There Will Be Blood
There Will Be Blood is an incredible film. It has the look and feel of an old fashioned epic. Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson loosely adapted it from Upton Sinclair's book Oil. It is also (again loosely) based on Edward Doheny who became a millionaire and headed the Pan American Petroleum and Transport Company.
In the film Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) starts out by mining gold. But he pursues bigger and better things when he discovers that a lot of the land has oil. He advertises himself as a family man - he always takes his son H.W. (Dillon Freasier) with him. You could say he is a con artist who tries to swindle people out of their money. He never seems to have enough. And he does not like people.
When he gets a tipoff that the Sunday ranch is loaded with oil he wastes no time in visiting them. But their son Eli (Paul Dano) is suspicioius. And he should be - Plainview is not an honest man. Oh, it should be noted that Eli is a preacher and is trying to build up his church.
The plot is not hard to follow. It is mainly the telling of the rise and fall of one man. And it is also very much a story about a father and son. And it is about greed and vengeance. It is a truly American film. There Will Be Blood shows how the great illness of over ambition, which is a very American trait, can be destructive when it is taken to its limits. And it is also about religious hypocrisy. Plainview and Eli are two sides of the same coin.
Anderson does a fantastic job directing this film. It is definitely his best film to date. His screenplay is very well written. Dano is good but he sometimes goes a bit over the top. I understand that his character preaches fire and brimstone. But Dano doesn't have the experience of a Burt Lancaster who was just amazing in Elmer Gantry. Young Freasier is terrific as the you H.W. He conveys a lot of emotion without saying much. But this film really belongs to Day-Lewis. He is beyond mesmerizing. He is in almost every scene and I just couldn't take my eyes off of him. Even though he is a dispicible I wanted to see more of him. I was tranfixed while I watched the man go down the tubes. As he grew richer with material things he became poorer in spirit. The cinematography by Robert Elswit is stunning.
I really don't think that this film is for everyone. If you like fast moving action films and nothing else then don't see this film. It takes its time to roll out. But for those of you who want a unique film going experience then you must see There Will Be Blood. It is definitely one of the best films of 2007.
By the way, I attended an advance screening where Anderson and Day-Lewis took questions and answers after the film. Day-Lewis is a lovely, charming man - so unlike the character he plays in this film (or Bill the Butcher from Gangs of New York).
In the film Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) starts out by mining gold. But he pursues bigger and better things when he discovers that a lot of the land has oil. He advertises himself as a family man - he always takes his son H.W. (Dillon Freasier) with him. You could say he is a con artist who tries to swindle people out of their money. He never seems to have enough. And he does not like people.
When he gets a tipoff that the Sunday ranch is loaded with oil he wastes no time in visiting them. But their son Eli (Paul Dano) is suspicioius. And he should be - Plainview is not an honest man. Oh, it should be noted that Eli is a preacher and is trying to build up his church.
The plot is not hard to follow. It is mainly the telling of the rise and fall of one man. And it is also very much a story about a father and son. And it is about greed and vengeance. It is a truly American film. There Will Be Blood shows how the great illness of over ambition, which is a very American trait, can be destructive when it is taken to its limits. And it is also about religious hypocrisy. Plainview and Eli are two sides of the same coin.
Anderson does a fantastic job directing this film. It is definitely his best film to date. His screenplay is very well written. Dano is good but he sometimes goes a bit over the top. I understand that his character preaches fire and brimstone. But Dano doesn't have the experience of a Burt Lancaster who was just amazing in Elmer Gantry. Young Freasier is terrific as the you H.W. He conveys a lot of emotion without saying much. But this film really belongs to Day-Lewis. He is beyond mesmerizing. He is in almost every scene and I just couldn't take my eyes off of him. Even though he is a dispicible I wanted to see more of him. I was tranfixed while I watched the man go down the tubes. As he grew richer with material things he became poorer in spirit. The cinematography by Robert Elswit is stunning.
I really don't think that this film is for everyone. If you like fast moving action films and nothing else then don't see this film. It takes its time to roll out. But for those of you who want a unique film going experience then you must see There Will Be Blood. It is definitely one of the best films of 2007.
By the way, I attended an advance screening where Anderson and Day-Lewis took questions and answers after the film. Day-Lewis is a lovely, charming man - so unlike the character he plays in this film (or Bill the Butcher from Gangs of New York).
posted by Film Fanatic | 7:42 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home