Ramin Raeesi

Phantom Thread - Critic Review

The whole story is the familiar story of the impression of love and woman, as accompany and partner, on the artistic life of a man; a theme repeated over and over again in the history of cinema. From the latest of the kind they are "Phantom Thread" by Paul Thomas Anderson and "Mother" by Aronofsky- two debatable works of the year. Just by the same reasons I appreciate the work of Paul Thomas Anderson, I disapprove of Aronofsky's Mother. Things are born through their media. The form of each medium does not exists beyond that medium. It is the specific form of each medium that makes it what it is, and the media are inconvertible to each other. The medium for Da Vinci's "La Jocode" and "The Last Supper" is painting. And for "Vertigo" the medium is for sure the exceptional medium of motion pictures- the cinema. The medium for Vivaldi's "Stabat Mater" and Bach's "Cantos" is merely music, which is the peak of form- and art. Phantom Thread is one of the closest of the kind to the medium of cinema as an artwork; the ability which is exclusive to the cinema and visual medium as accomplished by means of mise-en-scene. It is not like that the only things mise-en-scene do are the directing and decoupage. Rather mise-en-scene is the correct/proper visual management; the lighting (illumination) the true recognition and use of colours, composition, and text; it is the scenery, décor, and their setting added to the acting i   Read more...

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