There are actors for whom scripts should be written and films be made. Opportunities created in which they might act, simply because we are lesser for their absence. Daniel Day Lewis is one such actor and There Will Be Blood one such film.
Probably best known as the film with the milkshake bit, Lewis does spend some time taking bites out of the set, but the performance is intentionally intense rather than in any way hammy. The protagonist, Plainview is a complex character who's extremes are entirely justified. It was clearly a part written with the man in mind and within it he simply excels. He's individually engaging enough that he lifts what could have been a slow, monotonous movie into something rather fine.
And it is somewhat ponderous, it's a good ten minutes before a word is uttered and many shots linger long beyond what might be typical, but even within these you can see the incredible understanding of story and the medium that the writer/director is bringing to bear, as he and his star find something to say in every moment.
It's a beautiful story. It's focus is almost exclusively Plainview himself and his reactions to events, the effects they have upon him and the escalating flaws in his personality. The other characters providing fuel for his eccentricities. The relationships he develops are wonderfully layered, intricate and subtle, most notably his subdued and unspoken rivalry with the minister, Eli Sunday, but also worthy of note, the unusual and complex bond with his son. All slow boiling, but deep, tender and other similes relating to stewed meats.
If I have complaints it's that the music, while excellent throughout, is bombastic enough that it becomes overpowering in the films quieter moments and ceases to be a score to events, rather music in it's own right. Maybe this was intended, but I found it broke immersion. And then there is the ending, the milkshake bit, "I drink your milkshake!". It's not really funny once it has the context of the wider film wrapped amply around it, but both confrontations at in the finale lack the finesse of the rest of the piece. Again though, this may have been the intent as his situation has changed and it's absolutely believable that his path would lead him to this place.
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