Exclamation point. Brave Anderson made a film based on the novel “Oil!” Upton Sinclair is a socialist-anarchist, moralist, anti-monopolist and, in general, a classic of critical realist literature. Maybe that’s why the film has a limited release in the US.
1. Exclamation point. Brave Anderson made a film based on the novel “Oil!” Upton Sinclair is a socialist-anarchist, moralist, anti-monopolist and, in general, a classic of critical realist literature. Maybe that’s why the film has a limited release in the US. And ours is quite wide. It seems that this story, which unfolds in the 20s of the twentieth century, is relevant for us – the story of the relationship in the family of Texas settlers on whose land an oil field is discovered, “the drama of greed, religion and oil,” as Sinclair defined it. We have recently been experiencing oil intoxication, the sensations are fresh … So the exclamation point at the end of the title of the novel is lost in the title of the film, most likely due to a misunderstanding.
2. Duel with a happy ending. It is not clear how these two decided to cooperate – the 37-year-old filmmaker Anderson, the creator of the innovative “Magnolia”, which Hollywood itself could not bribe, and the recognized British tragedian Daniel Day-Lewis, known for his perfectionism and extreme professional quarrelsomeness? But, apparently, from the altruistic attempts of both to still find contact with each other, this amazing creature was born – the oil magnate Plainview performed by Day-Lewis, a brutal and fatal personality, dodgy and assertive, humiliated and ambitious. And the film as a whole is a black saga about “black gold”.
3. Musical fountain. The film score was composed by Radiohead guitarist Jonny Greenwood. And this original soundtrack deservedly comes out separately from the picture: its expressiveness is comparable to a fountain of oil spouting from the ground.
Starring: Daniel Day-Lewis, Paul Deino.At the box office from 17 January.