Paul Thomas Anderson has pretty much been given carte blanche to do what ever he feels like in terms of films. With critically acclaimed films like There Will Be Blood and Magnolia he’s one of the most important voices currently directing films. Which is why it's surprising his next film Junun will not be premiering in theaters after it’s debut at the New York Film Festival.
Variety is reporting that after it’s unravelling on October 8 it will have it’s exclusive worldwide premiere on the curated streaming platform MUBI.com on the following day. If you’re wondering what MUBI is, it’s a streaming service that offers a line-up of only 30 films and each film is only up for 30 days. The service adds one new movie every day and drops whichever film has been on for the full 30 days.
As for Anderson’s new film, Junun is a 54-minute documentary, which follows Radiohead guitarist Johnny Greenwood along with Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur who take a trip to India. In a 15th century Mehrangarh Fort, where they were hosted by the Maharaja of Jodhpur in the state of Rajasthan, they created a makeshift studio to record Ben Tzur’s new album with a group of musicians from across the host country.
The title of the film means “mania” or “the madness of love” in Arabic, Persian, Urdu, and Hindi and according to Nonesuch records the album will drop sometime in November.
Anderson seems to be very keen on the MUBI platform saying in a statement that:
We’re huge fans of MUBI and wanted to be a part of what they do. Hopefully people will discover both the music that’s been made by Shye and Jonny and a great place to watch films.
Greenwood has collaborated with Anderson by composing the music for his last three films of There Will Be Blood, The Master, and Inherent Vice so it looks like they’re continuing their partnership into non-narrative territory.
You can catch Junun on MUBI.com whet in premieres on October 9 at midnight. Here’s the synopsis of the film:
In Spring 2015 Israeli composer Shye Ben Tzur, Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood and ‘The Rajasthan Express’ were hosted by the Maharaja of Jodhpur at Mehrangarh Fort. This beautiful and joyously unique 3 week union resulted in the album and film JUNUN(the madness of love).
Hat tip: Indie Wire
Image: PTA & MUBI