There Will Be Blood (no kidding)

1/20/08

There Will Be Blood
Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson

Here's another one of those big-deal, high-quality, awards-seeking films that came out in 2007 but have taken a little longer to get released across the country. There Will Be Blood was definitely worth waiting for. The story starts at the end of the 19th century, following the life of a prospector who becomes an oil man, and along with that, the growth of the U.S. oil industry. And what a guy that oil man is. As played by Daniel Day-Lewis, he's a fascinating and scary creature, a combination of civilized man and dangerous animal, who buys oil-drilling rights at indefensibly low prices and proceeds to make lots of money. Along the way, he picks up a son (courtesy of partner killed in a mining accident) and an ongoing battle with a not-particularly-Jesus-like evangelizing preacher, played by Paul Dano. The look of this film is wonderful, from the long, mostly silent, opening sequence through to the bitter and bloody end. (You can't say you weren't warned by the title.) And the sound is great too. The score is by Jonny Greenwood of the band Radiohead, and it's just about perfect, adding to the cinematic experience but not overpowering it.

This is a wonderful movie, with a great central performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. See this film.

Video notes:

Eastern Promises
Directed by David Cronenberg

Here's another one from 2007. This film came out just a few months ago, but is already available for your video viewing pleasure. It's a story about Russian mob activity in London, but it's not the London of Big Ben and Westminster Abbey. It's a London populated by immigrants and home to all sorts of sordid illegal activity. Viggo Mortensen play a slick Russian mobster and Naomi Watts is a midwife (and a first-generation Russian immigrant), trying to find the family of a baby orphaned at birth. The film is well-done, and the acting is excellent, especially Mortensen as a very un-Aragorn-like member of the London underworld. TVOR's one complaint is that the character played by Watts is really dumb. If you found out that people you were dealing with were dangerous gangsters, would you then take the opportunity to throw a hissy fit and give them a piece of your mind? TVOR didn't think so. You probably enjoy being alive and would like to remain so. In spite of this flaw, the film is still worth seeing.

Paul Thomas Anderson hasn't made a huge number of movies (he's still a young guy) but he's made some good ones. Check out Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and Punch-Drunk Love (the only Adam Sandler movie TVOR has ever seen) if you've missed them along the way.