Discussed:
There Will Be Blood
No Country For Old Men
3:10 to Yuma
Not discussed:
I'm Not There
*No real plot spoilers here but stay away if you don't want to hear me complain*
I was able to attend a union screening of *There Will Be Blood* about a month ago (how I love the unions!) and intended to write a big long commentary on it all. But then I gave up blogging and lost interest. Lately I'm seeing various groups (LA Critics Award, NY Critics Prize) lavishing Best Picture awards on *TWBB*... and I'm seeing reviews in the New Yorker, so I thought maybe it was finally released. But no... it doesn't come out until Dec. 26 (another two weeks).
There is a lot of hype surrounding this project. And nobody had more optimism for this film than Sleepy E. But I am here to tell you that it is a mediocre film. A brilliant failure.
It is always interesting to see the Fawning Critics Ball really get rolling. Why is *No Country* being lauded as an Oscar contender? Why are the Coens suddenly considered serious filmmakers? I'm sure it's amusing them to no end. I don't get it. Regarding Anderson, I think *TWBB* is PTA's third or fourth best (but could have easily been the best if anyone had the balls to tell him when he was going awry). *Punch-Drunk Love* had more guts and emotion and life in its short 90 minutes but no one takes that movie seriously. But that was really the ballsy choice to make coming off of *Magnolia*, not *TWBB*.
Don't get me wrong. Daniel Day Lewis is really wonderful. And the score is great, sure. And it looks fantastic. But the movie just meanders along without purpose... there isn't really rising action or momentum or trying to sweep the viewer up in the moment or anything like that. It feels like a bunch of (often humorless) scenes strung together into a long movie. And it seems like Johnny Greenwood's modernist, percussive score does everything it can to prevent that whole sweeping-the-viewer-away thing from happening. The music feels intellectual instead of emotional. Kubrickian, almost.
It's as though PTA thinks these Hollywood storytelling devices are beneath him (just like the Coen's chose not to use music in *No Country*--a great choice, I thought). And the final act (and final scene) reflect this collegiate need to reinvent the wheel. I remember thinking back in school how I was going to "frustrate the viewer" and "not give them what they want"... But where does this assholish impulse come from? You are asking us to drive to the theater and shell out the money and sit with this movie for 2 hours and 40 minutes and invest in the characters, and then you're going to end the movie like that??????
I had a similar response to *No Country For Old Men*, which for 90 minutes was some of the best work the Coens have done since *Miller's Crossing*....before screwing up the ending.
In the end *TWBB* and *NCFOM* feel emotionally void. And for this reason *3:10 to Yuma* (also with an atrocious ending) trumps them both -- because there's more in the father/son relationship and the Russell Crowe/Christian Bale relationship than in Anderson's and the Coen's movies combined. *No Country* is a fun and competent exercise, but it is not incredible. It aims low and does well. *TWBB* aims way too high and doesn't quite get there.
I was also going to talk about *I'm Not There* which I never did see but heard it was quite the letdown.
Quite a lot of letdowns.
