From it's first barren shots to it's bleak end, Paul Anderson's There will be Blood enthralls you.
I don't think there is much point to hailing Daniel Day-Lewis' performance any more, ( i think most people have grasped the fact that his acting is phenomenal), but that fact remains that this movie is the best film of the year.
Not since the great westerns of old, has a story of those grittier lawless-er days in the Great American Desert been told. However, There will be Blood has one aspect that holds it above not only it's competition for Best Picture but westerns of all time.
That aspect is the theme of Twin, or Deception
With enough ambiguity for schizo-pysch that could give David Fincher a wet dream, this film delves, much like the oil that Daniel reaps from the ground, with that issue without having to be so obvious like our favorites like Fight Club and Memento.
One of the first things supporting this theme is the titular character's name, Daniel Plainview. The biggest double-take moment of the film is when we see that two twins are played by the same character. This is all overarched by the fact that for a while in the film there may be no real oil under the ground where Daniel mines..it may have just been a deception.
The theme of Things are not as they seem becomes paramount when we meet Henry Plainview who "appears" to be Daniel's brother. When we learn that in fact he is an imposter posing as Daniel's brother because "i figr'ed it wouldn't hurt nobody" the resulting fury from Daniel is unsurprising.
This film is incredible on all fronts. I would rave about Jonny Greenwood's epic score if my friend hadn't said in the middle of the film "I don't get it--it seems like somebody is going to get shot all the time". Maybe that's the point, the music is atmospheric and is not just a mere accompaniment as a score typically is (leave it to someone in Radiohead to revolutionize something), or maybe it is just a distraction. Regardless, Greenwood is bound to be remember amongst the ranks of Krzysztof Penderecki and that guy who did the music for The Shining.
So please, for me, see There will be Blood so everyone can stop riding that No Country for Old Men wagon and we can actually talk.
i'm finished.
--Forseti Algheri + H.H. Majoren
