There Will Be Blood:PTA Oil Mania

Paul Thomas Anderson There Will Be Blood is his Masterpeice. The film tells the story of Daniel Plainview (played by Daniel Day Lewis in a career defining performance) An Oil Prospector who is facing problems with gaining oil from a land. However Plainview is a psychotic man who will do anything to succeed. He manages to get the land from almost all the people living there but is facing conflict from Eli, A local preacher played by Paul Dano. The film jumps around four times. The beginning in 1898 where we meet Daniel for the first time mining. We don’t know much about him but we are getting to know him. The film jumps again to 1902. Daniel is running an Oil company currently drilling oil in California. This sequence almost acts as an origin story for him. We see who he is and how far he is willing to go. He also adopt the son of a worker who died. From there he makes his adopted son named H.W. his partner to present himself as a family man and sets out to expand. The film jumps to 1911 and where we meet Daniel and H.W. Oil drilling partners. They are approached by Paul. A man who lets them know about a potential Oil drilling location. From there Daniel and H.W. begin drilling the oil but begin facing many problems including Eli, Paul’s twin brother. this is really the main part of the movie. We see Daniel for who he is. His intensity and his conflict. The movie jumps again one last time near the end to 1927 where the finale happens and the final confrontation between Daniel and Eli. The performances in this film are some of the best of the 21st century. Daniel Day Lewis’s performance in the movie is probably my favorite of his and ranks pretty high on my list of favorite performances. Dano’s also great because he purposely overacts since he’s an unstable preacher which is exactly what he needed to do. This is my favorite Paul Thomas Anderson film. Boogie Nights is a close second. It took a lot to replace Boogie Nights since I love the 70’s, The vibrant color of the film and a lot of other stuff but to me, There Will Be Blood was a better film. Paul Thomas Anderson is =one of the most gifted directors working today. His writing and Directing are both pure art. Along with There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights I loved The Master, To me Joaquin Phoenix’s performance in that movie is his best and I liked Hard Eight a lot too. There Will Be Blood is both a masterpiece and pure art that deserves to be remembered as a piece of amazing cinema for years to come.