Paul Thomas Anderson, USA, 2014, 35mm, 148 min.

It starts as it always does: a woman. When Doc Sportello’s former old lady (Katherine Waterson) shows up with a loony story — a billionaire boyfriend, his ex-wife, and the plot to kidnap and banish said billionaire to an asylum — the private dick can’t say no. Now, it may be trouble or the thick layer of weed surrounding Paul Thomas Anderson’s perpetually stoned P.I. (Joaquin Phoenix), but something is certainly amiss in la-la land and soon Doc is stumbling through a parade of freaks and squares (but mostly freaks). Paul Thomas Anderson’s adaptation defies all neat explanations, instead choosing to fully submit to the heady buzz of Thomas Pynchon’s pot-fueled paranoia. From a cop-cum-chocolate banana fetishist (Josh Brolin) to Owen Wilson’s surf-jazz saxophonist, the film is one wild, wild trek through a cast of characters as majestic as the hills. Submit to its freakbeat. Screening in 35mm!