A film of extraordinary power and richness.

Rating: 10/10 (22 November 2011)

There are a few great American films about the self-destructive pathology of power and obsession: The Godfather ( first two parts.), Citizen Kane,The Searchers Rossen'sAll The Kings Men. Like The greatest films of Griffith, Welles, Kubrick, Scorsese, and Malick this film constitutes a stunning breakthrough in film grammar and film technique. By deliberately eschewing dialogue at key moments, Anderson creates an almost unbearable tension. The score is brilliant, the editing comparable to Schonmakers best work for Scorsese, the art direction by Jack Fisk absolutely superb. Daniel Day-Lewis performance is amazingly rich and nuanced, fully equal to his startling work for Scorsese in the under-rated and misunderstood The Age of Innocence and his soul-shattering turn as Bill the Butcher Cutting in Gangs of New York. All of the other performances are good, and Paul Dano is as brilliant in his way as Daniel Day-Lewis. This, in short, is one of those rare and wonderful films which actually merits an "Eleven", up there with The Rules of The Game, The Leopard, Badlands, the first Two Godfathers, Seven Samurai, Eight and a Half, Raging Bull, The Red Shoes, the Searchers, Stagecoach, Shadow of A Doubt, Notorious, Vertigo, Barry Lyndon, The Age of Innocence, The Tree of Life, Tokyo Story,Touch Of Evil, Grand Illusion, The Earrings of Madame De_, Intolerance, The General, Sunrise, Faust, Diary Of A Country Priest, Modern Times, Casablanca, Sullivan's Travels, and perhaps a few others.