There Will Be Blood (2007)
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring Daniel Day Lewis and Paul Dano
158 Minutes
Paul Thomas Anderson’s There Will Be Blood is a two and a half hour Daniel Day Lewis feature film.
Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) is the main character of this film. Basically he’s a greedy man who brings his adopted child all over the place and buys up land that has oil. He’s an “oil man”... and he has his routine when dealing with people, using his son to make him seem more “trustworthy”. He’s a sly, manipulative, cunning and ruthless character. The only thing that he cares about is making money.
One day he’s given some information from a young man that tells him where to find oil. On that plot of land, Daniel Plainview has to deal with the landowners who are quite religious. The son of the property, Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), wants to use the money from Daniel Plainview to build his own church. We are later introduced to Eli Sunday’s evangelical style of preaching.
Later in the story Daniel Plainview has to deal with his reputation. His son gets involved in an accident. He meets an imposter. And towards the end he becomes more and more reclusive.
The movie does have an epic feel but I wouldn’t use this word to describe this movie since “epics” usually inspire the viewer with great figures who do great deeds.
Some might consider this “epic-like” because of the incredible cinematography. We are shown the vast countryside and the sets are all well done. Also, some of these scenes, especially in the wells, must have been a nightmare to shoot for the cinematographer.
Daniel Day Lewis does an incredible job in this film. I don’t usually care much for the Oscars but he deserved that award for his performance in this film. He’s in 98% (my estimate) of the film and he sure worked hard during this film. His accent is bizarre, one that I’ve never heard of from where I’m from, but it is done very convincingly. His lines are delivered with a freakish type of confidence that’s captivating throughout the film.
The choice of music is pretty modern and mostly “strings”. The dissonance and general creepiness of the music adds well to the film.
The story itself is fascinating. There are some pretty gritty scenes that show us what it was like to get oil way back then (dangerous work!). There are some moments when there’s absolute silence during the film... I’m sure this was mesmerizing while watching on the big screen.
One more point about the story is that it takes place over a long period of time (from 1898 to 1927). Whenever there’s a change in time the font that states this is Gothic... I usually associate this type of lettering with the middle-ages, not an early twentieth-century film. Well, I’m sure the director had his reasons.
This movie is dark... but it’s worth watching just for DD Lewis’s performance.
I’d give this film 4 stars of out 5.
For more about this movie please click here.
