Impeccable 'Phantom Thread' Doesn't Drop A Stitch
Paul Thomas Anderson's film about a London dressmaker in the 1950s is "a rare combination of audacity and precision, impeccably tailored yet full of mystery and magic," says critic Scott Tobias.
Even the title, , sets the mind reeling. The term refers to a Victorian Era phenomenon in which East London seamstresses, utterly exhausted by a long day's work, continue to go through the motions at home, sewing threads that do not exist. It also evokes the otherworldly quality of artistic creation, some divine and inexplicable force that helps bring a work to fruition. And therein lies the particular wonder of writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson's beguiling new film presents an formidable set of obstacles.
