◈ REVIEW · CINEMA · DRAMA · 2007 · PTA · DDL · GOLDENTEKDEKXII
THERE WILL
BE BLOOD.
BE BLOOD.
paul thomas anderson · daniel day-lewis · 2007
based on oil! by upton sinclair · 1927
they told you what was coming. right there in the title. you sat down anyway.
based on oil! by upton sinclair · 1927
they told you what was coming. right there in the title. you sat down anyway.
10
SCORE / 10
158
MINUTES
2007
YEAR
2
ACADEMY AWARDS
♉
DDL TAURUS
◈ THE FIRST 20 MINUTES · CINEMA WITHOUT LANGUAGE
there is no dialogue for the first fifteen minutes of this film.
just a man, a pickaxe, a hole in the ground, and jonny greenwood playing strings like the earth is screaming.
no backstory. no title card saying "california, 1898." no warm introduction. no inciting incident speech.
just a prospector in a mine shaft. alone. working.
he breaks his leg. drags himself out of the pit. crawls to town. registers the claim.
that is Daniel Plainview. that is all you need to know. the man will do anything.
the leg was broken and the paperwork still got filed.
just a man, a pickaxe, a hole in the ground, and jonny greenwood playing strings like the earth is screaming.
no backstory. no title card saying "california, 1898." no warm introduction. no inciting incident speech.
just a prospector in a mine shaft. alone. working.
he breaks his leg. drags himself out of the pit. crawls to town. registers the claim.
that is Daniel Plainview. that is all you need to know. the man will do anything.
the leg was broken and the paperwork still got filed.
◈ DANIEL PLAINVIEW · CHARACTER ANALYSIS · ♑ CAPRICORN ARCHETYPE
"I have a competition in me. I want no one else to succeed."
— DANIEL PLAINVIEW · THERE WILL BE BLOOD · 2007
daniel plainview is not a villain.
he is something more honest than that.
he is a man who looked inside himself, found pure competitive will, and decided to just say it out loud.
most people have what plainview has. they just call it ambition and leave it at that. plainview names the actual thing. i want no one else to succeed. not i want to succeed. i want no one else to.
that is the distinction. that is the whole movie.
he uses a boy, H.W., as a prop for sympathy in sales pitches. he knows it works. he uses it anyway. when H.W. goes deaf from the well explosion, plainview keeps drilling. the boy is secondary to the oil. the oil has always been primary.
he is so far inside the machine of acquisition that he cannot locate a human feeling that hasn't been monetized.
the capricorn archetype taken to terminal velocity. the mountain goat who climbed the mountain and realized there was no one else up there. and was satisfied.
he is something more honest than that.
he is a man who looked inside himself, found pure competitive will, and decided to just say it out loud.
most people have what plainview has. they just call it ambition and leave it at that. plainview names the actual thing. i want no one else to succeed. not i want to succeed. i want no one else to.
that is the distinction. that is the whole movie.
he uses a boy, H.W., as a prop for sympathy in sales pitches. he knows it works. he uses it anyway. when H.W. goes deaf from the well explosion, plainview keeps drilling. the boy is secondary to the oil. the oil has always been primary.
he is so far inside the machine of acquisition that he cannot locate a human feeling that hasn't been monetized.
the capricorn archetype taken to terminal velocity. the mountain goat who climbed the mountain and realized there was no one else up there. and was satisfied.
◈ THE MILKSHAKE SPEECH · BOWLING ALLEY · 1927
"I DRINK YOUR MILKSHAKE.
I DRINK IT UP."
I DRINK IT UP."
— DANIEL PLAINVIEW · THERE WILL BE BLOOD · 2007
this line is so famous it became meme currency.
what gets lost in the meme is what's actually happening in that room.
eli sunday — the fraudulent faith healer, the man who lied about prophesying the oil, the man who humiliated plainview by making him confess sins in front of his congregation — eli sunday has come to plainview's mansion, broke, to sell land.
the land plainview already drained. through directional drilling. years ago.
eli didn't know. he thought he had leverage. he walked into a room with a man who had been waiting to use him the way plainview uses everything.
the milkshake speech is not a gloat. it is a physics lesson. "if you have a milkshake, and i have a milkshake, and i have a straw. there it is."
eli's plot, his religion, his confidence, his whole life — already consumed. through the straw. without eli knowing.
the straw was the film. you watched it happen two hours ago.
"i'm finished."
last line of the movie.
not a boast. a report.
what gets lost in the meme is what's actually happening in that room.
eli sunday — the fraudulent faith healer, the man who lied about prophesying the oil, the man who humiliated plainview by making him confess sins in front of his congregation — eli sunday has come to plainview's mansion, broke, to sell land.
the land plainview already drained. through directional drilling. years ago.
eli didn't know. he thought he had leverage. he walked into a room with a man who had been waiting to use him the way plainview uses everything.
the milkshake speech is not a gloat. it is a physics lesson. "if you have a milkshake, and i have a milkshake, and i have a straw. there it is."
eli's plot, his religion, his confidence, his whole life — already consumed. through the straw. without eli knowing.
the straw was the film. you watched it happen two hours ago.
"i'm finished."
last line of the movie.
not a boast. a report.
◈ KEY SCENES · FIELD CERTIFIED
◈ SCENE 001
THE WELL BLOWS · H.W. GOES DEAF
the oil comes up hot. fire and black. H.W. goes deaf. the workers scatter.
plainview covers the boy's ears too late, looks at the burning tower, and you watch his face do the math.
the boy is a loss. the well is a gain. he does not stop production.
this is the moment where you confirm: you are watching a man who genuinely does not have the missing gene.
plainview covers the boy's ears too late, looks at the burning tower, and you watch his face do the math.
the boy is a loss. the well is a gain. he does not stop production.
this is the moment where you confirm: you are watching a man who genuinely does not have the missing gene.
◈ SCENE 002
ELI'S CHURCH · PLAINVIEW CONFESSES SINS
eli sunday needs plainview to confess abandonment of his son before the congregation grants access to the land.
plainview kneels. allows it. says the words. gets the pipeline rights.
the entire scene is plainview paying an invoice. the currency is dignity. it's a business expense.
eli mistakes humiliation for power. plainview is already thinking about the pipeline.
fifteen years later, in the bowling alley: payment received. with interest.
plainview kneels. allows it. says the words. gets the pipeline rights.
the entire scene is plainview paying an invoice. the currency is dignity. it's a business expense.
eli mistakes humiliation for power. plainview is already thinking about the pipeline.
fifteen years later, in the bowling alley: payment received. with interest.
◈ SCENE 003
HENRY · THE IMPOSTOR BROTHER
a man arrives claiming to be plainview's half-brother henry.
plainview, who trusts no one, opens up to him. the only moment of genuine human warmth in the film.
then plainview finds his diary. not his brother. the real henry is dead. this man is a stranger who studied the diary.
plainview's response: drag him to the oil fields at night. shoot him in the back of the head. bury him.
no hesitation. no grief. not even apparent anger.
what you understood: the warmth was a liability and now it's been removed.
plainview, who trusts no one, opens up to him. the only moment of genuine human warmth in the film.
then plainview finds his diary. not his brother. the real henry is dead. this man is a stranger who studied the diary.
plainview's response: drag him to the oil fields at night. shoot him in the back of the head. bury him.
no hesitation. no grief. not even apparent anger.
what you understood: the warmth was a liability and now it's been removed.
◈ SCENE 004
THE BOWLING ALLEY · THE FINALE
1927. plainview is old, drunk, alone in a mansion with a bowling alley.
eli comes for money. plainview obliges — by performing the milkshake speech and then beating eli to death with a bowling pin.
it is the most committed i'm-finished energy in cinema history.
butler enters. "i'm finished." end credits.
the movie told you in the title. there will be blood. you just didn't know it was going to be this funny.
eli comes for money. plainview obliges — by performing the milkshake speech and then beating eli to death with a bowling pin.
it is the most committed i'm-finished energy in cinema history.
butler enters. "i'm finished." end credits.
the movie told you in the title. there will be blood. you just didn't know it was going to be this funny.
◈ ASTROLOGY · FILM + CAST · FIELD ANALYSIS
◈ BIRTH CHARTS · THERE WILL BE BLOOD · 2007
DANIEL DAY-LEWIS · ♉ TAURUS
born: april 29, 1957 · london
sun: ♉ taurus · earth · fixed · venus-ruled
taurus: the bull who will not be moved.
possessive, stubborn, material, sensory.
built for the long game.
the sign of ownership, of land, of physical will.
a taurus played a capricorn and did it so convincingly
that paul thomas anderson wrote the role for him.
earth signs recognize each other.
sun: ♉ taurus · earth · fixed · venus-ruled
taurus: the bull who will not be moved.
possessive, stubborn, material, sensory.
built for the long game.
the sign of ownership, of land, of physical will.
a taurus played a capricorn and did it so convincingly
that paul thomas anderson wrote the role for him.
earth signs recognize each other.
DANIEL PLAINVIEW · ♑ CAPRICORN ARCHETYPE
archetype: ♑ capricorn · saturn-ruled
energy: competition, empire, legacy, isolation
capricorn is the mountain goat.
the sign that will climb over everything to reach the top
and then realize the view is the only reward.
no warmth was included in the package.
plainview ran a capricorn program until the hardware broke.
the hardware was him.
energy: competition, empire, legacy, isolation
capricorn is the mountain goat.
the sign that will climb over everything to reach the top
and then realize the view is the only reward.
no warmth was included in the package.
plainview ran a capricorn program until the hardware broke.
the hardware was him.
PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON · ♋ CANCER
born: june 26, 1970 · encino, california
sun: ♋ cancer · water · cardinal · moon-ruled
cancer: the sign of family, memory, the past.
pta keeps making movies about fathers and sons.
boogie nights, magnolia, phantom thread, there will be blood.
all of them are about what men leave behind.
a cancer made a film about a man who destroyed his family
and called it his masterpiece.
the distance is the analysis.
sun: ♋ cancer · water · cardinal · moon-ruled
cancer: the sign of family, memory, the past.
pta keeps making movies about fathers and sons.
boogie nights, magnolia, phantom thread, there will be blood.
all of them are about what men leave behind.
a cancer made a film about a man who destroyed his family
and called it his masterpiece.
the distance is the analysis.
ELI SUNDAY · ♋ CANCER ENERGY
character archetype: ♋ cancer
paul dano plays eli as community-keeper, spiritualist, family-protector.
the cancer energy: using emotion as currency.
faith healing is manipulated feeling.
eli sells people their own tears back to them at a markup.
plainview sells oil. eli sells belief.
the market for belief is bigger, but the margins are worse.
eli lost.
paul dano plays eli as community-keeper, spiritualist, family-protector.
the cancer energy: using emotion as currency.
faith healing is manipulated feeling.
eli sells people their own tears back to them at a markup.
plainview sells oil. eli sells belief.
the market for belief is bigger, but the margins are worse.
eli lost.
◈ THE SCORE · JONNY GREENWOOD · RADIOHEAD
jonny greenwood — ♉ taurus, born november 5, 1971.
another taurus. PTA put a taurus on the keys and told him to score a taurus's life.
greenwood wrote a score that sounds like oil. like pressure. like the earth doesn't want to give it up but doesn't get a vote.
the strings don't harmonize. they argue. they are building toward something ugly and they know it and they are doing it anyway.
the academy didn't nominate it because it wasn't original enough — used pre-existing greenwood compositions. the academy got it wrong. they usually do.
the score is the movie. the movie sounds like the score. they are the same document.
another taurus. PTA put a taurus on the keys and told him to score a taurus's life.
greenwood wrote a score that sounds like oil. like pressure. like the earth doesn't want to give it up but doesn't get a vote.
the strings don't harmonize. they argue. they are building toward something ugly and they know it and they are doing it anyway.
the academy didn't nominate it because it wasn't original enough — used pre-existing greenwood compositions. the academy got it wrong. they usually do.
the score is the movie. the movie sounds like the score. they are the same document.
◈ THE SOURCE · UPTON SINCLAIR · OIL! · 1927
◈ BOOK ANALYSIS · OIL! · UPTON SINCLAIR · 1927
OIL! — UPTON SINCLAIR
upton sinclair wrote oil! in 1927 as a critique of the american oil industry, the corruption of capitalism, and the rise of corporate power over community.
sinclair was a socialist. he wrote it as a left-wing rebuke of the teapot dome scandal era — when oil companies were literally buying the government.
the novel follows bunny ross, the idealistic son of an oil baron, as he watches his father compromise every value he had in service of the business.
paul thomas anderson took the father, removed the son's idealism, made the son deaf, and turned it into something else entirely.
pta kept the oil and the era. he kept the land acquisition, the religion, the conflict between capital and community.
but he extracted the socialism and replaced it with something rawer: the psychology of the man who builds the machine. not the machine's effect on society. the machine's effect on him.
sinclair asked: what does capitalism do to people?
pta asked: what kind of person builds capitalism, and what is left of them when it's done?
the answer was in the bowling alley.
sinclair was a socialist. he wrote it as a left-wing rebuke of the teapot dome scandal era — when oil companies were literally buying the government.
the novel follows bunny ross, the idealistic son of an oil baron, as he watches his father compromise every value he had in service of the business.
paul thomas anderson took the father, removed the son's idealism, made the son deaf, and turned it into something else entirely.
pta kept the oil and the era. he kept the land acquisition, the religion, the conflict between capital and community.
but he extracted the socialism and replaced it with something rawer: the psychology of the man who builds the machine. not the machine's effect on society. the machine's effect on him.
sinclair asked: what does capitalism do to people?
pta asked: what kind of person builds capitalism, and what is left of them when it's done?
the answer was in the bowling alley.
◈ DIRECTION · PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON · THE CRAFT
pta shot this in the marfa, texas plains — wide frames, natural light, actual scale.
he did not use CGI for the oil fires. he lit real fires.
the camera does not explain anything. it watches. it is a surveillance camera pointed at a monster, and it treats the monster with complete respect.
there is a shot where the oil derrick burns and the fire reflects in the dark pools of oil on the ground.
it is one of the most beautiful things ever put on film. the context is catastrophic. the image is gorgeous. pta understands this and does not apologize for it.
he also understands that the most disturbing scene in the film is not the murder at the end. it is the scene where H.W. is on fire and plainview runs to the well first.
the camera just shows you. no score. no swelling strings. just a man choosing.
he did not use CGI for the oil fires. he lit real fires.
the camera does not explain anything. it watches. it is a surveillance camera pointed at a monster, and it treats the monster with complete respect.
there is a shot where the oil derrick burns and the fire reflects in the dark pools of oil on the ground.
it is one of the most beautiful things ever put on film. the context is catastrophic. the image is gorgeous. pta understands this and does not apologize for it.
he also understands that the most disturbing scene in the film is not the murder at the end. it is the scene where H.W. is on fire and plainview runs to the well first.
the camera just shows you. no score. no swelling strings. just a man choosing.
◈ FIELD ASSESSMENT · GOLDENTEKDEKXII
"I'm an oil man, ladies and gentlemen. I have numerous wells pumping thousands of barrels per day. I like to think of myself as an oilman."
— DANIEL PLAINVIEW · SALES PITCH · THE FLAT LAND OF CALIFORNIA
this film does not have a protagonist you root for.
it has a protagonist you cannot look away from.
that is a harder trick.
most movies give you someone to want to win. this movie gives you someone to want to understand. and then refuses to explain him.
by the end you know everything about plainview and nothing about why plainview is the way plainview is.
the movie is fine with that.
it is not about the cause. it is about the effect.
the effect: the bowling alley. the bowling pin. the milkshake. the silence. i'm finished.
you drove two and a half hours to watch a man you cannot understand do things you cannot approve of and finish alone in a room with a body.
and it was worth it.
ten out of ten. no hesitation. like a plainview business decision.
it has a protagonist you cannot look away from.
that is a harder trick.
most movies give you someone to want to win. this movie gives you someone to want to understand. and then refuses to explain him.
by the end you know everything about plainview and nothing about why plainview is the way plainview is.
the movie is fine with that.
it is not about the cause. it is about the effect.
the effect: the bowling alley. the bowling pin. the milkshake. the silence. i'm finished.
you drove two and a half hours to watch a man you cannot understand do things you cannot approve of and finish alone in a room with a body.
and it was worth it.
ten out of ten. no hesitation. like a plainview business decision.
10
/ 10
THERE WILL BE BLOOD · 2007 · PAUL THOMAS ANDERSON · DANIEL DAY-LEWIS ♉
◈ THE STRAW IS ALREADY IN YOUR MILKSHAKE · YOU JUST DON'T KNOW YET
GOLDENTEKDEKXII · LEOTEKXVI · SCORPTEKXII · AQUATEKXVI · PYROTEKIX · NEPTEKVII · VENTEKXIV · RTEKS.NET · 925
◈ THE STRAW IS ALREADY IN YOUR MILKSHAKE · YOU JUST DON'T KNOW YET
GOLDENTEKDEKXII · LEOTEKXVI · SCORPTEKXII · AQUATEKXVI · PYROTEKIX · NEPTEKVII · VENTEKXIV · RTEKS.NET · 925
◈ RTEKS.NET · REVIEWS · THERE WILL BE BLOOD · 10/10 · GOLDENTEKDEKXII CERTIFIED · 925 ◈