pt anderson
06/25/2007
There Will Be Blood
I wasn't completely sold on Paul Thomas Anderson until I saw Punch-Drunk Love at the New York Film Festival in 2001. (The screening was interrupted when a woman in the audience had a seizure, which may or not have been caused by Anderson's experimental editing and jarring sound design.) But that masterful art-film take on the romantic comedy got me seriously hooked -- not just on the young director's talent (which even the most diehard PTA hater must admit he's got in spades), but on his genuine desire to challenge himself and his audience with difficult material (and not just beautifully-executed pop).
Six years later, Anderson's legion of diehard fans will finally get another fix with the release of There Will Be Blood. Adapted from a novel by Upton Sinclair and starring Daniel Day-Lewis, the film tells the story of battling oil prospectors in 1920s California. While the film won't hit screens until August, a tantalizing trailer hit the Net last week. This clip is about as oblique as it gets for a major-studio offering, but it certainly makes me want to see more. Check it out.
