My Favourite Directors

Paul Thomas Anderson
Best Film: There Will Be Blood
Worst Film: The Master



Paul Thomas Anderson is a cinema fiend, as much a fan of the medium as the audience who watch his movies. He has devoted much of his life to studying the great directors, feeding off of their brilliance and in the process building his own resume of cinematic classics. The phrase "if I have seen further it is because I have stood on the shoulders of giants" describes PT Anderson perfectly. This is a man who is a self confessed film buff and like Spielberg and Scorsese before him, he has studied the best of the past to become one of the best directors of the present.

All great directors have their trademarks, for Spielberg it is his close up on the surprise of his characters, for Peter Jackson it is his large, vast spanning visuals and for Anderson it is an almost constant movement of the camera. This suited his masterpiece, There Will Be Blood perfectly, the desert landscape was as much a character as Daniel Plainview, HW and Eli.

As I have already mentioned, I find 'Blood to be Anderson's greatest work, his masterpiece, the crowning jewel of a slowly growing empire in film. Everything that Anderson had ever done before culminated in his 2007 classic. The pacing, the lighting, the scope, the ability to coax Daniel Day Lewis greatest performance, out of an actor who was his generations best and to give the new kid Paul Dano his chance to shine against such a veteran. These are all shines of a man at the top of his craft.

In recent times, Anderson has faltered a little with The Master, which is by no means a bad movie but it lacks the breath taking splendour of 'Blood, the cool ease of Hard Eight or the emotional depth of Magnolia. PT Anderson is still a director to watch, with his upcoming movie a crime mystery set in the 1960s. PT Anderson is a student of the arts, who understands his product because he understands what it means to be a fan.