Top 10 List (All-Time Faves): 10. There Will Be Blood (2007) and No Country For Old Men (2007)

10. There Will Be Blood (2007) and No Country For Old Men (2007)

Yes, right off the bat I am going to go ahead and cheat on my list... (hey, it's my list anyways, so lay off!).

I place both of these films together because they resonate in similar ways for me, on top of the fact that they also do bear a number of factual similarities.

Both were filmed in 2006 in the same vicinity of western Texas, released in 2007 and widely competed with each other for the highest accolades at the awards ceremonies that year. Both films take place in an arid, beautifully-shot, desert landscape, each following the machinations of a violent and unfailingly driven man. One is motivated by wealth and success, the other... well, it's not entirely known.

In both, the filmmakers involved are without a doubt at the height of their crafts. Direction, writing, cinematography, editing, score and acting, among others, are all at their finest levels within these two films. It is unsurprising then that they went on to remarkably take home a combined six Academy Awards.

These two films are also examples where I made a singular choice among the directors' array of exquisite films. Both Paul Thomas Anderson and the Coen brothers have numerous other magnificent films, more or less all of which are worth seeing. However, I decided to choose only one from within their filmographies to be represented on this list - I am sure a number of you would choose alternatives and for that I'd be happy to hear your arguments for them in the comments below.

There Will Be Blood

In California, the proverbial land of opportunity, Daniel Plainview, a man limited only by how far his ambition, greed and obsessions can take him, sets out to become an oil-man during the state's oil boom of the early 1900's. An utterly calculating and ruthless man, Plainview does not hesitate to use the people around him - family, partners and neighbours - as pieces on his board, pitting them against one another, extorting them, sacrificing them, each one, a turn at a time, in order to move him closer to his own personal victories.

The film is, in large part, a character piece of the fascinating Plainview; he is the hub of the wheel that all events and developments in the film spin and gravitate around. And, in that, Daniel Day-Lewis portraying Plainview, is truly remarkable. That statement itself is perhaps unremarkable as it is difficult to think of a film where Day-Lewis is anything less than remarkable. In this film, however, from the moment that Plainview is first glimpsed as a working miner toiling away in earthly grime - it becomes impossible to peel your eyes away from the performance by one of cinema's greatest thespians.

The film was directed and written by Paul Thomas Anderson, which he based on the novel Oil! by Upton Sinclair. PTA, an auteur in his own right, boasts a number of films often stated in the 'Best Of' categories. There Will Be Blood, I see as being his most complete. In large part, this is due to two particular partners he has in this outing: cinematographer, Robert Elswit, and composer (and Radiohead guitarist), Jonny Greenwood. Simply put, the film is never less than gorgeous to look and to listen to. Elswit gives the arid landscape a stark beauty, accentuated by the focal towering oil derricks, lone figures among the barren plateaus. He contrasts the scenery with crisp close-ins of the characters, giving maximum effect to all of the actors' performances. Greenwood likewise elevates the narrative at every turn. He brings a level of brooding suspense to the plot as the audience begins to witness Plainview's descent into the most vilest aspects of capitalist lust.

No Country For Old Men

If Daniel Plainview is the despotic ruler who rallies his nation together without a moment's thought in order to invade nations and sacrifice their lives for his own personal gain, then No Country For Old Men's Anton Chigurh, played malevolently by Javier Bardem, is the tornado that rolls into town causing utter and efficient destruction to anyone he comes into contact with. He is the Joker unjoking. He is what happens if you pull Michael Myers or Jason out of a slasher film and plop him into a grounded thriller. The result of this equation is the all-too-tense, cat-and-mouse, atmospheric thrill ride that is Joel and Ethan Coen's No Country For Old Men.

Based on Cormac McCarthy's novel of the same name, the film follows three different parties, Bardem's Chigurh, Josh Brolin's Llewelyn Moss, and two officers played by Tommy Lee Jones and Woody Harrelson. The hunt is set in motion after Brolin's Moss happens upon a briefcase containing two million dollars, the lone surviving item from a failed cartel drug deal in the nearby countryside. This discovery quickly leads to the three parties going after one another, tracking and evading through the shadowy desert. The officers try to apprehend the sociopathic and dangerous Chigurh, Chigurh tries to recover the money, and Moss possessing the money... just tries to survive it all.

If I didn't state it clear enough, this film is all atmosphere and suspense. Notably, the film does not have a score of any kind. The effect is that every footstep, every breath and every flip of Chigurh's coin or shot of his captive bolt pistol (an innovative weapon choice) are each accentuated all the more thrillingly. Visually, the film is breathtaking to witness and this should be of no surprise considering it was shot by arguably one of cinema's greatest cinematographers (at least in my opinion), Roger Deakins. Although the film carries the usual expert pacing, tension and the smart script  of a Coen brother's film, it is interesting in that it lacks the usual humour (fore the most part, even the black humour) that most of their film's are built upon. Sure, Chigurh does make a few 'jokes' here and there but the starkness of them will likely be received more as connecting to the character's depravity than something the audience will actually laugh at.

There Will Be Blood and No Country For Old Men are both must-see films, and for those that have already seen them, well, then it's long past time for a re-watch. In my eyes, they are both utter masterpieces and jointly hold Number 10 on my list.