Boogie Nights (1997)
I made a movie bucket list in September, and slowly but surely I’ve been checking the off boxes, watching so many of the films that I’ve always wanted to see but just never got around to actually watching. I highly recommend writing down the movies/tv shows that you are interested in because it eliminates the dreadful process of scrolling through Netflix, Hulu, Amazon, or live TV, trying to find something good to watch. Making my list has introduced me to so many new film styles, directors, actors, and has overall been very expansive and valuable in my self paced discovery of film. Part of why I love film as an artform is because a good movie can transport you into a world you have never experienced. Movies can take you to a post apocalyptic future in the desert, a European ski resort in the 1930’s, and even the world of adult films in the ‘70’s in Los Angeles.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s Boogie Nights (1997) takes place in the last world I described. I’m nearing the end of my movie list and I knowingly left Boogie Nights toward the end because I was hesitant to watch a movie about porn. I don’t know anything about porn, let alone porn in the ‘70’s, I thought that this movie was going to be a campy movie filled with sex scenes. Boy were my intuitions wrong. Yes, the movie is about the porn industry, but that’s not really what this movie explores. This film analyzes the ideas of surrogate families, broken people, spiraling, and the stigma around being a porn star.
Boogie Nights stars teenage Eddie Adams (Mark Wahlberg), who is working as a busboy at a popular night club when adult film director Jack Horner (Burt Reynolds) approaches Eddie about working with him in his movies. Coming from a broken home, Eddie agrees to work with Jack. Jack and his other fellow actors (Julianne Moore, Heather Graham, John C. Reily) become Eddie’s new family and home. Eddie metamorphosizes into porn superstar Dirk Diggler, and quickly gets recognition for his remarkable work in the exotic film industry. This movie take a turn with the transition from the ‘70’s to the ’80’s when porn goes from being shot on film to being shot on digital. This transition jeopardizes Dirk’s success through a destructive amalgamation of hard drugs and vanity.
Throughout the movie, the main theme that I picked up on was the idea of family. While to most, family means a group of people living together related by blood/marriage, family also symbolizes love, stability and safety. All of the pornstars in this movie come from broken homes and families. Jack welcomes these broken souls into his home and gives them purpose, he assumes a fatherly figure to Dirk and to fellow pornstar Rollergirl (Heather Graham). Amber Waves (Julianne Moore) is the first person that Dirk does an erotic scene with and eventually becomes a mother figure to Dirk and to Rollergirl. Throughout the movie we learn about many of the character’s struggles with their own families and how they have made a surrogate family through working for Jack.
Anderson spends more time developing characters than themes throughout the movie. Throughout the film, we can see all the characters reach their peak in the and then hit rock bottom. As I mentioned before, the movie can easily be divided into two parts, ‘70’s and ‘80’s. The first half of the movie introduces us to the characters, their ambitions, and them leaving their pasts behind them, and the second half shows the characters spirialing, loosing their identity, and the stigma they face being pornographic actors. This movie’s ensemble is incredible.
Boogie Nights also has incredible music, set design, costuming, and cinematography. It is truly one of the best movies I’ve ever seen and I recommend that everyone watches it. Sometimes you watch a movie, and you just know it’s important. Boogie Nights is one of those movies.
