"It's about an oil man..." or I Want Daniel Day Lewis to Be My Dad

This weekend Tyler and I went to see There Will Be Blood which, okay, I'm gonna say it... is the best movie of 2007. Granted, I didn't see a ton of movies in 2007, but I did see Hairspray AND Sweeney Todd, and believe you me, oil is by far a more compelling topic than murderous barbers or zaftig girls who can dance.

Daniel Day Lewis was, as usual, his pitch-perfect self.



In TWBB, Lewis comes complete with his requisite funny 'stache and affected accent. Before entering the theater I told Tyler that the poster really annoyed me because it just screams hey look at me, I'm the most respected character actor in the world, but the shear artificiality of his demeanor melts away pretty quickly.

I'm not sure if this is P.T. Anderson's doing or Lewis', but I found myself rooting from the get-go for this man who may or may not love his son (umm... and how could you NOT?) and who may or may not be a complete and total asshole.

Sure, when placed against his nemesis (a preacher played by Paul Dano, whose face is pretty easy to hate):



it's sort of easy to see who you should be rooting for. However, the guy's got religion behind him and if the last decade has taught us anything it's that you can't hate a priest unless he's touching you inappropriately:



And speaking of P.T. Anderson, I was amazed by how little of him I actually saw in this movie. I guess in the directing world Anderson's young and by proxy has always had a case of the flashy directing tricks, but there were virtually none of them here. He's still all about stealing borrowing motifs from other directors (see: Kubrick, Huston, and Polanski), but the overall effect is one of cohesion... not like in Boogie Nights where you can literally post-it note your way through the movie if you've got a big book o' directors on your lap.



Possibly the most endearing part of the film is the relationship Lewis shares with his son H.W. played by Dillon Freasier, who according to IMDB has no other acting credits. Well good, 'cause he's not yet one of those over-exposed child actors whose face you've more than once thought about punting down a red carpet (sorry Abigail Breslin).



That is if you or I were ever invited to walk down a red carpet, but regardless...

The day after seeing TWBB, I was out to lunch and overheard a frizzed-out, Gap-bag-toting woman in the booth behind me spewing her philosophies about life at unacceptable decibel levels to an all-too-eager lunch-mate at Joy's Noodles. Among her gems were, "...that new play, Eva Perrota. It's about a French singer," and later "...it's about an oil man. We had to walk out half way through it it was so bad."

I was pretty much cool with her existing until she delivered that last line and then I wanted to throw my plate of Crazy Noodles at her head.

Anyway, I guess that's basically to say, There Will Be Blood is super fierce and you shouldn't listen to the opinions of loud crazy ladies who shop at the Gap.