To see There Will Be Blood last night. Daniel Day-Lewis is truly extraordinary as the personification of the evil oil man, Daniel Plainview, in Paul Anderson's sprawling, spellbinding movie. a performance for which he totally deserved his Oscar. The first twenty minutes are without words; but they are redundant as the grizzly scene-setting provides its own narrative. While Day-Lewis steals the film, and it often feels like a 2h 40 minute one-man show, there is a fine performance by Paul Dano as the preacher Eli Sunday, whose family is ripped off by Plainview in his quest for oil. This is a truly epic film, in the finest Hollywood tradition, but with the story being inspired by Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil, though the latter's socialist undertones have been replaced by a straightforward portrayal of a ruthless, self-centred oil baron. This is definitely one not to be missed.
Saturday, 1 March 2008
Daniel Day Lewis is extraordinary in There Will Be Blood
To see There Will Be Blood last night. Daniel Day-Lewis is truly extraordinary as the personification of the evil oil man, Daniel Plainview, in Paul Anderson's sprawling, spellbinding movie. a performance for which he totally deserved his Oscar. The first twenty minutes are without words; but they are redundant as the grizzly scene-setting provides its own narrative. While Day-Lewis steals the film, and it often feels like a 2h 40 minute one-man show, there is a fine performance by Paul Dano as the preacher Eli Sunday, whose family is ripped off by Plainview in his quest for oil. This is a truly epic film, in the finest Hollywood tradition, but with the story being inspired by Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel Oil, though the latter's socialist undertones have been replaced by a straightforward portrayal of a ruthless, self-centred oil baron. This is definitely one not to be missed.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
1 comment:
I agree that Day-Lewis is fantastic throughout, as is the cinematography with its emphasis on the harsh arid landscape rich in oil, but I felt the ending was rather weak - not to mention quite unexpected, even though the constant plot twists and unpredictable events unfolding keep you focussed all the way through.
Post a Comment