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While Boogie Nights is nominally about pornography, and the industry that it drives, this facet is almost incidental to Paul Thomas Anderson. As both writer and director, he appears unconcerned with the salacious and controversial qualities of this adult entertainment. Instead it is the nature of this world that attracts him, its closed and protective stance. Within the walls of Jack's home, which comes to represent the porn universe, his cast and crew form an alternative family unit. With Jack and Amber at the head, a network of mutual support and validation exists. There is effectively no dependence on the society outside for these people, and thus no one around to cast doubt on their chosen lifestyle. To see how inbred this makes them, consider Buck Swope's (Don Cheadle) fervent belief that they are real actors, rather than organs for hire.
Like similarly circuitous and character-driven films, such as Robert Altman's Nashville, Boogie Nights is fundamentally reliant on the strength of its cast. As good a director as Anderson seems to be, he can achieve little as the sole creative force. Fortunately he chooses well, recognising the hidden ability of several previously underrated actors. In control and at the centre of affairs, Reynolds interprets Jack with finesse; for those familiar with his portfolio, his performance is astonishing in its restraint. The same can be said for Wahlberg, though here it is the baggage of being both a Calvin Klein poster boy and rapper Marky Mark that dogs his step. Making the transition to acting with remarkable ease, Wahlberg gives Dirk enthusiasm, a willingness to please and a convincing one-to-one relationship with his penis. This is his special talent and he's a boy of ambition.
Being that this is the fairground of porn, in some senses women should have the upper hand. After all, it's easy to find a young stud willing to have meaningless sex with a parade of girls. Yet even with this advantage the Boogie Nights women aren't in control, despite their happy faces. Both Moore and Graham wound up with Jack because they had nowhere else to go at the time and now, with their history, no one else wants them. Their performances are, however, quite different. Moore has an obvious fragility, a sense that she grasps lifelines like Tarzan swinging through the jungle. Cocaine blanks the pain but solves nothing. Graham is also a prodigious snorter but, at first, it complements her happy-go-lucky, robust, fresh persona. Determined to make the best of her position, Graham will have sex with anyone, anywhere -- with no visible consequences.
Blessed with this fine ensemble of actors, Anderson is free to be technically audacious. The opening shot of Boogie Nights is a tour-de-force, a sign of the fluid camerawork that is to follow. In one continuous movement it sets the scene, introduces the principal characters and lays out the movie's tone of heady excess. It may not be original but Anderson, with help from Robert Elswit, brings it off with a flourish.
In addition, Anderson has a true affinity for his material and its period. He manages to capture the spirit of the '70s, when anything seemed possible to folk like Jack; even that they might make decent films. The arc of the story encompasses all of this and more, starting with the hedonistic highs of this decade and plunging into the degrading lows of the '80s. Anderson spares no one in showing how, like Icarus, the once mighty fall. When push comes to shove and the outside world intrudes, their pseudo-family structure disintegrates. The problem is that Boogie Nights tries to cover too much ground. For all that the film is long, it fails to take you to the heart of the characters. Try as he might Anderson can't be fair to all; there are simply too many people wandering around.
For all its gloss and vivacity, Boogie Nights is ultimately unsatisfying. It sends you on a journey without making any progress; just when you urge Anderson forward, to display the full scope of his characters, he misses the opportunity. What he does provide, however, is suitably impressive -- the spread of a culture. Anderson evokes the mood of the times, the hope, triumph, anguish and despair, beautifully. In time he is likely to mature, to reflect a greater understanding of humanity; in short, Anderson is a name to watch.
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