Postby KingAl » Mon Apr 28, 2008 1:38 pm
It's a great film; very Citizen-Kane-ish, i.e. a pseudo-biopic, 'dawn to decandence' character study.
Neither of the main players are particularly likeable, but it doesn't seem to matter.
Also, you may or may not be interested to know that Johnny Greenwood from Radiohead wrote the music.
And, for those who've already seen it, I wouldn't so much see it as Plainview's hunt for power; rather, I'd see it more as charting his growing dislike of and disillusionment in others - whom he sees as variously insane, underhanded or weak (the local community, his 'brother' and competitors (including later H.W.), and his 'son' respectively) - and wish to isolate himself from the rest of the world: throughout the film he either sends away or murders his last links with the rest of the world. But then, it is open to interpretation, and it's probably more powerful without dissection :P