There Will Be Blood

Genre: pioneer drama

With: Daniel Day-Lewis (Daniel Plainview), Paul Dano (Eli and Paul Sunday), Dillon Freasier and Russell Harvard (Daniel's son, H.W., as a child and an adult), Kevin O'Connor (Henry), David Willis (Abel Sunday, the father), Christine Olejniczak (Mother Sunday), James Downey (Al Rose, Daniel’s assistant), Ciaran Hinds (Hamilton Fletcher), Vince Froio (Daniel’s servant), Hans Howes (Bandy), David Warshofsky (H.M. Tilford, from Standard Oil)

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson

Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson (based on Upton Sinclair’s novel ‟Oil!”)

Release: 2007

Studio: Paramount Vantage, Miramax

Rating: R

MBiS score: 8.6/10

 

The Creed of Greed 

 

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Story-line: when he began prospecting circa 1898, Daniel Plainview worked relentlessly, risking his neck (and other men's lives) to hit a motherlode or strike a gusher. A decade or so later, we find him a craftier man still determined to hit pay dirt… and as he listens to Paul Sunday’s description of a property out west that oozes oil like a wet sponge, he can feel it in his bones: there’s wealth out there to be pumped from the ground.      

Pluses: outstanding acting by Daniel Day-Lewis (a soft-spoken but calculating Plainview) and Paul Dano (very convincing as the Sunday brothers), excellent direction, a vigorous and realistic screenplay full of atmosphere and dust, discoloured cinematography that enriches the narrative with its striking recreation of the early 1900s, well-conceived production values (notably costumes), Jonny Greenwood’s nightmarish musical score and an unpredictable ending that you may find tragic, funny... or both.

Minuses: none I can think of.

Comments: ablaze with entrepreneurial spirit, rampant ambition and religious fervour, THERE WILL BE BLOOD is a different, captivating work about oil, dealmaking, family issues and plain greed. Inspired by Upton Sinclair’s brilliant story, Paul Thomas Anderson has fashioned an impressive work for all to see, one more in his fine career as a director.  

 

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