Haim and Paul Thomas Anderson’s longstanding partnership is the gift that keeps on giving. Their latest collaboration is a dizzy Los Angeles caper, starring Danielle Haim in the chaotic sway of a nervous breakdown.

Haim’s middle child shines in this short psychodrama, set amongst the bustling bars and outlets of LA’s fashionable Silver Lake. Doing an eerily convincing Isabelle Adjani impression, Danielle scurries along Sunset Boulevard with an uncertain destination, trying on different personas and discarding them like cheap pair of shades. With shades of cult classics Celine and Julie Go Boating and Mulholland Drive, the video is a four minute panic attack, capturing the frenzied breathlessness of an identity in free fall.

If you’re not familiar with Paul Thomas Anderson’s sensitive work with Fiona Apple and Joana Newsom, the director’s relationship with Haim seems unlikely - at least on paper. Anderson’s filmography is an ongoing study in megalomania. The director has made it his life’s mission to tell the stories of flawed, controlling men. Meanwhile, Haim have built their career on playfully subverting their ‘cool’ influences, daring to inject a sisterly enthusiasm into a space skeptically guarded by ‘rockists’. This is a band equally comfortable with comparisons to Peter Green and Shania Twain.

The sisters have never shied away from ‘girl group’ imagery either. Comedy and choreography, for instance, are essential parts of their presentation. Catch the band strutting down Ventura Boulevard in Want You Back, shimmying in front of a halogen ‘HAIM’ sign in If I Could Change Your Mind, or even line-dancing in Little Of Your Love. An honourable mention should also go to their Instagram, a treasure trove of dance routines in unexpected places. Their Quincy Jones routine, in particular, qualifies for its own Promonews entry. 

Recently, the band have been experimenting with a new directness. And this video marks something of a departure. More often than not, Haim’s music videos have been at odds to present the sisters as a tight, unbreakable unit. But in light of some difficult circumstances in Danielle’s life, the singer has stepped into the foreground of their music and visuals. This Danielle-aissance began in July, with Anderson’s sublime video for Summer Girl. In this languid LA fantasia, the singer wandered through the city removing her Winter clothing, leisurely pursued by a stranger with a saxophone. The video also starred Este and Alana Haim in a Greek chorus role, but the video was unique in that it prioritised Daniele’s personal experience — the singer’s response to her partner’s cancer diagnosis back in 2017. 

Now I’m In It picks up where Summer Girl left off. By foregrounding the experiences of just one bandmember, at least temporarily, Haim have created some of their most stirring and resonant work in years. Without sacrificing the unity that make the band such an attractive prospect in the first place. In particular, the car wash sequence, as well as Este’s appearance in the middle section, is a startling watch and arguably a career highlight for both the artist and director.

Incidentally, this video is also peak Paul Thomas Anderson. It brims with the director’s trademark fascinations: colliding lives, corridors, meandering tracking shots, a shuffling, dead-eyed protagonist, and a familial redemption. And crucially, it looks gorgeous, shot on 35mm in the glorious natural light of California.