There Will Be Blood
Written for the screen & Directed by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis
Won Oscar, BAFTA, Golden Globe for Best Actor.
Won Oscar for Best Cinematography.
Won Oscar for Best Cinematography.
This film primarily discusses themes like megalomania and obsession - similar to films like Citizen Kane, Raging Bull, Wolf of Wall Street, Breaking Bad, Whiplash etc where characters get carried away in the pursuit of something. It feels like this is an American theme. This film is about Daniel Plainview who makes some space for himself in the oil drilling business and slowly becomes a powerful man. Characters in such films are inspiring, in spite of their obsession - these characters have certain qualities to an extreme which is why they become flaws - if we don't have those traits and if we are timid are fearful, then these characters can definitely teach us a lot.
Daniel Day-Lewis's performance should definitely be studied - I observed the way he brings in a certain physicality to his acting. In one scene, where he makes his son drink milk and makes him lie down on the bed - the way he handles the kid, it speaks so much about the character. In a scene, where he beats up Eli, throws him in the mud and puts some mud into his mouth - every tiny action by him, speaks volumes about his character. We can't see an ounce of niceness in his body language, it should be so difficult to forget who you are a person and behave so badly. Joe Pesci does that verbally, the way he speaks conveys a lot about the characters he plays, especially in his performances in Scorsese's films but rarely does he bring his physicality into the role.
The cinematography is important in a film like this, because it is set in a different time period of course, but also because it has very less dialogue - the film doesn't depend on dialogue for its storytelling - I remember a large chunk of portions without any dialogue, it could also be because the kid goes mute and deaf after the blast. I could observe a lot of things through the framing, in the baptism scene, Eli is shown through low angle shots. After that scene, when Daniel reunions with his son, they show a wide long shot - it is objective framing - we don't see anyone's point of view, because the director doesn't want to empathise with anyone. He just wants us to know what happened in that scene. I think, the blocking definitely added a lot for emphasising Daniel's character, we feel the intimidation because it cuts to his close at the right time.
Daniel Day-Lewis's performance should definitely be studied - I observed the way he brings in a certain physicality to his acting. In one scene, where he makes his son drink milk and makes him lie down on the bed - the way he handles the kid, it speaks so much about the character. In a scene, where he beats up Eli, throws him in the mud and puts some mud into his mouth - every tiny action by him, speaks volumes about his character. We can't see an ounce of niceness in his body language, it should be so difficult to forget who you are a person and behave so badly. Joe Pesci does that verbally, the way he speaks conveys a lot about the characters he plays, especially in his performances in Scorsese's films but rarely does he bring his physicality into the role.
The cinematography is important in a film like this, because it is set in a different time period of course, but also because it has very less dialogue - the film doesn't depend on dialogue for its storytelling - I remember a large chunk of portions without any dialogue, it could also be because the kid goes mute and deaf after the blast. I could observe a lot of things through the framing, in the baptism scene, Eli is shown through low angle shots. After that scene, when Daniel reunions with his son, they show a wide long shot - it is objective framing - we don't see anyone's point of view, because the director doesn't want to empathise with anyone. He just wants us to know what happened in that scene. I think, the blocking definitely added a lot for emphasising Daniel's character, we feel the intimidation because it cuts to his close at the right time.
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