Punch-Drunk Sounds :: The Imagined Music of Jeremy Blake

In his delightful, dizzying, and surrealist take on the romantic comedy—2002’s Punch-Drunk Love—the writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson infuses a number of elements that both support and subvert the audience’s expectations around the love story at the center of the film. These include the repeated and persistent use of the color blue and the idiosyncratic score by Jon Brion. Another such component is a series of so-called “time-based paintings” by visual and digital artist Jeremy Blake, which are deployed as interstitial moments throughout the film as well as a backdrop for the closing credits.