I recently stumbled upon some
reviews I did back in college for the La Salle Collegian. In the interest of
condensing all of my reviews on this site, I've decided to upload them
sporadically throughout the next few weeks. I've chosen not to update them,
mostly because I like the concept of reviews as time capsules for how we feel
about movies at the time we first see them.
Below is a review of There
Will Be Blood, which I originally reviewed in January of 2008. It’s a masterful
film with a towering performance and a
number of memorable scenes and quotes. Reading the review now, it’s hard to
believe I made no mention of milkshakes.
 |
| There Will Be Blood is a gorgeously shot film. |
Paul
Thomas Anderson loves to dazzle. As a director, he usually accomplishes this
feat with interesting color saturations and long tracking shots. As a writer,
he calls upon fantastic moments (i.e. frogs raining from the sky) or odd deus
ex machina (i.e. little pianos). However, with There Will Be Blood, Anderson has
turned a corner. Although he’s still a dazzler, the writer-director has
(mostly) abandoned his parlor tricks, limiting himself to the bare essentials
in creating a mesmerizing character study that ranks alongside Citizen Kane in terms of pure ambition and scope.
Interestingly
enough, Anderson opens the film with his lone embellishment—a nearly wordless
15-minute stretch in which he convincingly establishes the turn of the century
setting and the fervor for oil. Functioning as the movie’s prologue, the
sequence introduces Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) and surveys his ascent
to success, so that by the time dialogue sets in and he proclaims, “Ladies and
gentlemen, I am an oilman,” we know he’s not kidding.
Accompanied
by his adopted son H.W. (Dillon Freasier), Plainview addresses these statements
to a community that has discovered oil in its area. In trying to gain the
people’s trust, Plainview realizes they have become too excitable, and he abandons
them; they’re all wolves out for their fair share, and Plainview’s looking to
deal with sheep.
By
this point, Plainview is a successful man, with one strong strike paying him
$5,000 a week and several other promising wells to boot. But it’s not enough
for him, because he’s got a competition in him. He disdains paying for shipping
and begrudges Standard Oil. He’s looking for a big score that will enable him
to create his own oil empire so that he can, we later learn, retire from the
society he hates with such fervor.
He
eventually finds the ideal situation—an “ocean of oil” underneath the home of a
bunch of sheep—but complications keep getting in the way. Some come on the
business end—setbacks at the well and the invasive presence of Standard
Oil—while others are more personal, like an accident at the oil field that leaves
H.W. deaf or the arrival of long-lost brother Henry (Kevin J. O’Connor).
Despite
all this, the biggest thorn in Plainview’s side continues to be the preacher
Eli Sunday (an excellent Paul Dano), a self-righteous con-man who presents
himself as a pious prophet. The interplay between these two emerges as a strong
plot element, and also conjures themes of capitalism vs. religion.
However,
through it all the backbone of the story remains that of a father and his son.
Many critics are referring to Plainview as evil incarnate, and although I see
the logic in this, I don’t buy it. The character that Day-Lewis and Anderson
have created is too layered to be classified so easily. Plainview is a
downright nasty guy, but he’s definitely more complex than the film’s most
ardent critics are suggesting.
At
times, he is shown to be tender with H.W. and then outright malicious;
regretful for wrong treatment, while displaying a refusal to change. The
relationship is drawn obtusely, and is left open to interpretation. My belief
is that Plainview has feelings for H.W., but that he’s too emotionally retarded
to act appropriately. The drive inside of him, the overwhelming hate he
possesses, makes it impossible for him to do so. However, his desire for family
(as seen in Plainview’s conversation with Henry) is evident.
For
his part, Day-Lewis nails the intricacies of the role. Taking his memorable
Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New
York to the next stage, Day-Lewis
disappears into the character to deliver one of the best performances of the
decade. Whatever your feelings on the film, it’s hard to deny he’s a
powerhouse. Although the film's perfect from top to bottom, Anderson’s greatest
masterstroke was to get Day-Lewis into th role.
Everything
about the film, from Anderson’s brilliant script to Robert Elswit’s
photography, is spot on. That said, special mention should be made of Johnny
Greenwood’s majestic score. Taking a break from his regular gig as lead
guitarist for Radiohead, Greenwood has perfectly echoed Plainview’s soul with a
score that is both classical in structure and yet refreshingly experimental and
discordant.
There
Will Be Blood is not for
everyone. Although it’s far more accessible than some of the more recent big
studio art films like Darren Aronofsky’s The
Fountain, it will undoubtedly irk conventional moviegoers who are looking for a
light, fun night at the movies. A+
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