beautiful ugly

Rating: 7/10 (18 January 2016)

Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) is a driven hard-scrabbled miner and prospector. In 1902, he discovers oil in California. A worker dies in an accident and he adopts the man's baby. He promotes himself as a family man with his son H.W. and a sincere oilman. Paul Sunday (Paul Dano) sells him information about oil on his family's farm. Paul's twin Eli doesn't trust him and is driven for his church. Daniel acquires the rights from everybody except hold-out William Bandy. As the oil flows, Daniel and Eli become bitter rivals and blood starts to run.
This is a slow-moving epic driven by a relentlessly intense performance by Daniel Day-Lewis. This movie is infused with his sense of menace and a self-assured intensity. Paul Dano has his weird creepiness. Paul Thomas Anderson creates a completely immersive world filled with hard characters. It is absolutely beautiful and stark with its offkey scores. There are scenes of perfect beautiful ugliness. The movie explodes in intensity from time to time but mostly it has a tone of menace and stress. I like it but I would like it more if it moves faster. This has the look of greatness, and the sense of greatness. It is close to greatness but I wish I like more.