Day-Lewis' film keeps promise
Franklin K.R. Cline
Issue date: 2/28/08 Section: TruLife
As its title suggests, "There Will Be Blood" is a foreboding film, one that makes a promise to us right out of the gate, a deceptively simple one that underlies its many complexities - but boy, does it make good on that promise. "There Will Be Blood" solidifies Paul Thomas Anderson's place as one of the great directors of our time, exhibiting a maturity and pacing rarely seen in modern mainstream cinema.
"Blood" is a slow movie that, like its primary subject matter of oil, gurgles under the surface waiting to be struck so that it may gush freely (and violently) from the earth. There isn't even dialogue until a solid 15 minutes in. During that time, we are introduced to most of Anderson's tricks that permeate the film: achingly slow pans that take us down into the earth and back up again, beautiful wide-lens cinematography that gloriously captures the feel of an America still growing in the midst of the post-Industrial Revolution frenzy, scenes so dark that it is sometimes hard to see one's hand in front of one's face while in the theater and perhaps most importantly, Daniel Day-Lewis' incredible, heartbreaking actor's feat as Daniel Plainview, a self-professed oil man and family man. At its heart, this film is a character study of a very flawed man, and rarely can one tell when his actions are born out of a genuine concern for his workers or his son and when they are purely selfish. In fact, by the end of the film, one questions whether or not Plainview himself even knows.
You've probably heard enough about how great Day-Lewis is in this film and how it's reminiscent of his earlier role in "Gangs of New York." Both of these statements are true, but don't feel oversaturated: Day-Lewis is just that good, very deserving of his Oscar for Best Actor. Few actors could carry this film as well as Day-Lewis, considering the scope of the character. After all, it's a movie that clocks in at just less than three hours, and he's in every scene but one. And he really gives it his all, running the gamut of emotion from angry-but-loving father to cold-blooded worker to snarky businessman and winding up - where? - as an unforgiving, unhappy old man with everything and nothing to show for his lifetime of swindling and needling.
"Blood" is a slow movie that, like its primary subject matter of oil, gurgles under the surface waiting to be struck so that it may gush freely (and violently) from the earth. There isn't even dialogue until a solid 15 minutes in. During that time, we are introduced to most of Anderson's tricks that permeate the film: achingly slow pans that take us down into the earth and back up again, beautiful wide-lens cinematography that gloriously captures the feel of an America still growing in the midst of the post-Industrial Revolution frenzy, scenes so dark that it is sometimes hard to see one's hand in front of one's face while in the theater and perhaps most importantly, Daniel Day-Lewis' incredible, heartbreaking actor's feat as Daniel Plainview, a self-professed oil man and family man. At its heart, this film is a character study of a very flawed man, and rarely can one tell when his actions are born out of a genuine concern for his workers or his son and when they are purely selfish. In fact, by the end of the film, one questions whether or not Plainview himself even knows.
You've probably heard enough about how great Day-Lewis is in this film and how it's reminiscent of his earlier role in "Gangs of New York." Both of these statements are true, but don't feel oversaturated: Day-Lewis is just that good, very deserving of his Oscar for Best Actor. Few actors could carry this film as well as Day-Lewis, considering the scope of the character. After all, it's a movie that clocks in at just less than three hours, and he's in every scene but one. And he really gives it his all, running the gamut of emotion from angry-but-loving father to cold-blooded worker to snarky businessman and winding up - where? - as an unforgiving, unhappy old man with everything and nothing to show for his lifetime of swindling and needling.
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