Even the good stars can fall from grace and falter

[sovay]

What surprised me most about There Will Be Blood? It's not by Werner Herzog.

I do not mean that it is derivative; I mean that its epic-scale obssessions, the grime and grandeur of its characters' madness would not have been out of place in Fitzcarraldo or Aguirre, the Wrath of God. (By the finale, certainly, the upper hand in sanity between Daniel Plainview and Don Lope de Aguirre might have to be decided by a coin-flip.) It has the same elemental grip, towering oil fires and black apocalyptic rains. Perhaps for this reason, of the three films I've now seen by Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood is far and away my favorite. I don't know if it was the best movie of the year. I would have called Paul Dano a revelation more than Daniel Day-Lewis. But it etches in the right language. It dreams in blood and steel and bone.

Comments

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

"Herzog" was a name on the spine of a book in my parents bookshelf--I can remember seeing it from when I was very small.

But a quick Google search teaches me that that must have been Saul Bellow's novel, and not anything relating to the director....

I haven't read the novel or seen a movie by the director, but "the grime and grandeur of its characters' madness" is pretty enticing, I must say...

[sovay]

"Herzog" was a name on the spine of a book in my parents bookshelf--I can remember seeing it from when I was very small.

Ditto, actually. I think it's even still in the living room, too. I remember a jacketless hardcover, blue with whitish lettering. I wonder if that's at all accurate.

I haven't read the novel or seen a movie by the director, but "the grime and grandeur of its characters' madness" is pretty enticing, I must say...

Fitzcarraldo was my first Herzog and it's amazing. I appreciate Aguirre; I love Fitzcarraldo; I want to see The Enigma of Kaspar Hauser (1974) next. You might really like him. He knows how to weld myth.

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

:-D

Reading carelessly, I saw "He knows how to weird myth"--which I thought sounded pretty good... and then I saw "He knows how to wield myth"--also a good thing! And now I see "He knows how to weld myth"--which goes along with the blood and metal of your original post.

weirding, wielding, and welding. Language is great, isn't? There's a Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin says "I love verbing nouns; it weirds language"--or something like that.

[sovay]

And now I see "He knows how to weld myth"--which goes along with the blood and metal of your original post.

I think all three readings of the line apply.

There's a Calvin and Hobbes where Calvin says "I love verbing nouns; it weirds language"--or something like that.

"I like to verb words . . . I take nouns and adjectives and use them as verbs. Remember when 'access' was a thing? Now it's something you do. It got verbed. Verbing weirds language."

Calvin and Hobbes

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

That's the one!

♥

[clarionj.livejournal.com]

So glad to get your take on the movie. I haven't seen it yet, and sometimes the hype makes me wonder ... but from what you say here, it's as good as they're saying. AND I'm glad you brought up Fitzcarraldo again. You had mentioned that film in a post some time ago, and I'd jotted the name down, but then my computer lost my "notes" file! That's one I definitely want to see.

[schreibergasse.livejournal.com]

Aguirre, the Wrath of God.

Is that any good, btw? I keep running across interesting-looking, bloodsoaked European films about medieval warfare at work.

Re: Calvin and Hobbes

[asakiyume.livejournal.com]

Yay--thanks!

you know what other Calvin and Hobbes I love? The one where he talks in Shakespearian language: "Methinks the most capricious zephyr hath more design than I"

[sovay]

Is that any good, btw?

Yes, it is. It's not so much about medieval warfare at work as it is a hallucinogenic fever dream of conquistadores, but it's excellent.

[sovay]

What is it about jungles, rivers, and outsiders?

I don't know, but it's there. We're so small against the landscape, but we try anyway to live in geologic time . . .

You've evoked memories of Sorcerer, Treasure of the Sierra Madre, and Apocalypse Now (Coppola even acknowledged Aguirre as an inspiration.)

I've seen two of those, but what is Sorcerer?

Even your movie comments are poetry - I love reading your blog!

Thank you! I'm very glad!

[sovay]

So glad to get your take on the movie.

Glad to be of assistance!

I haven't seen it yet, and sometimes the hype makes me wonder ... but from what you say here, it's as good as they're saying.

It was good in an entirely different way than I had expected, or been led to expect. The reviews I had read mostly talked about its unforgivingness, its fearlessness, its contempt for the touchstones of movie epic; Daniel Day-Lewis. No one said, American mythscape. I'd double-bill it with The Night of the Hunter.

That's one I definitely want to see.

Enjoy!