Paul Thomas Anderson has finally come out of hiding with the first trailer for his latest film, Inherent Vice. Based on the novel by Thomas Pynchon in 2009, the movie revolves around a private investigator in 1970. The tone of the movie is definitely a departure from P.T. Anderson’s most recent, including The Master and There Will Be Blood. It has a pretty stellar casting too, consisting of Joaquin Phoenix, Owen Wilson, Reese Witherspoon, Josh Brolin, Martin Short, and Benecio Del Toro. Watch the trailer and check out the screenshots after the jump.

Watching a trailer for a P.T. Anderson film versus watching the movie is a completely different experience compared to most previews. You can have one take on the film and when you go into the theater to see it there is a completely different context than what the marketing presented. Try as they might, I’m not sure if anyone can truly understand the mind of Anderson.

Inherent Vice looks pretty interesting, there’s all sorts of plot threads dangling in front of us in this trailer. But what really captures my attention is the colorful cast of characters and the period in which its set. It’s a really well cut trailer and definitely comes across more enticing than Master or Blood, however, both are strong films in their own respect. There’s just a certain high-level of energy that Inherent Vice gives off compared to its predecessors.

(Click on the thumbnails below to enlarge the images)

Here is the official plot synopsis for Inherent Vice, courtesy of Open Road Films:

Inherent Vice is the seventh feature from Paul Thomas Anderson and the first film adaption of a Thomas Pynchon novel. When P.I. Doc Sportello’s ex-old lady shows up with a story about her current billionaire land developer boyfriend and a plot by his wife and her boyfriend to kidnap that billionaire and throw him in a looney bin… well, easy for her to say. It’s the tail end of the ’60s, paranoia is running the day and Doc knows that “love” is one of those words going around, like “trip” or “groovy,” that’s way too overused—except this one usually leads to trouble. With a cast of characters that includes surfers, hustlers, dopers and rockers, a murderous loan shark, LAPD Detectives, a tenor sax player working undercover and a mysterious entity known as the Golden Fang, which may only be a tax dodge set up by some dentists… Part surf noir, part psychedelic romp—all Thomas Pynchon.

Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, Inherent Vice stars Joaquin Phoenix, Josh Brolin, Owen Wilson, Katherine Waterston, Reese Witherspoon, Benicio del Toro, Jena Malone, Joanna Newsom, Hong Chau, Martin Short, and Maya Rudolph. This film is out in limited release on December 12, 2014 and everywhere January 9, 2015.

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Source: Warner Bros.