Director – Paul Thomas Anderson
Screenplay – Paul Thomas Anderson and Upton Sinclair
*Plot
In the late 19th century, Daniel Plainview(Daniel Day Lewis) is a Silver miner who has just discovered Oil during one of his diggings. He gathers lot of people and starts digging for more oil and also starts to develop his own new mining techniques and machinery. During one of the expeditions, a worker dies in a freak accident and Daniel decides to adopt his young son and name him H.W(Dillon Freasier), who, he takes along everywhere he goes so that he can portray his image as a family man and use his shrewd tactics to buy land for dirt cheap prices where oil is found. One fine day, a young man, Paul Sunday(Paul Dano), from a small town called Little Boston gives a tip to Daniel that his village has lots of oil and offers to sell his land for cheap. When Daniel goes there, he convinces everyone to sell their land, except one Mr Brandy(Hans Howes). He also finds lots of differences with Paul’s twin brother Eli(Also Paul Dano) who is a priest and has found his own Church – the Third revelation. In this situation, Daniel has to keep portraying his image of a family man in a relatively conservative town so he can get to dig oil without any hassles and also has to fight against the competitive oil digging companies that have found out about this town. *
Critic’s Comments
Adapted from an early 20th century novel, Oil, this one is a classic. The direction is wonderful and the script is intense and doesn’t let the viewers leave the seats till the very end. The first 14 and a half minutes of the movie don’t have any dialogues and is probably one of the most intense part of the film. This movie has to be watched on the big screen right from the start. The score by Jonny Greenwood is perfectly suited for the movie and it’s a letdown that it was not nominated for the best score at this year’s oscar. The cinematography by Robert Elswit is marvelous and rightly deserved the best cinematographer oscar this year. But the whole movie actually belongs to one person, Daniel Day Lewis. To say that he deserved the best actor oscar for 2007 would be an understatement. This clearly shows why he is one of the very few, most Methodist actor we have. A must watch movie.
Psst –
1) *The producers were so insistent on Daniel Day Lewis signing up the film, that they said the film will not be made if Lewis didn’t sign up for the role. For this, they gave Lewis time of up to 1 year to prepare for his diction and role, compared to 4 days given to Paul Dano for the role of Paul and Eli Sunday.
2) The role of Eli Sunday was meant to be given to another person but the director had a change of mind and decided to cast Paul Dano as Eli as well and he would play his twin.
3) The characteristics of Daniel Plainview were said to be based on Count Dracula.
4) The movie was made on a budget of$25 million and grossed$45 million world wide.
5) The movie was completed way back in August 2006 but due to post production delays and the fact that the financers to release the film were hard to find, the movie released on 27th September 2007.
6) One of those rare movies where there is hadrly any speaking part for the women. The others are Lawrence of Arabia and Reservoir Dogs.*
Quotes
1) “I won’t pay them oil prices, I will pay them quail prices.”
2) “I’d like you to tell me that you are a false prophet. I’d like you to tell me that you are, and have been, a false prophet. and that God is a superstition.”
3) “If I travel all the way there and find out that you’re a liar, I’ll find you and take more than my money back, is that alright with you?”
4) “I have abandoned my child.”
5) “You are a bast from a basket.”
6) “If you have a milkshake and I have a milkshake and I have a straw and my straw reaches across the room and starts to drink your milkshake. I drink your milkshake.”
Oops-
1) Because this is a work of fiction, this may not seem as a goof, however, the town of little Boston in reality is in the state of Washington and not California as mentioned in the movie.