Barry Egan hates himself and hates his life. The only male among eight siblings, Barry is treated poorly by his overbearing sisters. Despite owning his own business, he has gotten nowhere in life largely because of his insecurities. He leads a solitary life, which allows him to hide his violent outbursts that occur when he’s frustrated. His solitude however allows him to think, he stumbling upon a scheme to travel the world on a pittance, travel which he has never done. Concurrently, he meets two people who pull him in two different directions.
The first is Lena Leonard, a friend of his sister Elizabeth. Barry is slow to realize that Lena is attracted to him, he making her make all the first moves. Lena is eventually able to get Barry out of his shell, she who sticks around despite his obvious problems. His burgeoning relationship and thus new life with Lena is threatened by the second, “Georgia”, who he contacted in an effort to alleviate his loneliness. Georgia and her “band of brothers” do whatever they can get get out of Barry what they want, no matter the price to Barry.
Punch-Drunk Love is a 2002 American romantic comedy-drama film written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and starring Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzmán, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Don McManus, Seann Conway, Julie Hermelin and Hazel Mailloux.
After the release of his previous film Magnolia (which ran over three hours), Anderson stated that he would like to work with Adam Sandler in the future and that he was determined to make his next film ninety minutes long. The film was produced by Revolution Studios and New Line Cinema, and distributed by Columbia Pictures; it features the video art of Jeremy Blake in the form of visual interludes.
The film received a limited domestic release, beginning on October 11, 2002 and totaling $17,791,032 in box office receipts; an international box office of about $6,800,000 resulted in a worldwide box office of $24,591,032.
The score to Punch-Drunk Love was composed by Jon Brion. As with Magnolia, Brion and director Paul Thomas Anderson collaborated heavily for the production of the film’s score. However, rather than scoring the film after rough footage had been shot, Brion made compositions during the filming of Punch-Drunk Love.
During the scoring process, Brion would experiment with tones and sounds, carefully making note of what Anderson would respond to. Anderson himself would create the vocal tempos he would envision in the score and use them on set, even to the extent of inspiring the pace of Adam Sandler’s performance.
The film’s score features heavy use of the harmonium. Brion had introduced Anderson to the harmonium on Magnolia, and Anderson knew he wanted it to feature heavily in this score. Many scenes between Adam Sandler’s character and the instrument were inspired by Brion. For instance, Brion once found a harmonium with a hole in its bellows before going on tour with Aimee Mann. To fix the problem, he covered the hole with duct tape. The situation is mirrored in the film.
Punch-Drunk Love (2002)
Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Adam Sandler, Emily Watson, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Luis Guzmán, Mary Lynn Rajskub, Don McManus, Seann Conway, Julie Hermelin, Hazel Mailloux
Screenplay by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Production Design by: William Arnold
Cinematography by: Robert Elswit
Film Editing by: Leslie Jones
Costume Design by: Mark Bridges
Set Decoration by: Jay Hart, Lori A. Noyes
Art Direction by: Sue Chan
Music by: Jon Brion
MPAA Rating: R for strong language including a scene of sexual dialogue.
Distributed by: Columbia Pictures
Release Date: November 1, 2002
Visits: 129
