Writer-director Anderson delivers year’s best film in ‘Blood’
By Ben Saylor
Insights
Published Jan. 9, 2008

I got a late Christmas present Dec. 28, when I caught a screening of Paul Thomas Anderson’s “There Will Be Blood” in New York City.

The film, which opens in Cleveland this Friday, is, without a doubt, the best film of 2007, and one of the most accomplished films of the last several years. With it, writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson has reaffirmed his status as one of the most gifted filmmakers working today, and actor Daniel Day-Lewis has added to his own legacy with another masterful performance.

Although Anderson (son of Cleveland-area cult personality Ernie “Ghoulardi” Anderson) has yet to make a bad film (his output includes “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia”), “Blood” is a different animal entirely. The first of his films to be based on a novel (“Oil!” by Upton Sinclair), “Blood,” like Anderson’s last movie, “Punch-Drunk Love,” is focused on one person instead of the ensembles featured in “Boogie Nights” and “Magnolia. That person is Daniel Plainview (Day-Lewis), an oil-hungry prospector who explains to another character that he wants to make enough money to get away from other people. Greedy, distant and cold, Plainview travels from town to town with his adopted son H.W. (played by the terrific newcomer Dillon Freasier) persuading residents to sell their land to him so he can drill for oil.

Plainview encounters a challenge in the town of Little Boston, however, in the form of young preacher Eli Sunday (“Little Miss Sunshine”’s Paul Dano). The charismatic-but-creepy Sunday is just as much of a huckster as Plainview, only what he’s touting ain’t bubblin’ crude. The pair butts heads as they compete for the hearts and minds of the residents of oil-rich Little Boston, and their adversarial relationship will have dire consequences at the film’s bizarre conclusion.

Daniel Day-Lewis in "There Will Be Blood"

And that’s about it, really. With “Blood,” Anderson is much more interested in closely following Plainview’s parallel ascent to wealth and descent into madness than he is in developing an elaborate story along the lines of, say, “Boogie Nights” or “Magnolia.” In doing so, he has crafted one of the most fascinating characters seen on film in recent years. Many reviews of the film have characterized Plainview as a complete misanthrope who is so unlikable it’s difficult to get into the film. Don’t believe a word of it. Not only are there far more unpleasant screen characters (Jake La Motta in “Raging Bull” immediately comes to mind), but to call Plainview a devil and leave it at that is to badly pigeonhole a much more complex character.

Watch the way Plainview proudly takes the orphaned H.W. around the country. Yes, the perception that Plainview is a family man does help him in a business sense, but he also genuinely cares for H.W., making his later rejection of the boy when he is deafened in a drilling explosion all the more disheartening. Observe how he dotes on Eli’s younger sister Mary (Sydney McCallister). Also note his taking of a long lost half-brother (played Kevin J. O’Connor) under his wing. All of Anderson’s films to this point have dealt strongly with family issues, and “Blood” is no exception. Plainview’s need for family is obviously corrupted by his baser desires and emotions, but the need is there nonetheless.

I can’t imagine that many actors would be able to pull off a character like Daniel Plainview successfully. If anyone could, however, it’s Day-Lewis, who gives what is easily the year’s best performance in this film. His smooth, deliberate line delivery is very reminiscent of John Huston (who was also successfully aped by Clint Eastwood in 1990’s “White Hunter, Black Heart”), but Day-Lewis’ portrayal is all his own.

As the fire-and-brimstone-spewing Eli, Dano proves himself more than capable of holding his own in his scenes with Day-Lewis, which is no mean feat. Acting-wise, these two dominate the film, although the acting is uniformly excellent.

Rarely has there been a film where all the different elements of filmmaking jell as effectively as they do in “Blood.” Everything just works, from the visual style (lots of brilliantly orchestrated long takes and dark cinematography from Robert Elswit, with production design by Jack Fisk) to the dissonant, appropriately unsettling soundtrack from Jonny Greenwood, a musician largely known for his work with the band Radiohead.

When it comes down to it, I could go on about “There Will Be Blood” forever, but I’ll stop myself here by just imploring you to see it as soon as possible (and not just once).

On the Net:

• There Will Be Blood (official Web site)