There Will Be Blood

Once again the Alamo Drafthouse DHCP server suffered under the strain of 200+ movie fans trying desperately to blog and read about the movies they've seen during a fantastic week of Fantastic Fest. With the festival behind me, I can try to get back to the usual routines of work and home. Don't expect many film reviews in the next few weeks. ;-)

Last night's closing night feature was There Will Be Blood from director Paul Thomas Anderson, in its first public screening. As historical fiction based on an Upton Sinclair novel about the early 1900s American oil industry, this isn't exactly on-genre for the festival. Tim League in his introduction simply called it a "fantastic film". Still, it seemed to play well with the audience. After the movie during the brief Q&A, the director referred to it as part horror, with a vision of Dracula in the lead character. Maybe.

This is an art film in many senses. It's releasing at the end of December to be in prime share for Oscar nominations. It doesn't have a single word of dialog for the first 10 minutes of the film, and then 90% of the dialog is from the main character. Anyone who goes to it based on the title will be disappointed, and half the people who perhaps would go based on the story will be confused by the title.

All of this said, I thought parts of the movie were very slow. There were too many scenes with little to no sound at all, and with the on-screen action moving at a snail's pace. I think judicious cutting of 10-15 minutes would improve the flow, especially during the first half of the film. Leave all the scenes intact - just shorten them.

I watch this kind of film on PBS when I'm balancing the checkbook. I don't go see it in the theater. If you like this genre, go and enjoy the film.

There Will Be Blood
2007, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson