Inherent Vice

Film history is the story of films constantly building on one another. If one contemporary director knows this, it’s Paul Thomas Anderson, PTA for professional purposes. In PTA & HIS MASTERS we take a look at the unofficial filmic predecessors of Paul Thomas Anderson. We place the director – arguably one of the most important directors of his generation – next to the influences he unabashedly cites in his work. In PTA & HIS MASTERS we link INHERENT VICE to Akira Kurosawa’s STRAY DOG.

“These were perilous times, astrologically speaking, for dopers.” Thus resounds the warning raised by narrator Sortilège at the beginning of PTA’s INHERENT VICE. The mood of the film is immediately set. The black comedy and neo-noir storytelling of Thomas Pynchon’s source novel of the same name, are retained in PTA’s adaptation of the novel which was deemed unadaptable. The movie follows private investigator Larry “Doc” Sportello, a hippie stoner with epic sideburns and the tendency to get caught up in the most bizarre cases. Doc is played by Joaquin Phoenix and the ensemble cast is further complemented by Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston and Benicio del Toro. Doc is sucked into the dark underworld of Los Angeles in the 70s when he investigates three kidnapping cases that are linked to the disappearance of his ex-girlfriend and her new boyfriend.

For the movie, PTA wanted to preserve as much of Pynchon’s prose as possible, which is why he added a narrator whose language is nearly identical to Pynchon’s narration. On a cinematic level, PTA was inspired by different sources, such as well-known noir classic THE BIG SLEEP (1946) and comedy tv-series such as POLICE SQUAD! (1982). (1982). But Japanese master Akira Kurosawa’s STRAY DOG (1949) was a source of inspiration as well. PTA loves the Japanese crime film because of its simple plot, which can be summed up in one sentence: rookie cop loses his gun and goes to look for it. PTA already added this plotline in his MAGNOLIA (1999). In INHERENT VICE, PTA searched for the same narrative simplicity, moving away from his vignette storytelling, and landed on a story about a detective who tries to solve a kidnapping. In addition, Kurosawa manages to critically capture the painful postwar recovery in Tokyo, sharpened by having the story take place during an unforgiving heatwave. In INHERENT VICE, PTA chooses the political setting of the US in the 70s, which was ruled by paranoia after the crime spree led by the Manson family. The sun also burns relentlessly in INHERENT VICE. STRAY DOG can be considered a precursor of the buddy cop film genre, a generic angle that also returns in INHERENT VICE.

INHERENT VICE washes over the audience like a sensorial wave where plot and logic fly out the window on the smoke plumes of a mix ‘n match of drugs. When PTA was asked what INHERENT VICE means, he responded “It’s everything you can’t avoid. You know, eggs break, chocolate melts, glass shatters.” The world is full of built-in defects, and especially within humans. “I think it’s good to think of the film as that moment when you wake up in the morning and you’ve been drinking the night before,” clarifies the director, “but for a fraction of a second you’re completely fine, and then you suddenly remember and think, Wait a minute, what did I do last night?” Summarised, the movie is an unforgettable trip. You just have to take a hit…