In preparation for the release of There Will Be Blood, Dennis Lim has a nice piece on Paul Thomas Anderson and his "maximalist" style of film-making over at Slate, including YouTube clips of scenes from his other films! We may not be living in a golden age of American movies, but a new New Hollywood of sorts has emerged—a cluster of adventurous directors in their 30s and 40s who have figured out how to get personal films made with Hollywood or Indiewood money: Steven Soderbergh, David Fincher, Quentin Tarantino, Richard Linklater, Todd Haynes, Sofia Coppola, Alexander Payne. Many of them have a specialty. Fincher is a visual virtuoso, Linklater a verbal stylist. Payne is good with character, Coppola with moods and music. Tarantino has the encyclopedic geek smarts, Soderbergh the taste for reinvention. With Paul Thomas Anderson, all of the above apply. His thing is that he can do it all.
Lim discusses Anderson's willingness to be sincerely emotional, his use of music, and the important differences between Anderson and his oft-cited models, Altman and Kubrick. Lim hints at something I've often thought, that Anderson is much more humanistic (in the sense of humane-ness) than most of his colleagues and predecessors. I'm looking forward to seeing the film -- crazy ending and all!