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

[JG]

Fine then.  I'll write something, although I'm hesitant to because I feel like anything I type is going to come out like a rushed vomitus of praise that might be better suited for the "official compendium".

There Will Be Blood was one of the best films I've seen in years, and not just because it's a P.T. Anderson movie.  I actually made a very concerted effort to block Magnolia, Boogie, and the rest from my memory, to pretend they had never existed for a brief moment because I didn't want my overall love of PTA's filmography to color the opinion of this work too much.  As a stand alone piece, it is phenomenal.  Viewed in light of the other films, it represents a leap in finding a new narrative voice that is strong(er), (more) distinct, and loud as hell.  It will take multiple viewings and some time to truly decide, but right now, I'm going to predict that this is his best work yet, even if Magnolia still ends up being my favorite - who knows.

Pete's spoiler-free review in the child forum is spot on when he talks about how granulated the portrait of Plainview is.  As grandiose as the themes of the movie are - many of which are common for a PTA film, especially that of the 'fractured family', the desolate male figure - it never feels too big in its scope, always returning to the story of this one man, the layers to his character, and how he personifies and interacts with larger issues (e.g., the commodification and perversion of religion, nationality and American identity, the dynamic between father and son, et cetera).  It was the father/son story that I found most powerful during the first viewing.

Paul Dano.  I mean, Paul DANO.  DDL steals the show, for sure, but so much love needs to be thrown this kid's way.  He may look like a fourteen-year-old, but he possesses a maturity and beautiful restraint in his acting - well, aside from the moments when he completely flips the fuck out - that makes him maybe the greatest young actor working today.  Gosling, who?

The movie was paced perfectly, never dragging, and I disagree that the last twenty minutes felt rushed.  Each part played out like a series of mini vignettes that, on their own, had such weight and were completely absorbing in every moment, and even when details were obscured or it was unclear what the next turn would be, they fit together so well.  ("Jigsaw Falling Into Place")  Kinda like listening to "Cuckoo Split/Convergence"?  Which, by the way, I was listening to while trudging up a hill in S.F. this morning.  Sort of weird.  And, yeah, the score really is THAT GOOD.

The last line.  The last scene.   

On a no-go Xixax meetup:

Personally, I was and have been very crazed lately, so was only in touch with xerxes and pete that day.  I thought it was hilarious that they were posting updates straight from The Castro.  Why was no one live blogging?!?  If anyone had decided to meet up, would we have pre-gamed it at pete's apartment?

thats exactly what i wanted to read, thanks lucid. 

seriously, i'm at the point where reading "one of the years best films" is kind of a let down for me. 

lucid, you should just edit out the spoiler so its not even in this thread.  the review is great without it!


edit: added quote sans spoiler

[The Red Vine]

seriously, i'm at the point where reading "one of the years best films" is kind of a let down for me. 

That's an interesting point.

For those who have seen it, would "best movie ever made" be out of line for this film? If not, perhaps I'm also a bit let down.

I'll still be having a nervous breakdown before opening day.

[SiliasRuby]

seriously, i'm at the point where reading "one of the years best films" is kind of a let down for me. 

That's an interesting point.

For those who have seen it, would "best movie ever made" be out of line for this film? If not, perhaps I'm also a bit let down.

I'll still be having a nervous breakdown before opening day.

Having a nerveous breakdown on Christmas could or could not bode well for you.

[cowboykurtis]

The new issue of MEAN MAGAIZINE has a pretty good 4 page interview with Anderson for TWBB

http://www.meanmag.net/home.htm

[ElPandaRoyal]

So... who's gonna transcribe it?

[bluejaytwist]

i will tell you one thing, because i heart you all a ton

after brunch w/paul, him and his assistant were off to do the dvd after we had finished coffee and etc. he told me everything that will be on it. i can't say what will and what won't be there, but i can passively allude to you all to not get your hopes up for a commy track this time or ever again.

isn't it wonderful delivering terrible news! :/

cjw

[Pozer]

ladies and gentlemen, if i say this is one of the finest pictures ever made, you will agree...



my ticket was purchased at ten after two in the afternoon from the castro theater.  some were lined up at this point and had been since the early morn.  forget that noise.  i didnt travel over half our state ONLY to stand in line for theatrics.  my time to wait would come after a walkabout in the city, a trolley ride up and down the streets of saint francisco and a bbq feast washed down by a few pints. 

dessert would of course be blood and so the time came.

but it did happen
happily, i took my spot in line which wrapped around the theater at 6:20 in the pm.  after a bit of ease dropping from silly chatter about, my associate whispered into my ear: "this is what we came here for?"  i chuckled and simply replied, "no."  and with that, the line began to move.  inside the theater, a little bald man fittingly dressed in red, danced his fingers across keys to supply musical background to our talk of such things as how perfect the setting was for this affair.  more silly chatter was all around:  punch-drunk this, sydney that, charles fort hit me with a wiffle ball bat...

and then, suddenly but surely, out came pta pt ander the hard eight director to bring on the blood.  and that he did.  all systems go and all smiles the same right off the bat, though taken aback some by the flawed acoustics.  but this was the minorest of distractions to a film that both breaks you and beats you in the end....

OH HE IS DOING THINGS AND I LIKE THEM.  I COULD NOT HAVE IMAGINED HIS CAMERA WOULD DO SUCH THINGS AND GO SUCH PLACES, BUT IT DID AND I FOLLOWED.  AND I GRINNED AS I DID SO.  HE PAINTS HIS MOVING PICTURES, AND HE DID SO HERE WITH STRONGEST APPLIED PRESSURE TO HIS STROKES WHICH SLASH ACROSS THE SCREEN.  I COULD ONLY IMAGINE HIS PALLET WAS THE UGLIEST OF ONES WHEN HE WAS FINISHED....  THAT MUSIC THAT IS GUIDING HIS THINGS ALONG IS TURNING MY GRIN INTO A SINISTER ONE.  NEVER HAS A SOUNDTRACK CARRIED A TONE OF A PICTURE AS SUPERBLY AS THIS MIX HAS, AND ALL THE WAY THROUGH TO ITS HAUNTING END.....  AND WHAT'S THIS?  WHAT IS HE DOING THERE?  THAT PERFORMER THERE?  DAN YELLED, 'HEY LUIS' AND I LISTENED, ALL THE WHILE PUZZLED THAT THIS CREATURE IS CATERGORIZED AS AN ACTOR.  BECAUSE HE IS ALIVE AS THIS MONSTER THAT LIES BEFORE ME.  AND I BELIEVE HIS EVERY WORD AND DRIP OF SALIVA.  HE NEEDS NOT ASK THE QUESTION, FOR HE DOES OWN THIS......  AND THAT OVER THERE IS LITTLE MISTER DANO WHO IS NOT FAR BEHIND BRINGING HIS EVERYTHING AND ACHEIVING THE SAME AMOUNT.......  AND BY THE END OF ALL THIS, I TRULY WAS BROKEN AND BEATEN BY THESE........ THINGS.

there was blood indeed

ladies and gentlemen, somewhat dialog spoiler here my brothers from other mothers, there is much more to say about all this, but as of now this is the only way i could find to say it.  it is the greatest achievement from both PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON and DANIEL DAY-LEWIS.  there are three scenes in particular that are filled with such luminosity - they are masterful and stand with any scene kubrick has conducted.  i awoke in my sleep that night in deep thought of what i witnessed on the screen in that theater.  that theater which i left in the cold but was warmed by my own rush of blood.  citizen who?

[Pubrick]

pozer, i don't think there will be a better review for some time.

you win this thread.

even tho i think you said more than you realise.. some of those allusions will turn out to be spoilers i'm sure.

tremendous stuff. worth the wait. thank you.

[The Perineum Falcon]

[MacGuffin]

There Will Be Music
''There Will Be Blood'' director Paul Thomas Anderson and composer Jonny Greenwood (a.k.a. Radiohead's guitarist), chat about their unique collaboration on December's historical epic
By Chris Willman; Entertainment Weekly

**READ AT OWN RISK**

At or near the top of most cinephiles' list of the most exciting filmmakers working today is Paul Thomas Anderson. Fill in ''music fans'' and ''bands'' in the above construction, and Radiohead is the no-brainer choice to end that sentence. Now, Anderson and Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood have teamed up. The director of such landmark films as Boogie Nights and Magnolia enlisted one of the main creative forces behind such landmark albums as OK Computer and Kid A to score the highly anticipated There Will Be Blood (opening Dec. 26). There will be strings... often abrasive, dissonant, disturbing, and always very loud strings.

Blood marks a departure for both mavericks, though maybe even a little more so for Anderson, who'd never done a period piece before tackling this tale of a misanthropic oil man (Daniel Day-Lewis) in California at the turn of the last century. Though it's not widely known, Greenwood is no neophyte to orchestration, having done one film score before (for an experimental documentary called Bodysong), in addition to being commissioned by the BBC to compose a piece called ''Popcorn Superhet Receiver,'' which is excerpted in Blood and helped get him this gig.

If you can't wait for the film to hit theaters at Christmas time, a soundtrack CD on Nonesuch will precede the movie. But if you really, really can't wait, EW got the two collaborators on the phone together, trans-Atlantically, to talk about their collaboration.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Setting aside your new collaboration for a moment, could I ask you both to name a personal favorite of each other's previous work? Jonny, I was specifically wondering if there's anything about the way Paul has used music in his previous movies that stuck out for you. And Paul, do you have a favorite piece by Radiohead?

JONNY GREENWOOD: I'm feeling like I'm on Mr. and Mrs. [an English show equivalent to America's The Newlywed Game]... Punch-Drunk Love had such great music in it. I'm a sucker for pump organ. That was really cool.

PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON: What was the last song on Amnesiac, Jonny, was it ''Life in a Glass House''?

GREENWOOD: The Dixieland one!

ANDERSON: The Dixieland one makes me excited and melancholy and really satisfied every time I hear it. I love that song.

GREENWOOD: That's cool. The guys who played it, they're 84... and we were only supposed to have them there for two hours, and we kept them there all day and most of the night. [Laughs] It was touch and go. But that was a really fun day, recording a band like that. Yeah, I love that song, too.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Paul, you have a dedication at the end of this movie to one of your heroes, Robert Altman. But this is one of your least Altmanesque films. A lot of it is one character out in the desert, with long silences suddenly giving way to screeching strings. It reminded me of 2001: A Space Odyssey, where Stanley Kubrick had the silence of space and then suddenly ''The Blue Danube'' or one of the more dissonant pieces he used.

ANDERSON: Well, it's so hard to do anything that doesn't owe some kind of debt to what Stanley Kubrick did with music in movies. Inevitably, you're going to end up doing something that he's probably already done before. It can all seem like we're falling behind whatever he came up with. ''Singin' in the Rain'' in Clockwork Orange — that was the first time I became so aware of music in movies. So no matter how hard you try to do something new, you're always following behind. The whole opening 20 minutes was meant to be silent. I always had a dream about trying to make a movie that had no dialogue in it, that was just music and pictures. I still haven't done it yet, but I tried to get close in the beginning.

GREENWOOD: Sometimes Paul would describe the thing as kind of close to the horror-film genre. And we talked about how The Shining had lots of Penderecki and stuff in it. So yeah. I think it was about not necessarily just making period music, which very traditionally you would do. But because they were traditional orchestral sounds, I suppose that's what we hoped was a little unsettling, even though you know all the sounds you're hearing are coming from very old technology. You can just do things with the classical orchestra that do unsettle you, that are sort of slightly wrong, that have some kind of undercurrent that's slightly sinister. Which is what's happening with this film sometimes. Part of what I picked up on and got excited about is that it's the end of the 19th Century. A lot of [things are] just implied, so it's not a horror film in that sense, because people are sort of being polite, but there's a sense of darkness going on at the same time. I love that kind of stuff, when things are unspoken.

ANDERSON: I guess when you have a title like that, the music better be a little bit scary.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: The score is extremely in-your-face in this film, as in all of Paul's movies. To love his films is really to go along with his musical choices. It's not like anyone could say, ''I loved the movie but hated the music.'' It's really integral — and loud. And it often stretches across different scenes.

GREENWOOD: You're right, when Paul puts the music in a film, it's very upfront. I realize now that I had an easy ride, really, in that it's the first time I've done anything like it, and I thought a film soundtrack would involve having to hit certain points and then duck out for people to say things, and [each cue] would all be over in exactly 63 seconds, or whatever. But instead, it's three minutes of all music [and no dialogue], to the image, quite often. It's mad, really. I was a bit like a kid in a candy store, in that I was just given free reign to write a lot of music with the film or certain scenes vaguely in mind. So I just wrote and wrote. I thought I'd have to be timing things, and the musicians would all have to play to click tracks. But it was the opposite to that. It felt like a really musical thing to be doing, although I'm sure that's not how it normally is for a soundtrack composer.

ANDERSON: To make a film, the final big collaborator that you have is the composer. Jonny was really one of the first people to see the film. And when he came back with a bunch of music, it actually helped show me what his impression of the film was. Which was terrific, because I had no impression. I had no idea what we were doing. And really, you have so many people that you collaborate with along this whole road of making a film, and you get to the end, and you're kind of face to face with two people really at the end: the editor and the composer. It's like the bottom of the Christmas tree. There's just the three of you standing, holding all of these people's work together, trying to make sense out of it. It was funny, because some of the stuff that Jonny came back with initially didn't make any sense to me at all. And he was smart enough to avoid me for a few days, so that I could let it all settle.

GREENWOOD: That's interesting, what Paul's saying about coming in later. It's a weird position to be in. It's only now I'm kind of realizing how weird that was, to be having fresh opinions about something that's already involved so many people.

ANDERSON: Or that you have the ability to ruin everybody else's good work...

GREENWOOD: Really ruin it! No, I think in the end, it's all right. I think we got away with it.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did you ask Jonny to score this film because of his Bodysong score, because of ''Popcorn Superhet Receiver,'' or just from being a Radiohead fan?

ANDERSON: I saw Bodysong at a film festival in Rotterdam on a rainy afternoon. I'd obviously been aware of Jonny's work with Radiohead and tried to follow that as much as I could, and I just fell in love with what he did for that film. It was near while I was about halfway through writing the film, I guess, [that he thought about Greenwood]. Then when I heard ''Popcorn,'' I just loved the sounds of it, and I just couldn't put my finger on what I liked about it. Because I would always hear it when it wasn't on, like a phantom limb, just the strange sounds of it. I had been listening to it over and over again, and then when not listening to it, would feel like I had left the stereo on in the other room or something.

GREENWOOD: That's mad, because that's exactly why I wrote that! That's really weird, that you saw that in it. The whole [conceptual] idea was about when you think there's some music playing, and there isn't. You know, like when you're doing a Hoover or a vacuum cleaner and you think there's a radio playing as well, and you turn it off, but there isn't any music on. That was the starting-off point for that piece, anyway.

ANDERSON: I just saw a report that people are reporting that they feel like their phone is buzzing in their pockets, even though they don't have their phone in their pockets.

GREENWOOD: Fantastic!

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Did the collaboration go smoothly?

ANDERSON: You know, I'm really not that competent at describing things musically. I think Jonny was probably amazingly patient with hearing some really long winded descriptions of things that made no reference to how you could do it musically.

GREENWOOD: It's funny, I found an early e-mail from Paul, and it just says ''I've got complete trust that what you do is going to be great. Don't worry. I believe it's going to be fine.'' I think I was slowly trying to back out, like a few months ago, thinking, I can't do this. I can't go on with this. It was a combination of [Anderson's reassurance] and just general enthusiasm for the whole project that just made me think it was going to be all right. And when that happens, you just always want to do your best for that person. I'm sure it was very sort of psychological mind games going on, to get me so happy. But it was a really happy time.

ANDERSON: By the same token, I just really wanted to do really right by Jonny, too, wanting to try to protect all these pieces that he made, and find the right use for them. There were some times where I was concerned with it a little too much, because there were so many things that were so wonderful, but just couldn't fit in the film. I was probably more despondent about it than he was.

GREENWOOD: It did feel like a lot of early drafts had too much music in them. But just being in a room full of string players, when they start up, whether it's an 80-piece orchestra or string quartet, is the most addictive sound.

ANDERSON: Just speaking for myself, it is such an intimidating set of circumstances to walk in and see 80 string players sitting there. I mean, I spent the better part of the first day, while incredibly excited, just completely terrified and paranoid. I went over to the corner and felt very out of place. But once I warmed up to it, God, it was thrilling. They were all so generous, too, and very inviting, and once you got to that place where you could actually stand down on the floor and feel not like an imposter but like a cheerleader or supporter and could actually ask for something, it felt great.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: Jonny, now that the Radiohead album In Rainbows has gotten out there for people to download and hear, how do you feel the release of the album went? Do you feel like you did the right thing, putting it out that way?

GREENWOOD: Yeah, I'm just glad that everyone's hearing it at the same time — because that was the point, really.

ENTERTAINMENT WEEKLY: With all this talk about the radical distribution model for the new Radiohead album, Paul, I wondered if what they did might have inspired you to think that maybe you should just put your new movie up on the web and let people pay whatever they want for it... I'm joking. I think.

ANDERSON: God, I mean, it's every person's dream, I suppose, to have ownership. Unfortunately, to make a film this size, it would be impossible to finance myself. I'd have to come up with something that I could do on a smaller scale so that I could do that. Because you don't get pride of ownership when you make a film. You get pride of authorship. And you get paid for it — that's the switch-off. But movies aren't far behind [music] in falling apart — I mean, the business itself. One of the films that I have the fondest memory of seeing is Gallipoli, because I knew absolutely nothing about it. My brother said, ''Let's go see this movie.'' And I said, ''What's it about?'' He said, ''I'm not going to tell you.'' And I hadn't seen the poster, I hadn't seen a trailer or anything, and it was such an amazing experience. [Talking about the Radiohead release] just made me think of it. To be able to just kind of get something as close to the bone as possible, without too much intrusion...

GREENWOOD: I'm a great one for reading movie reviews in, like, one second, and you think Oh, that's gonna be worth seeing. I don't know, it's like looking at the end of a book before you read it. It's best avoided, really, so you've got no idea what's coming.

http://www.ew.com/ew/article/0,,20155516_20155530_20158721,00.html

[Pubrick]

that article is not very spoilery. i recommend to start at the end with the last question and work your way up. there's some good stuff in there about kubrick, giving away movies for free, other tings. the second question has a bit of detail about the first 20mins you might want to avoid, but it's minor stuff and the reply they give is spoiler free so you can read the A without the Q.

i havn't heard the score, i don't know how/why ppl would want to hear the score before seeing the movie.

[theyarelegion]

The new issue of MEAN MAGAIZINE has a pretty good 4 page interview with Anderson for TWBB

http://www.meanmag.net/home.htm

I read it in B&N earlier today. Nice interview. Didn't realize he shot some of TWBB on digital..?

By the way, I'm a new poster to the boards. Well, I registered a while back but just posting now as I've decided to stop lurking!

[Pubrick]

By the way, I'm a new poster to the boards. Well, I registered a while back but just posting now as I've decided to stop lurking!

i remember you. you had a great av. do stick around.

one dog goes one way, the other dog goes the other way, and this guy's sayin, "whadda ya want from me?"

[theyarelegion]

Haha, cheers, will do!

[cowboykurtis]

The new issue of MEAN MAGAIZINE has a pretty good 4 page interview with Anderson for TWBB

http://www.meanmag.net/home.htm

Didn't realize he shot some of TWBB on digital..?

I did catch that comment in the interview - i think it was a typo - he answers a question about digital aquisition formats by saying 'we couldn't have shot such bright exteriors if we hadn't used digital' - i believe it was meant to read ' we couldn't have shot such bright exteriors if we used digital'. The published comment doesn't make sense as written in the interview.