There Will Be Blood's Milkshake

I didn't review this film for the blog. I didn't, actually, review a lot of films for this blog that I have seen recently. Lack of time and a general lack of interest in writing has prevented me from being more involved. Sorry. Anywho...

To be fair to "There Will Be Blood's" distant cousin, "No Country For Old Men," I will write something on the Coen's masterpiece a little later.

For now, I want to join the multitude of people writing about Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece, and toss in my ten-cent analysis of the movie.

The film is a brawny, souped-up, epic piece of work. It is not the deliberate Jesse James flick that we saw earlier and it is not a perfectly crafted genre bit like No Country. The film defies classification. Twenty years from now, at the rental store, you might find the film alone, resting on its own shelf in its own section, which is ironic, because that's probably just where Paul Thomas Anderson and his star, Daniel Day-Lewis would want it to be. The movie is cold and and angry; it has a streak of madness running through it - a misanthropic, angry, brooding feeling that contrasts so brilliantly and frustratingly with its open landscapes and epic scope that you feel a ball of frustration well-up inside as you watch it.

Movies like this shouldn't be so personal, so introspective, but this one is. It doesn't feature a protagonist and an antagonist. There are no sides for the audience to take and that is an interesting choice because Anderson and Day-Lewis risk alienating everyone. Which, I think, is their point because Danie Plainview is so mad with drive that nothing and nobody will ever truly matter to him, nor will they be close to him. That's Anderson and Day-Lewis being true to their creation and to the audience; so often we are cheated into following a misanthrope through a story, only to have him become lovable. That is not the arch here. Plainview begins as a bastard, descends into murder, and emerges at the end as an almost demonic force who has crushed everyone and everything. Powerful stuff because not once are we asked to feel sorry for him.

Everyone has an opinion about the ending. I think its a perfect ending. Daniel Plainview ends up right where he belongs - insane. He has lost his mind and relies solely on alcohol for any semblance of balance. When a movie charts a character's insanity so closely, how can it not end on a note of madness?

Also, by introducing Eli Sunday, the preacher, as Plainviews nemesis is a masterstroke. What is even more brilliant is that Sunday is Plainviews mirror image. Even more brilliant is that he is played by baby-face Paul Dano. Their battle of wills builds and builds and builds, and their similarities become more apparent. When Eli finally gets his opportunity to avenge his public embarrassment - the scene works as such a conflict of interest for the audience and for its characters. The audience appreciates the comeuppance that Daniel Plainview is getting, but we also think Eli Sunday is a sniveling worm, and yet, he is the one dealing Plainview his just desserts. At the some time, on some other plane entirely, we hope that this baptisim will open Plainview's eyes and perhaps, rid him of his sins. I think it is the film's best sequence and the one where the audience finally has a chance to feel something, one way or the other, and it is cathartic. The astute viewer will notice Plainview saying something, inaudible to the audience, to Eli, and the astute viewer will realize that Eli has signed his own death warrant.

And finally, there IS Daniel Day-Lewis. All I can say is that his performance is monumental and daring. That's all I can say.