There Will Be Blood

Paul Thomas Anderson sets his story in California at the turn of the 19th and 20th centuries, following the oil boom through the eyes of a ruthless, misanthropic oilman and his apparent opposite - an eccentric self-proclaimed preacher. From their clash emerges a parable about the egocentric greed of capitalism, the erosion of fundamental human values, and complicated family relationships.

At the heart of the film is an outsized performance by Daniel Day-Lewis, as unsettling and inscrutable as the central character himself. Robert Elswit's cinematography and the hypnotic score by Jonny Greenwood of Radiohead complete a work that won over a hundred major awards upon its release and is now considered one of the most significant films not only of this millennium, but of cinema history.