There Will Be Blood - now with child/partner forum we call H.W.

Started by depooter, March 27, 2005, 02:24:56 PM

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Just Withnail

If you do I will see you there! Just booked my tickets now. A little ridiculous to travel from Berlin to London for this, but yeah, fuck it.


wilder

Didn't know where to put this but it's a bunch of thoughts that need to get out of my head.

I've always thought that the publicity campaign for TWBB was astonishing. Here was a movie that most audiences would generally have no interest in, and yet the ad rollout they concocted was basically the product of a mad genius. People were discussing it EVERYWHERE, echoing praises about Daniel Day's "towering performance", calling it a "horror film" (who the fuck would do that on their own accord absent PT's nudging?), describing it as an "epic" (what? I mean I guess but I don't think that would be the go-to word if it weren't thrown out into the wild first), "Not since Citizen Kane..." etc. It was like "What the—? Who—who are you? I know deep down you don't actually give a shit about this.." But it got into people's heads that way. Was being discussed in the same breath as genuinely mainstream studio movies...random moviegoers echoing the talking points from PT's interviews "That SCORE!" and going on about how "the first 20 minutes are completely silent." — also an exaggeration. Isn't it like nine? To this day that whole whirlwind was the single most successful marking trick I can remember. For a movie about a man who enjoys working with his hands but finds himself having to be a salesman by necessity, and becoming insanely successful at it, life imitated art absurdly closely. Too bad lightning didn't strike twice with The Master, but really, how could it? The first time was completely crazy.

Just Withnail

Oh my, I just had a dream. What if...what if they sneak premiere Inherent Vice music at these performances? Maybe even the trailer? WHAT IF??

Cloudy

Speaking of new greenwood:
Couple friends and I gonna be at the NY show (anyone else going??), but I don't think any IV stuff's gonna come out JW, it might sort of overshadow the rest of the film if they do, you know... no one ever knows with PT though...

quigliest

If anyone in London is looking for tickets to Thursdays TWBB live performance with Jonny Greenwood  I'm selling 2x tickets. I bought them in a frenzy of excitement but can't make it over from Ireland for the show.

They're in a very good spot.


MacGuffin

https://storify.com/lcorchestra/there-will-be-blood-live





There Will Be Blood, Jonny Greenwood and the London Contemporary Orchestra, Camden Roundhouse, gig review
By ROB HASTINGS; The Independent


Rife with dirt and oil and dust, the first 15 minutes of There Will Be Blood famously contain no dialogue whatsoever.

But it's still a movie full of sound from the very beginning: the slamming of pickaxes, the bang of explosives, the wails of a baby. Watching this very noisy film being given the silent movie treatment thanks to a live orchestra accompaniment is therefore, if nothing else, a unique experience.

Yet while inspirations can be unique, so can gimmicks. Watching Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece soundtracked by 50 musicians sitting below a big screen erected in the middle of Camden's Roundhouse for its Summer Sessions, with the conductor watching the film on a small monitor while simultaneously directing his musicians, while the score's own composer is sitting in the middle of them all to play an ondes martenot, sounds fantastic.

But then I begin to wonder: what will a live orchestra add without becoming a distraction? Especially when Jonny Greenwood's composition - by turns stark and ominous, loud and intimidating, quiet and mysterious - sounds great anyway when played on a decent cinema soundsystem?

The answer isn't clear immediately as I struggle to focus or relax my attention, unsure whether to watch the talented violinists down below or the great movie up above. If you're a fan of movie - which, with full disclosure, I think is among the very best ever made - then at times it's easy to get so drawn into some scenes that the orchestra are forgotten.

But then the realisation hits back as the conductor's baton catches the eye: Jonny Greenwood is down there! There's no point sitting here if you're not going to watch Jonny and his orchestra! As an alienation effect capable of continually reminding the audience they're watching a piece of fictional drama and stop them getting too involved with the characters, perhaps Bertolt Brecht should have just sat orchestras in front of movie screens more often.

After the opening scenes, however, the mind settles into this unusual cultural experience. The movie and the orchestra are not competing. They are complementing. The mere presence of the musicians adds another level of thrill when the oil rig goes up in flames, as their drums tick and rattle in unsettling beats.

The subtle differences in acoustics lead individual instruments to stand out differently - especially the breaths of high-pitched ghostly murmurs and tinkles - making the whole film seem fresh again. And then there's the sheer quality of the sound.

How could I ever cynically have wondered whether a live orchestra would sound noticeably much different to the soundtrack being played on some speakers? It's magnificent.

Sparse and at times just plain peculiar - but in a brilliantly original way - Greenwood's soundtrack might not fill big commercial concert halls like the works of John Barry, Ennio Morricone or John Williams.

But when it breaks out into ironic grandiosity for the closing credits after Daniel Day Lewis's cry of "I'm finished", the Radiohead guitarist sits staring into space as the crowd applaud and the music goes on around him, his hand on his chin, well entitled to contemplate whether this score is his finest achievement.
"Don't think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it's good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art." - Andy Warhol


Skeleton FilmWorks

03

wow that is nuts. the pictures as much as the video. wonder how much those handbills are gonna go for on the ebays

Just Withnail

I was there and it was pretty fantastic. It was my first viewing of TWBB in a while where I was completely immersed again, and the first big screen viewing since it was released. Like the reviewer above, I was pretty nervous going in, wondering how the hell this was going to work, and I was prepared to concentrate only on the music, but rediscovering the film ended up being the real highlight to me. The live aspect, to me, worked best to forefront and make new the music "in" the film, rather than be a live performance to be watched in itself. I guess I couldn't tear myself from the film, and just rather used the oddness of the orchestra being in the room to rediscover the music as it is in the film. Of course my eyes wandered down to watch the performers (we were at the closest table to the stage), but that was actually the exception. It was a strange and stunning experience.

modage



Yeah, this was amazing. Pretty much once-in-a-lifetime (or maybe a half dozen times since they've performed it a few by now) cinematic experience. Not sure I've seen the movie in 4 years or so either and holy shit, does it hold up. As I said on Twitter, THERE WILL BE BLOOD: Still the best movie since THERE WILL BE BLOOD.

I'll always have a soft 'n sentimental spot for Maggie & Boogie but this is probably his best movie, right? I guess everyone agrees on that now. Thing I never really noticed until you see it with an orchestra waiting silently is how little music is actually in this movie. It's so striking whenever it does appear that it really stands out but there are long passages of dialogue with no score and yet the movie still just flies by.

As for the experience, I was able to settle into the movie pretty quickly and just watch (the aforementioned long stretches of no music in the beginning help with that) and the mix between the dialogue/sfx and live music sounded great. If you hadn't seen the orchestra, I'm not sure you would've been able to tell it wasn't just coming from the soundtrack. There was no 'live' weirdness. PTA was likely there (he was the night before) but prob skulking around the back not wanting to be seen (and I didn't see him). It must be a thrill to see something like this come together though.

The venue is beautiful and I can't think of too many cinematic experiences to top this one.

Maybe in a couple years, Tarantino will get an orchestra to play all the bits of music he lifts from other soundtracks live or something? Can't imagine that he's not jealous of something like this.

A few more pics.
Christopher Nolan's directive was clear to everyone in the cast and crew: Use CGI only as a last resort.

Gittes

Does anyone here recall reading about Austin Lynch having shot a behind the scenes documentary during the production of TWBB? I guess it is unlikely to surface now, unless the film is released as part of the Criterion Collection.

Fuzzy Dunlop

I WAS THERE TOO

Welcome to the first episode of I Was There Too with Matt Gourley. The show where Matt will talk to people who were present in the great scenes of cinema history. Mayor of podcasts Paul F. Tompkins joins Matt to discuss his role as Mr. Prescott in the film There Will Be Blood. Paul tells us how he got to know Paul Thomas Anderson through the Largo comedy scene and about the strange noises Daniel Day-Lewis makes in between takes. Plus, Matt talks about the people who were originally cast in There Will Be Blood in a segment called I Wasn't There Too.

http://iwastheretoo.wolfpop.com/audio/playlists/3962

It's like they made this just for us.

03


polkablues

Quote from: Amnesiac on October 15, 2014, 08:06:33 PM
Does anyone here recall reading about Austin Lynch having shot a behind the scenes documentary during the production of TWBB? I guess it is unlikely to surface now, unless the film is released as part of the Criterion Collection.

Last thing I remember reading about this alluded to Paul having scrapped it because he didn't think the production was particularly interesting.
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