There Will Be Blood

So it turns out There Will Be Blood is not a cautionary tale for girls about to enter puberty but rather an excellent treaty on the corrupt ideologies that America is born on.



Seriously, There Will Be Blood is a remarkable film. It's one of those mesmerising epics in the ilk of Kubrick's Barry Lyndon that just takes an age to do anything and revels in the space that the movie format allows it. It has the feel of the works of Terence Malick and many films of the 70s. The scope of the film is as expansive as the landscape that the events inhabit, scenes last for as long as they seem to wish and they don't always seem to serve a purpose. Of course this means that like the films that have so obviously influenced There Will Be Blood it will bore as many, if not more, as it will enthrall. It's moviemaking at its most laconic allowing you to inhabit some form of dreamscape while watching, only for it to snap you back to reality with a sudden burst of brutal violence. On other words its very similar to No Country For Old Men in many respects.

I don't want to spend the review comparing and contrasting the two films that have been jostling for best picture at pretty much every awards. For me both are excellent and are both worthy winners. At this time I have only seen both once so it would be unfair to pick one as better than the other, but already the Internet is awash with those willing to place themselves into one camp or the other. Many fans of There Will Be Blood are upset at No Country's Oscar triumph. It may well be they are correct to be aggrieved as just a few weeks after declaring that it would take an incredible film to better that this year here comes one that may have done just that.

Then of course there's what may be There Will Be Blood's trump card, Daniel Day-Lewis.

Let's not fumble about here, this is his show. Paul Thomas Anderson can do what he likes with the camera but at the end of the day it will always find its way back to Day-Lewis' Daniel Plainview. His performance is breathtaking and all of those awards are justified. Mind you that's not to say there aren't other brilliant performances present. Dillon Freasier as Daniel's son H.W. is brilliant in what turns out to be a mainly silent performance. For this to be his first acting gig, according to IMDB (I know, I know), is nothing short of astounding. And Paul Dano (Dwayne in Little Miss Sunshine) is great as the preacher Eli, a man as consumed by his faith as Plainview is, it's just that one's is for God, the other for money. Dano's performance has come under fire in some quarters, mainly as people found him whiny, annoying and seriously out of his depth. Thing is Eli is meant to be whiny, annoying and seriously out of his depth while dealing with a man like Plainview, so it works perfectly. Whether the actor meant it is of no concern.

And then their's that ending. If No Country's ending baffled thanks to a lack of closure, There Will Be Bloods may confuse entirely because of how jarring it is. Without ruining anything it flies in the face of the rest of the movie as the tone suddenly shifts and things become incredibly over the top and humourous. After such a long film that has mainly reveled on subtlety and moodiness it is a jolt to the system for sure. But it is merited. Instead of being a sudden bolt from the blue the film builds to it slowly but surely, and like the oil ready to burst up through the Earth's surface the pressure finally results in an outpour, in this case of ACTIIIIIIIING! and violence. It is an extraordinary scene, but one that's ripe for parody. If it hasn't happened already expect to see someone at an awards ceremony or one of those awful spoof films, let's call this one Slow Mesmeric Modern Western Movie, doing something similar to it.

There Will be Blood is one of those films that will either enthrall or bore you. Like the films and directors that have influenced Anderson the term "acquired taste" is incredibly apt (there were a number of walkouts when I saw it, especially in the mainly silent first half hour). It's a film that deserves to be seen, especially for Day-Lewis' performance, but for some it will certainly be an endurance test. For me it's a wonderful movie, but what I love about it may well be the same things cited by someone who didn't like it as their reasons for holding that position. It's that kind of movie really.