There Will Be Blood
I saw Paul Thomas Anderson's film There Will Be Blood tonight. It was beautifully filmed and superbly acted, most notably by the reliably brilliant Daniel Day Lewis.
His character, Daniel Plainview, a turn of the century oil prospector, and Paul Dano's, a local farmboy become evangelist preacher, serve as a remarkable pair of foils in a uniquely American tale of capitalist greed and uneasy religious fervor.
I'm consistently surprised at Day Lewis's ability to transform himself for each role he plays. The effort and nuance he puts into his craft isn't fully obviously until you see him in real life: a soft-spoken man with long, tousled hair, an aristocratic British accent, and a uniquely stylish sartorial bent. Compare this with characters like Christy Brown, Bill the Butcher and now Daniel Plainview and you see the breadth of ability he has. Is this ability alone, the ability to so transform oneself into a fictional character, physically, tonally, and morally, the mark of a great actor? No, but it is perhaps the most obvious indicator that you are seeing one at work.
Day Lewis's personal story is an interesting one. Prior to 2002's Gangs of New York, he had taken a three-year sabbatical from acting, during which he reportedly returned to an earlier passion for woodworking and eventually apprenticed to an Italian shoemaker. According to rumor, he traded the cobbler acting lessons in return for room and board. As the story goes, the cobbler later became a traveling performer with the Commedia dell'Arte.
A search for "Daniel Day Lewis" on YouTube produces a few clips worth watching.
To me the other star of the film was the musical score, written by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. The music is engaging from the very beginning, adding drama where you might not expect it and lending a somewhat bone-chilling air to the work as a whole.
The movie was, as I said before, well-acted in general, but it's hard not to focus on Day Lewis alone, because he steals the show again and again. The final scene of the film is one that stays with you.
His character, Daniel Plainview, a turn of the century oil prospector, and Paul Dano's, a local farmboy become evangelist preacher, serve as a remarkable pair of foils in a uniquely American tale of capitalist greed and uneasy religious fervor.
I'm consistently surprised at Day Lewis's ability to transform himself for each role he plays. The effort and nuance he puts into his craft isn't fully obviously until you see him in real life: a soft-spoken man with long, tousled hair, an aristocratic British accent, and a uniquely stylish sartorial bent. Compare this with characters like Christy Brown, Bill the Butcher and now Daniel Plainview and you see the breadth of ability he has. Is this ability alone, the ability to so transform oneself into a fictional character, physically, tonally, and morally, the mark of a great actor? No, but it is perhaps the most obvious indicator that you are seeing one at work.
Day Lewis's personal story is an interesting one. Prior to 2002's Gangs of New York, he had taken a three-year sabbatical from acting, during which he reportedly returned to an earlier passion for woodworking and eventually apprenticed to an Italian shoemaker. According to rumor, he traded the cobbler acting lessons in return for room and board. As the story goes, the cobbler later became a traveling performer with the Commedia dell'Arte.
A search for "Daniel Day Lewis" on YouTube produces a few clips worth watching.
To me the other star of the film was the musical score, written by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead. The music is engaging from the very beginning, adding drama where you might not expect it and lending a somewhat bone-chilling air to the work as a whole.
The movie was, as I said before, well-acted in general, but it's hard not to focus on Day Lewis alone, because he steals the show again and again. The final scene of the film is one that stays with you.
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