I have a feeling that I’m supposed to like There Will Be Blood, but I can’t say that I do. I can say, however, that I respect it. Released in 2007, it’s not exactly an enjoyable or entertaining movie, but it’s got a certain watchability that is uniquely its own.
Directed and written by Paul Thomas Anderson and based on Upton Sinclair’s novel Oil!, the film stars Daniel Day-Lewis as “Daniel Plainview,” a miner who strikes oil and turns it into business gold, embarking on a campaign to let small-town landowners to let him drill their land. His scheme is largely successful – until he reaches Little Boston, where he comes into conflict with “Eli Sunday” (Paul Dano), a preacher to whose will he must bend if he wants the town’s oil.
It all sounds a bit dry and dull, but Anderson knows what he’s doing and keeps the movie constantly engaging, if only because it’s so intensely unpleasant. Everything about it, from the visuals to the buzzing soundtrack, is an assault on the senses, which is about as dreadful as it sounds but somehow never becomes overwhelming.
Of course, it may just be Day-Lewis’ skill as an actor that keeps the film from becoming unwatchable. His Plainview is a strange and imposing presence, at once frighteningly cold and brutally emotional. He has a peculiar but ideal match in Dano, whose gangly softness belie a disconcerting sharpness.
There Will Be Blood isn’t any fun at all, but it isn’t supposed to be. It’s an incredibly tough movie to get through, but I dare say it’s worth it.
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