There Will Be Blood (and Wine and Discussion)

Still haven't seen There Will Be Blood? Can't convince your friend/partner/lover/spouse/dumb co-worker/roommate/priest/mother to sit through a 158 minute move? Well, if you're in the vicinity of NYC, there's a happening this Saturday evening (5 Jan) that might be of interest. Fellow film blogger (and friend) Kevin Lee is organizing a gathering of film folks to see the 5:40 showing of Paul Thomas Anderson's masterpiece at Brooklyn's own BAM Rose Cinema, followed by drinks and discussion at an imbibing establishment yet to be determined. There's an impressive roster of attendees so far, so please feel free to join us for what will no doubt be a memorable night. Here's an opportunity to discuss the Kubrickian and religious elements, the misconceptions, and argue whether or not the ending is a meant to be funny. (It isn't.) It's probably a good idea to order tickets in advance, which can be done by clicking HERE. If you have any questions, feel free to contact me via email. Hope to see you there on Saturday! [UPDATE: It looks like the post-screening gathering will be held at Thomas Biesl, a Viennese bistro located right across the street from BAM. Herr Biesl has been kind enough to set aside a room large enough to accommodate us all.]

Comments

[eugene hernandez]

i've found the debate about the ending totally fascinating. i happen to think it works and i also find it funny. in fact, at the end of an interview, i recently told P.T. Anderson that I found myself laughing during the ending and he was hardly surprised and he too found it humorous. did you read somewhere that he said it *wasn't* supposed to be funny?

[Filmbrain]

Eugene -- my parenthetical is more a reaction to the people who feel the ending is outright comedy, and a betrayal to the rest of the film. I'll argue till I'm blue in the face that isn't the case.

I'm bummed that Michael Tully is out of town. He hated the ending, and I'm convinced his response is due (in part) to the audience reaction when he saw it. It would be great if he could be there on Saturday.

[David Lowery]

Find a drinking establisment with WiFi and someone bring a MacBook!

[Glenn Kenny]

Sure the ending's funny (and intentionally so)...up to a point!
Sorry we won't be able to make the screening, but maybe we'll troll our way to whatever drinking establishment after we're through with our other obligations.

[tully]

don't blow your wad, Andrew. i'd love to give this mofo one more spin when i get back to NYC at the end of January, especially with you! we haven't talked since i gave the film a second spin, which led to two interesting revelations: 1) the ending didn't seem as out of place tonally as the rest of the film the second time around; ***yet*** 2) it still felt tacked on and thoroughly unconvincing to me. let me conclude by saying that this second audience also reacted to the final scene like it was a flat-out comedy, with not one hint of horror or sorrow. i guess it comes down to the fact that i'm on a different page with the approach to the climax. i feel like a work so majestic and epic and profound should have elements of humor throughout, which Blood does well for so long, but when the shit hits the fan i want it to be more serious than the day when you find out you have AIDS and your parents die of cancer and your wife loses your baby--all in a 158-minute time span. again, this is my baggage, not PTA's (or yours, or anyone else's for that matter). i'm not saying it's wrong. i just wish the ending had torn out my stomach and made me want to throw up, not cackle and grin at the cleverness of it all.

[Filmbrain]

Michael --

I'll gladly see it again when you're back in town. Let me know....

[Peter Nellhaus]

I thought you might be interested in knowing that TWBB is playing in Denver at a theater where alcohol is served.

[Blim]

Doh! A couple of us from Lucid Screening are going to the screening at BAM right after that.

[Filmbrain]

Peter -- I suggest a fifth of rotgut as your in-screening beverage.

Blim -- We should at least say hi as we pass each other.

[John]

But Anderson's movies have always played on the tracks between comedy and something more serious. It's hard to think of a scene of his that doesn't find humor in a dramatic moment or the other way around. I laughed louder than anyone in the theater through the last scene -- right up to the point where it abruptly stopped being funny.

The debate about There Will Be Blood reminds me of a story Anderson told somewhere about screening Boogie Nights for college students who laughed when Bill Macy shoots himself. They didn't get it.

Maybe it's the volume of Anderson's upper registers that makes it hard for some people to hear the lower ones.

[Sam]

"Maybe it's the volume of Anderson's upper registers that makes it hard for some people to hear the lower ones."

That, my friend, is brilliantly put.

[HarryTuttle]

This was a great ciné-club idea! I hope someone filmed or recorded it and will podcast it for the rest of us who were not there. ;)

[tully]

"Maybe it's the volume of Anderson's upper registers that makes it hard for some people to hear the lower ones."

brilliantly put is right!

[Derek]

I thought the ending melded pretty seamlessly with the rest of the movie. That being said, the best ending is 29 Palms. I think had PTA not telegraphed the ending of the movie it might have had a similar punch. Dumont played the audience beautifully with 29 Palms. Nothing happens for two hours; some driving, some fucking, some eating, some arguing, and then...Holy Shit. I didn't quite feel that way about TWBB. I mean, I felt it, but not like 29 Palms. 29 Palms has the best Holy Shit Finale of all time. That or Fat Girl. Nah. 29 Palms. Just try and make it through the movie with an open mind, taking in all the sights and sounds, because if you do the last ten minutes will come at you like the worst nightmare you ever had.

[Karina]

@harrytuttle: I recorded some audio at the after-after party that will be worked into Friday's episode of Spout.com's podcast.

[don lewis]

I thought the ending was hillarious and I was literally grinning ear to ear while the people next to me were horrified and saying aloud, "dude...what the hell?" just...over and over again. THAT is filmmaking.

[Nguyen Nguyen]

The ending is unusual because it denies the expected closure or epilogue associated with most historical/epic/biographies. There's no wrapping up or putting the pieces together- No "rosebud"(sled) that's going to solve the mystery of the controversial man because the clues are already there throughout the movie.
I would also compare this to Barry Lydon. Another similarity between PT and Kubrick is the lack of montage. Really, the movie is a collection of scenes that just cut into each other without the usual tricks of sewing scenes together like every other overdone Scorsese movie of late.
I loved how the scene begins with Plainview on the floor and Eli Sunday towering above him and then the roles are switched at the end. It's one of the greatest reversals in a single scene. Plainview was dead already but because Sunday challenged him he came alive again to destroy him. It's true to his character because that is when he is most alive-when he is destroying the competition.

[laura]

The movie was so long that my phone accidentally went off during that crucial scene at the end w/ his son. The lady next to me was pissed. Oops.

[Allan MacInnis]

Just for the record - dunno if anyone cares - I'm one of the naysaying minority in regard the whole film, especially the last hour. My rather vague review, and more specific back-and-forth with the VIFF's Jack Vermee about, among other things, the ending, are included here:

http://alienatedinvancouver.blogspot.com/2008/01/there-will-be-blood.html

The whole film, like No Country for Old Men, seems like it's being vastly overrated to me (tho' there are things about it I appreciate).