There Will Be Blood

Paul Thomas Anderson is one of my favorite filmmakers and I’ve loved to pieces every film he’s made. I believe it was 2 or 3 years ago I read he was making a new film called There Will Be Blood. Super heightened anticipation doesn’t even come close to describing my desire to see this film and I finally got to see it on Sunday. I was hypnotized throughout the film. Everything about the film- the writing, directing, acting, cinematography, editing, etc…- sucks you in, casts you under its spell and leads to a dazzling finish that knocked me on my ass. Actually I was already on my ass but when the film ended, I sat in my chair not moving.

As more time passes from when I saw the film, it’s sinking in deeper and deeper. There are shots and lines of dialogue I can’t get out my head. Images in the film, so powerful, are burned into my brain and pop up like my own private slideshow. Anderson’s movies always have this effect on me. The amount of times I’ve watched Boogie Nights and Magnolia would appall people of better sense than mine, but I can’t help myself. There Will Be Blood is no different. I want to go back to the theater and watch it over and over and over again.

This film tells the story of Daniel Plainview and his quest to succeed, to dominate all people and things, no matter what. He doesn’t let anything get in his way. Anything at all. He's "an oil man" and he has "a competition in him." His drive is so strong he doesn't want to see anyone other than him succeed. He’s a self-made man who built himself from the ground up and Daniel Day-Lewis plays him to perfection. I think everyone knows that Daniel Day- Lewis doesn’t give bad performances. Ever. I think this is his best performance and knowing what we know about him, that’s no small feat. Much has been made, with good reason, about his performance in the film but I’m surprised more people haven’t made mention of Paul Dano’s performance, an actor who’s work I’ve been enjoying a lot lately and I was beyond excited when I found out he was cast in the film. He plays Eli Sunday, a supposed "prophet," but really he's more interested in profit. This is a film about greed, but it is also a film about God and without Dano's extremely strong performance as the preacher, the film would be broken. You may have seen Dano in Taking Lives, The Girl Next Door or The Ballad of Jack & Rose (also starring Daniel Day-Lewis) but I’m sure you remember him as the self-imposed mute from Little Miss Sunshine. He does incredible work in There Will Be Blood. Look for him as the lead in Spike Jonze’s version of Where the Wild Things Are. Dillon Freasier plays H.W. Plainview, Daniel's adopted son. He is an absolute revelation. His performance is so important to the movie and although his imdb page lists no previous film credits, his work is that of a seasoned actor.

Paul Thomas Anderson has created a film so simple, yet so complicated. I've heard and read that this is a departure for him. I disagree. You still feel his imprint in the writing, camera work (though with less kinetic dolly moves) and cutting style-not mention it is a sprawling epic, much like Boogie Nights and Magnolia (Magnolia takes place in one day but it feels like a lifetime). There is a rhythm to his writing and the beats he uses draw you into his scenes and ultimately his entire film. He isn’t afraid to hold shots. For awhile. (I’d love to know how many cuts are in this film, by the way.) Though the film is just over 2 ½ hours, there is no fat on it- not unnecessary bullshit. I must say when the early word about the film starting emerging and people were throwing around comparisons to Citizen Kane, Giant and other works of exceptionally high caliber, I wasn’t surprised. I wasn’t surprised by the fact that he had made a quote-unquote masterpiece. I just nodded ‘Yeah, of course. He’s the fucking man.’ I’ve wanted his films to sweep the Academy Awards but they never do. If There Will Be Blood doesn’t, I might throw my fucking TV out the window.

Robert Elswit is a terrific cinematographer who’s been doing particularly good work lately (Good Night and Good Luck, and Syriana to name a few). This is 4th film with Anderson and his work is nothing less than breathtaking. He created beautiful, lasting, epic images which, as I’ve mentioned, I can’t get out of my head. Not only is the film shot well, it is also edited very well. Dylan Tichenor, an extremely talented editor, who has also worked with Anderson on his last 4 films, does wonderful work once again. The Production Design by Jack Fisk is truly awesome. I would hope to see all of these names on Oscar ballots in a few weeks.

The score is by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead fame. It’s easily one of the best scores I’ve ever heard. I dropped a few tracks on this blog a last month, but heard with images in it’s entirety give rise to the emotions going on in the film, but on the surface and under it. At times subtle and at times not, the score, much like every other aspect of the film, is perfect.

Much has been made of the nearly wordless opening, which lasts, I think, 10 minutes or so. Either people didn’t mention or I didn’t read that there are quite a few nearly wordless sections of the film that are fantastic and exciting. This film is a slow burn and it takes it’s time- necessary time- getting to where it needs to go. But from the first frame you can feel the intensity of it, simmering- waiting to boil, crouched in a dark alley, around a corner, fist clenched, ready to pounce. That intensity never settles. That intensity has been slow cooking in me since I saw it yesterday. I can’t get this film out of head.