Cinema Toast: ‘The Phantom Thread,’ ‘12 Strong,’ and more

Gil Mansergh reviews the lastest films|

Phantom Thread (R)

Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Lesley Manville, Vicky Krieps, Richard Graham, Camilla Rutherford, Harriet Sansom Harris, Brian Gleeson

Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

Director Paul Thomas Anderson is famous for his portrayals of decidedly American heroes - a porn star in “Boogie Nights,” California oil prospector in “There Will Be Blood,” and charismatic Scientologist-style leader in “The Master” - yet his latest film focuses on a London fashion designer from what may have been Britain’s dowdiest era: the 1950s. Daniel Day-Lewis has announced that since he immerses himself so deeply into the characters he plays, this will be his last starring role, and the entire film is a set-up to make sure Daniel Day-Lewis is an Oscar nominee for his final performance. Reynolds Woodcock is a fastidiously self-centered individual who designs dresses for “the Royals.” When he recruits a plain, young, working-class girl named Alma (Vicky Krieps) to be the centerpiece model for his latest collection, he assuages any fears of impropriety by telling her (in a soft voice) that he is “an incurable bachelor.” If you recall Henry Higgins saying almost the exact same thing to the flower-girl Eliza Doolittle in “My Fair Lady,” you might assume that this will be a Pygmalion tale of the designer falling in love with the girl he creates. You would be wrong. “The Phantom Thread” is more like Hitchcock’s “Vertigo,” where the afraid-of-change male becomes obsessed with the ideal woman he creates using hairstyle, makeup, perfume and dresses. If you doubt the similarities, note the names of the designer and his model (Alma was Mrs. Hitchcock’s name). To top things off, the McGuffin is straight out of Hitchcock’s Cary Grant and Joan Fontaine film, “Suspicion.”

3 pieces of ‘Only Daniel Day-Lewis could play this character so well’ toast

The Final Year (NR)

Starring: The Obama Administration

Directed by: Greg Barker

Originally filmed with the assumption that Hilary Clinton was a shoe-in successor to the “Obama legacy,” the first part of Greg Barker’s documentary focuses on Secretary of State John Kerry, UN Ambassador Samantha Power, and speechwriter Ben Rhodes as they coalesce around the Iran nuclear deal, climate change, immigration and terrorism. But, as we are reminded each and every day, there is now an American-Business-First President in the White House. The most interesting part of this doc is when a group of notable women - including Gloria Steinem, Madeline Albright and Ambassador Power - gather together to watch the returns. Their distress and dismay are palpable.

2 pieces of ‘Potentially irrelevant history?’ toast

12 Strong (R)

Starring: Chris Hemsworth, Michael Shannon, Michael Pena, Navid Negabahn, Trevante Rhodes, William Fitchner

Directed by: Nicolai Fugisig

A miniscule footnote of the Afghanistan conflict was that a dozen Green Berets rode horses into battles beside the Afghan locals branded (at least temporarily) as comrades. Code-named, Task Force Dagger, only one of these Americans knew how to ride a horse. The advertising presents this film as a manliness-personified, cowboys vs. indians shoot-em-up in the classic Howard Hawkes/John Wayne style. But the cynical absurdity of yet again sending troops with no understanding of the region’s history, culture, languages and fatalistic philosophy to fight in a land where no-one has won before, “12 Strong” is more nuanced. As a local warlord patiently explains, “This is Afghanistan - the graveyard of Empires.”

1½ pieces of ‘Clichéd Western tropes set in Afghanistan’ toast

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