PHANTOM THREAD; A Professional Scotsman Review #20

#SPOILER FREE# Watch Trailer

Bill 'The Butcher': "WOOPSY DAISY!!!"

Is Daniel Day-Lewis the greatest actor working today? Well, he's not my personal favourite - I'll reveal that some other day (Lewis) - and ironically my favourite performance of his is as Bill 'The Butcher' in the deeply flawed, but massive guilty pleasure, Gangs Of New York [8]. And the interesting thing is that he's an absolute unit in it, a one man wrecking machine - he even kills the current big daddy of action films Liam Neeson in the opening no less. He's also an extremely convincing boxer (as shown in the aptly named The Boxer [8]) so the dude can clearly fight and fight well. And it was because of this that it took me a few scenes to come to terms with the fact that the scary mo-fo I knew and loved was now rapier, wraith-like (phantom like?), softly spoken and not a little camp. So you gotta give Big Dan his dues - he commits to a role like few other.

Amsterdam Vallon: "Challenge." Bill 'The Butcher': "Challenge accepted."

So who is this weird old English fop? The renowned dressmaker, Reynolds Woodcock, is a bizarrely charming fellow; his blunt honestly (at first anyway) seems to disarmingly charm the younger waitress Alma, a pleasingly off-beat Vicky Kreips. He is after all, according to her, "a handsome man". But there's something a bit creepy about him. He's almost like Dracula; surrounded by women who do his bidding (most of the dressmakers in his firm are women). Indeed - he seems to be nourished by them, spiritually and physically - "I'm hungry" he mutters in a childlike way when talking about... sex? It's hard to imagine him finding time to even to the deed such is his dedication to his profession though maybe he is referring to chowing down as he certainly looks starving, his body pared to the bone as he concentrates on his work to the exclusion of everything and everyone else. He also looks a bit like the CGI Peter Cushing from Rogue One - Cushing famously played Van Helsing in the Hammer Horror Dracula. Like Dracula he thrives on female innocence and beauty (though probably not their blood) before casting them away. Yet he doesn't even have the decency to do so himself - that job is done by his utterly formidable sister - an acerbic, acid tongued hatchet woman (magnificently played by Lesley Manville). So he's clearly set up to be at least partly unlikable to the audience. And yet - he is a compelling presence despite these flaws and here's the thing: the guy can make a dress. Probably the best dresses in the world and the film has to win best costumes at the Oscars. Simply has to. As someone who's worked in the fashion industry (if you know any other 38 year old Fife lads who know what a side bust dart is then please hook us up because we have a LOT to talk about) I would still happily concede that I'm no fashionista. Yet as a poorly attired dude even I almost gasped at some of the dresses on show.

Bill 'The Butcher': "Civilisation is crumbling."

The film clearly has a lot happening on the surface - colour is used to great effect - and everyone obviously looks incredible. There's an on the nose Psycho [10] close up eye reference - though in this it's twisted so that the voyeurism runs both ways - perhaps indicating the madness between our leads runs in both directions? But my God there's so much going on underneath. Director Paul Thomas Anderson who had a successful collaboration with Day-Lewis in There Will Be Blood [There Will Be 10... though I know many of you who hated it]. Once again he directs with such intimate focus on faces, minute actions and broad flourishes that you feel as if you're in the characters very souls! You can almost second guess their actions at times and this aspect starts to create a lot of comedy. Mr Woodcock is clearly on the spectrum. Alma is not. This mismatch and the chasm and distance it creates is, at times, hilarious. I can even tell you in advance that it's funny and I know you're still going to laugh. Masterful cinema really - the very essence of show don't tell. I could feel the audience on edge at times just... waiting. In fact, there are often long stretches without dialogue yet you can still follow the "action" perfectly, all backed up with a terrifically baroque musical score.

Bill 'The Butcher': "Each of the Five Points is a finger. When I close my hand it becomes a fist. And, if I wish, I can turn it against you."

FINAL ANALYSIS: This film ticks off practically all the technical aspects you could wish for and what's more it got me interested in a subject I wasn't sure I'd love - and more specifically a man I would, in reality, find hard to stomach if I met him at a party. It was an intense experience, one I was prepped for in some respects as I'm a fan of the director. It was also a movie that I think connected with a fairly mixed Peckham audience (there were a lot of disappointed young people in the crowd who hadn't got tickets for the completely sold out Black Panther showings). And, for an ostensibly art house film, it received a surprise applause (fairly muted which means that in the main theatre the Peckham audience would have gone nuts - I've seen it twice! Once for Mad Max [10] and Jurassic World [7]). So if you are at all intrigued check it out as it may surprise you. Yes, it's pretentious, but it does take the proverbial out of that somewhat and it knows exactly what it is. Lest we forget; Paul Thomas Anderson's second movie was about a porn star with a big willy. There's a cracking undercutting silliness here too. Oh, one final thing worth mentioning... In the middle of the film I heard the funniest call out from an audience member ever. After a fight between our leads a middle aged French woman yelled out: "Try Yves Saint Laurent instead my dear!!! This is what happens when you go with a stupid Englishman!" And to be fair to the Englishmen in the audience, they took it with gentlemanly good humour... that is until all of a sudden the audience split into two gang factions and we had a good dust up to settle ONCE AND FOR AAAAALL: WHO WOULD HOLD SWAY OVER THE FIVE POINTS OF PECKHAM!!!! Turned out the hardest person there was a middle aged French lass with a penchant for YSL. Who knew?

Bill 'The Butcher': "Now that you've had a taste of my mutton, how do you like it?"

SCORE: The director is in a completely different league to most of his contemporaries and it's an exceptional effort even from within his own impressive list of work. The film is a masterful 10. And if it's Daniel Day-Lewis's last role as he claims (it won't be) then it's a fine note to end on.

ALTERNATIVE TITLE: Phantom Menace