Director Watch Podcast Ep. 24 – ‘Inherent Vice’ (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2014)

Welcome to Director Watch! On this AwardsWatch podcast, co-hosts Ryan McQuade and Jay Ledbetter attempt to breakdown, analyze, and ultimately, get inside the mind of some of cinema’s greatest auteurs. In doing so, they will look at their filmographies, explore what drives them artistically and what makes their decision making process so fascinating. Add in a few silly tangents and a fun game at the end of the episode and you’ve got yourself a podcast we truly hope you love. On episode 24 of the Director Watch Podcast, the boys discuss the next film in their Paul Thomas Anderson series, Inherent Vice (2014).

In what is his most controversial film of his career amongst cinephiles, PTA set out to do what many in the literary and film world deemed impossible; adapt a novel by author Thomas Pynchon. In doing this exercise, he was able to take this stoner neo-noir comedy and mold it into another brilliant examination of how power structures of the world is built on a system of corrupt that will eat you alive the more you go down the rabbit hole looking for answers. With an all-star cast led by a gonzo performance by Joaquin Phoenix, Inherent Vice rewards viewers more and more over time, making it a rewarding, layered puzzle box film within Anderson’s filmography. Over the course of this episode, Ryan and Jay discuss their initial viewing experiences with the film, PTA’s love of making movies in LA, the wild adaption process PTA took to bring the book to the screen, how great Josh Brolin and Reese Witherspoon are, how much paranoia was at play in the 1970s, the use of perfect needle drops throughout the film, and showcase their Jay Leno impressions.

You can listen to the Director Watch Podcast wherever you stream podcasts, from iTunes, iHeartRadio, Soundcloud, Stitcher, Spotify, Audible, Amazon Music and more.

This podcast runs 1h40m. The guys will be back next week to continue their series covering the films of Paul Thomas Anderson with a review of his next film, Phantom Thread. The film is streaming on Netflix. You can rent it via iTunes and Amazon Prime rental in preparation for the next episode of Director Watch. Till then, let’s get into it.

Music: MUSICALIFE, from Pond5 (intro) and “B-3” from BoxCat Games Nameless: The Hackers RPG Soundtrack (outro)