Paul Thomas Anderson does many things right. Honestly, I can't think of more than a few contemporary directors who are fit to shine his shoes. Among the multitudes of mastery he possesses at such a young age (the heir to Altman's throne?) no one casts better than he and no one farms out soundtrack work better than he. Even today I plop on Jon Brion and Aimee Mann's stuff from the Magnolia* soundtrack and am moved. Anderson has infinite respect for musicians, even, legend has it, tweaking the Magnolia screenplay to incorporate themes held in Mann's soundtrack numbers. Please note there is zero likelihood that I would buy or spend any time with a Mann release outside of her affiliation with Brion and thus with Anderson's work. That's because I'm a total snob, and because the context of Anderson's work makes her songs come to life.
Punch Drunk Love I thought was, to date, Anderson's weakest effort. Ironically, in my opinion it was his casting of Adam Sandler that cluttered the picture (despite what Roger Ebert thought). Not even Phillip Seymour Hoffman could outshine the glare from Sandler's presence. And this from the guy that made John C. Reilly and re-birthed Burt Reynolds' career. Punch Drunk Love was uneven, awkwardly paced and Sandler's lack of dimension (which was probably his selling point to Anderson) conflicted with the character arc. But what helped save the movie, turning it into something passable and even artful (and better than 97% of the trite head pieces made by the army of ass clowns calling themselves directors inhabiting SoCal) was his use of Jon Brion's diverse, sensitive and massively, um, helpful soundtrack.
So here it is. Play in its entirety. Both surreal and heartbreaking and giddy at times. I was also thrilled to hear (me being a huge Altman fan) that Anderson uses Shelley Duvall singing as Olive Oyl singing the infinitely charming, "He Needs Me" from Altman's Popeye.
(* one of the best American movies made in the last 15 years)
Wikipedia on the soundtrack: The score to Punch-Drunk Love was composed by Jon Brion. As with the previous film Magnolia, Brion and director Paul Thomas Anderson collaborated heavily for the production of the film's score. However, rather than scoring the film after rough footage had been shot, Brion created compositions during the filming of Punch-Drunk Love. During the scoring process, Brion would experiment with tones and sounds, carefully making note of what Anderson would respond to. Anderson himself would create vocal tempos he would envision in the score and use them on set, even to the extent of inspiring the pace of Adam Sandler's performance.
The film's score features heavy use of the harmonium, an instrument that Anderson knew he wanted in the film before he had even completed the script. Brion introduced Anderson to this instrument and many scenes between Adam Sandler's character and the instrument were inspired by Brion. For instance, Brion once found a harmonium with a hole in its bellows before going on tour with Aimee Mann. To fix the problem, he covered the hole with duct tape. An identical situation is found in the film.
Hear
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