There Will Be Blood (SPOILERS)

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impy13

ONE love, blood, life
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Mar 7, 2005
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I wanted a thread where we could discuss the film without fear of spoiling it for anyone. I know only a few of us have seen it so far, so I figured it was for the best.


Two things I'm trying to wrap my head around:

1. What is the motive when HW sets the fire? Considering the fact that he was obviously illiterate, I don't think he could have figured out "Henry" wasn't who he said he was by reading the diary. He held the diary upside down and really only took interest in the pictures.

2. Is there any significance to Eli pouring three drinks rather than two for him and Plainview at the end?


This film is really sticking with me the day after. I got one of those promo poster Lance was talking about when I was at the Alamo yesterday and just put it up. I downloaded Jonny's exquisite score and was happy to find the track that was played after the derrick caught on fire and Plainview was running with HW in his arms. It's really resonating with me more than any other film has in quite some time.





milkshakeov6.jpg
 
Impy, I'm curious to hear your comments about my
review of the film.

S P O I L E R S ! ! !

As for the specifics you mentioned, I didn't get the sense at all that HW was illiterate. If Daniel was trying to teach him these things about the business, why would he not want him to be educated. The kid would have to know how to read or he'd be an enormous burden.

If you're looking at a book and a picture falls out, you look at the picture.

What's interesting is that if you look in the original script, Eli initially shows up at the mansion with two female companions. I don't know the significance of that, or why it was taken out of the final film, but it's something. Maybe it's a nod to the church of the "third revelation".

Also, in the screenplay, after bludgeoning Eli to death, Daniel hurls the body down the bowling lanes, where it goes through the pins, and down some kind of chute into the cellar. I thought that would have been a nice touch, though it would have reminded many of Sweeney Todd.
 
lazzles, I agree with much of your review. Your idea of the ending of TWBB versus that of No Country couldn't be said better. It's hard for me to distinguish which is the best film out of TWBB, No Country, and I'm Not There. They definitely make up my top 3 of 2007, but the order could change at any given moment. As of right now, I'd be inclined to go with TWBB, Everything you said about the directing and cinematography was spot on. There's no doubt that this was the best shot, best looking film of the year. I also stated in another thread that DDL's performance is one for the ages. I loved that performance more than Blanchett's Jude Quinn and Bardem's Anton Chigurh, which is saying a whole hell of a lot.

Really though, I enjoyed your review and wouldn't be surprised to see you even more appreciative of it after having awhile to think about it. I've had 24 hours since I left the theater to dwell on it, and it gets better simply by thinking about it and considering the sheer scope of all the amazing aspects of it.


Re: the score. It was eerie, sometimes abrasive, and absolutely perfect. It exudes the same impending sense of doom as the title. I can't picture the film with any other sort of musical accompaniment.




This will probably get taken down, but how completely fucking riveting was this scene?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOrtQoELxH8
 
Laz, as always, I enjoyed your review as well. To be honest, TWBB left me with more to ponder than NCFOM, but then again, I read NCFOM, so I had already felt the initial impact of the story. I've yet to see I'm Not There, and doubt I'll like it as much as these other two films.

And, like Impy is experiencing, the movie stuck with me for a while after seeing it. I want to see it again, but not until it's 100% faded from my head, if that makes sense.
 
impy13 said:
lazzles, I agree with much of your review. Your idea of the ending of TWBB versus that of No Country couldn't be said better. It's hard for me to distinguish which is the best film out of TWBB, No Country, and I'm Not There. They definitely make up my top 3 of 2007, but the order could change at any given moment. As of right now, I'd be inclined to go with TWBB, Everything you said about the directing and cinematography was spot on. There's no doubt that this was the best shot, best looking film of the year. I also stated in another thread that DDL's performance is one for the ages. I loved that performance more than Blanchett's Jude Quinn and Bardem's Anton Chigurh, which is saying a whole hell of a lot.

Really though, I enjoyed your review and wouldn't be surprised to see you even more appreciative of it after having awhile to think about it. I've had 24 hours since I left the theater to dwell on it, and it gets better simply by thinking about it and considering the sheer scope of all the amazing aspects of it.


Re: the score. It was eerie, sometimes abrasive, and absolutely perfect. It exudes the same impending sense of doom as the title. I can't picture the film with any other sort of musical accompaniment.




This will probably get taken down, but how completely fucking riveting was this scene?

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=rOrtQoELxH8
Click to expand...

The look Plainview gives him at 4:51.....
 
I guess what I'm saying, NSW and impy, is that I feel the sum of the parts may be better than the whole. There are so many moments, scenes, shots, lines, and aspects that I admire and keep thinking about, but the movie itself, at the end, didn't hit me as hard as No Country or I'm Not There.

Perhaps this will change, and I definitely went into this knowing perhaps a bit too much (my various imaginings of how "I drink your milkshake!" played out was not quite the reality), but I do need to see it again, this time without all the expectations.
 
I guess what I'm saying, Laz, is you should check your lease.

But beyond that, I understand what you're saying. I think some of Malick's films struck me that way.
 
"Do you accept Jesus Christ as your savior?"


Everything Plainview says/does on stage after that = gold, Jerry. Gold!
 
No spoken words said:
But beyond that, I understand what you're saying. I think some of Malick's films struck me that way.
Click to expand...


Really? I was practically in tears of joy at the end of Malick's last 3 films, they were so transcendent; I felt like Wes Bentley's balloon heart during the final, dialogue-free scene of The New World.
 
I like every single Malick film, I'm on record with that.

But, sometimes, because of his style, which I do love, I walk away feeling that the individual scenes themselves were priceless, but the whole might have suffered.

So just like you clearly enjoyed TWBB but cannot crown it a masterpiece, some of Malick's films left me impressed and such, but not quite ready to crown them a masterpeice. Make sense?
 
OMG, that cat meme is SOOOO going in my photobucket this instand.

Thank you for that.

And I've said it before, but The New World was one of the most transcendent blissful film experiences I've had in the past year or so. :combust:
 
I just thought of this, but I didn't like that "Henry" said "brudda from anudda mudda."
 
Now tell us how much you liked the derrick explosion scene.
 
I loved the derrick explosion scene, especially the soundless-H.W. POV that kept popping up afterward.
 
*someone calls*

I'VE ABANDONED MY CHILD!

I'm still really loving the score - my lady friend and I compared it to Young Frankenstein today and shared a laugh.
 
Last edited:
I called Joseph Jones a "sniveling ass" at our game against A&M tonight.

TWBB makes for great basketball heckling.
 
I really enjoyed this, but need to see it again to see if I can get a better handle on the main character, who seemed quite complex. I still don't know exactly why he did what he did at the end; I would have thought he would have recognized the preacher as similar to him -- in effect, his real son.

It's very intense though and bleak, so I'll need some time away from it.
 
Well, it was retribution for humiliating him in front of the Church during his baptism and also for "not healing" his son. Watch the Baptism again and check out DDL. Through the first half, it seems like Eli's got him stuck, finally beaten him with the power of religion/the blood. It's really one of the only times in the movie you see him show any real emotion. Then when he finds out Eli's using it as an excuse to get back at him for beating him up in the mud, DDL's like "bitch, he can't beat me," whispers a sweet nothing into his ear, probably "Next time I see you, I'm going to fucking eat you," then he's off on his merry way with the power to build his pipeline.

Also, Eli and H.W. represented his only lasting connections with society and humanity in general. After severing them through humiliation and a fucking bowling pin, he's finally "finished" with his disconnection to the real world and free to live in his drunken, misanthropic fantasy.
 
Has the movie reached its full release date yet? Because it's only getting three showings at two theatres within a 40 mile stretch near me. Two crappy theatres.
 
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