There Will Be Blood 2007 Now

The film is a masterpiece of auditory unease. The hiss of a gas leak, the rhythmic thump of a drilling pump, the sudden silence after H.W.’s accident. Sound is not supportive but antagonistic.

Shot on 35mm in the harsh Texas desert (standing for California). Elswit and Anderson favor: There Will Be Blood 2007

The film is anchored by a legendary performance from Daniel Day-Lewis as Daniel Plainview. Day-Lewis, known for his immersive method acting, portrays Plainview as a misanthropic visionary whose singular focus on wealth and power alienates everyone around him. His portrayal earned him the Academy Award for Best Actor. The film is a masterpiece of auditory unease

Most period dramas use lush, orchestral strings. There Will Be Blood uses a bow scraped violently across a cello. Greenwood’s score (for which he was disqualified by the Academy for being "too derivative," a decision widely mocked since) is a masterpiece of dissonance. Tracks like "Prospectors Arrive" and "Henry Plainview" vibrate with atonal panic. It sounds like the earth itself screaming as men rip metal from its veins. The music does not tell you how to feel; it makes you feel uncomfortable. Shot on 35mm in the harsh Texas desert

Anderson uses this period not for historical recreation but as a crucible to forge an archetypal American myth.