Film Studies students host Paul Thomas Anderson evening
27th March 26
Three of our A Level Film Studies students hosted an evening celebrating director Paul Thomas Anderson, with a screening of his film There Will Be Blood and a discussion of his work – including its impact on them as young film aficionados. One of the organisers, Oren T, penned the following report after the event…
On Thursday 16 March, I was incredibly fortunate to introduce the work of writer and director extraordinaire Paul Thomas Anderson – specifically his 2007 magnum opus There Will Be Blood – to a live audience in the Phoenix Theatre.
Together with two of my fellow Year 12 Film Studies classmates, Otto F and Noah D, we introduced the audience not only to the film but also to PTA’s whole catalogue.
“No better time to discuss the career of the chameleonic filmmaker”
The event took place just three days before Anderson won his first Academy Awards (Best Picture, Best Director and Best Screenplay) for the film achievement of the year, if not the decade: One Battle After Another. There was perhaps no better time to discuss the career of the chameleonic filmmaker who, after 30 years of work, has gifted the art form one masterpiece after another.
Known for his subtly propulsive directorial style, powerhouse collaborations with actors such as Daniel Day-Lewis and Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and beautifully articulated stories, those three elusive Oscars have been a long time coming.
Our 35-minute introduction covered his upbringing, career trajectory, and the impact his work has had on his peers and the future generation of filmmakers emerging today.
Emerging from his competent debut, in which he displayed himself as a student of Scorsese, Altman and Demme, Anderson launched himself into the role of directing savant we know him as today with his exuberant rise-and-fall portrait of perverse superstardom, Boogie Nights.
From there, he’s only gone up, placing himself alongside Gen X filmmakers Quentin Tarantino and David Fincher as one of the best filmmakers alive.
The panel discussion then pivoted to the main subject of the evening: There Will Be Blood, widely regarded as his best film to date.
Following greedy oil prospector Daniel Plainview as he exerts his growing power and influence over the religious town of Little Boston, the film is a dark fable about the original sin of modern society.
On paper, the film is very novelistic (itself being a loose adaptation of Oil! by Upton Sinclair). However, Anderson’s highly accomplished capabilities as a director – the use of single-takes, calculated shot choices, and occasional explosion of bravura technical skill – make the film a scary, darkly funny, and highly entertaining odyssey through the mind of a true American.
“Paul Thomas Anderson arrived at a crucial time in our cinema-watching experience”
We opened with a montage reel of PTA’s previous films and covered many aspects surrounding the film, including the landscape of 2007 in films, widely regarded as one of the greatest years for cinema in history. In fact, There Will Be Blood achieved relatively little success at the Oscars that year on account of a Coen Brothers sweep for their intensely cynical adaptation No Country For Old Men, a film that coincidentally pairs well with TWBB.
The music of the film was also a topic of conversation; an eerie and chilling score by Radiohead’s Jonny Greenwood lives on today as one of the strongest film scores of the 21st century.
On a more personal note, we discussed what the film means to us, how it and Paul Thomas Anderson arrived at a crucial time in our cinema-watching experience. He continues to be one of, if not my favourite director of all time, and – seen on the big screen – this film only confirmed my love for it and its author.
Oren T
Don of A Level Film Studies
