There Will Be Blood

    There Will Be Blood was directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and released in 2007. It stars Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano. The film focuses on Daniel Plainview (Daniel Day-Lewis) and the lengths that he’ll go to for money and power. Opposite him is Eli Sunday (Paul Dano), a ‘pastor’ in charge of the local ‘church,’ which really appears to be more of a cult. Both Daniel Day-Lewis and Paul Dano did a great job at playing two very unsettling characters.
    One of the scenes I found most unsettling was when the oil well caught on fire. It was dark, and Daniel Plainview was covered in oil from head to toe. At first, he’s relatively easy to see, but as the lighting gradually gets darker, all but his face disappears. This in itself is enough to be off-putting, but his expression really sold it. Daniel Plainview was grinning— not just smiling, or smirking, but legitimately grinning. He almost seemed delighted by the fire. And although I can’t quite put it into words or explain it, the greed in his eyes was very, very clear.
    The other Daniel Day-Lewis scene that was unsettling was the confrontation between Daniel Plainview and Eli Sunday at the end of the film. Specifically, when Daniel Plainview was yelling at Eli and berating him after causing Eli to admit to being a fake, and then onward until the end of the film. During the berating and the milkshake metaphor, there’s a sick and twisted sort of glee in Daniel Plainview’s expressions and movements, both of which also contain an underlying sharpness that screams danger. And then, after Eli tells Daniel not to bully him, it’s like a switch flips. The glee is gone, replaced by something else, a combination of malice and what seems to be drunken insanity. This is what he carries in most of his movements, right up until after he clubs Eli over the head with the bowling pin. At that moment, right before he continues on in order to bash Eli’s skull in, his expression is very reminiscent of the one he bore while watching the oil well go up in flames. It only lasts for a few seconds, but there’s a  satisfaction and a bloodlust that Daniel Day-Lewis conveys largely through his eyes.
    Eli, in contrast, was unsettling nearly every time he was on screen. I can’t pick just one or two moments, because I found myself on edge each time he showed up, waiting to see whether he’d snap or not. Many of his expressions are either blank or neutral and don’t give away very much of what’s going on inside his head. Instead, the rigidity of his movements and the carefully controlled quietness of his voice combine to convey the anger simmering below the surface. The knowledge that the anger is there, despite the lack of any actual move to act on it for the first half of the film, is enough to make Eli seem very dangerous. This buildup of tension is paid off when Eli finally snaps and attacks his father at the dinner table. Something else that I find interesting about the scene where Eli attacks his father is that his voice shifts out of that carefully controlled tone he always uses, and it also isn’t the hissing and screeching voice he uses in his ‘sermons.’ This voice is a new one entirely, and I find it somewhat reminiscent of Gollum from Lord of the Rings, due to having a similarly unhinged feeling. This scene, with how Paul Dano goes from near completely still to climbing across the table in seconds, and with the voice he uses, make it very clear to the viewer just how unstable, delusional, and deranged, Eli really is.
    Both Paul Dano and Daniel Day-Lewis were very believable during the course of the film, and both conveyed their characters’ respective madness very well. Personally, I found Paul Dano’s performance as Eli Sunday slightly more compelling than Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview, though I don’t necessarily have an explanation as to why. My best guess is that Eli was very easy to read, where Daniel Plainview was confusing and I wasn’t quite certain how to perceive him. I never have enjoyed being unable to get a good read on someone, even if that person is fictional, and that probably affected my ability to fully appreciate Daniel Day-Lewis’ performance.