Rating: NNN
There Will Be Blood: Two-Disc Collectors Edition (Paramount, 2007) D: Paul Thomas Anderson w/ Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Dano. Rating: NNN DVD package: NNN
Ive seldom seen an extras package work so well to flesh out a movie. Thats because, though There Will Be Blood looks like an epic and comes from a muckraking social issues novel (Upton Sinclairs 1927 Oil), its actually a psychodrama. Were locked into Daniel Plainviews head from beginning to end. The events, landscape and other characters exist only to illuminate his inner world.
Plainview is an oilman who wanders Texas with his young son, buying land and drilling. Along the way, he earns the hatred of a small-time preacher, his son goes deaf in a well explosion, and he gains a brother he didnt know he had. In the end, he gets rich enough to live out the dream thats driven him all these years.
At 158 minutes, a one-character drama like this shouldnt work. That it does is a tribute to director Paul Thomas Andersons composition, pacing and selection of background faces and to Jonny Greenwoods sparse suspense-movie score.
Mostly, though, its because of Daniel Day-Lewiss intense focus and deft line delivery, which keep us hooked on learning more about the enigmatic Plainview.
Disc two provides a 1920s documentary on how the oil industry functions. Its fun, educational and delivers a (sanitized) feel for the social setting that the movie lacks. An extensive selection of period photographs used to research the movie demonstrates the tight connection between fiction and historical fact. Finally, an extensive deleted scene, Fishing, opens a welcome window on Plainviews character.
EXTRAS Disc one: Widescreen. English, French, Spanish audio and subtitles. Disc two: Research photos, two deleted scenes, outtake, The Story Of Petroleum. Widescreen and full-frame, colour, b&w.
