. Scored masterfully by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood, Phantom Thread abandons the absurdist streak of Anderson’s previous stoner flick, Inherent Vice, in favour of a stripped-back meditation on artistic obsession and romantic dependency.
Boogie Nights
At just 27 years old, and with a well-received debut already behind him, Anderson was one of Hollywood’s hottest young directors. Frustrated by the compromises of Hard Eight, his fine but flawed debut, he set out to make his second feature entirely on his own terms. Originally conceived as a short film inspired by adult film star John Holmes, Boogie Nights has Mark Wahlberg in a star-turning role as Dirk Diggler. (Leonardo DiCaprio was the first choice but opted for Titanic instead—a true sliding-doors moment.) Despite its focus on the golden age of pornography, Boogie Nights is ultimately a story about family and community. The first half revels in the glamour of the late ’70s, when disco was all the rage and porn actors were treated like rock stars, while the second half chronicles the industry’s descent into addiction, exploitation, and tragedy in the ’80s. Brimming with colourful characters, it remains one of Anderson’s most audacious and empathetic films.
The Master
A complex meditation on PTSD, masculinity, trauma, and the search for belonging, The Master feels like the closest cinema has ever come to the Great American Novel. Joaquin Phoenix delivers a searing performance as Freddie Quell, an alcoholic drifter and ex-sailor barely tethered to reality and trapped by the strength of his desires. Opposite him, Philip Seymour Hoffman gives one of his finest performances as Lancaster Dodd, a charismatic spiritual leader whose charm veers between theatricality and quiet menace. Rich with nuance and told with a hypnotic sense of empathy, the film explores the intoxicating allure of cults and the uneasy intimacy of father-son relationships. The Master demands multiple viewings, and it’s no surprise Anderson himself has called it his personal favourite.
There Will Be Blood
A film so powerful it forced Quentin Tarantino to raise his game, There Will Be Blood silenced any lingering doubts about Daniel Day-Lewis’s genius and cemented Anderson as one of America’s greatest filmmakers. The story follows Daniel Plainview, a ruthless oilman whose hunger for power consumes everything in his path. Over its 160-minute runtime, Plainview cons landowners, exploits and then abandons his adopted son, and unleashes his cruelty on anyone who dares oppose him. With a haunting score by Jonny Greenwood, the film serves as a stark allegory for the corrosive effects of unchecked capitalism. Plainview’s insatiable ambition leaves him right where he began—alone and emotionally hollow—only now entombed in the isolated grandeur of his mansion. It’s a stunningly tragic portrait of greed and one of the finest achievements of 21st-century cinema.
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