“There Will Be Blood”

Since I saw him first in “My Left Foot,” Daniel Day-Lewis has become my favorite actor, Al Pacino a close second. DeNiro is fading fast as he has lost his sure-footing at least in my eyes these past ten years. I recall Olivier’s comment that a good or great actor does it all with his eyes, and his admonition to us is to watch the eyes. I’ve been doing that for some time now and Daniel says quite a bit with his eyes. He does not act, the style of Tracy and Stewart is just different; Brando had it but his sloth turns me off. The only actress who grabs me with her eyes is Helen Mirren, take a gander at her in “Excaliber” and the recent role as Elizabeth II.

“There Will Be blood” has overtones of “Citizen Kane,” the tycoon who gives up love for American greed and ambition; the striving for material wealth at the cost of close relationships — or the sacrifice of them; like Kane who is sold by his mother to the banker, Thatcher, thus abandoned, is revealed here between Daniel Plainview and his “son,” H.W. Day-Lewis puts on a voice quite similar to John Huston and he never misses a beat of that husky and seductive growl. Brando and Olivier were masters of technique, but Day-Lewis goes beyond that; it is more than inhabiting the role. He simply is the role he is in, an incarnation if you will. I cannot think of any other actor who could be Daniel Plainview. It is his for all time, mesmerizing.

I have the feeling that there were not too many takes in some of these scenes, although I do not know. In one scene, the last one, you actually see drool come out of Day-Lewis’s mouth as he is spent in verbal rage — how many times do you do that. I have the feeling that Anderson just let Day-Lewis do it, for he had such a grasp on the character he was portraying.

I also feel that Day-Lewis may be difficult to live with, for on certain levels, as in this movie, we cannot grasp his intent or motive. It just explodes. As a spouse, how much intensity can you abide?

More on Daniel Day-Lewis as I think through the film. Of course, he will not get the oscar.