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Phantom Thread


anthony le grand

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Hi,

 

I just watched Phantom Thread and didn't find much about it on the forum... Well, i'm still in the movie, and think it's an absolute masterpiece. PTA's best work by far. His most subtle screenplay without a doubt, with 2 amazing actors, gorgeous cinematography, perfect music and yet, the sum of it is so much more than that. I'm really, really impressed.

What did you think of it ?

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Oh yeah, actually the first time I searched for it in the toolbar I wasn't logged in, so I didn't have all the results and didn't see your topic !

 

Visually the movie is outstanding too. It made me think a lot of Kubrick, with the push of the negative and the use of low con filters. It creates a very sensitive texture and feels alive. The grainiest scenes at night during the dinners and in the bedroom are gorgeous. It's kind of brave to do that now and to go towards a direction where people often consider these things as "mistakes", with weak blacks, lots of grain... Again, very much like Kubrick for Eyes Wide Shut.

 

The thing I didn't like so much with PTA before was the need to show off a bit, a way to say "look at how great I am" (much less the case since The Master though). But here he managed to reduced his filmmaking to its essence, creating some of the most beautiful moments I've seen on screen in years. The scenes where they meet and the other one where he's sick and sees his mother are... wow. Incredibly intense and moving. And the end was so beautiful and subtle too, very romantic in a way, a strange love but about understanding, trust and full commitment to the other.

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Had the chance to see this multiple times on dcp and made a trip to LA to see it on 70mm at the ArcLight. Even got to meet PTA! I believe the entire film is shot on 500T. Gorgeous film. Definitely my favorite of 2017.

Ohh me too!

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Honestly the 70mm screening was wonderful. The presentation was romantic and the texture/detail was stunning. Obliviously my best Phantom Thread experience ( I also saw it on another occasion accompanied by Johnny Greenwood's score LIVE! ) Having said that, the digital showings were great as well but having seen it on 70mm I felt slightly gypped.

I would like to add I did see The Master many times projected digitally and when I finally had the chance to see a 70mm print, the last reel was lost so they had to switch to a digital dcp and the difference was NIGHT and DAY.

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It can be difficult to track down 35mm and 70mm film screenings here, but last time I saw 70mm not too long ago I was again struck by the look of what I was seeing. It was so satisfying to watch the movie. It felt like an event. When I go back to 'normal' dcp screenings I notice that, at least at my regular cinema, movies shot on film look noticeably less good than the ones shot on digital (to my eye). But film on dvd at home looks great on my tv screen (eg. 'Far from the Madding Crowd', 2015).

 

By the way, does anyone know if 'Phantom Thread' was shot on 4 perf spherical?

Edited by Jon O'Brien
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I would like to add I did see The Master many times projected digitally and when I finally had the chance to see a 70mm print, the last reel was lost so they had to switch to a digital dcp and the difference was NIGHT and DAY.

It's 2 things... the grain structure and the flicker. The DCP of the Master you can't tell the 35mm stuff from the 65mm stuff. The moment you see the print, it's night and day between the two formats. Also, I'm not sure if it has a 4k DCP, I do think it's 2k. So that would play a huge role in what it looks like.

 

I gotta say for the record, the print I saw of "The Master" was pretty dirty, but holy crap did the 65mm scenes look great.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Thanks for the link Stephen ! It's very interesting, even if the Youtube compression is, as usual, quite awful.

 

I've seen the movie a month ago and still think of it quite often, one of the best of the decade for me. It stays in my mind like some of my favorite directors' best movies (Malick, Erice, Edward Yang or Hou Hsiao Hsien for instance)

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  • 3 weeks later...

PTA is my favorite modern director, I think he balances story, acting, and incredible images really well.

 

I got to see this at a press screening in November 2017 at the Arya Fine Arts Theater. I held a sign saying 'plus one?' outside the theater, the people from focus features let me in, even though I had no claim to be there. It was an early Christmas for me.

 

It was shown on 35mm, really cool experience. Didn't get to meet PTA, though I heard he had been to that theater a couple times for the pre release screenings.

 

Also saw it on 70m at the Arclight, and DCP too. I thought all presentations held up well.

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