843 Punch-Drunk Love

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mfunk9786
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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#176 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Feb 13, 2019 5:09 pm

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#177 Post by Never Cursed » Wed Feb 13, 2019 5:38 pm

What Twitter account is this from? Reverse image searches return nothing.

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domino harvey
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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#178 Post by domino harvey » Wed Feb 13, 2019 5:39 pm

Punch-Drunk Love Criterion release confirmed!

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#179 Post by FrauBlucher » Wed Feb 13, 2019 6:02 pm

Day one purchase for me!

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#180 Post by mfunk9786 » Wed Feb 13, 2019 6:15 pm

Never Cursed wrote:
Wed Feb 13, 2019 5:38 pm
What Twitter account is this from? Reverse image searches return nothing.
A little company called Criterion

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#181 Post by Self » Wed Feb 13, 2019 9:46 pm

It was originally posted on the Elara Pictures Instagram account, which is the Safdie Brothers’ production studio.

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domino harvey
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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#182 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:11 pm

I won’t post the link here, but a copy of the first draft script of this film (from all the way back in 1993), Knuckle Sandwich, is circulating and easily findable via Google

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#183 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:14 pm

Interesting, it’s gotta be different enough since PTA himself followed Fiona Apple to Hawaii later than that- unless his own script inspired his ‘impulsive’ actions!

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#184 Post by domino harvey » Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:16 pm

I haven’t read it, but apparently it’s a gangster film, so I gotta imagine it is radically different from the final product!

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#185 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Jul 26, 2020 1:20 pm

Everyone knows mattress men syndicates had more street cred in the early 90s, so makes sense

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#186 Post by mfunk9786 » Sun Jul 26, 2020 2:13 pm

It's been floating around for years, it's definitely quite different and sort of front loads the ending of the film off the top (the romance happens very quickly and unnaturally, dream-like) then introduces problems for the main character trying to hunt down his then ex after a "six months later" card. It's compelling for sure to know that Anderson went back to it and turned it into one of the best films he's made instead of merely being horrified by it when he looked back

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#187 Post by flyonthewall2983 » Sun May 01, 2022 3:44 pm

Comments in this review theorizes that Emily Watson’s character is an alien. Convincingly so, or at least I think so. Unless I can be proved otherwise I’m not sure that aspect of the film has been discussed here.

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#188 Post by therewillbeblus » Fri Feb 23, 2024 11:51 pm

What A Disgrace wrote:
Fri Nov 17, 2023 1:18 pm
I can't believe we live in a world where Punch Drunk Love hits 4K before There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, and Boogie Nights
I actually think it's his most visually-striking film, and the easy first to 4K, but it's not a grand "epic" production in the way the others are, so I get where you're coming from.

Does anyone know if the 4K resto is what's streaming on certain streaming channels cited on LB, or if it's not available for purchase outside of the Columbia box at all? I'd love to revisit it again this week if I can access a substantial upgrade, but don't wanna pay $ to watch the same-ish quality of my Criterion blu
flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Sun May 01, 2022 3:44 pm
Comments in this review theorizes that Emily Watson’s character is an alien. Convincingly so, or at least I think so. Unless I can be proved otherwise I’m not sure that aspect of the film has been discussed here.
Watched this again last night, still among the greatest movies ever made, and perhaps subjectively the greatest given how much I can identify with, deeper and deeper on each return. The theory of Watson as an alien is so upsetting, I can't even bite at that article. It would nullify the themes of love as liberation and making the world surreal. When Sandler confesses the truth of why he came to Hawaii, we crucially do not see his face deliver the line - it would be the obvious choice, to give his character that 'moment', since the line is stated so confidently in smooth speech, in contrast with how he responds to her even later on when intimate.

But no, we stay with her, watching his words (and the confidence behind how he says them) affect her human qualities, make her smile, light up, and we feel the connection in a way we recognize and identify with. We watch her become noticeably (but subtly) sad and anxious when he brings up that she travels a lot - human self-consciousness, with her immediately, impulsively, reactively (human-ly) asking if she can come home with him to hang onto this moment for a little while longer. I sense that her marriage and relationships have struggled due to a lifestyle structured around work travel creating obstacles to consistent offerings of intimacy, and that she's as desperate for connection as he is. She has had more socio-romantic experience to be more dominant in helping him be honest with himself about who he is, but also to know what she wants. She's been in the romance game long enough to know what she doesn't want too, which is a lot of things that Barry is not and that most people are. She wants kindness and sensitivity, perhaps a man more submissive in some ways (certainly not a man who will desert her; they clearly both have attachment issues and are seeking secure attachment, with the right amount of motivation and humility and readiness at the same time - but mostly because they each inspire the other to keep showing up stronger and stronger each time), but I also think there's a very mature way in which none of this is explained. It's all indicated or hinted at, but there's that maturity in how attraction (she sees his picture and instantly knows she needs to meet him) is not just physical but spiritual and ineffable. We spend more time with him, so I can maybe understand why someone detached from the film might believe she's an alien. She's not 'giving' a whole lot in response to his anxieties, but that seems to speak more to an experienced awareness not to place stock in his insecurities so early on; as she has faith there's a wonderful soul in this body waiting to bloom.

I dunno, PTA concocts all this anxious sound design to place us in Barry's unnerved body, but he still takes the time to return to Watson in private, pausing to gain strength to come back and put herself out there, go first, once more in asking him out. We watch her in the hospital asking for her seemingly-only support, who can make her smile throughout an ER visit following a car accident. She sees the value in him helping to free her from her hotel room. She's lonely, she's human, and just because we don't get to 'know' her as well as we get to know Barry doesn't mean she's an alien. People like Barry can fall in love with fellow-humans too! Some of us just needed someone else to go first to show us what was possible, what we deserved, who we really are inside, and the power this gives us - unimaginable before.. a line that Barry literally says, which marks the punchline of a 'climax' this film is offering in the conflict department, and that would be deflated along with the rest of the movie if Watson is an alien. What a way to prove Barry's negative core belief - he "doesn't understand what other people" do; is destined to be alone; unlikeable, unlovable, soiled by his traumatic upbringing - so of course he can't find human connection. That's the opposite of what PTA is trying to do with the film. Literally, the exact opposite. The movie eats itself the instant an argument for one half of this romance being un-human is issued.

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#189 Post by therewillbeblus » Sat Feb 24, 2024 8:12 pm

More stray thoughts: I love how the film is bookended, in two ways: the literal opening and closing shots, and the first scene of Barry engaging with the world alone (so, the second scene?) with the penultimate scene of Barry going back to Lena and persistently, urgently declaring his love for her, demanding attention instead of running from it.

In the first scene, Barry confidently engages with a customer service representative. This and the following scenes of Barry more comfortably seeking out 'safe' sources indicates a few things: a) Barry is more comfortable initiating conversations -including vulnerable ones- with people who are service providers, and thus fulfill a role explicitly indicated. A contractual relationship of sorts, but it's not that Barry needs to 'get something back' in a selfish way; it's just a safe place to engage with. Like how some people trust a therapist or a sponsor because their role's connotation is a social contract where Barry can ask questions and not feel stupid or bad about the responses. He goes to the sex line, and to the one sister's husband who is a "doctor," because he's the safest person there to talk to, as perceived by Barry. b) Barry is more resilient, resourceful, and skilled than he may believe himself to be, and that he has developed these skills through pushing himself into his work - which may have started in isolation, but came from a drive to find meaning in life. c) Speaking of, in that first scene, on the phone, Barry's pudding plan is his isolated way to find meaning in life. It's from the safe confines of his desk in his office on the phone, but he's opening his eyes. In the end, he's been able to find new meaning, and apply that initial meaning (which would not be cathartic, Barry has no real need or reason or desire to 'travel' yet) to the meaning he's found in love, to make meaning out of that plan he never could have imagined. He's seeking at the start, but at the end, it's Lena who approaches him, who is significantly not seeking or searching anxiously, feeling that secure attachment enough to wait for her, looking down at the harmonium and ready to accept her love and whatever is next. "Here we go."

Then there's the next bookends: Barry entering the scary, unpredictable world alone in the early morning; it's somewhat peaceful, and then a car crash occurs right in front of him that's so wild it's hilarious. Barry steps back as if to retreat, but he's ready to find meaning and resists the impulse to run. Then someone dumps a random harmonium in front of him, and he does run. His retreats are conflicted, he keeps peeking and returns cautiously. So, life is a scary place that can wreck you, but if you engage with it on its terms and look for opportunities and possibilities you blocked yourself from previously, you may find a precious gift. Barry anxiously wonders if he should take control of an inanimate object. It feels like stealing, but the act of doing it is a gigantic step of progress for Barry, and it's this characteristic and motivation and propulsion that aids him to get out of his own way and engage with Lena. He needs a lot of support, but who doesn't? The persistence and sensitivity in that reconciliation, her listening but also fairly -if gently- stonewalling him to set a boundary around how he hurt her (not a human??) and Barry stays, doesn't run, faces the consequences and signs up for more.

It's interesting to me that an unexpected car accident would not provoke Barry enough to run away, but the unexpected presence of a potential resource that could improve his life (the harmonium) does. But it makes sense. At baseline, Barry fears the world. So the car wreck is a predictably unpredictable absurd bit of chaos that fits squarely within Barry's worldview. The offering of a path into unknown pleasure, possibility, a future unknown and not even predictably unpredictable... that's too much. Barry doesn't feel he deserves it, or that it's worth the "risk" of unknown anything, but the emotional drive to feel better trumps the rationalized complacency of his life. The first line is "Yes I'm still on hold" and the last is "And here we go" - and we only get to see Barry's face from the reverse angle inside Lena's apt, buried in her shoulder, when it's no longer thought of us a weak and submissive position by him, when he's finally letting go and letting her comfort him, and being comfortable letting himself be vulnerable to another human being, after self-protecting with distance and lies from his sisters' traumatic bullying. The "That's that" anti-climax becomes climactic because Barry has evolved to a place of 'letting go' and shedding stressors - no longer blended with the damaged little boy inside who needs to react by provoking these people in order to try to regain some sense of self-esteem: He has a reciprocal, healthy resource for that now, and being manipulated and robbed is superfluous next to it (also why the film's best moment is its best moment: the beginning of that slow, barely-conscious seed of revelation that not everything has to be so scary and matter so much)
Last edited by therewillbeblus on Sat Mar 02, 2024 7:26 pm, edited 2 times in total.

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#190 Post by nicolas » Sun Feb 25, 2024 9:44 am

therewillbeblus wrote:
What A Disgrace wrote:
Fri Nov 17, 2023 1:18 pm
I can't believe we live in a world where Punch Drunk Love hits 4K before There Will Be Blood, Magnolia, and Boogie Nights
I actually think it's his most visually-striking film, and the easy first to 4K, but it's not a grand "epic" production in the way the others are, so I get where you're coming from.

Does anyone know if the 4K resto is what's streaming on certain streaming channels cited on LB, or if it's not available for purchase outside of the Columbia box at all? I'd love to revisit it again this week if I can access a substantial upgrade, but don't wanna pay $ to watch the same-ish quality of my Criterion blu
flyonthewall2983 wrote:
Sun May 01, 2022 3:44 pm
Comments in this review theorizes that Emily Watson’s character is an alien. Convincingly so, or at least I think so. Unless I can be proved otherwise I’m not sure that aspect of the film has been discussed here.
Watched this again last night, still among the greatest movies ever made, and perhaps subjectively the greatest given how much I can identify with, deeper and deeper on each return. The theory of Watson as an alien is so upsetting, I can't even bite at that article. It would nullify the themes of love as liberation and making the world surreal. When Sandler confesses the truth of why he came to Hawaii, we crucially do not see his face deliver the line - it would be the obvious choice, to give his character that 'moment', since the line is stated so confidently in smooth speech, in contrast with how he responds to her even later on when intimate.

But no, we stay with her, watching his words (and the confidence behind how he says them) affect her human qualities, make her smile, light up, and we feel the connection in a way we recognize and identify with. We watch her become noticeably (but subtly) sad and anxious when he brings up that she travels a lot - human self-consciousness, with her immediately, impulsively, reactively (human-ly) asking if she can come home with him to hang onto this moment for a little while longer. I sense that her marriage and relationships have struggled due to a lifestyle structured around work travel creating obstacles to consistent offerings of intimacy, and that she's as desperate for connection as he is. She has had more socio-romantic experience to be more dominant in helping him be honest with himself about who he is, but also to know what she wants. She's been in the romance game long enough to know what she doesn't want too, which is a lot of things that Barry is not and that most people are. She wants kindness and sensitivity, perhaps a man more submissive in some ways (certainly not a man who will desert her; they clearly both have attachment issues and are seeking secure attachment, with the right amount of motivation and humility and readiness at the same time - but mostly because they each inspire the other to keep showing up stronger and stronger each time), but I also think there's a very mature way in which none of this is explained. It's all indicated or hinted at, but there's that maturity in how attraction (she sees his picture and instantly knows she needs to meet him) is not just physical but spiritual and ineffable. We spend more time with him, so I can maybe understand why someone detached from the film might believe she's an alien. She's not 'giving' a whole lot in response to his anxieties, but that seems to speak more to an experienced awareness not to place stock in his insecurities so early on; as she has faith there's a wonderful soul in this body waiting to bloom.

I dunno, PTA concocts all this anxious sound design to place us in Barry's unnerved body, but he still takes the time to return to Watson in private, pausing to gain strength to come back and put herself out there, go first, once more in asking him out. We watch her in the hospital asking for her seemingly-only support, who can make her smile throughout an ER visit following a car accident. She sees the value in him helping to free her from her hotel room. She's lonely, she's human, and just because we don't get to 'know' her as well as we get to know Barry doesn't mean she's an alien. People like Barry can fall in love with fellow-humans too! Some of us just needed someone else to go first to show us what was possible, what we deserved, who we really are inside, and the power this gives us - unimaginable before.. a line that Barry literally says, which marks the punchline of a 'climax' this film is offering in the conflict department, and that would be deflated along with the rest of the movie if Watson is an alien. What a way to prove Barry's negative core belief - he "doesn't understand what other people" do; is destined to be alone; unlikeable, unlovable, soiled by his traumatic upbringing - so of course he can't find human connection. That's the opposite of what PTA is trying to do with the film. Literally, the exact opposite. The movie eats itself the instant an argument for one half of this romance being un-human is issued.
I’ve taken a look at the new 4K restoration on the Columbia Classics UHD and it’s a remarkable upgrade. Considering you love the film that much, it’s a must-have for your collection. If you don’t want the other films in the set, try eBay for a separate copy. PQ is remarkable and a clear step-up from the Criterion, encoding wise and the colors are really beautiful in HDR / DV even though PTA still insisted on using an interpositive.
However the real highlight is the new Atmos mix which makes the old 5.1 feel dull and lifeless in comparison. It’s that big of a difference. Jon Brion’s score and the sound mix is so rich, powerful and immersive now that it’s genuinely a night and day difference. I was shocked, actually as I never thought that the new mix would be such an improvement.

As with the former volumes, the UHD is unlikely to be released separately.

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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#191 Post by therewillbeblus » Sun Feb 25, 2024 2:39 pm

Thanks nicolas! In the meantime, have there been any rumblings if any the 4K options available for streaming/purchase are the same 4K projection of that Columbia disc?

nicolas
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Re: 843 Punch-Drunk Love

#192 Post by nicolas » Sun Feb 25, 2024 2:43 pm

therewillbeblus wrote:Thanks nicolas! In the meantime, have there been any rumblings if any the 4K options available for streaming/purchase are the same 4K projection of that Columbia disc?
It seems likely, although the Atmos mix is not included in the Apple version for example. The other films apart from Sleepless in Seattle have been upgraded as well including Atmos for Kramer vs. Kramer. Seems a bit random.

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