Movie Review TWBB

This past weekend as I was scrolling through my vast database of movies trying to figure out what i would like to watch, i remembered having promised myself to find the time and patience to watch some of the drama (read serious) movies which i had so as to strike them off my list. After pondering for a long time i was stuck in between Sweeney Todd and There Will Be Blood. After a quick calculation i decided to go with TWBB as i wasn't in the mood to see Johhnny Depp singing and slashing people (i am assuming that is what happens).



As i was copying the movie onto my pen drive to watch on the telly (yea my dvd player has a usb port and plays divx files) i tried recalling what i had read about the movie. I remembered only reading about the oscar nominations and wins, i remember the words crazed, dark, haunting. I kept telling myself, you have to watch this in 1 go or else you know you won't ever finish it.

The first thing you notice once the movie begins is the silence. There is no conversation in the first 10 minutes. The background score is dark and haunting. It totally suits the gruesome nature of the movie. In the first 10 minutes which has no speech we learn about the beginning of Daniel Plainview who is masterfully, brilliantly, awesomely (you get the picture) played by Daniel Day Lewis. Fully deserving his Oscar win for best actor, he carries the movie through and through. The direction of Paul Thomas Anderson is superb as he uses not only DDL but the surroundings with such ease that it immerses you and you can't help but hate DDL. He is driven by greed and hatred in his quest to make money in the oil business. The movie spans the early 1900's when oil was discovered in california and oil prospectors like Daniel Plainview who have prior experience prey on unsuspecting locals to screw them out of their land and money.

Paul Dano, who i remember from two movies "Little Miss Sunshine" the silent kid and "Girl Next Door" the star of the Sex-Ed movie, gives an excellent and restrained performance showing that he has come a long way. The kid playing DDL's son is also good as he plays a troubled child who loses his hearing in an accident near the oil drill.

DDL in the end though is the shining star. There are sequences in the movie which scream madness and he brings you to believe in that madness. He is well known for his eccentric behaviour while fiming. He stays in characted during the whole time the film is being shot. While filming "My Left Foot" which won him his first oscar, he was in character the whole time. His character was that of a wheelchair ridden paraplegic, so you can imagine what a pain it would have been for the crew to wheel/carry him all over. Heck, he broke 2 ribs because he was hunched over in the wheel chair all the time for a good 2 months. But if this craziness can get such a performance, it might just be worth it.

He has become one of those guys who does one movie at a time with enough gaps in between that leave you longing for more each time. Also he gives all his performances all he's got and frankly, it has become something like if he's in a movie he's likely to be nominated for an oscar and a likely contender to win as well. He's scared the bejesus outta me in gangs of new york! What a butcher!! He does something similar in TWBB as well.

Johhnny Depp also shares a similar fate when it comes to being nominated, but sadly he has never won. It is my hope that soon he gets that coveted prize. But until that time i say to yall watch "There will be blood", its long, its hard hitting and may leave you with a sour taste in your mouth but its an experience which is worth having.

Cheers