I watched There Will Be Blood last night, and it was excellent. That final scene really blasts it into the ionosphere, like Raging Bull. Which is appropriate, because between this and Bill the Butcher in Gangs of New York, Daniel Day-Lewis has somehow become the living incarnation of Robert DeNiro’s squandered talent. I think No Country for Old Men is a better film all things considered, but that’s really neither here nor there. (If I had to guess the subconscious trigger for critics picking this one over the Coens’ effort, it would be Jonny Greenwood’s landmark score, which to use the cliché is like the film’s fifth main character.) If Paul Thomas Anderson ever gives this kind of treatment to a character who’s less sympathetic, he may have the scariest movie ever made in him someplace, and I’m not just saying that because the most memorable shot in this movie is highly reminiscent of the most memorable shot in The Exorcist.
Anyway, the title of this post is a tribute to Jason Adams’ amazing insight into a certain scene in the film. Click here and scroll to the bottom to be flabbergasted.
Flabbergasted? You do flatter me, sir.
You’re speaking of my mention of DDL’s little jig, right? I’ve gotta say, in seeing the film a second time that moment literally gave me chills (Literally! I’m not one for hyperbole! Never!). Anyway, when you know what his glee at that moment is actually for… well, it’s perhaps the scariest thing I’ve seen all year. Cut me to the core, it did.
Carnival of souls
* Comics Journal critics Craig Fischer and Charles Hatfield discuss my favorite superhero title on the stands at the moment, The Immortal Iron Fist. * Hatfield also analyzes a killer page from Chester Brown’s autobio masterpiece I Never Liked You….