There Will Be Blood
Paramount
R 158 min



Well gang it’s that time of year; time for the gay Superbowl, in other words the Oscars.
I gotta admit I look forward to them more than the real one. Hmmmmmm. You suppose that means something?
Oh well just wait til the Browns get there.
Oddly enough there are two surrealist westerns up for best picture this year. We’ve talked about NO COUNTRY FOR OLD MEN the Coen Brothers latest masterpiece and now another heavyweight director Paul Thomas Anderson (Ghoulardi’s son for you youngsters) adaptation of the 1927 Upton Sinclair novel Oil entitled THERE WIL BE BLOOD.
The former is modern day while BLOOD is set around the early oil rush of the 1900s.
Both are disturbingly violent and neither wraps up happily ever after.
As a matter of fact both are so grim as to make Eastwood’s THE UNFORGIVEN seem like a Roy Rogers episode.
BLOOD is an allegory, which pits flawed good in Eli Sunday (Paul Dano) against flawed evil, Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day Lewis) set in the rugged backdrop of turn of the century California.
Plainview is a man who will gladly cheat steal and lie to get what he wants in the world.
There’s very little difference between him and the deceptively meek Sunday but the two are locked in what seems like an age-old battle; that is if you’re buying into the religious hook. Plainview has “adopted” the son of one of his men (son of man?) when that worker is killed on the job. The boy, H.W., becomes a partner in an operation to obtain an oil rich ranch owned by the Sunday’s father. Eli is the scheming pastor of the Church Of The Third Revelation and expects half the purchase price as a donation. Plainview cheats him and H.W. is struck deaf by a well explosion.
There will be no salvation for either man but there will be, as the title suggests; well, you get it.
This is a rich and twisted story that sits between fable and reality, expertly directed and brilliantly acted.
My money’s on Lewis for best actor already.
Modern day Greek tragedy or passion play, who knows, but it’s certainly worthy of the nomination.

A-
WSS

westsidesteve@aol.com

This movie has intrigued me the most since The Departed.

For some reason I thought this was set in Texas. Nevertheless, D-Day deserved his Oscar for playing what today seems to be a non-stereotypical greedy oilman. Non-stereotypical in the sense that, given oil prices and oil profits reaching current all time all industry highs "greedy" is a true adjective, not a false adjective. You wonder how anyone can have the mentality of Lewis' character, yet, apparently, those types are out there in full force even today. The wealth, the product itself is all that matters to this character, not the family, friends etc. with which to share it.
the Gipper

quote:

The wealth, the product itself is all that matters to this character, not the family, friends etc. with which to share it.

I think it's way more religious allegory than anything else.
Oil?
Tea salt spices buffalo gold cotton land water women....
We've fought over all of 'em.

WSS

Indeed. Simply a story of how ones soul is consumed by the lust for greed.


Movie was too slow and about 40 minutes long.

Great performance by Lewis, but I still think Tommy Lee Jones did a better job.

Loved the movie, Lewis amazes me with his ability to sink into a role and become that person. He was also great in "My Left Foot" hopefully he doesn't retire again.

awesome movie!!!