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There Will Be Blood
Paramount Vantage
Directed By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written By: Paul Thomas Anderson
Produced By: Paul Thomas Anderson, Daniel Lupi, JoAnne Sellar
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano, Kevin J. O'Connor, Ciarán Hinds, Dillon Freasier, Russell Harvard, Sydney McCallister, Hans Howes
Review Date: December 30, 2007
Alex's Rating: A
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Director Paul Thomas Anderson, more affectionately known as PTA, tackles religion, morality, and one man’s descent into madness in his new film There Will Be Blood. PTA once again makes leaps and bounds in the world of filmmaking challenging conventions while still paying homage to the great filmmakers of the past. In the last couple days of December There Will Be Blood outshines everything we have seen up to this point as the best film of 2007.
The pairing of Anderson with leading man Daniel Day-Lewis is one of the best director-performer teams since Scorcese and De Niro made Taxi Driver and Raging Bull. Each delivers landmarks in their well-renowned careers and makes me remember why I so admire the power of film.
The genius of There Will Be Blood is that every single shot, every little frame has an idea. PTA uses the story of Daniel Plainview to show us the fabric of a person and how we are affected by the powers outside of human control. Greed and God will both destroy you, if they become too essential in your life.
Daniel Plainview is a self-made oil man, as he explains thoroughly in his well-rehearsed speeches to the towns he is trying to buy up. He travels throughout Texas looking for the next big oil source so he can add to his wealth. Thanks to a tip from a man named Paul Sunday, Plainview is about to discover one of the biggest oil sources in Texas – a town called “Little Boston.”
Plainview and his son, who acts more as a prop than a character, embark for Little Boston in the hopes of ripping off the town in a one-sided deal and exploiting it for the ocean of oil. The town turns out to be full of oil and poor folk who are willing to sell their land to someone who they perceive to be a good Christian family man. However, the town preacher, Eli Sunday, twin brother of the oil finding Paul, acts as a bit of a thorn in Plainview’s side by constantly requesting recognition and funds for the church.
Sunday and Plainview both are both fanatics. Eli Sunday worships the Lord, albeit somewhat hypocritically, and Plainview worships oil and greed. Both men’s deities eventually become their downfall, catalyzed by their frequent confrontations.
Daniel Plainview will rank as one of the most memorable film characters of all time. Daniel Day-Lewis’s performance was pitch perfect, both externally and internally. He wears all of his scars and injuries with every step he takes and is additionally weighed down by his hatred for everything around him. Plainview only surrounds himself with people who will help him out and when they stop benefiting him, he disposes them as demonstrated in a heart-wrenching confrontation between Daniel and his adult son, H.W. Plainview.
Plainview is a man with a soul as hard as a rock. He shows a preference for sleeping on hard floors, which mirrors his preference to show no softness towards others (unless, of course it helps him get what he wants). Day-Lewis’s deep and gritty voice only amplifies the sense inferiority that this man is supposed to instill in everyone around him.
Anderson has succeeded in creating a film that raises more questions than it answers. Though technically an adaptation of Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil, There Will Be Blood creates is completely original. I would say over 75% of the film is without dialogue, and the power of Robert Elswit’s amazing cinematography keeps you hanging on every moment. The camera lingers just a little longer than we are comfortable with on Plainview as we see the gears ticking as he prepares to manipulate everything.
Adding to the power of the film was the haunting score from Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood. It sometimes reminded me of a Wagner opera and sometimes reminded me of Don Ellis’s The French Connection score and every note was right on. The appropriately placed crescendos matched the action perfectly and the music almost acted like a narrator, underscoring every moment wonderfully.
The action leads to a wonderfully shocking ending leaving you not wanting to get out of your seat and not exactly knowing whether to gape in horror or smile. After some short gaping I immediately broke a big smile because I knew that Paul Thomas Anderson had just treated me to a masterpiece.
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