Allow me a second to nerd out, i s’pose, but im finding myself in another Pynchon Hole, and i feel the need to share my thoughts somewhere.
I watched Inherent Vice the other evening, on a whim. The book wasn’t my favorite’s of Pynchon’s— i guess i got used to the aimlessness of his work, how they’re about something, but them being “about something” isn’t really the point, whereas Inherent Vice is more about something than anything else I’d read by him up to this point.
Anyway, i watched the movie not really expecting to care for it in much the same way i didn’t care for the book, but here i am two days later finding myself thinking about it compared to its written counterpart and how it stands on its own. I think a large part of that credit should go to the score. I love Jonny Greenwood’s scores, typically; he’s got some great stuff out there, but this particular score immediately stuck out to me as i was watching, and listening to it now, during my workout, i can’t help but be more enamored and wondering if this may replace Phantom Thread as my favorite of his. P’raps I was predisposed to liking it, without knowing; i love surf rock, and the strummy guitar flourishes here just delight the pleasure centers in my ear, but i also think it’s the scattershottedness of the whole endeavor; it seems to capture the tone of Pynchon’s works better than the movie itself (though thinking back on it, the movie does an admirable job of almost mastering the tone; just something about it didn’t fully work for me): it’s creeping paranoia, the electronic touches, the aforementioned surf rock looseness. It all just works, and it’s causing me to wonder if i should pop the film back on and let it wash over me again.
romaincrisis
ellievsbear
snowghoul
turnnoffyourmind