2012: The Year in Film: "The Master" Review

Paul Thomas Anderson is undoubtedly one of the greatest and most important American directors working today. That's not hyperbole, it's simply fact. When your last film was "There Will Be Blood", a monumnetal work of art that will be studied and beloved decades from now, anything that immediately follows is going to be buzzworthy to say the least, even sight unseen. When you've also written and directed flicks called "Boogie Nights", "Magnolia" and "Punch Drunk Love", needless to say, you're an important filmmaker. Rumors started circulating about "The Master" about a year ago, and the excitement in film nerd circles reached a fever pitch when footage was finally released earlier this year. So needless to say, I was excited for this one. Let's check it out.

First, for a little background, postwar America was a complicated place. On the surface, we had never been richer, more powerful, healthier, or generally better off. Underneath the "American dream" sold to us by advertisers and falsely remembered so fondly by so many today was a general spiritual malaise. A "that's it??!" if you will. (Think: Don Draper at the beginning of Mad Men) This backdrop saw the emergence of pseudo spiritual mystic movements ranging from "new age" and Asian influenced spirituality to pop psychology to a massive rise in cults and new religious movements, one of which being, of course, Scientology. All of these movements sought to prescribe cure-alls to the pittfalls of modern society, and all of them fell far short of their professed goals, and continue to do so in their various incarnations today.  While this flick isn't technically ABOUT Scientology or L. Ron Hubbard, per se, it's certainly inspired, influenced by and based largely upon the charismatic movement L. Ron Hubbard would use to create his bizarre and influential spiritual movement, such that it is.

Freddie Quell is a troubled naval veteran of WW2 who suffers from PTSD, sexual compulsions, possible psychosis, definite nervous tendencies, definite alcoholism and a number of unknown and unstated but clearly present conditions. He finds himself an outcast of sorts, bouncing from menial job to menial job, cooking up batches of hooch that contain such lovely ingrediants as paint thinner and film chemicals when a chance drunken encounter with a pleasure cruise lands him in the orbit of Lancaster Dodd, a self-professed "theoretical philosopher, doctor, nuclear physicist, but most of all, a man" who has gained a dedicated bordering on fanatical following through his writings and teachings. The two men share an odd symbiotic bond of sorts, and Freddie gets drawn into "The Cause", led by Dodd and his group of family and followers, as they traverse the country and wider world, seeking to advance his teachings and movement.

First, this is a strange film.  The narrative, such that it is, is even less present than the narrative in "There Will Be Blood".. it's sort of a thread that meanders about behind vignettes that range from the powerful and profound to the ridiculous.  Rather than a straight evisceration of Scientology or cult-ish mystical/spiritual movements in general, this picture is much more concerned with its characters as people.  As such, we get a pair of absolutely masterful performances from extremely skilled actors at the tops of their games.  Joaquin "I'm probably actually crazy" Phoenix imbues Freddie with an unhinged manic energy and yet odd charm that you at once pity, fear and yet kind of oddly like him, despite everything he's been doing.  Phillip Seymour Hoffman is simply a force of nature in this role.  He's menacing and charming.  Brilliant and vulnerable and manipulative all at once.  Despite the fact that we know that he's a master manipulator manipulating his friends and family and quite possibly (read: definitely) making everything up as he goes along, you can't take your eyes off of him and can see how people would be drawn into his orbit.  Amy Adams turns in a memorable performance as well as Dodd's wife, who may be the biggest manipulator of all.  Any time PSH and Phoenix share the screen, the crackling energy is incredible. 
  


I feel as though this flick is a companion of sorts to There Will Be Blood.  Not explicitly, but thematically.  There's a similar iconoclastic approach to society and traditionally revered institutions.  Maybe a good title for this one would be "There Will Be Nihilism".  Where capitalism and capitalists were eviscerated there, spiritual leaders, philosophies and would be guides are here. Just my $.02.

Ultimately, this is a strange, beautiful flick with some incredible sequences and unbelievable performances.  Joaquin Phoenix would likely win Best Actor if Daniel Day Lewis wasn't playing someone named Abe Lincoln later this year.  It falls short of perfection by virtue of its strangeness (I guarantee you'll leave the theater a little confused), but is no doubt a work of art.

8.5/10