Epic!

Rating: 10/10 (18 September 2008)

Seeing this movie last night, I realized even from the beginning of the film, from the first scenes that this film was made with a craftsmanship that you see once in a couple of years or even decades.The first thing that hits you is the haunting score brilliantly composed by Johnny Greenwood.The next thing you notice is the cinematography: the film is beautifully shot, as you can see it in every scene.It really manages to capture the essence of the story making great use of the shadows for the more dark scenes but also of the beautiful landscapes.The art decoration is also amazing as you can see the attention given to details in recreating that period.The screenplay is just perfect as it doesn't pop out, it isn't the central piece of the film(like in Juno for example) but more it is like a natural part that just fits perfectly into the whole "mecanism".The acting is top notch as the cast mirrors the dark mood of the film.But eventually this film isn't an epic because of its stunning cinematography, perfectly written screenplay, haunting score, or incredible acting.It all comes down to Paul Thomas Anderson's vision of Oil! by Upton Sinclair and to the central piece of his vision: Daniel Day-Lewis's acting.Never have I seen a man, an actor so completely and utterly transformed and so into the story, maybe only a mad man or a possessed person.Even though it may probably sound like a cliché: He is Daniel Plainview.How does he do it?? I keep asking myself, but it in the end lets just leave it as a mystery as he says and just pray to God he's gonna' keep making this kind of roles for as long as he will be able to. Yet, all of this could have not been able without Paul Thomas Anderson's directing who takes each part of the film and puts them together in a perfectly balanced film instead of giving too much attention to only one part.This is way this film is an epic;it's a story about power, greed, anger, hate, maliciousness, and religion.It is beautifully shot, with a powerful screenplay, top notch acting and masterfully directed.And this is way it resembles so much to Citizen Kane and I would go so far as to say that it's the only movie worthy of the comparison and the only one that can match the greatness of Citizen Kane.