There Will Be Oscars – And If Not, Then Straight Incredulous Props

By: Alibastard | in: Movies |

This was a year of resuscitation, pure and simple. Wes Anderson was a caricature with his oceanographic, Jacque Cousteau-does-Tin Tin epic The Life Aquatic, so many of his fans thinking – “alright already with the god damn detail and characters-too-plentiful-to-really- care-about” when he up and released the intimate trio portrait Darjeeling Limited. The Coen Brothers were in an even bigger zeitgeist doghouse. The tepid release of the shallow O Brother Where Art Thou?, flawed great-idea Man Who Wasn’t There, and straight up un-watchable Intolerable Cruelty and The Ladykillers unfurled an almost 7 year run of mediocrity for the otherwise unstoppable indie heroes — finally put to rest with the meditative No Country For Old Men.

And then Tim Burton – Hollywood guru of the absurd. Of Gothic anti-heroes and dark fairy tales. Another one of cinema’s unlikely Einsteins – shooting blanks since almost 1996 (after picking up real kudos for Ed Wood) with Mars Attacks straight through to the unimpressive Corpse Bride. I mean, with Planet of the Apes, Big Fish, Mars Attacks, it felt like this guy was starting to copy himself – and badly. And then he comes out with a bloody masterpiece that’s basically the whole way through a musical and it’s on everybody’s top ten lists – typically somewhere in the top three.

The single giant, colossally important, kick-ass film that perhaps wasn’t a part of this trend of resuscitation was There Will Be Blood. And it topples everyone.

Paul Thomas Anderson (yes, THE Paul Thomas Anderson everyone under 40 is pretty much in total awe of) has produced consistently groundbreaking, heart-felt, invigoratingly magical work since his cinematic premiere of Sydney (or Hard Eight) a la 1996. And he hasn’t stopped.

Now with his latest pioneering effort – an intimate epic of capitalist frontiersman Daniel Plainview, his son H.W. and their attempt to possess control of the independent oil industry of California – catapults Anderson into a new level of cinematic importance.
The film is brilliant. Go see it. Go out and see it right now. You’re on your computer. You’re at home. It’s not playing around you? Fly to New York. You can stay in my apartment. It is not cleanly. But it’ll be the film won’t let you sleep.
It makes No Country for Old Men look like it was penned by precocious 12 year olds. And against it, Sweeny Todd looks like high school theatrics.

First off, There Will Be Blood is almost 3 hours, focuses on primarily three characters – one of which is in nearly every scene – and it actually (despite the title) has almost no action. Okay. That probably doesn’t sound very appealing. And yet that is the best evidence I can give you that the film is so expertly crafted it should be on the AFI’s top 100. That, somehow, it is every bit as enthralling, gut-wrenching, sad, comic and involved as any 90 minute masterpiece DESPITE these details (and, in fact, probably more) tells us we are dealing with one of the greatest film directors of the time.

Another reason is Daniel Day-Lewis.
Donning an impenetrable demeanor, the character of Daniel Plainview is essentially a bad guy. A businessman, a showman, full of pomp, lots of bullshit, and basically unavailable to his son. But somehow, Day-Lewis humanizes every single one of his actions. Pared with Anderson’s sparse depictions of Plainview’s full psychology, one of the audience’s happiest obligations is just waiting to see what the guy will do next – even for 2 and a half hours. And as he engages in sometimes terribly amoral behavior, he ends up still somehow more likeable than Plainview’s only visible adversary – a kind of suspiciously meek preacher played by the mute kid from Little Miss Sunshine (Paul Dano.)

So you have Paul Thomas Anderson – rebel wunderkind writer/director – adapting a novel by political muckraker Upton Sinclair (Oil!, The Jungle), with one of the most recognized character-actors Daniel Day-Lewis, up-and-coming Paul Dano, DP Bob Elswit’s visually cathartic camerawork (a shoe-in for impending Roger Deakins status) and last, but not least, the hypnotic, highly unconventional soundtrack by Radiohead’s Johnny Greenwood.
The temptation with any period piece is to compose for the period, at least in a referential form (think Last of the Mohicans). It becomes a statement to do otherwise (think Marie Antoinette) or just a crass denial of the necessary dilemma (scene’s of Scorcese’s Gangs of New York, Harvey Weinstein threw in more modern music, eager to bolster modern appeal).

Greenwood opts for a curious middle ground and strikes gold. He gives us inspired pieces, full of trilling violin, overlapping percussion – timeless pieces, seizing with elements of antiquity, modernity and the straight up avant-f_cking-gard.
And the centerpiece of ironic pomp and glory (Brahms’ Violin Concerto in D Major) marks the event of the first oil dreg in the town of Little Boston, and gleefully sings us out of the final climax of the story when those two and a half hours complete themselves with a wicked brilliance.
For There Will Be Blood, there will be Oscars. And if not, then just straight up, incredulous props from all.

Trailer:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SYW2ltW5SPo

A list of Critics Listing ‘There Will Be Blood’ as 1st on their Top Tens:

* 1st - David Fear, Time Out New York
* 1st - Craig Outhier, Orange County Register
* 1st - Ella Taylor, LA Weekly
* 1st - Ethar Alter, Giant Magazine
* 1st - Glenn Kenny, Premiere
* 1st - Hank Sartin, Time Out Chicago
* 1st - Jan Stuart, Newsday
* 1st - Keith Phipps, The A.V. Club
* 1st - Lisa Schwarzbaum, Entertainment Weekly
* 1st - Manohla Dargis, The New York Times
* 1st - Marc Savlov, The Austin Chronicle
* 1st - Mark Slutsky, Montreal Mirror[20]
* 1st - Marjorie Baumgarten, The Austin Chronicle
* 1st - Mike Russell, The Oregonian
* 1st - Dan Bennet, “Preview Guide”
* 1st - Nick Schager, Slant Magazine
* 1st - Ray Pride, Salon.com
* 1st - Scott Foundas, LA Weekly
* 1st - Stephen Holden, The New York Times
* 1st - Tod Hill, Staten Island Advance

[Subscribe to this feed]

Posted on January 12, 2008

Comments

4 Responses to “There Will Be Oscars – And If Not, Then Straight Incredulous Props”

DThompson on January 12th, 2008 11:17 pm

There will also be congratulations due for an excellent review.

Charbarred on January 13th, 2008 7:00 am

I second D’s opinion, this is the “There Will Be Blood” of movie reviews. Great job A. Now the big question is how am I going to survive 3 hours of Daniel Day Lewis talking