There Will Be Blood film review

Review

Cast & crew

There Will Be Blood

(2007)

Writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's magnificent oil-prospecting saga is — in marked contrast to his contemporary multi-character drama Magnolia — the story of one man, Daniel Plainview. An old-fashioned epic, forged self-consciously in the mould of Citizen Kane and Giant, it begins in 1898 with Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) perilously mining silver from the unyielding rock of Southern California. Four years later he strikes “black gold”, and later, following a tip-off and a sly land grab, he expands his operation to become one of the 20th century's new industrial tycoons. The Oscar-winning Day-Lewis seems to have used the legendary John Huston as the model for his character. While not exactly a villain — he seems to care for his adopted son HW (Dillon Freasier) — he's certainly monstrous, his cold-hearted capitalism standing in opposition to the empire of his nemesis, the local fire-and-brimstone priest Eli Sunday (Paul Dano). Visually resplendent, thematically rich and by turns lyrical, hysterical and baffling, Anderson has made his finest film yet. AC

Contains violence.

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Running time

158min

Country of origin

Genre

Period Drama

Alternate title

Oil!

Original language

English

Screenplay

Paul Thomas Anderson, from the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair

Theatrical distributor

Buena Vista International UK

UK cinema certificate

UK cinema release date

February 2008




awards information


	Award	Category	Name	Nominee/Winner

	Golden Globe 2007	Best Motion Picture Drama	Paul Thomas Anderson	Nominee
	Golden Globe 2007	Best Motion Picture Drama	Daniel Lupi	Nominee
	Golden Globe 2007	Best Motion Picture Drama	Joanne Sellar	Nominee
	Golden Globe 2007	Best Performance by an Actor in a Motion Picture Drama	Daniel Day-Lewis	Winner