There Will Be Blood: scenes from early California

Opening in theaters today is Paul Thomas Anderson's latest film, “There Will Be Blood,” based on Upton Sinclair's 1927 novel “Oil.”   I'm a sucker for the wide-open landscapes of the western U.S. captured on film, and, from what I saw on the trailer, “There Will Be Blood” promises to be a visual treat on par with other favorites like Terrence Malick's first two films, “Badlands” and “Days of Heaven,” and the latest Coen brother's film, “No Country for Old Men.”

“There Will Be Blood” is set in the barrens of central California's Kern County (to be confirmed after I see the movie…), still the site of huge oil fields. In Anderson's movie, New Mexico and Marfa, Texas stand in for the younger California landscape. California still has vast tracts of open space, but they are ever-encroached upon by our burgeoning population — as well as countless oil derricks which still spot California, particularly along Highway 33 in Kern County.

Below: some scenes from “There Will Be Blood,” captured from the online promo trailer.

The reviews are mostly positive, with the notable exception coming from Salon.com's Stephanie Zacharek, who found it “tempered and wrought, to the point of dullness.”

More on “There Will Be Blood:”

» Rotten Tomatoes (aggregated reviews)
» New York Times review
» Salon.com review
» “There Will Be Blood” film trailer at Apple.com

Below: my photos of the California and the west:

Technorati Tags: California, cinematography, globalwarming, landscapes, movies, oil, OilAddiction, PaulThomasAnderson, PTAnderson, SouthernCalifornia, ThereWillBeBlood, UptonSinclair