Big Picture: Boogie Nights (1997)

Movies don’t need to be musicals to take music seriously. Music has been a vital component of the movie-going experience since before the films themselves had sound. For this month, Big Picture is going to celebrate a different way of using music in movies. We’re happy to present three titles that incorporate popular music, either the actual music being listened to by the characters in the film or music representative of the time and situation, in a particularly memorable way. FILM SYNOPSIS: 2h 35m / R / Drama, Comedy Boogie Nights is the story of a fresh-faced busboy named Eddie (Mark Wahlberg) who, by questionably lucky coincidence, gets discovered by a porn film producer (Burt Reynolds as Jack Horner) and turned into an adult film star, all on the strength of nothing but his ambition, his charisma, and his preposterously huge ... charisma. Charisma like a horse. Real third charisma on this guy. You might be shocked to learn this, but the porn industry of the 1970s was kind of seedy. Taking the name Dirk Diggler, Eddie and a jaw-dropping ensemble cast spend a couple of years partying and hanging out until everything begins to crumble around them: drugs, violence, problems with Dirk’s charisma and the grueling march of time leave some of them dead, some broken and a few left in the ruins to make new lives for themselves. Because despite what you just read, Boogie Nights isn’t really about the porn industry; it’s about show business. And it’s not just about show business; it’s about business itself, how work shapes our experience and relationships. And it’s not really about that either; it’s about the messiness of human lives and responsibility. It’s a Paul Thomas Anderson movie, after all.

Event Links

Tickets: https://go.evvnt.com/3214273-0

Website: https://go.evvnt.com/3214273-2

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