On the very facade, PTA offered something very different this time round. He threw away the whole cast assemble, he climbed out of the Valley and instead of the whole plain, he’s focusing on one particular cactus- Daniel Plainview.

Loosely adapted from Upton Sinclair’s “Oil!”, the brilliantly titled film gave audience somewhat different cinematic experience. The strong soundtrack gave a pendulum momentum to the images which would be too dull on their own, though not compelling enough for me to look forward to what would happen next. This is pretty much PTA, which I appreciate as I allow the film to take me on the ride. This is also done in another way; PTA introduces new plot as we go along- the long-lost brother, the killing of the preacher, and so on.

PTA has always cast a single powerhouse in his films- Gwyneth Paltrow, Mark Wahlberg, Tom Cruise & Adam Sandler- and this time round, Daniel Day-Lewis is a good choice to tie up the film properly, whom without the film would just fall apart, especially so that Blood revolves around this particular character. This character is made so compelling that he pretty much is all PTA needed (that’s the reason to throw the usual casts away?).

PTA has this incredible ability of changing the direction of his films without changing the tempo for you would think it’s befitting. In Magnolia, he made the whole cast broke into a sing-a-long (from drama to musical), in Punch Drunk-Love, he created a character capable of both psychopatic action of threatening tugs and whacking things, and lovingly devoted to loving. In Blood, he changed the whole mood to a pretty comical one when Daniel was to be baptised. Genius.

As much as I love what PTA does, I must admit that I didn’t quite like Blood as much as I wanted. I’m not sure why, because after thinking through, the film actually grows in me. Perhaps it takes a second viewing for me to appreciate PTA’s effort better. Perhaps I really should have just watched it without expectation- which i thought I didn’t impose. In any case, I do believe that Blood deserves its Oscar nomination, but not the win; having watched No Country for Old Men, I thought that was a more brilliant film to win.

I certainly look forward to more works from PTA. Blood is ok, and I require more time for this piece to grow in me.