Movie Review : There Will Be Blood (2007)
Country:
USA
Recognizable Faces:
Daniel Day-Lewis
Paul Dano
Directed by:
Paul Thomas Anderson
There Will Be Blood came out in theaters at the wrong time. On the big screens, the video store shelves and multiple ceremonies, it was pitted against No Country For Old Men, a Coen Brothers movie based on a Cormac McCarthy novel with an inspired Javier Bardem performance. A winning combination. There Will Be Blood is the poor man's/hipster alternative to the Coen's flick. It's a movie with a similar narration, made by Paul Thomas Anderson, based on a novel by gritty writer Upton Sinclair. Oh, and it has an inspired performance by Daniel Day-Lewis.
STORYLINE
For those like me who read Upton Sinclair's novel before, please know it's "loosely" based on. As the novel unfolds through the eyes of H.W Plainview, Anderson choses his father Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis) as a central character. Risky bet since Plainview is a much more colourful character. There Will Be Blood traces the rise to fame and success of oilman Plainview. From 1898 where he scoots himself out of a pit with a broken leg to 1927 where he reigns over the community in his enormous mansion.
The story of Daniel Plainview pits his ambition, his undying fire to succeed against the religious views of a tightly knit community. When tipped in to buying a land by stranger Paul Sunday (Dano), Plainview gets more than he bargained for. He gets entangled with a religious sect lead by Sunday's brother Eli (Dano, again!) who has a better handheld than he does on the community.
The movie traces the rise to power and the collateral damage that maims everybody, Plainview included. He'll seek solace in his son and in a stranger who pretends he's his brother from another mother. The search for peace of Daniel Plainview is a hollow one though. The man who builds a life for himself is walling up from the others.
DIRECTION
P.T Anderson gives a run for his money to the Coen Brothers. The narrative thread is loosely tied together. Even moreso than No Country For Old Men. What we have is scenes of Daniel Plainview's life in a chronological order. There's no rythmn to them, no logic tying them other than time. They are very long and epic or short and intimate. They are a series of moments lived by Daniel Plainview.
Kudos for the photography who looks like an old chrome picture from the early century. There are no lenghts to There Will Be Blood, which is due to strong acting from Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano, but also due to Paul Thomas Anderson's patience. He sets up a deliberately slow tone. Sometime of epic awe and sometimes of intimate symbolism, but it's always slow and serving a purpose to the story. Oh and the score by Johnny Greenwood is an argument to redeem Radiohead in my mind!
ACTING
Daniel Day-Lewis is one of my favorite actors. He's losing himself in every role he's taking and becomes them. Daniel Plainview is a prime example of what he can do. It's a pleasure to see him interpret greed, ambition, loneliness and fatherly love at the same time. Conflicted emotions make for great characters and Plainview is one of them. Despite seeming heartless sometimes, you can't help but to cheer for him.
Paul Dano delivers the goods. He works double duty as brothers Paul & Eli Sunday. He made me doubt his mental sanity more than a few times. His clashes with Daniel Day-Lewis were memorable and played with your system of values. They are embodiment of what they stand for. There Will Be Blood wouldn't have been such a triumph without them.
INTEREST
Hell, I had a darn good time watch this movie. While it's a bit plain and experimental to be a constant re-watch case, it's a movie worth going back to. Think of the old three-hours long Sergio Leone spaghetti westerns. There Will Be Blood is a modern, demented and artsy version of those. It's a celebration of beauty in chaos and a realistic spin on the required sacrifices to fame and fortune. There Will Be Blood is not easy by any means, but it's also hard to forget.
SCORE: A
