‘Punch-Drunk Love’ offers surprises

In every respect, Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Punch-Drunk Love” defies

expectation.

When first introduced to Barry Egan, we watch Adam Sandler play

out his familiar routine: the awkward, funny loner. Yet something is

off with Barry -- and it’s more than his electric blue suit.

There’s a tangible desperation in his manner, a barely restrained

rage simmering just below the surface. When he tells his

brother-in-law “sometimes I don’t like myself very much,” the pain in

his voice is convincing and real. We know then that Sandler is in new

territory here.

In Barry, Anderson has created a character who protects himself by

living in a safe cocoon of familiarity and habit. Not a man prone to

taking chances, Barry is emasculated daily by seven overbearing

sisters who viciously ridicule him under the guise of affection. They

are exceedingly cruel but utterly clueless to his building

resentment. Barry is the last person you would expect to fall in

love. But he does, with Emily Watson.

“Punch-Drunk Love” bravely depicts the dual consequences of

risking the courage to step out into a crazy world. The good: Barry’s

discovery of love and companionship. The bad: The seedier underbelly

of society personified by a hilarious Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who

exploits Barry financially with a phone-sex scam.

Barry learns you can’t have the good without the bad, but maybe,

just maybe, one can give you the strength to overcome the other.

Anderson has crafted a truly original vision with this romantic

comedy. He knows the pitfalls of the genre and twists them to work to

his advantage. As a director, he has always been guilty of

pretension, but he has a disdain for cynicism in his work that

redeems him. He loves and embraces his characters.

Like earlier works such as “Hard Eight,” “Boogie Nights” and

“Magnolia,” “Punch-Drunk Love” is about constructing a surrogate

family when your own fails you. This time out, the family has been

distilled to two members: a couple.

Anderson breaks the mold with “Punch-Drunk Love’s” risky

narrative. He is one of the few true American auteurs, a word that

gets thrown around a lot but very rarely applies. He can handle an

elaborate juggling of tone and pull it off. He fashions characters

that are idiosyncratic and eccentric, but stays clear of using those

elements as a hip, sarcastic distraction designed to keep emotion at

arm’s length. Instead they deepen your involvement.

Anderson breaks a lot of rules, but does so successfully because

he bothered to learn them in the first place. He knows the strengths

and limitations of the conventional romantic comedy.

The cinematography is delightful. Even devices such as a swelling

palette of color bars inserted in key moments of the story fit well

because they capture the joy Barry has discovered inside himself. The

visuals have a confident, fluid momentum. Each image builds on the

next, cracking with energy and a fierce devotion to revealing Barry’s

transformation layer by self-protecting layer.

This is a movie that never ceases to amaze. As a writer, Anderson

knows at any given moment what the audience expects to happen and

then counters it at every turn with something refreshing and bold.

This is one of the best movies of the year.

* ALLEN MacDONALD, 29, is currently working toward his master’s

degree in screenwriting from the American Film Institute in Los

Angeles.

Don’t accept

‘The Ring’

The Ring is adapted from a novel by Koji Suzuki and from the 1998

screenplay of Hiroshi Takahashi’s “Ringu,” with Ehren Kruger

(“Arlington Road”) as the screenwriter for this American version.

The contrived plot focuses on a videotape that contains eerie

images. When some unfortunate views it, a mysterious call by a female

follows, informing the viewer that they will die in seven days.

Sounds to me like a really overzealous Blockbuster video employee.

What it really turns out to be is almost worse, and requires the

investigation of two of the videotape’s potential future victims.

The film stars Naomi Watts, Brian Cox, Martin Henderson, Daveigh

Chase, David Dorfman, Lindsay Frost, Amber Tamblyn and Rachael Bella.

Watts is not electrifying but adequate in the role of the intrepid

Seattle reporter who drags her estranged lover (Henderson), who is

the father of her son (Dorfman), into the mystery.

Director Gore Verbinski imbues the film with fine cinematography,

but the plot and pace are foolish.

The logic by which the pieces of the puzzle are placed together is

forced, and although certain moments in the film could be described

as chilling, in retrospect they are also trite. I applaud the choice

not to make this film into a display of gore, but the suspense is

sophomoric and dim.

At first, I was encouraged when the cliche ending turned out to be

false. But the ending that replaced it was confusing and

disappointing.

Toward the end of the film, you are beaten over the head with the

moral of the story: “Don’t neglect your kids.”

I was not satisfied with the film because the way in which it

disturbed me was based more on its uneven quality than its content.

* RAY BUFFER, 33, is a professional singer, actor and voice-over

artist.