Punch Drunk Love Review
by Tim Wick
Wow.
Just wow.
I viewed this film as the ultimate experiment. Director P.T. Anderson has yet to make a film I don't at least like (Hard 8) and at best consider one of the finest films I've ever seen (Magnolia). Adam Sandler has appeared in a string of movies that I've thought were kind of funny but pretty much the same movie over an over again. Punch Drunk Love was combining a talent I consider one of the most vibrant in the industry with a talent that I consider - well - pretty dull. So would the director manage to pull a good performance out of the actor or would the actor drag the entire film down?
My theory, by the way, was that great direction will create a great performance. My poster child was Keanu Reeves as he's shown time and again that if he is directed well, he actually can act.
Although I would have to admit I need more evidence, it would appear that the director wins.
Adam Sandler does not stretch himself in the traditional sense in this film but he still manages to do something extraordinary. His shy, reserved character who is prone to fits of extreme violence is certainly just a step away from what he has done in any number of films. The difference is that this time his character seems real. Strangely enough, he seems real despite the fact that this film is so surreal, it is impossible to think of it as a slice of real life.
I've seen the film described as a "manic-depressive romance" and that is about as good a description as I can come up with because the film defies description. At any given moment, the film will surprise you with bizzarre 60's color splashes, a crashing SUV or laugh at the most inappropriate of moments. Unlike Anderson's last two films that have focused on a large group of characters, this film is surprisingly intimate - almost completely focused on Sandler.
Why do I think the film is extraordinary? I've been thinking about that for 24 hours because it's hard to put into words. A theme that Anderson seems to work with is lonliness and isolation. In Magnolia, that theme is central. Every character is trapped in their own box and trying desperately to connect with someone. They are trying so hard, they almost miss the opportunity to connect when they are given the chance.
That sense of isolation is present in Punch Drunk Love as well. The opening shot of the film is Sandler sitting in what looks like a empty warehouse making a phone call. He is the only one there and you get the feeling of someone not just emotionally isolated, but physically as well. Later, he attends a party and the camera tightens in on him while conversations are carried on around him. He is at the party, but not a part of it.
Anderson seems to tap into that desperate sense of lonliness that we all feel at times. Certainly there are times where we want to be alone, but wanting to be alone is different than feeling that you have no connection to anyone or anything. That is the kind of lonliness that Anderson taps into.
When Sandler finally meets someone to whom he feels an attraction (Emily Watson), he is awkward and confused. Watson is attracted to him and he to her but he has no understanding of how to get himself out of that lonely warehouse and into her world. He tells lies that are not meant to make him self more interesting - they are just meant to not be the truth. He cannot decide if he should kiss her or not. In a movie that was more realistic, it would be strange to think that Watson would spare any time for him after the first date.
But Watson (who, after Red Dragon gets to date a crazy person for the second consecutive film), manages to show why she cares for this man. He is attractive but he is vulnerable, interesting, a little nuts and ultimately honest and caring. She is obviously drawn to him but not because she views him as a challenge. She is drawn to him becase she loves the very things that make him impossible to be loved.
I'm not sure if Anderson is suggesting that there is "someone for everyone" or not. I don't think so. Instead, I think he is suggestiong that true, unconditional love is a powerful thing.
As the relationship grows, Sandler becomes more confident and more controlled. Where he once would have voilent bursts of destruction, he seems able to control those bursts - or at least focus them in ways that are more productive. He ceases to be a observer of life and learns to become a participant. At one point, he admits that love has made him strong.
This suggestion of love as strength is not new. So many movies use one characters love for another as a catalyst to allow the character to do something they may not have been capable of under normal circumstances. But Anderson makes this allegory literal. Without love, Sandler is a cripple - only barely getting by in a world that is not made for him. With love, he is capable of existing.
Punch Drunk Love is not for everyone. The film stretches the boundaries of patience, understanding and faith. We know the movie is going somewhere but the languid pace and lack of any real action will lull some people into thinking they are watching something ordinary. But ordinary this film is not. It takes extraordinary risks and those risks pay off.
P.T. Anderson's detractors call him indulgent and egotistical. Their suggestion is that he makes films that fit his personal whim with little or no consideration for his audience. I agree to the first point (one which most great directors are guilty of) but not the second. He has great respect for his audience - he simply understands that his audience is relatively small.
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