PHANTOM THREAD – Rated R – 2 hrs. 10 mins. 

PHANTOM THREAD – Rated R – 2 hrs. 10 mins. 

Starring Daniel Day-Lewis, Vicky Krieps, and Leslie Manville

Director and Writer Paul Thomas Anderson (BOOGIE NIGHTS, THE MASTER, INHERENT VICE) takes us back to 1950’s England, full of the glamour and essence of the era, and into the life of renowned dress maker Reynolds Woodcock (Daniel Day-Lewis).  Woodcock is not only brilliant in dressmaking, but makes his way in this world very regimented, to say the least.  That is until he meets the incredibly beautiful young waitress Alma (Vicky Krieps), who becomes his latest muse, and lover, as she inspires him both with his latest line of fashions…and eventually too, in the bedroom…

I give PHANTOM THREAD a rating of WAIT AND CATCH THIS FILM ON NETFLIX or STREAMING:  I know that this film has been getting rave reviews for months now…but I personally don’t understand what all the hype was about.  Daniel Day Lewis’s performance is good, just like most of his previous performances have been throughout his career – as every time I hear his name, my thoughts still harken back to his incredible performance in 1992’s THE LAST OF THE MOHICANS.  And the young and beautiful Krieps’s performance isn’t too shabby either, but between the incredible slowness of this epic period piece, and its rather bizarre evolving relationship between these two characters, I wasn’t as enamored as apparently so many other critics have been with this film. Even with my love of fashion beaconing to me to “love it for the fashion aspects that are playing out on screen” I couldn’t make myself view this film any differently.  I’m also in hopes that even though his says this is his last film, that Day-Lewis decides to make another few before he leaves this world, as this is definitely not the film I want to remember as his last performance, as the tortured soul he plays in this film, is a role quite shy of what makes this incredible actor, such a memorable enigma on screen…

Kathy Kaiser