A gateway drug to Paul Thomas Anderson.
There’s about a million different ways that a change can come about in one. But the most instantaneous one is the acquisition of power. Its effects are so intoxicating and potent, it turns people into ruthless bastards whom you’d think twice about messing with. Power is a potent spice, a whiff of it makes you feel indestructible, but too much numbs the senses. With power comes avarice, followed by envy, then wrath and sloth and then the inevitable demise which starts with lunacy. Basically, a gateway drug to worst of the deadly sins, if that’s the sort of stuff you believe in.
Seeing as it was Paul Thomas Anderson’s birthday yesterday, I decided to finally watch a film of his. Many of his films have been sitting patiently on my watchlist, and I just couldn’t neglect one of those any longer, so with a wild hangover I enjoyed There Will Be Blood (2007). This sprawling masterpiece opens as incredibly as it closes, sustaining its intensity and latent madness all the way through. It’s a tale that recounts the twisted journey a person embarks upon once they find success and power, this particular journey travelled by Daniel Plainview, a charming yet cut throat oilman who can get the job of unearthing oil better than anyone else. The more successful he becomes, the more he begins to fly off the handle, especially when the local preacher begins to get in the way. Near the end it begins to appear like a decent into derangement, and it’s brilliant to behold.
Wide anamorphic shots captured on lightly grainy and washed-out film act as the panoramic window which lets in the entire breath of this vast western setting. Giant landscapes act as playgrounds for Daniel’s ambitions and work. The camera is handled with the same steely resolve as our main character, fixing its glare on something and taking it as it pleases.
I couldn’t seem to write properly there; the exciting anticipation of a university interview was getting quite in the way of clear thoughtless writing. Now, where were we? Cinematography, yes!
His cold gaze is captured with menacing close-ups as his eyes pierce through the screen and deep into the audience. The visual quality of that era is reproduced with such wonderful detail and accuracy that it sure does feel like a true epic. Within this non-fictional setting we see the true nature of greed, power and capital play out in fictional movements in a tale so gripping.
What kept my eyes completely frozen on the screen was Daniel Day-Lewis’ killer performance. He plays Daniel with the calm and cold charm of someone who knows he will get what he wants one way or another and can get away with anything. With the roughness of a gangster and the elegance of a well-spoken businessman, he brings the character to such dizzying life that I felt unnerved yet oddly captivated by this high-functioning psychopath type of man. The last half hour of the film where Daniel becomes a wealthy alcoholic recluse, living in his own mansion, is the part where this performance becomes truly weird and wonderful. In the grips of booze and lunacy he’s jeering and shouting with calculated imprecision. And not to take any attention away from Paul Dano performance in any way because he’s the calm instigator to all of Daniel’s counters and what become near the end, paroxysms. Their rivalry is outstandingly performed and amazing to watch. Underneath their performance is the well-written script which conveys with often simple articulacy, the states and inner thoughts of the characters. In very short simple utterances, our entire perception of a character thus far is either completely overturned or bought into even clearer relief.
For those of you who have played Red Dead Redemption, you may have drawn the connection between the small camp called Plainview as a nod to this film. I went back and walked around in that area and it seems from the startling similarities of the structures, that it surely is a nod to the film.
Anyway it’s a brilliant movie and as my first Paul Thomas Anderson film, I’ll say that just like power, this film is a gateway drug into the rest of his filmography.
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