In high school, aspiring director Paul Thomas Anderson made a short mockumentary film inspired by the life of porn star John Holmes. Fast forward to 1997. Anderson, who shot some of his forthcoming film One Battle After Another in downtown El Paso, scored a major commercial and critical hit with his second feature, Boogie Nights. It ventures into the unglamorous life of the ‘70s porn industry — without glamourizing it. An ominous undertone permeates this story about the rise and fall of a dishwasher (Mark Wahlberg)-turned-porn star named Dirk Diggler and those in his decadent orbit. They include Academy Award nominee Burt Reynolds, whose career was revived by this film, as a no-nonsense porn director, Julianne Moore as his leading lady and confidant, and a colorful cast of characters played by Philip Seymour Hoffman, Don Cheadle, John C. Reilly, Heather Graham, Luis Guzmán, and William H. Macy. — Doug Pullen
Buy Tickets Online
