Inherent Vice (2014)

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Country: USA

Movie Review: Gifted American filmmaker, Paul Thomas Anderson, picked up Thomas Pynchon’s novel to create his seventh feature, “Inherent Vice”, a psychedelic trip into undercover agents, peculiar LAPD detectives, drugs, hustlers, prostitutes and curious mysteries in the fervent Los Angeles of the ‘70’s. Joaquin Phoenix, in his second consecutive collaboration with the director, gives a magnificent performance as Larry ‘Doc’ Sportello, a hippie private investigator who decides to help his former girlfriend, Shasta (Katherine Waterston), finding her missing lover, the real-estate mogul Micky Wolfmann. Coincidently, a man asks for Sportello’s services to find the whereabouts of Wolfsmann’s bodyguard, saying he owes him money. Our cool detective starts his investigation, not without partying whenever he can, but ends up with the awkward LAPD Lieutenant Christian ‘Bigfoot’ Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) going after him everywhere he goes. Along the eccentric ride, he visits an obscure corporation named Golden Fang where he meets the crazy Dr. Rudy Blatnoyd (Martin Short) and his helpful young patient Japonica Fenway (Sasha Pieterse). The recreation of the era is fantastic and the story provides an eccentric ride, however I expected more from the detective story, without getting disappointed either. Its strong images and libidinous postures are effective, but I didn’t find the humor so remarkable, while the pace, now and then, seems also affected from a good dose of weed. Notwithstanding, it’s well recommended for its inherent, fashionable excitement.