Directors in focus: Paul Thomas Anderson

Anderson learnt his trade like many ‘VCR filmmakers’ to come out of the 1990s by watching thousands of movies to gain a formal education in film, perhaps partly explaining why he simply does not make ordinary movies ranging from 1970s-set porno epic Boogie Nights to his bizarre and brilliant romance Punch Drunk Love.

Although far from prolific since his disappointing debut, Anderson’s films have become known for their persistently high calibre leading to many critics and filmmakers such as Quentin Tarantino claiming he is "the greatest filmmaking artist working at the moment". His recent masterpiece There Will Be Blood being one of, if not the finest English language film of the last decade, only goes to prove this title.

• Techniques and Styles
  

Anderson generally makes the sort of film nobody else wants to make or even considers likely to work, most notably with Boogie Nights since the idea of an ensemble piece about the lives of members of the porno industry sounds terrible. However, Anderson not only pulls this off but creates a truly spectacular and exuberant film out of the sort of material most directors would not touch with a barge pole. Even There Will Be Blood is a choice unlikely to have been made by almost any other filmmaker; in placing his critique of capitalism and the oil industry in particular in the past he undoubtedly lost much of his audience, but created a masterpiece.

However, perhaps what Anderson is best known for are the ensemble pieces of his early career, exploring the interrelated nature of human beings. Indeed, his bizarre yet brilliant 1999 film Magnolia is all about this, telling the stories of a group of vaguely interconnected people, and dealing with the vast improbabilities of life creating a truly remarkable film. Although his last two films have moved away from ensemble casts, he still maintains his interests in the human connections. Indeed the vastly underrated Punch Drunk Love is above all about connections with other people and feels more like an exploration of loneliness than a romantic comedy.

• Soundtracks
  

Perhaps one of Anderson’s greatest talents as a filmmaker is his ability to combine a brilliant soundtrack beautifully with the action of his films, something obvious throughout his career. Most notably this occurs in Magnolia where all the characters of his large ensemble cast sing 'Wise Up', creating a phenomenal scene which in the hands of a lesser director would undoubtedly have felt painfully contrived. However another less obvious example comes from There Will Be Blood where there is fantastic use of violins brought in throughout to create tension. Indeed, from beginning to end the film soundtrack is by far one of the best things about the film, complementing the action, particularly in Anderson’s phenomenal oil derrick fire set piece, where he uses it to create a fantastic rhythm driving up the tension and power beautifully.

• Future Projects

Since the enormous critical success of There Will Be Blood, Anderson remained very quiet as to the direction of his next move until at the end of last year it was reported that his next film is to be The Master about a man who sets up his own religion in 1950s America, and is set to star Anderson regular Philip Seymour Hoffman. However this may be a little while ahead since the production schedule has not even been announced and judging by Anderson’s last break in between films we could be waiting a very long time.

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