I Drink your MILKSHAKE! I DRINK IT UUUUUP!

Yesterday, I finally got the opportunity to watch one of the most heralded movies of the past year, There Will Be Blood, directed by Paul Thomas Andersen. I expected great things from this film partially because of the Oscar hype, but also because I have a predilection for period pieces like these. The movie tells us of an oil man and his slow, steady descent into madness. It is, in part, based on an excellent Upton Sinclair book, the same author who wrote The Jungle. The aforementioned oil man is played by the very capable Daniel Day-Lewis, who received the Oscar for his portrayal of Daniel Plainfield the oil tycoon.

This movie was very good but I realize that it is not for everyone. This is an "actor's movie" and the plot moves at a snail's pace, mostly to allow the actors to flesh out their characters in exacting detail. In this regard, the movie is successful. The film leaves no stone unturned in the psyche of main characters like Plainfield and Eli Sunday, the so-called false prophet played by Paul Dano. In fact, the juxtaposition of the two malicious men, one who is outwardly devilish and another under the guise of God, is one of the more fascinating parts of the story. As you get to know these characters intimately over the course of 2 hours and 45 minutes, you begin to understand their motives and really what makes them tick.

This brings me to my next point: you need the patience to sit through such a movie for nearly three hours where things move sloooooowly. The beginning, especially, lags at a ponderous pace, but at the end of the first hour I found myself hooked. Someone who can last beyond that initial investment will find a movie that really penetrates you with its well-crafted dialogue and foreboding atmosphere. The last scene, in particular, sent chills down my spine and I believe this is where Daniel Day-Lewis really earned his Oscar.

That said, I must stress that you have to be the type of person who can handle movies that are more about narrative and mood than about nonstop frenetics. My brother, within less than an hour, started playing his Nintendo DS. Like most people, he needs adrenaline-pumped action (his favorite genre is Chinese kung-fu films) amidst a threadbare plot and subpar acting. By no means am I being patronizing, the Rambo and Rocky series are some of my favorite movies despite their lack of a complicated narrative. However, this discussion highlights the need for people to be "ready" for this film before viewing.