PTA homages Malick and redefines the epic genre (again)

Rating: Null/10 (16 February 2008)

Unlike many people are saying, "There Will Be Blood" is not Paul Thomas Anderson's first epic. If "Sydney/Hard Eight" and "Punch-Drunk Love" were minimalist pearls, "Boogie Nights" and "Magnolia" were superb mosaics of epic proportions - PTA himself defined "Magnolia" (by the way, my favourite film ever) 'an epic about common dramas'. "There Will Be Blood", on the other hand, is an epic at the core of the term, but with PTA's unique style in lieu of old-fashioned clichés, powered with a tour-de-force performance by Daniel Day-Lewis (the best of his career and, since we're speaking of DDL, that's quite a feat). His extraordinary story of greed, family bonds, and vengeance (based upon Upton Sinclair's novel "Oil!") could be defined as a bravura meeting between Welles' "Citizen Kane" and Malick's "Days of Heaven", mixed with the grandeur of John Huston ("The Treasure of the Sierra Madre") and George Stevens ("Giant"). Alongside the Coens' "No Country for Old Men", this is the best film of 2007 (it's one of the few times, perhaps the only, when my two favourite films of a certain year are actually the favourites to win the Best Picture Oscar, so I will be glad if either of them gets the top prize next Sunday), a treasure that'll amaze audiences for years to come. Jonny Greenwood's musical score and Lewis' "I'm finished" won't leave your mind so soon. 10/10.