Close-Up
Punch-Drunk Love
Paul Thomas Anderson (US 2002)
Barry has seven sisters, sells bathroom appliances and has decided to manipulate a grocery brand's marketing strategy in order to fly for free for the rest of his life. When, one day, a harmonium is left behind in front of his storage, his life starts to change without being less weird. As the title suggests Punch-Drunk Love is a cinematic vortex hard to put into words: an idiosyncratic work of soundscapes, camera choreographies and neurosis in CinemaScope. At the end of the day this mixture of Romantic Comedy, portrait of a weirdo and modernist game of form is first and foremost about cinema – the love for it, the madness of it and the simple joy of form and color in motion.
The screening (D: Paul Thomas Anderson, 96 min) in original language will be followed by a 60-minute analysis of chosen sequences.