Toles

The new study of Paul Thomas Anderson’s films by critic, screenwriter, and occasional Film International contributor George Toles (author of A House Made of Light: Essays on the Art of Film, and co-writer of the screenplays for The Saddest Music in the World, Brand Upon the Brain!, Keyhole, and others) will appear in August, 2016. The book focuses mainly on linked readings of three Anderson films which, Toles argues, form a loose trilogy: Punch-Drunk Love, There Will Be Blood, and The Master. Each film features “a lonely, inarticulate, self-alienated male figure” as protagonist. Toles also discusses Magnolia at length, noting how the film marks a shift from “the Altman style of community subject matter to isolated men in extremes.” True to his work as a critic and artist, Toles includes much philosophical and poetic material, with special attention to Bachelard, to unravel the workings and challenging mysteries of Anderson’s styles.

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