A Scientist at the Movies Reviews by Greg Paris

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Title: There Will Be Blood

Date Viewed: 2/10/08

Details:

Daniel Day-Lewis

Paul Dano

Dillon Freasier

Ciaran Hinds

Screenplay written & directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson

Score: +

The Review: Yes, there will be blood, but not as much as you might expect, and not for a very long time.

A moderately dark period drama situated in the heyday of the West Coast wildcat oil strikes and strike-outs, this film ranges from 1898 through 1927 (probably not coincidentally the publication date of Upton Sinclair's muckraking novel Oil!, to which the film is somewhat vaguely related). It is in part a biography of an intense iconoclastic businessman (Lewis), in part the pseudo-history of an era, all wrapped in a coming-of-age story of a young boy (Freasier) with an unusual father.

Daniel Day-Lewis -- deeply immersed in his character, oilman Daniel Plainview -- is the movie, for all that he is supported by a large cast, including significant antagonism from Paul Dano as a young evangelical preacher. While no paragon of virtue, Plainview is not evil -- he's definitely driven, tightly focused, calculating, stubborn, capable of angry rages, manipulative, and not at all subtle. But not evil. On the surface, he even has some degree of scrupulousness. He projects himself as an ambitious, but open, honest and trustworthy businessman -- and this is not totally disingenuous. He's definitely got grit. Within the first five minutes of the film you have seen him working solo in a deep mine and experience exactly how much grit and determination he's got. This is a well-rounded but very complex character, engaging in both a disturbed and disturbing manner -- as if you're watching someone on a very short lead, waiting for the inevitable time he will break free of his own restraints, crack open and let all his bile to flood out, not unlike the oil gushing from his successful wells.

This plus rating is hard-won. I left the theatre puzzled and dazed, not knowing where my thoughts were going. I cannot say this is an appealing film, nor an appealing protagonist, but the acting is amazing, the story compelling, and the cinematography quite effective. But I will probably never watch it again.

(16-Feb-08)

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