In a nutshell
Paul Thomas Anderson films Geese frontman Cameron Winter performing a stripped-back solo piano concert at Carnegie Hall in December 2025.
A singer and a piano. That’s the subject matter of Anderson’s latest motion picture, a concert film. And the result is like a mythical crystal found in some ancient cinematic cave that belongs to no space or time. Devoid of any politics or cultural lectures (an honor PTA’s most recent actual-movie, One Battle After Another, sadly does not share), Cameron Winter at Carnegie Hall is a purified experience. Winter’s commanding cadence and hypnotic piano harmonies take most of the transcendence credits, and you couldn’t be blamed if you watched this one with eyes closed, but lovers of textured cinematography, and the inimitable grains of 35mm and 16mm film, need to keep their eyes wide open to feel the full sensory blast.
It’s impossible to pigeon hole a singer-songwriter like Cameron Winter, who was 23 years old when he preformed this solo act but has the aura of a timeless vampire with an ancient soul. The recording will be released in three days, October 9, and needless to say I highly recommend it. Lyrics filled with poetic contradictions — “the Devil will love you to death if you let him” — and deeply emotional by their very nature thanks to Winter’s elastic and erratic baritone; there’s definitely a big Bob Dylan meets Thom Yorke by way of Elvis Presley vibe in Winter. It’s all soul.
The camera work, some of which is handled by co-producer Bennie Safdie, and editing is exceptional and clearly directed by a master. Multiple perspectives and vantage points, multiple formats as the frames switch from grainy 35mm to grainier 16mm, are all experimented with for a completely felt experience. From one specific stage-POV angle, New York’s iconic Carnegie Hall venue has the look of a perfectly-lit spaceship in a dark galaxy, hovering at attention over the star on the piano. A frame I found quite serendipitous for this outer-body, outer-world experience.