Inherent Vice - Natural Flaws

When private investigator Doc Sportello (Joaquin Phoenix), seemingly permanently under the influence of marijuana, receives a visit from his ex Shasta Fay (Katherine Waterston), he has no idea that this will begin one of the most insane cases of his career. She claims that her new boyfriend, the rich real estate agent Mickey Wolfman (Eric Roberts), could soon become the victim of a plot planned by his wife and her lover. According to the story, Mickey is to be kidnapped and sent to an insane asylum. Then, at the same time, when Doc is assigned to track down an ex-con who turns out to be Wolfman's bodyguard and he is knocked out while searching, only to wake up next to the man's corpse, the story becomes more and more confusing. The efforts of cop Christian F. Bigfoot Bjornsen (Josh Brolin) to get Doc on the case as an informant for the LAPD, as well as the disappearance of saxophonist Coy (Owen Wilson), which Doc is also supposed to solve, further ensure that the private detective gets more and more lost in a tangled web of intrigue, lies, crime and drugs. Then even the usually so reliable joints no longer help to get a clear head again.

There are directors with whom one feels as a film critic downright obliged to praise their films as in the sky - even if they are staged completely past the audience's taste. Since Boogie Nights, Magnolia and There will be Blood, Paul Thomas Anderson clearly belongs to those filmmakers who deliver one supposed masterpiece after the other. And since he has also tried his hand at a novel by cult author Thomas Pynchon for his latest film, this can only be great cinematic art with cult potential. Or?

Well, if you like completely overloaded drug trips with pseudo-intellectual voice-over commentaries, half-baked gags and an extremely confused story, then Inherent Vice - Natural Deficiencies must indeed be called a masterpiece. Granted, there really are some very successful moments in the flick, for which Josh Brolin or Martin Short are primarily responsible. But if you don't automatically go into raptures when it comes to psychedelic stoner comedies, you might quickly get annoyed by the muddled story and Joaquin Phoenix's arguably over-the-top acting, despite the positives.

Sure, it can be quite refreshing when a film doesn't cater to the mainstream, makes an effort at inappropriate humor and doesn't attempt a clearly constructed plot framework. On the other hand, a film that goes against the grain in every way is not necessarily a great piece of art cinema that is above criticism. In the case of Inherent Vice - Natural Flaws there is no question that the film's craftsmanship is first class. You notice in almost every shot how much value Paul Thomas Anderson has placed on the interplay of images and music, on small details, on equipment and authenticity. And it's also noticeable that the actors had a lot of fun playing a little bit weirder roles. But that doesn't change anything about the confused story, the overall very unwieldy staging and the affected commentaries, which, at least in the original English version, extremely tugs at the nerves of the audience due to the unbearably bored voice-over.

Fans of the director, who already considered The Master to be a misjudged masterpiece, are guaranteed to find Inherent Vice - Natural Flaws quite great. And for such an audience, then, the film is undoubtedly absolutely worth watching. And probably viewers who are in a similar state as Doc will also be able to discover an extreme amount of fun and genius in the film. However, if you're hoping for a light crime comedy or whimsical entertainment of the entertaining kind after watching the trailer, or if There will be Blood was already too exhausting for you, you'd better keep your hands off this one. Conditionally worth seeing

An article by Frankfurt-Tipp