There Will Be Blood

Critics often throw around the expression "tour de force" when discussing performances. I've used it myself several times in my film reviews. I am now, however, feeling somewhat regretful for having done so. I should have saved those words for this review because, up until now, no one has quite deserved them like Daniel Day-Lewis.

I saw There Will Be Blood this past Sunday and Daniel Day-Lewis' performance as Daniel Plainview is still haunting me. If the shocking and untimely death of Heath Ledger had not occurred in the meantime, perhaps I'd be even more haunted, but that tragedy has overshadowed quite a lot. Interestingly enough, when I think about Daniel Day-Lewis as an actor, I am very much reminded of Heath Ledger. Like Daniel, Heath was a brave actor who not only took on controversial roles but audacious ones as well. He mentioned to reporters how distraught he'd become after completing his work as The Joker in The Dark Knight. The Joker is extremely dark, twisted, and morally corrupt, and when an actor completely immerses himself in a role like that there are definite consequences. Daniel Plainview is a character not unlike The Joker and I have to wonder how Daniel Day-Lewis was able to pull off that performance so honestly and convincingly and walk away unscathed. While it moves and inspires me, it also terrifies the hell out of me.

I take comfort in the fact that Daniel Day-Lewis has been doing this for a long time. Although he has only recently begun tackling more villainous roles, he's been acting for over 35 years and has found ways to leave his characters behind even when he doesn't want to leave them behind. Having seen There Will Be Blood, I understand now why this particular character was the most difficult for him to walk away from. In order to create such a mammoth performance, he really had to shed every ounce of his true self and become this other man in mind, body, and spirit. I mean, the film is almost three hours long and Daniel Day-Lewis appears in nearly every scene. Daniel Plainview pretty much is this film, in fact, he may be bigger than it. There were definitely moments when I felt as though the frames of the screen could not contain him.

Now I have to attribute much of the success of this character to the way it was written, developed, and executed by Paul Thomas Anderson as the writer and director of the film. While There Will Be Blood is loosely based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel, Oil!, there is no doubt that the character of Daniel Plainview is a brainchild conceived by PTA and brought into fruition by Daniel Day-Lewis. This was a true actor-director collaboration and the result is a pure cinematic marvel. I feel like it's impossible for DDL to win an Oscar without PTA winning one as well. Look at Adrien Brody and Roman Polanski? The Pianist was a lot like There Will Be Blood in that one actor was required to carry the picture on his shoulders and the only way he was able to do it was because he had his director helping him pave the way. It's difficult for me not to root for the Coens in the Best Director category. However, to reward Daniel Day-Lewis for his work and not do the same for Paul Thomas Anderson just doesn't seem right. I'm sure Daniel would tell you the same.

Despite my ramblings about Daniel Day-Lewis' performance, there are many, many more aspects of There Will Be Blood worth checking out. First and foremost, Jonny Greenwood's score. Discordant, tense, and chaotic, Greenwood's string-heavy opus captures the mood of the film perfectly. With the exception of Bernard Herrmann's scores for Hitchcock's Vertigo and Psycho, I don't think I've ever encountered music that externalizes the emotion and psychology of a film in such a profound way. If Daniel Plainview doesn't scare the hell out of you, then the music certainly will.

And then we have Robert Elswit's cinematography. There is a scene in the film when one of the oil rigs catches fire, and the screen is blanketed in these rich, saturated oranges and blues. Beyond the rig are vast, empty fields that slowly become enveloped in a kind of monstrous black smoke. It's absolutely breathtaking, but what's more amazing is how Elswit manages to turn something so terrifying into something so beautiful.

Clearly I could go on and on about There Will Be Blood for hours, and left to my own devices I probably would. I think it's just one of these films that I love more with every day that passes and thus I want to talk about it with whomever will listen. I thank Paul Thomas Anderson and Daniel Day-Lewis for this labor of love they have given the world, and for whatever sacrifices they made to bring the film to life. It may not mean a lot to most people, but for me, it means everything.

Atonement

Every year there is that one film that gets so much Oscar buzz I can't help but reject it before I even see it. I call it the "too good to be any good" movie of the year. Most of the time, I'm right and the film just doesn't deserve the amount of praise it gets. But every so often, the "too good to be any good" movie of choice is actually really fucking good and I end up eating my words.

When I first started seeing ads for Atonement and learned it was another costume drama collaboration between director Joe Wright and actress Keira Knightley, I didn't get too excited right away. Sure, I loved Pride and Prejudice. However, I don't usually enjoy period pictures because they tend to have this kind of 'tough times with a candy center' thing about them that I really can't relate to. In other words, life is difficult for the characters for awhile but by the end, everything turns out peachy. While some may enjoy these romantic, Austenesque worlds, I prefer the cynical and gritty realism you're more likely to find in a Dennis Lehane or Jay McInerney novel.

That's exactly why Atonement threw me for such a loop. Here is a film that suggests it's going to keep you comfortable and safe within the confines of a wealthy 1930s English countryside estate, but it only takes a few minutes to realize that the backdrop is completely irrelevant. I mean, it might as well have been 21st century Las Vegas. People are selfish, foulmouthed, lustful, and unforgiving, and by the end it's nearly impossible to find a silver lining in the whole, sordid mess. And that's what is so great about the film. It was refreshing to see the way Atonement totally flipped the period picture on its head.

So maybe I'm not doing such a great job of selling this film to all of you hopeless romantics and eternal optimists. But to those of you out there let me assure you, the film transcends its pessimistic material. Atonement is a fantastic cinematic experience because while it is brutal and hard on the psyche, it is also very intoxicating and pleasurable for the senses.

So, unabashedly morose films may not be everyone's cup of tea. However, when these films have stunning cinematography, unconventional editing, and haunting soundtracks, how can you not be completely smitten with them? Yes, we live in a cruel world but we also don't live in a world as bewitching as the one in Atonement and that's why I am recommending it to cynics AND romantics alike.

I suspect the film will continue steamrolling its way through awards season but now I don't have to shudder and think, here's yet another costume drama getting acclaim simply because it's a costume drama. Perhaps I thought that way at one point, but now that I've seen the film, I know its secret. Atonement is not 'too good to be any good'. It's better.

Once

Once, written and directed by John Carney, is a cinéma-vérité style film that follows two people in Dublin who meet on the street and discover they have a mutual passion for music. There are about a dozen songs in the film that are performed in their entirety so one could call Once a modern day musical. How it differs, however, is that it doesn't have any of the bells and whistles you find with modern Hollywood musicals. Firstly, the two leads, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová, are non-actors in real life who were long time friends and musicians that wanted to help bring John Carney's script to life. Secondly, the film only cost about $150,000 which, as Richard Roeper so brilliantly put, wouldn't cover the catering bill on Dreamgirls. It's a breath of fresh air in every sense and if you're looking for a film that really inspires, Once is definitely one of those rare cinema experiences that will resonate with you for days.

Glen Hansard penned all of the songs in Once but when asked to play the role of Guy he originally turned it down. He wanted Cillian Murphy to play the lead because Murphy had the star power to bring attention to the film and because Hansard had little to no acting experience. Murphy would eventually pass on the project so Hansard agreed to be in the film. In an interview Hansard said, "Though I was initially thinking of using a good actor who could half sing, I quickly realized I should do it the other way around and get a good singer who could half act." And thank God for that. Hansard has one of the most chilling voices I've heard in a long time and when you combine it with the sweet, aching vocals of Markéta Irglová (who also plays piano in the film) you get one amazing collaboration. I also find non-actors to be much more interesting than real actors a lot of the time. If they don't try to act and simply let their natural personalities breathe on screen, the result is really compelling.

Like I mentioned earlier, Once is shot like a documentary. The camera is hand-held and much of the film takes place in some very intimate settings. As these two people learn about each other and fall in love with one another's raw talent and vulnerability, you feel as though you're a fly on the wall of something real unfolding before you. It's the kind of experience I don't think I've ever had watching a film. As luck would have it, Glen Hansard and Markéta Irglová did bond on the set and began dating after the film wrapped. It makes what you see all the more beautiful simply because you feel like you're a part of something special being brought into fruition.

Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street

Sweeney Todd is an excellent musical to begin with so put into the hands of Tim Burton, Johnny Depp, Helena Bonham Carter, Alan Rickman, and Sacha Baron Cohen, there was really nowhere to go but up. I almost told myself to lower my expectations going in because I absolutely did NOT want to be disappointed by something I have been looking forward to for years. I don't think I needed to lower anything though because this one was nearly flawless.

What I love most about the film is that it stays very true to the musical while at the same time, if it had not been based on a Broadway musical, could just as well have been a self-sustained Tim Burton classic. As staples of Burton's, Johnny Depp and Helena Bonham Carter infuse the film with a kind of creepy sublimity that is mesmerizing. The supporting cast is excellent and even though Sacha Baron Cohen appears only briefly, he is a force and steals all of his scenes. I really enjoyed Timothy Spall's performance as Judge Turpin's pesky minion, Beadle Bamford. He's one of these underrated actors who usually shows up in films with all of the star players from the Royal Shakespeare Company so unfortunately his performances are often overshadowed and overlooked.

The production value of Sweeney Todd is fantastic and the film should really be recognized by the Academy for its cinematography, art direction, and costume design. The cast also does an excellent job with Stephen Sondheim's musical numbers. While Johnny Depp definitely does not have your typical Broadway style voice, I almost enjoyed his own voice more so than many I've heard from actors trained in musical theater. I think it gave the character more edge and it set him apart from the rest of the cast which was refreshing.

While I always enjoy seeing cinematic adaptations of Broadway musicals, I was beginning to grow tired of the phenomenon, particularly following the disappointing Dreamgirls. Sweeney Todd has most certainly restored my faith in the genre simply because it seemed to want to do more than make money and attract Oscar attention. Tim Burton took the source material very seriously, brought together a group of enormously talented individuals, and created a unique and inspired piece of cinema I think will go down as one of the greatest Hollywood musicals of its time.

Death Proof

For me, the highlight of Quentin Tarantino's cinematic oeuvre is still the opening of Reservoir Dogs. A bunch of guys in suits sitting in a diner talking about pop culture and the politics of tipping, well, it really never got too much cooler than that in my book. There's no denying that Tarantino has put a slew of fantastic moments on celluloid since he did so with the infamous speech about "Like a Virgin". What I love the most about that opening scene, however, is its simplicity. Unabashed banality...that is vintage Tarantino. And even though we all love the bloody shoot-outs, colorful Kung fu, and wickedly hysterical eye-pluckings, Tarantino's true gift is his ear for dialogue. I have and probably will continue to argue with people about this but you could take out every action sequence of every one of his films and still be left with a lot great cinema.

That being said, it's no surprise that I thoroughly enjoyed Death Proof, QT's contribution to he and Robert Rodriguez's 70s exploitation mash-up Grindhouse. I decided when Grindhouse came out, I would wait and see if Death Proof would ever be released on its own. I know QT and RR would be totally disappointed in my reluctance to take in the whole "grindhouse" experience, but unfortunately I've never been a huge fan of anything Rodriguez has done, with the exception of the first third of From Dusk Till Dawn. Plus all of my favorite film critics were recommending Death Proof over Planet Terror so I figured my intuition was probably correct.

Now a lot of people found Death Proof to be self-indulgent and dull. I can see why they would feel that way since the film is almost two hours long and the action sequences probably only take up about 30 minutes of that. The film is split into two segments, each segment dedicated to a group of girls doing various things you'd expect girls to do. They drive, they hang out at convenience stores, diners, and juke joints, and they talk...a lot. At first it takes some getting used to. When the 30 minute mark rolled around and I felt as though the movie had already been playing for hours, I was wondering if this one was going to make much of an impact. But something happened along the way. Suddenly I was sucked in and became totally mesmerized and fascinated by these women and their lifestyles. And the music is fantastic. If Tarantino has a good ear for dialogue, he's got an even better one for music. Between the two, the guy seriously owns the patent on cool.

And while I most certainly give all of the actresses in Death Proof mad props for owning all of their scenes, I've really gotta bow down to the hot chunk of grizzled sexiness that is Kurt Russell. He plays Stuntman Mike and when he's not being totally creepy and psycho, he's got a charm that extremely fun to watch. The scene between him and Vanessa Ferlito outside the Texas Chili Parlor was amazing. By the end of the exchange, I wanted to give him a lap dance. Russell is charismatic to say the least and it speaks volumes about his performance in the film because before Death Proof, the guy tended to leave me pretty cold.

Now while the dialogue sequences do comprise a majority of the film, the action sequences in Death Proof are worth the price of admission. Zoë Bell, a stunt woman in real life, plays herself and what she does in the final car chase showdown rendered me speechless. When you think about the fact that everything you're seeing is legit, the phrase "edge of your seat" doesn't even begin to describe the feeling. For people who are more into Tarantino's action than his dialogue, I would recommend the film simply for the last 15 minutes.

I have to say, it was more than a little refreshing seeing Quentin Tarantino return to his roots with Death Proof. I love that he has matured enough as a filmmaker to be able to pull off such a stunt heavy picture while still maintaining his integrity as a writer. This film demanded a kind of technical proficiency he wouldn't have ever imagined tackling back in the early 90s so it really shows how far he's come in that regard. But what impresses me more is how important dialogue and characterization still are to him. Even though he's established himself as one of the most interesting and provocative filmmakers of his generation, he still has the capability to bore and alienate his audience by focusing on dialogue rather than action. With Death Proof, you can clearly tell he doesn't give a shit whether or not he bores people, and that's exactly what makes the guy so damn cool.