There Will Be Blood – 2007 – dir. Paul Thomas Anderson
A film such as There Will Be Blood only comes around every decade or so. It is a picture that transcends the contemporary (and often times, overemphasized) allusions to current issues, eventually revealing the true heroics of man. Usually, films such as these relish in the battle of man with the world around him. This time, Paul Thomas Anderson has taken a step back, graciously inviting his audience to participate in his fantastic allusion. There Will be Blood is our modern American epic. Already resonating with films such as Citizen Kane, the personal psychology has an intrinsic connection with today’s audience. All corporate evil aside, this is film is about competition. To go even farther, There Will Be Blood is an objective look at the driving force of ambition, and the right of man to climb to the top, however he may get there. It all starts with Daniel Plainview.
FIVE EASY PIECES
By Peggy Nelson
Five Easy Pieces – 1970 – dir. Bob Rafelson
In Five Easy Pieces (dir. Bob Rafaelson, 1970) Robert Eroica Dupea, played by a young-ish Jack Nicholson, has “dropped out” by dropping down a couple of levels in the class structure. Frustrated by the constraints of a serious classical music career, when we first meet him he is working on an oil rig, hanging out with his working class buddies at the bowling alley, and dating a diner waitress (Karen Black), in a thorough rejection of his upper class background and ideals.