More thoughts from Louis CK on Paul Thomas Anderson's 2007 masterpiece There Will Be Blood. Source: Joe & Raanan Talk Movies Apple podcasts.apple.com/ca/podcast... Spotify: open.spotify.com/show/24fjQRv...
Great year for films, especially Cannes 2007. Silent Light, 4 Months 3 Weeks and 2 Days, Secret Sunshine, Import/Export, The Diving Bell and the Butterfly. All Masterpieces. Then some rare, great American films like No Country and Zodiac.
Maybe I'm misremembering but I don't believe his son comes back to ask Daniel for money - he returns to inform Daniel that he's setting up his own oil drilling company in Mexico. Daniel then disowns him for becoming his "competitor"
@@matthewpryor8283 yeah and he dragged himself for miles over jagged rocks and desert to take his little silver nugget into town and sell it. That is a metaphor for ambition if I've ever seen it.
I read it as he owed it to his partner(or worker, or whoever died in that hole), and there was also this thought that it could have easily been him instead that died. He raised the kid out of a sense of duty, and maybe he did exploit it, but I don't think that was ever the root of it. He truly came to love him as a son, and he represented his humanity. That's why when he sends him off because he's damaged and too much to handle(alongside his work), that was his big turn into the darkness. He broke a promise in many aspects, and almost literally sold his soul in that moment
@@petepetroff946it’s more than that. He does love him, but it’s true he also uses HW for his own purposes to some degree. I mean, he raises him from a baby, you can’t say he would think to do that, for the years of effort it takes, to only have him as a prop
Louie went OFF on this one. There Will Be Blood collapses on itself like an infinite Russian doll. Every viewing unveils a new level of complexity and richness. And after each viewing, I could be scrolling the front page of the NYT and see so many stories that remind me of this movie and how it’s deep commentary on current events that happen today are so accurate. Gets to the core of the dark side of humanity.👌🏿 Fucking brilliant!
Vladimir Putin Plays Global Poker While Sitting On A Phallic Symbol Nuclear War - - Head // Elon Musk - - Colonies On Mars (( s u u u u u r r r e )) // Jeff Bezos // Steve Jobs // Mark Zuckerberg // E G O T I S T - - I C A L D E L U S I O N S Of Grandeur Everywhere . Y E T . . . I Contradict Myself . Yes . . . indeed . They Have - All - Achieved - Suprisingly Impressive Milestones . - Least I Forget . . . Trump . That " A - Hole " has // & // continues to cause me High Anx - - iety because I see him as being a V E R Y D A N G E R O U S Person To Ignore . Most Annoying People . . . I ignore . The Donald . . . h i m . . . I Watch With D I L I G E N C E - (( unfortunately )) .
this is in my top 5 films of all time and I've been into films for over 30 years. Something about it went beyond explanation for me, I sat there mesmerized. The music was awe inspiring
I saw this at the Alamo ritz back in 2007. I was 18. It was one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. I also ran into Crispin Glover in the empty lobby which sealed the memory forever.
this is actually a good clip idea, non-clickbait, straight to the point and something that doesn't recycle old shit for clicks but actually has worth. In this case for movie nuts, like Louis. Great stuff.
I felt that the child was like a cog in the machine; if anything happened to the child, he knew it would be harder for him to gain the trust of the townspeople. He cared for the child as much as a man cares about the lights on his Rolls-Royce.
I think you're completely wrong. I think he definitely loved HW, but didn't have a real understanding of how to truly show or receive love and things just got worse as HW got older and Daniel didn't know what he should be doing or made choices to stay and tend to work rather than devote time to him-stuff that wouldn't have been too unusual in the time period anyway. Resentment then just progressively filled the space between. [SPOILER] I think there's a reason Daniel finally loses it and murders Sunday right after HW finally breaks ties with him, with Daniel's final line being "I'm finished."
I'm a recovering alcoholic, and I saw Plainview's character as one descending into the nightmare spiritual reality that takes the soul of many alcoholics and drug addicts when they don't or can't process their emotions properly and build nasty resentments that no human power can relieve. I'm sure I'm in the minority, but that's what I took away from the character. I actually felt bad for him. Kinda like the guy who gained the world at the expense of his soul...
This movie was created with intentional ambiguity. It's meant to engage, it's meant for you to have your own interpretation, it's meant to stimulate and have you reflect. No matter what you take away is from this movie, you are correct. That was the intent of this film.
The character Daniel Plainview and the movie was based on Upton Sinclair's novel, Oil!, and in part on Edward Doheny's life, an early American oil tycoon. Without Lewis' performance, nobody would be talking about this movie.
I didn't even realize that there was no talking for the first 14 minutes until someone spoke. I was like oh damn, I've just been watching this. It's just a great damn movie
I think this movie is the greatest film of all time. I just can't get enough. I must have seen it 12 times and I love it every single time. Once Upon A Time In Hollywood is almost as good.
My favorite part of this movie is the ambiguity of the final line. "I'm finished!" Was the implication that he wasn't going to be able to get away with the murder he just commited, or was he just informing his butler that he should clean the mess up so he could get back to his day. Just a complete sociopath you can't read.
I always took it that Daniel Plainview wanted to have a son/family, but didn’t know how to do so because of how he was wired. I think it explains the deep affection after the injury, and the total disappointment when his own son wants to compete with him.
I think the scene where he is showing love to the son is one of the only parts in the film where he allows himself to show true emotion. The other scene being where Paul Dano compells him to admit to abandoning his son. The emotion is there underneath but he has so much personal discipline that he almost never cracks. He thinks maintaining personal discipline is the most important thing in his life.
Its loosely based on Edward Doheny. If you've ever been to LA, Doheny Dr & Doheny Rd, Greystone Mansion that he donated to the city of Beverly Hills. Its not a dream, its an exploration. I love Louis CK, he has the mind to write these types of stories.
Grampa told me stories of 'oil men' he knew, the Wildcatters. It made me think of the California Gold Rush, the feral nature of it all. History books make light of it but it was brutal, both era...
This is a cinematic masterpiece. Acting, story, musical score, cinematography, directing all masterful. "I look at people and see nothing worth liking"
It is a tremendous film, and I only slightly give the edge to No Country in a fight over best film of the 21st century. I can re-watch both at any time, and catch just a single scene and be transported by just that scene. That was the end of great filmmaking, but we got two amazing treasures.
The pretend degenerate, when he gets the call from military intel to act as such. Notice something, none of these degenerates goes to jail for the supposed crimes they happily admit to commit. Yeah I did it, I am a weirdo...Give me a break
I always looked at DDL as the hero of this movie and Dano as the villain. Dano's character Eli has no real moral base and uses religion as a smoke screen for his cowardice greed and wrath. DDL's character is equally dispicable but makes no attempt to hide it, so you find yourself rooting for him in the end because at there's honesty in him.
He is a dirtbag, not because what he agreed to pretend he did, but because he agreed to fool the idiots. Maybe he is actually cool for that, you guys are everywhere.
I think Daniel Plainview cared very deeply about HW. When HW complained to him about how the girl's dad was beating her for not praying, Daniel intervened in some way that we don't see. But if he was solely interested in using HW for financial gain, it doesn't make sense to potentially cause a rift between him and the dad. It's also telling how when Daniel sent HW to the deaf school, he actually couldn't do it himself. For how tough and resilient he was, he needed someone else to actually bring HW to the school because it hurt too much to abandon his kid. Plus, when Daniel and the guy pretending to be his brother made it to the coast, Daniel starts to express how sick this business is making him, and he's talking about his childhood and his wishes. And then to find out that the first time he ever was comfortable enough to be vulnerable with someone was a total lie, and that he'd also robbed him of sharing that moment with HW, irreparably broke Daniel. It also makes sense why Plainview hated Paul Dano's character so much because they were complete opposites. Plainview was, very deep in his heart a caring person for people who weren't able to defend themselves, but pushed that deeper and deeper any time he had to make a choice for business. Paul Dano pretended to be caring for victims in order to make money off of them, and Daniel hated him for it.
Everyone should listen to Louis’s two appearances on a movie podcast with comedians Joe List and Ranaan Hirschberg. He has a wealth of insight and a very open mind.
I have a bit more empathy for the main character. I don't know if it's greed so much as purpose. He is hell bent on accomplishing something truly and singularly great, and something he has done completely on his own merit, guile, labor or craftiness. I don't think he hates women so much as he feels he doesn't have time for them. He only has the child because his partner dies, and he didn't want the baby to starve to death. It was after taking care of the baby that he thought he could use the child to his advantage. Funnily enough, despite not being blood related, the child proved to have similar tendencies, such as when he tried to light the cabin his "father" was sleeping in on fire and kill him in cold blood. It was only then did he send the child away to a boarding school, as he was afraid of him.
This is probably my favorite movie, but I had no idea that other people loved it so deeply until reading these comments. And now I’m confused because people are arguing about what their different interpretations of the movie are, which is making me second guess my own interpretation😵💫.
This is my second favorite movie after Taxi Driver. De Niro as Travis Bickle is the standard for me as method acting before the new millennium. Daniel Plainview blew my mind away. It's just amazing acting, flawless.
I don't think Plainview was a billionaire when he was mining by himself. The next scene he finally has enough money to hire out. Minor nitpick, but it's great to hear his thoughts
This movie really should be watched in conjunction with Andrei Rublev. A similar character in Andrei but Andrei sought and found love after years of wandering without it.
PTA films mostly stories about Los Angeles. Very much how M. Night films mostly stories about Pennsylvania. The story about 'There will be blood' is off of the Doheny's in La. Greystone Mansion, which fun fact is where the bowling alley scene takes place. The bowling alley is in the basement. The Doheny's were an oil family and came to La early on, drilled for oil, prospered but the family started falling apart when the money started flowing. One family member killed the other and staged it in the Greystone Mansion trying to blame someone else so they can be sol aire to the fortune. It's a crazy story, but it's mostly about a family in the late twentieth century becoming one of the richest families in the world because they were the first to drill for oil in Los Angeles.
I still haven't seen this movie. I think I tried to watch it. But couldn't get past the first ten minutes. Louis really sells it, though... Maybe I should give it another go...
What a great review. So spot on. I love this film. One thing I disagree with here. In the beginning of a film, Daniel Plainview is not rich or successful when he is down in that hole. He is just starting out...a diligent, hard working man obsessed with becoming successful and rich.
This movie corresponds to the story of the early Industrialist, the Expansionist VS. Anti-expansionist academics that go along with Gilded Age America and the Spanish American War. They couldn't stop these men with new surveying and scientific ability. They weren't going to respect religion because these men were reading "On The Origin Of Species" and religion was identifiable as someone who was uneducated. It was time for the sciences to send the country into an economic windfall. If you notice, Daniel Plainview worked in Kansas for Geological Survey before 1898. A real pioneer and they weren't going to put up with your religions and "False Profits". Paul Sunday was running from his brother Eli. And Daniel beats Eli publicly and says "I going to bury you underground". Why haven't you been to our house to heal my son's hearing yet, you're a vessel for the Holy Spirit? As he whips him and smothers Eli in oil and soil. He murders Henry his fake half brother and William Bandy catches him in the act. Next scene "Gimme the blood lord and let me get away! - - - Yes I do. (BAPTISM) Brrrrrrr, that's a pipeline". Daniel never says it, but he doesn't think much of people who are religious. He doesn't trample on their religions either. He knew not to do that. He was trying to make a community and that religion and the blessings turned into a conflict. A conflict America has had since this moment in scientific history. The theme of families breaking up is an excellent theme running through this film too. Daniel lost his family and was never able to create that warmth in his life. With all his money he could not get away from people he hated and have a loving family. He turns deeply alcoholic and somewhat disturbed at the end. His greed kills the relationship with his deafened son. Daniel saw HW as "Competition" going to Mexico. Mexico out produced the US for a few years after 1900.
No. It wasnt about change in the modern sense. It was simply about losing ones humanity in pursuit of success. The more successful he became the more he literally had to defend it from others in pursuit of their own success. After so much success there will be blood. And despair.
