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Greetings!

BMFI is very pleased to be showing THERE WILL BE BLOOD. If you haven't yet seen it, you can visit our website (www.BrynMawrFilm.org) for showtimes. I saw it over the weekend, and it is a tremendous piece of filmmaking--a fascinating and uniquely American story that has at once the intimacy of the most insightful character study and the grandeur and mythic qualities of the most beautiful western.

Screenwriter/Director Paul Thomas Anderson (BOOGIE NIGHTS, MAGNOLIA, PUNCH DRUNK LOVE) used Upton Sinclair's novel, OIL!, as his source material, and, I would suggest, Stanley Kubrick as his filmmaking muse. From the score that combines discordant and at times jarring music with notable classical pieces, to the long, stationary, somber takes, to the segmented nature of the narrative progression, BLOOD is influenced by Kubrick every bit as much as the kinetic BOOGIE NIGHTS was by Scorsese.

A key difference between this film and most of Kubrick's, though, is its heart and humanity, which can significantly be attributed to Paul Dano's (LITTLE MISS SUNSHINE) eye-opening turn, and of course, to Daniel Day-Lewis's monumental performance. Those who say he is always outstanding are correct, but his embodiment of Daniel Plainview is positively mesmerizing.

Please offer your own insights into the film, and share any reactions you might have to THERE WILL BE BLOOD with forum readers.

Andrew J. Douglas, BMFI Director of Education