Max Raymond

A couple of nights ago I finally got down to watching There Will Be Blood. I bought this film at the very end of last year during the final day fiasco at Woolworths Guildford. I managed to get a lot of money off the DVD because of the desperation to get rid of everything and I bought it, therefore, for 70p. Yes, seventy pence. Even before I had watched it I knew I had scored a bargain. Now that I have seen it, I can safely say that this was the best bargain purchase I have ever made in my life.

So what’s the plot? Well, it follows a thirty year span of the life of Daniel Plainview (played by Daniel Day-Lewis, who won an Oscar in 2008 for his performance) who starts out as a mere oil worker and then ends up as one of the wealthiest tycoons in California in the early twentieth century. It is a sprawling epic that is two and a half hours long and the fact that the first fifteen/twenty minutes of the film is with no dialogue other than the sound of oil machines working and Jonny Greenwood’s mesmerising score (more on that later) tells you how detailed this is.

The film itself to me is all about Day-Lewis as the plain evil Plainview. His character just oozes evil in the way he walks, the way he talks and his actions and words. Day-Lewis portrays him as a purely menacing person and it is incredibly captivating – easily one of the best acting performances I’ve seen for a long time. There is also the talent of Paul Dano, who plays Eli Sunday – a man who believes to have the word of God in him and sets up a church movement in the oil fields and is Plainview’s antagonist. His electric performance further confirms to me that he is a great talent and has many more great roles in him.

Paul Thomas Anderson is the director and he does a marvellous job. The film is beautifully shot and there are many other elements like the cinematography that truly make it the outstanding film it is. There is also the fantastic film score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. I’ve only heard his score on CD before this film but now seeing it played out against the film confirms his monumental talent. Greenwood’s music adds so much to the film and why he was snubbed an Oscar will forever be one of the great modern film mysteries (though he did win a Kermode award deservedly).

In short, you should go and see this film as it is a masterpiece. One word of advice though – make sure you don’t have anything planned in the evening because the film, whilst amazing, drains every ounce of energy in your body.