Probably no other director to have emerged in American cinema during this decade has attained the elevated status of Paul Thomas Anderson, now generally considered one of the greatest living filmmakers and an exceptional director of actors, a reputation gained for work such as The Master (2012) and his films with Daniel Day-Lewis, There Will Be Blood (2007) and Phantom Thread (2017). Like Altman, Anderson is arguably at his best when his films take place on a large, sprawling canvas such as that of Boogie Nights, a comedy drama that follows a group of porn stars in their 1970s heyday. 

Notes by Kevin Coyne.

Screening as part of the American Independents season.