There Will Be Blood

[El Gordo]

This movie was a strange and unsettling experience, and it isn’t for everyone. I'm still trying to work out if it was for me. I’m usually pretty instinctive about these things.

It's not a film to ‘enjoy’ in the usual sense. An arthouse movie -- claustrophobic, dark and extremely intense -- which makes it all the more surprising that it's received such popular acclaim. Not a word is spoken in the first 20 minutes, but it doesn't seem to matter.

There’s no neat story to pursue; instead it’s a slow-motion attritional battle between a collection of huge tentacles – oil, religion, greed, family, capitalism, disability…. You’re never sure who are the good guys. Perhaps there aren’t any. Perhaps that's the message.

I was struck by the similarity in tone with Citizen Kane. A pig-headed guy, beautifully played by Daniel Day-Lewis, who knows what he wants -- wealth and power. But the more of it he gets, the more he realises that wealth isn't the same as happiness. It's an angry film, and watching it made me angry too. It seemed to be able to reach inside and poke a few bruises I never knew existed.

Part of me wants to dismiss it as overlong, pretentious nonsense, but it can't be denied that I keep thinking about it, more than 24 hours after I saw it. It reminded me that the US is no less fascinating a country than Tibet or Japan. Perhaps that’s what it’s about – the germination of modern America. Like many of the bleaker, raw Westerns, you feel astonished to be reminded of what 19th century pioneer spirit must have been like.

You have to see it yourself. Prepare to go places you weren’t expecting to go.

But be warned: there were only about 20 people in the cinema, and 5 left before the end. You may well be one of those 25%.

[glaconman]

As I've spent the last couple of weeks lying on my back coughing up blood I thought I'd treat myself to a matinee showing of this film. The tone seemed to fit-right-in with my own state-of-body-and-mind: uncomfortable and austere.

It struck me as an important film rather than an enjoyable one. It's certainly important for America as a way of understanding it's birth as a nation etc. And it was pretty pure and uncomplicated in terms of how it used the big screen. Which is always to be applauded.

I'd been looking forward to the soundtrack being a big Radiohead fan; but I'm not sure if it always worked. It created abit too much dissonance at times and was overbearing.

I think DDL is one of the few actors I admire; he manages not to be a celeb but puts his back into it and always creates memorable performances.

And, like you say Andy, if you're thinking about a film days later then it's generally a good thing. Unless it's a David Lynch film and then it's usually out of confusion.

[Sweder]

It seems to be a time for unsettling movies.
As with El Gordo I usually have a good idea, even before I see a film, if it's likely to be 'one for me'. I've been proved wrong a few times over the years, and usually in a good way. Ang Lee's Sense and Sensibilities was such an occasion. I was dragged not quite kicking and screaming by Mrs S, to see a Jane Austen period drama featuring Hugh Grant; a no-brainer, NOT for me. Yet I left the cinema filled with wonder, surprised, enchanted and not a little ashamed at my unfounded reticence.

Eastern Promises was another 'no-brainer'.
Viggo Mortenssen and David Cronenberg, collaborators on the excellent History of Violence; Naomi Watts, Eastern European mafia in London . . . I could almost tell you what was likely to happen before the opening titles rolled out. I couldn't have been more open-armed. To cap it all I'd bought a copy in Blu-Ray format, having lucked out and picked up a re-conditioned player at a substantial discount from the Sony centre two weeks ago. All good then.

Except . . . it was an increasingly uncomfortable experience.
I felt the whole time like it was I being watched, not the other way around. Mortenssen's central performance as a chauffeur-come-cleaner - cleaner in the ganster genre sense - is superb; understated, his carefully honed Ukranian accent as thick as his hair gel. I believed this man exists, and that should it be my misfortune to stumble into his path on a dark and stormy night my end would most likely be nigh. But as we're taken slowly, inexorably into the dark belly of the underworld the mood becomes oppressive. Its as if the ubiquitous heavy cigarette smoke permiates the screen to tighten your throat. I found myself shifting uncomfortably in my seat. When the violence arrives, as you know it must, it is not slick, hollywood shoot-em-up or improbably intricate car chases. It's ugly, snarling Saturday-night-on-the-streets thuggery, chilling, visceral, bruised and bloody.

I'm a big fan of Cronenberg. His early work, whilst rudimentary and with the benefit of hindsight risible, always explored, prodded and at times ruptured the boundaries of what was acceptable in cinema. And, to be entirely fair, his films have always contained an uncomfortable element. The Brood, Scanners, The Fly, Crash . . . with Eastern Promises I suppose he's just doing his thing, but I have to say it was a little rich for my blood. Perhaps a re-visit at another time might help.

[El Gordo]

Sorry to hear about your illness, GM. Sounds nasty, but if you can get to a cinema, I guess it's nothing life-threatening.

Agree Sweder, about Sense and Sensibility. I wasn't exactly reluctant to go as I'm quite an Austen fan, but I may not have bothered without the pressure of a family outing. Anyway, I thought it was absolutely wonderful. Hugh Grant is regarded as something of a figure of fun and ridicule, but let's face it, he does turn in reliably enjoyable performances. Yes, he gets typecast, but I'm not sure that I mind. Other great characters of British comic cinema --Terry Thomas, Leslie Phillips, Sid James... all seemed to find their character niche, and it's part of why we feel an affection for them.

Definitely a DVD recommendation, for anyone who's not seen it.