Trowback approach to film making of the 30s and 40s

Rating: 10/10 (12 March 2008)

"There Will Be Blood" echos the brilliant work of the master film makers of the past. Directors such as John Ford, Orson Welles, George Steven, David Lean and recent great directors such as Terrence Malick, Stanly Kubrick, Frances Ford Coppola and Robert Altman.
It is refreshing to see a director use the camera in the classical style of film making. So many directors today over use the camera and editing process in todays approach to film making to the point of interfering with the story that they are trying to tell.The mark of a great director is to tell the story without getting in the way of the story and to take a back sit to it.
Every great film should have the effect of not being made or directed. It should seem as if the film has always been there and that you can not in vision it being created. Classic films as "The Godfather", "One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest", "The Grapes of Wrath" and "Citizen Kane" are examples of films that have that magical sense of not being made or that create there own reality. To me "There Will Be Blood" falls into this category of great films. Each one of these films that were mentioned above were all controversial when they were first released due to their extreme originality, and daringness.
I believe that because of the total original way that Paul Thomas Anderson decided to tell his story is one of the reasons that the film is getting such an extreme like and dislike reaction. Any time that a director believes in his vision and is willing to take a chance from the norm of story telling, the reaction is going to be varied and extreme. The fact that "There Will Be Blood" is getting such critical acclaim is no surprise to me. The beauty of the film is it's strange, awkward, fresh sense of originality. The genius of the film to me is it's ambiguousness. This factor is what pushes the film to it's greatness. It is not an easy skill to pull off. To write in such a way as to give multiple meaning to the story you are telling and still retain the essence of the story is equivalent to a master magician thrilling an audience.
I am not going to attempt to add my analysis to what the story means to me. That would be like trying to explain a Jackson Pollack painting. That is the beauty of this film to me, is that it can mean so many different things to so many different people. The film is an act of a complete genius.
"I would not think of quarreling with your interpretation nor offering any other, as I have found it always the best policy to allow the film to speak for itself."
-- Stanley Kubrick
"There Will Be Blood" is in the 10th position of my top ten films of all time.
1. The Godfather/The Godfather part II 2. One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest 3. A Streetcar Named Desire 4. Gone With the Wind 5. Casablanca 6. On the Waterfront 7. Citizen Kane 8. The Grapes of Wrath 9. Wizard of Oz 10. There Will Be Blood