The Master Reviews

I am glad I didn't fall for the temptation to download the movie and watched it in cinema (fuck you Norway for releasing this movie 6 months after premiere). The movie had some very nice visuals, and the camera is top notch! My eyes had an orgasm every scene.
The acting is nothing short of incredible. Phoenix is ten levels above outstanding, never seen acting like that, that man know how to improv. Hoffman and Amy are great as always.

The film was pumping with energy, I felt angry the whole film, I don't know why, but I wanted to punch something, just like Phoenix did several times in the movie. I felt his frustration in some scenes. And I understand that Hoffman suddenly yelled out of anger.

****SPOILERS MAYBE I THINK ( EVEN THO IT IS HARD TO SPOIL THIS MOVIE)****
As all movies, there was a message. I think I need to think about this a while. Some people need to feel superior and need followers, and some need to be the followers. Quell in this movie was neither, he was an lost soul who tried to hang on to something, but always fell out. He was an sailor of the sea, he didn't belong to anyone, anything or anywhere. Lancaster Dodd admired that and maybe he wanted to be like him? ****END OF SPOILERS****

Absolutely amazing I say!

Great performances from Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman.
I found interesting the relationship of mutual need. On one hand, someone who needs help to think and act with clarity. On the other, someone who believes that can help and heal.

I saw The Master with my best friend, and we’re both huge fans of Paul Thomas Anderson. It seemed like the perfect combination of events. I was with the right person to discuss the film with afterward, and we were both familiar with the director’s prior work so we knew what to expect. Except, we really didn’t, because after the film ended we just looked at each other trying to figure out what we had just watched, hoping maybe the other one could give us some insight.

Months passed by, and we kept bringing it up, and eventually we decided that it was a film that doesn’t immediately strike you as something brilliant. It needs to crawl under your skin and live there for a little while as you absorb everything you’ve just seen and experienced. It doesn’t all add up neatly, but The Master was one of the best movie-going experiences I had in all of 2012. I think this could be looked back upon as a masterpiece that wasn’t properly beloved in its time.

Like any film in Anderson’s oeuvre, The Master is deliberately elliptical about numerous aspects of its narrative, preferring to burrow itself into your brain and let you parse together what is and isn’t there. There’s no definitive proof over the kind of feelings Lancaster Dodd and Freddie Quell have for each other, but there are more than a few theories and each could be backed up by the film if you look at it just so.

For me the main narrative thrust of the film is the master/mentor relationship between Freddie Quell’s raging id and Lancaster Dodd’s ego-maniacal cult leader. I don’t see a homoerotic undertone to their relationship like most people. What I see is one man seeking to stroke his own ego and prove his power by taming another man who is a figure of wild pleasures and the id given corporeal form. Getting Quell is join his group and become his devotee is nothing but a power play disguised as fatherly concern and authoritarian grandstanding.

And there’s still the oblique understanding who the titular moniker refers to. On an obvious, surface-level reading is concerns Dodd’s rank within the cult group he’s established. But within the central relationships – Quell, Dodd and Peggy, Dodd’s newest and younger wife – the power struggles muddle who is and who is not the master, as it changes over time. Is Freddie Quell ultimately the master of his own life and destiny? I suppose, in a way, the film was leading up to his self-actualization.

But how to explain the confusing relationship between Dodd and Quell, and who is the master between them? There’s an element of masochism, on an emotional level, going on there. And who has the upper-hand changes subtly and reverts back over the course of the film. And then there’s the relationship within the Dodd household. Consider Peggy’s presence, eternally playing the supportive, loving wife and lurking in the background of scenes. But there are moments when she flashes a deeper, darker undercurrent to her personality to both of the men. A scene involving a handjob quickly escalates into full-on emotional manipulation that in any other year would have given Amy Adams the Oscar.

The three central performances go a long way towards anchoring and selling the film. Joaquin Phoenix should just be handed the damn Oscar outright. No other performance this year matches his for sheer freedom and risk-taking. It was dangerously easy to dip Freddie Quell into sub-Brando caricature, think of an actor doing an impersonation of him in On the Waterfront and you’d understand, but Phoenix never even heads in that direction. His body is frequently bent and broken, his lips curled and twisted in odd ways, Phoenix finds a way to show us the disturbed, broken mind within this man. I guess some could consider him overacting, but I think his is the male performance of the year. Unafraid to look crazy or unattractive on camera, or to even be asked to do things which could make him look childish and immature, Phoenix attacks the role like I’ve never seen him do so before.

My second favorite performance in the film is Amy Adams’ Peggy. I’ve already mentioned how she keeps most of her performance at a modulated pace, preferring to keep a suburban housewife poker face and linger in the background of scenes. But when she is called to rage with fury, or go to disturbing places to illicit the results she wants, you can’t help but become slightly afraid of her. Anderson has wisely cast Adams in a part that uses her sunny, cheerful exterior that we’ve grown accustomed to, and allowed for her to promptly turn it upside down, inside out and destroy it.

And, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who I don’t think has ever given a performance that I didn’t like. Ok, that I didn’t outright love and think was the greatest since his previous one. Here he wears a painfully bleached haircut, and frequently looks pink and bloated from too much booze. I love how fearless he is in changing his looks for a role. But it’s the way in which he erupts like a geyser that haunts you. His character is eternally on the precipice of exploding into rages and is being backed into corners by naysayers and doubtful third-parties. His ego knows no bounds, and the moment it is questioned he proceeds to lay into someone with emotional torrents while sitting perfectly still, his only movements being in his face, occasionally his hands and his voice which rises and falls so easily.

I have spent all of this time talking about the characters, their relationships and trying to make sense of it all. I haven’t even mentioned the beautiful cinematography, which should win the Oscar this year, nor the films numerous other merits. But that’s the mystery of a film like The Master, its opacity, its ability to leave so many things open-ended intrigues and fascinates and leads to long discussions afterwards. Now, this is what I call movie-making.

I already saw this movie but since it was a while back, I was quite eager to check it out again. Ever since I saw 'Boogie Nights', I have been faithfully following Paul Thomas Anderson's work. This time again, we had to wait 5 long years to see his new directing effort so my expectations were sky high and it was one of my top priorities back in 2012. Unfortunately, it didn't live up to my expectations. I mean, it was really good, there were even some really brilliant moments but I never thought it was never truly amazing. Indeed, in my opinion, even though the two main characters were fascinating, the story didn't work so well and the whole thing was sometimes pretty random (for example, at the end, Hoffman manages to find Phoenix, ask him to come all the way to England and when they meet, after just a short conversation, he is simply sent away...). I also had a hard time to make up the motivations of all the characters which were often acting pretty randomly as well. Still, there was some great stuff here. Indeed, the directing was really good and the whole thing looked amazing with some awesome shots and like I said before, the two main characters were just fascinating with some great performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Thank God Phoenix stopped with this retirement nonsense and got back in the game, it is such a fine actor and he gave here one of his best performances. Well, I’m glad I gave it a second chance because I was much more able to enjoy it the second time around. Basically, the biggest challenge with this movie is its opacity and its lack of clear linear narrativity. As soon as you manage to not getting alienated by this aspect, it’s actually pretty damned enjoyable. Now, I believe it’s a fascinating study of two characters who were nothing alike, who had nothing in common and, yet, they became fascinated by each other. I think they were basically two lost and broken souls who both thought they have found the key to their salvation (one with his mysterious moonshine and the other with his mysterious mysticism). Anyway, to conclude, even though it might be Paul Thomas Anderson’s most difficult movie to read, it is actually pretty good and definitely worth a look, especially if you are interested in his work.

I am a huge fan of P.T. Anderson--have been since I first saw There Will Be Blood and was further swayed by Magnolia. He has a hypnotic way of drawing you in and keeping your attention as things swirl out of control. And so when I saw previews for The Master, it only took me one look into Joaquin's manic gaze before I knew I had to see it.

"If you figure out a way to live without a master, any master, be sure to let the rest of us know, for you would be the first in the history of the world."

Joaquin Phoenix stars as Freddie Quell, the enigmatic troublemaker that stumbles his way into Lancaster Dodd's (Philip Seymour Hoffman) world, secret elixirs in-hand. But even here, so close to the beginning, we come to an impass: who is really the star of this film? Both actors give phenomenal performances, not to mention Amy Adams finding ways to shine in the unenviable role of the submissive wife. But the film itself can't seem to decide who exactly this movie is about. There has been controversy over the topic of the film since it is based loosely on the life of Scientology's founder, L. Ron Hubbard--but it doesn't tread past the ankles in anything worth mentioning. You see some sides of Dodd that make you think he isn't as supremely confident as he would like to think, and sometimes in those same scenes, you see Freddie has similar doubts. The movie teeters on the edge of climax, making you think something explosive will happen at any moment due to the volatile nature of Freddie--yet the end scene plays out and the only thing it made me wonder is if Lancaster was trying to hide his love for Freddie. Still, this movie has a lot going for it--P.T. has a great visual style with gorgeous shots and detailed scenes. I especially enjoyed the period-piece clothing choices and color palette. I just wish it was more cohesive, which sounds strange coming from me.

For the first time since There Will Be Blood in 2007, Paul Thomas Anderson releases only his sixth feature to date. Following critical reception of his past films and being a director of quality over quantity, Anderson's latest film The Master was going to become an immediate lookout for Oscars. However, this is a very different project compared to his past works as it is a film for the audience to just observe and work out for themselves. Therefore The Master is not to everybody's taste. The film may feature absolutely fantastic Oscar-worthy performances from its ensemble cast and at least satisfactory direction from Anderson, but it is still a slight misfire.


Every great director of quality over quantity has made at least one feature for audiences to observe that expresses the world in either a natural or unusual way which usually provides a philosophical meaning. What Anderson wanted the audience to visually look out for in The Master becomes very clear but, unfortunately, it becomes rather bleak and does not become the mesmerizing film that it should have been. To cut it short, the plot follows a war veteran returning home and suffering from post-dramatic stress and alcoholism. It sounds simple and it can be portrayed in a much easier way for audiences to understand but as the film continues, there are moments added that just do not quite adjust and leaves the audiences with almost nothing to reflect on. For example, the whole fictional philosophical movement 'The Cause' did not feel in any way connected to true problems of alcoholism and post-dramatic stress. It becomes a fantasy playing with reality and it does not work.


However, Anderson directs a fantastic group of actors that result in being what makes The Master at least a satisfactory film to endure. First, Joaquin Phoenix makes a triumphant return to acting in the role of struggling war veteran and now alcoholic Freddie Quell. Ironically, Phoenix has had issues with alcohol in the past and in The Master, we see him as beyond an actor playing a character. In that sense, he is expressing to viewers of what his own problems were and how different one can become. In addition, Phoenix exposed the damage that aspects of life can cause, which also includes his clear sexual addiction. That and what Freddie's duties were in the war are undermined by focusing more on his alcoholism and goes into his dysfunctional mindset. Nevertheless, Joaquin Phoenix may have had a distinct advantage going into the role of Freddie but his performance is undoubtedly the strongest feature in The Master. Therefore, he deserves that over-due Academy Award that he has missed out on a number of times.


Among the rest of the cast is Phillip Seymour Hoffman, who is marking his fifth collaboration with Paul Thomas Anderson. He plays Lancaster Dodd, the leader of 'The Cause'. Hoffman plays Dodd with such simplicity yet in a rather subtle manner. As opposed to Freddie, Dodd is a controlled and respected individual. We see this through his calm tone of voice, his well-presented appearance and evidently, being the head of a specific community. However, gradually he slowly becomes angry and emotionally-threatened, particularly during his encounters with Freddie. Amy Adams makes an appearance in The Master too but her character Peggy Dodd does not get enough on-screen time but when we do see her, she indicates the wealth of Lancaster and sees a rather logical relationship between him and Freddie.


It is safe to say that what we see in The Master is not to everybody’s liking and perhaps deserves another viewing to grasp a clearer understanding. It evidently has so much going for it, including elements of religion, philosophy and mankind that could have been analyzed a lot more, but it suffers from a needlessly complex plot which goes down a road and eventually ends nowhere. Therefore, The Master is not the deserved Best Picture candidate that it should have been. However, at the same time in defense of the film, the performances are great and it should not be overlooked either.