Inherent Vice: A '70s California Hidden Figures of intrigue and corruption

“Inherent Vice” synopsis

Doc, who runs a private detective in Los Angeles, receives a request from his ex-girlfriend Shasta, who is the mistress of a real estate mogul and millionaire. Doc is asked to stop the wife of a real estate tycoon and her lover from stealing his property, so he immediately begins an investigation. However, Doc is suspected of murder and becomes embroiled in a suspicious commotion.

Index

• PTA's ambition to ``make Thomas Pynchon's works into films''
• "I'd rather ruin it than have someone else make it into a movie and ruin it."
• Neil Young, Alex Cox, Jim Abrahams
• “Strange taste” created by hiring Joanna Newsom
• America's inherent flaws, America's inherent flaws

PTA's ambition to ``make Thomas Pynchon's works into films''

From the opening scene, where the title logo with the image of a neon tube appears and CAN's psychedelic " Vitamin C " plays, I was paralyzed. Photography by Robert Elswit captures '70s Los Angeles with a faded postcard look. A disturbing soundtrack by Radiohead 's "brain" Jonny Greenwood . And then there's Joaquin Phoenix's crazy act, which I can only think of as being very successful. Inherent Vice and groovy.

I have seen ``Inherent Vice'' five times. However, I still don't quite understand what the story is. I've always had a bad head, but it's not my fault. Not only is there a lot of information, but each episode is layered like a mille-feuille, so it's hard to understand where the stories are connected. I mean, most hard-boiled movies are like that.

"Inherent Vice" preview

The masterpiece `` Count of Three '' (1946), directed by Howard Hawks, also had a complicated plot and a lot of characters, so it was hard to tell at first glance whether it was Nan or not. It is a famous story that when Hawks contacted author Raymond Chandler about some ambiguous expressions in the original work, he was scolded, saying, ``I don't even understand!'' The integrity of the story is secondary.

Clearly, ``Inherent Vice'' is a work that inherits the spirit of ``Count to Three,'' in which story integrity is secondary. Director Paul Thomas Anderson himself left this comment:

``When I watched ``Count of Three,'' I didn't remember much of the story, but instead I remember how I felt and the images very strongly. I just couldn't remember how they were connected (lol)" (quoted from Eureka May 2015 issue special feature on Paul Thomas Anderson)

If ``Inherent Vice'' was originally written by Thomas Pynchon, it would be even more incomprehensible. A standard-bearer of postmodern literature, his works are chaotic, difficult, and quirky. What's more, TV, music, and other pop culture from the time is abundant. Still, Paul Thomas Anderson, an avid fan of Pynchon, had an ambition to ``someday make a film out of Thomas Pynchon's works.''

"I'd rather ruin it than have someone else make it into a movie and ruin it."