Paul Thomas Anderson, There Will Be Blood (116 points/16 votes)“Job Description: Adapt a 560 page novel written in 1927 into a cohesive, entertaining and preferably money-making movie for a 2007 audience. Coax and coach difficult performances from one incredible but notoriously eccentric Method actor and a 23 year old kid best known for not saying a word. Manage every detail of set, production and costume design on a 2.5 hour period drama about the birth of the oil business shot largely outdoors. Enormous brass balls and 10+ years experience both highly recommended.
“Anyone familiar with Paul Thomas Anderson’s earlier work was certainly aware of his considerable talent, knack for pairing the right song with the right scene and his uniquely deliberate visual style. You could almost sense there was a genius in waiting and with There Will Be Blood he freed himself from the neurotic hang-ups of his own original scripts and in the adaptation of a difficult novel found the story canvas he needed to paint an epic masterpiece. The film is visually perfect with a scope and ambition that only a select few would even have the imagination to dream up let alone set out to accomplish. And that is what this film is – an accomplishment on par with the best work of Kubrick, Coppola or Malick. Yes, it is that good. This is a film that will be watched for many years to come and will stand as a testament to an immensely talented director that with his fifth film finally got everything right and lived up to his full potential.” ~ Bryan Whitefield
Runners-up:
Joel and Ethan Coen, No Country for Old Men (112/16)
David Fincher, Zodiac (91/15)
Todd Haynes, I'm Not There (32/6)
Andrew Dominik, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford (23/4)
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1 comment:
John Carney got a vote?
And again, three of my five picks were picks I was flyin' solo on. I am not tapped into the zeitgeist in my opinion.
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