There Will Be Mixed Feelings

I do not think There Will Be Blood is one of the best films of the year, but I do not think it is a bad film.  I would have to give the film a B, nothing more, and yet... that feels inadequate.  It creates a mood in us that rises above grades and imperfections, but rising above imperfection and having none are two separate things.

Of some things, however, I am sure:  Daniel Day-Lewis is extraordinary as Daniel Plainview, and Paul Thomas Andersen is a great director who, here, has not made his best film.   Day-Lewis, who gets better with age, may have never been any better, but TWBB pales in comparison to the high-energy epic that is Boogie Nights, and nothing in this film matches even the lowest moments in Andersen's Magnolia.  It, perhaps, is as good, but not better, than Punch-Drunk Love.

What did I not like about the film?  Well, the first thing I noticed is that the film was overwhelmingly ugly.  Set in the sun-drenched, rocky deserts of southern California, this is appropriate-- that is gruesomely ugly country. Yet, No Country for Old Men was shot in the same areas, and that film is beautiful.  Who's to say?  

The second thing I noticed was that the first half of the film drags on and on, and the second half moves far too quickly.  Pacing is an issue throughout.  With a running time reaching almost three hours, things shouldn't ever feel tedious, and the first half does.  However, things should never feel rushed, and the second half of the film, which condenses several decades into about an hour, does.  Tightening and rearranging in the editing room could create a better product. 

And is Paul Dano a good actor?  Maybe...I have no idea.  I've seen him in this, and in Little Miss Sunshine and I can't tell.  What I can deduce from these films is that he must be a very hungry boy, because on screen all he seems to do is chew the scenery.  Day-Lewis matches him in scenes, but he adds a level of pathos and insanity to the proceedings that make it alright--Dano doesn't.  There's a scene in a church in TWBB where, in all honesty, I'm surprised any set was left after these actors were through.  

So, no, There Will Be Blood is not perfect.  During the film, I felt little desire to see it again-- yet, there's something else there.  The Howard Hughes ending stuns.  Earlier scenes and images linger in your mind long after the credits roll.  There's something attached to the film I can't quite put my finger on.  A feeling of loss?  The dawning of the realization that the American dream has never really existed, only been skillfully marketed?  That a country founded on and ruled by greed and God will eventually end in bloody chaos?

That Andersen has made a 'message movie' of surprising subtlety disguised as a Kane-esque character study is undeniable.  The film is a worthy achievement, ambitious as hell.  But it is in story alone that the film resembles Citizen Kane, one of the greatest of American films.  In finished product, however, There Will Be Blood most resembles another Welles' film, The Magnificent Ambersons.  Here are two directors reaching for greatness, and seeing it narrowly slip through their fingers.  But reaching itself is a rewarding experience.

*Next Saturday I'm going to re-screen all five of the Best Picture nominees (TWBB, NCFOM, Atonement, Juno, and Michael Clayton).  It's very possible my opinions on TWBB could become clearer.  I'll post some new thoughts on it and the other films, and who I see as most likely to win Oscars, then.  As of now, however, none of my previously published predictions have changed.