There Will Be Blood

Pros:

Daniel Day-Lewis’ monumental, riveting, and unforgettable performance as Daniel Plainview, a man who transforms himself from a down-and-out silver miner raising a son on his own into a self-made oil tycoon. This is acting that feels totally lived in, and you realize with almost absolute surety as you’re watching that Day-Lewis must have taken this character home with him. If Forest Whitaker collected the most Best Actor awards for 2006 . . . for 2007 Day-Lewis will do the same. (Worth noting: director Anderson said the film probably would not have been made had he declined the role.)

Jack Fisk’s impressive production design brings the visual aspects of this epic story into handsome, heightened reality as filmed magisterially by veteran cinematographer Robert Elswit. Of course, with these two men aboard, you might want to say, “How could it not have looked absolutely great?”

Supporting players Paul Dano (Eli Sunday) and Dillon Freasier (H.W.) both hold their own opposite Day-Lewis (no easy feat!) as Plainview’s chief nemesis (Dano) and young son (Freasier). This is even more remarkable seeing that Dano stepped into the larger role of Eli at the last moment, and for the fact that Freasier, a ten-year-old Texan, had no previous film experience.

An impressive, pulsating, primitivist/modernist score by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood must be appreciated.

With this film, Paul Thomas Anderson, screenwriter and director of There Will Be Blood, joins the elite company of great filmmakers. His previous excellent work--in Boogie Nights, Magnolia, and the underrated Punch Drunk Love--hardly make this a surprise, but with Blood—a breakthrough work for him, you sense that he has clearly ventured onto a higher plane.

Cons:

Running time of two hours and thirty-eight minutes feels a bit long.

The great Ciarán Hinds is wasted in an unimportant role.

May be more grueling than enthralling for some folks.

Not even one female role of any note.

Overall:

Don’t miss it. One of the year’s best films.

                                                              Jim Baldassare