135 of 1001 Movies: There Will Be Blood (2007)

There Will Be Blood seems the best all around rated of Paul Thomas Anderson's movies. I can definitely see why as it dealt with themes that I hadn't saw any movie try to tackle, and that is probably because faith and money ideas don't make for box office blockbusters if you're looking for one. It's probably one of the first movies I've seen absent of any romance, and it more a man's romance with his job, and his struggles when a man of heavy faith enters his life, and he has to be torn between money and the fact he seems a little at unease regarding the man's faith.

Summary: When Daniel stumbles upon oil he takes a few years to harness what he has found into a full blown business. This also brings others hoping to get in on what he has found to, and one of those ways is bringing him onto their own land to dig for oil, so they can sell the land to him to dig on. Paul arrives to offer Daniel the land his family lives on to dig on as long he shares the profits to help him build a church. Daniel carries him and his, HW, to the land, only to find his trust deteriorating in Paul and the fame of oil breaking is own sanity.


Plot: If you're looking for a plot, it's not that this movie really follows one. It runs more as a piece of a guy's life that could extend way before and way after what we see. I like how certain ideas and realities of life are woven in though. There are few particular ideas that seem easy for even a modern day viewer to relate to I think. What is most intriguing is the acting that carries the movie.

Acting: There are a lot of Daniel Day Lewis fans. Probably because he is a very memorable personality, that you associate more with his acting work than with his private life, so it's very easy to imagine him as the people he plays. He gives them a pretty heavy quirk too that people will either dislike or like about the character Daniel. He's very hard to forget, and you will either like or dislike he was overplayed him. There is also Paul Dano who just really is the most understated actor there is that is up and coming. While other younger actors are getting attention for their private lives he is churning out memorable roles. As always, he is intense and embraces his character of Paul/Eli. He makes him somehow unlikable though you would think Daniel would be just as much. Daniel does pull some really awful stunts during the movie that show he is just as human as the preacher. Oddly, these actors played people of the same name.

Cinematography: Paul Thomas Anderson has a distinct style. He doesn't only take in how he shoots the characters, but their surroundings. The landscape always is memorable surrounding them, and the color appears rich. Another thing I like is how the movie moves with the characters. Rarely is there is a still scene. Something is moving in the scene, or the camera is moving toward the person. It keeps me interested.

There Will Be Blood consist of epic themes that most humans will deal with. For this character it just drove him mad. What caught me though was the struggle of faith. I'm still trying to weave together just how intricate that might have been in the story without me fully catching on because Daniel didn't just have trust in the preacher, but he didn't seem to have much trust in anyone. In the end, I think he tries to put trust out there only to have it officially broken.

Rating 9 of 10.