I love artsy movies just as much as I love senseless movies at times, which is why I feel that I can give just about ANY movie a chance. I desperately wanted to love P.T. Anderson's latest film THERE WILL BE BLOOD, especially after all the rave reviews and accolades. I also wanted to love it for 2 other reasons: 1. for Anderson to redeem himself from his previous film PUNCH DRUNK LOVE, which I thought was an absolute disaster and 2. Daniel Day-Lewis. I don't blame Daniel Day Lewis though for this films failure, I blame Anderson.
Now, here's the thing...I can tolerate a flawed and sprawling film, in fact Michael Cimino's HEAVEN'S GATE is one of my all-time favorite films and it runs a meandering 3 1/2 hours. Now the first 45-minutes or so of THERE WILL BE BLOOD is pretty interesting despite some lack of clarity here and there, but I kept waiting for some explanation, which never really comes. There are several awkward moments and the film never really seems to pull itself together, then out of nowhere the film starts to spiral out of control as if it was so unfocused that it just doesn't know what to do with itself. Like PUNCH DRUNK LOVE, the film becomes more annoying than it does interesting as the viewer is left in a state of boredom to the point where you aren't sure whether to look at your watch continuously or just turn the thing off. It's that bad!
Again, I wanted to love this film and I appreciate the style that Anderson has with his camera moves and his admiration of other filmmakers, who he tries to emulate in his films like Kubrick, Scorsese, and Max Ophuls. However, thsoe filmmakers all know how to make uninteresting moments still seem interesting and engaging, Anderson does not. He picks a novel by Sinclair in this case where he tries to apply some artisty that never pans out well, in fact the film is far too long, far too unfocused, and far too uninteresting to really reap any benefit at all, it's amazing that critics loved this film, but it's even more amazing that the casual viewer could tolerate it at all! That's an accomplishment.
2 comments:
I found your blog because I'm new here and we liked similar movies... and I think you and I may be the only two people on the planet that thought Punch Drunk Love was garbage! I was wondering if I should comment randomly on one's blog, but that sealed the deal.
I desperately hope I enjoy There Will Be Blood as well. You're making me pessimistic.
Thanks for the comment! I am guessing that your username is from the brilliant Suzuki film? Please feel free to leave comments as often as you feel compelled, it's a joy knowing that others enjoy the same films!
Post a Comment