There Will Be Blood

When No Country for Old Men won the Oscar for Best Picture, I was happy for the Coen brothers, who have long been my favorite directors in Hollywood. Now that I've seen Paul Thomas Anderson's turn-of-the-century tale of oil and money however, I'm not sure the Academy made the right choice. The movie starts and ends with Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as Daniel Plainview. I hadn't seen any of his work before, and since he can't cross the street without tripping over an Oscar nomination, I was interested to see just how good he could be in his second winning turn. The movie begins pretty slowly, with no dialogue at all for more than ten minutes, just showing the beginnings of Daniel's drilling business. But the instant he started talking, I was immediately drawn in. It's really incredible how completely transformed he is, from his face to his voice to his mannerisms. If you've seen Day-Lewis in this and in real life, you'll know what I mean. He definitely deserved the awards.

His isn't the only good performance in the movie though. Paul Dano, recognizable as the big brother from Little Miss Sunshine, is also quite good as Eli Sunday, a preacher in the little town where most of the movie takes place. There are some really tremendous scenes between the two, including some sermons in the church and the pretty remarkable ending. I haven't seen any of Anderson's other movies, but his approach is quite interesting. There are lots of fairly long tracking shots, and there are a couple of instances where they allow some mud or oil to get on the lense without getting rid of it. The movie is quite long, and you get the sense he's just letting everything happen instead of making it into a tidy little production. Despite the length, there's not much I can say I would want to have cut. It's pretty enjoyable all the way through, if for nothing else than the great acting on display. It might be a little out there for some people, but I really liked it.