BLOGS

Written by Robin Bell

The films of P.T  Anderson are always unique, even if he's pilfering styles, motifs and even ideas from other directors, the finished film still exceeds all it's parts. Probably the most talented director working in Hollywood right now - and I'm tempted to say he's made his masterpiece, but let's hope there's more to come from him. There is no doubting that There will be Blood is a masterpiece though.

If boogie Nights was P.T Anderson doing Scorsese, Magnolia was him taking from Altman, and Punch Drunk Love still remains undefinable - what is There will Be Blood? You could see it as P.T Anderson's version of a Kubrick film, with his wide angle lenses, long takes, grandiose themes and especially the opening dialogue free twenty minutes. Or maybe you'll see it more as a John ford Western. The setting and scenery would suggest so. It even could, and maybe should, be viewed as a horror film. Daniel Day Lewis makes the perfect villain in his towering terrifying portrayal of Daniel Plainview, and how power and oil possesses him. His stare when the oil strikes and burns is terrifying as is the operatic finale, which is such a shift in tone as to what has gone before but works perfectly.

However you view it, by the end you will be astounded and agree it is a modern masterpiece of cinema.