The Master
Each Paul Thomas Anderson movie is a cause for party, and in all 3 a long time of his career, he has produced a number of the defining works of the technology. but “The master” controlled a unprecedented synthesis of PTA’s different modes: It merges the jittery, eccentric intimacies of lonely soul-searching in “Punch-drunk Love” with the sprawling ancient inquiries of “There might be Blood” to craft a searing perception into the u . s .’s fractured identity. As an enigmatic duration drama approximately the roots of Scientology, it’s a wonderful window into the method thru which cultish conduct can tunnel its way into a delicate mind.
On the same time, it’s an fun darkish comedy about how alienation can
result in outright insurrection, and why all organized procedures to
life are doomed to fail. At its middle are the studies of disgruntled
WWII army guy Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) who stumbles in an
under the influence of alcohol stupor onto the cult-infested ship
commanded by using Lancester Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), a twin
of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard. Their jarring, idiosyncratic
exchanges spread as a series of mysterious encounters against the
exploratory notes of Jonny Greenwood’s wondrous rating.
By the time the film receives going, Freddie has already lost his
way. first of all attracted to Lancester’s heat network, he’s fast
subsumed via older man’s unorthodox technique to private therapy.
once Freddie involves phrases with Lancester’s con artistry, he’s too
immersed in the community to absolutely stroll away. Bookmarked by
farcical pictures of Phoenix at the seaside cuddling with a naked
lady carved in sand, “The master” shows how non-public indulgences
are a shape of religion, too. Lancaster could have been a nutty
puppet grasp, but with out a few sense of order, Freddie’s a slave to
his baser desires. The alarming punchline indicates that even a
manipulative cult has the electricity to keep a broken guy; on the
cease of the day, we’re all slaves to the gadget, and with out it,
maximum people are simply adrift. In a filmmaking career defined by
intestine-punch emotional revelations, this one stings the hardest.