Paul Thomas Anderson has come a long way since his directorial debut Hard Eight in 1996, since attracting a wealth of acting talent to his later projects that would rival a film by Robert Altman. Anderson’s second film Boogie Nights gained both critical acclaim and notoriety due to its porn industry setting and after his third film Magnolia, an LA set, star-studded, ensemble piece, he was well on his way to securing a place in the canon of cinema greats. He even made a decent Adam Sandler comedy (Punch Drunk Love).
For his latest, The Master, Anderson delivers a focused, 50s based, character study set against a “birth of new religion” backdrop. It is both a challenging and thought provoking drama, equally poignant as it is unnerving but never disrespectful to the underlying themes. Anderson concentrates mainly on the main characters while keeping the story cohesive and linear. The subjects of new religion and cultism are rarely tackled with seriousness in mainstream cinema and while The Master plays out as an unsettling drama about the friendship of two men, the cult foray merely serves as an intriguing backdrop to the lives of its more interesting individuals.
Joaquin Phoenix is Freddie Quell, a wayward marine at the end of his tether. Lost in a whirlwind of booze abuse, Quell wakes up one morning on the sea-bound boat of Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman) a self declared “writer, doctor, nuclear physicist, theoretical philosopher” and founder of a sect called The Cause: a group that use hypnosis to regress into past lives in the hope of deepening their understanding of human nature. The two form a challenging, master and student relationship that soon blossoms into friendship, with Dodd nurturing Quell in the ways of The Cause while uncovering hidden secrets about both his student and himself in the process.
Clearly using the life and work of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard as inspiration, The Master does occasionally hint at the schematics of The Cause, revealed during exercises and q and a sessions between the two protagonists, but only to the point where they serve as appetisers to the drama unfolding between the two main characters. As the story unfolds so do the personality layers of Quell and Dodd, revealing fascinating insights into who they are and why they are friends. Beneath the surface of Phoenix’s Quell is a quiet determination to become a better man whilst Hoffman’s Dodd is so consumed by self-destructive denial he appears to be repressing deep-rooted anger to adhere to the moral code of the cult he created.
Joaquin Phoenix is astounding as Quell, expressing every agonising thought and emotion with twisted relish. He is almost unrecognisable under the character, baring more similarities to Daniel Day Lewis in There Will Be Blood (Anderson’s previous film). Phillip Seymour Hoffman is also impressive as the boisterous, enigmatic Lancaster Dodd: a character oozing the bulbous megalomania of Orson Welles but full of disenchanted heart. There is some vague romantic interest in the shape of Dodd’s wife played by Amy Adams and Ambyr Childers as Dodd’s daughter but the focus of the film is primarily on the two male leads.
Even though The Master is a tightly focused character study it has an epic feel, with stark settings captured in a soft sepia, integrating lavish landscapes in a golden 50s hue and deep blue twirling ocean in 70mm. Evoking the elegance of David Lean and the stark beauty of Stanley Kubrick, Anderson keeps his study cold and calculative by refusing to delve into the morals of The Cause or offering an opinion of its ethos, re-affirming that at its core, this is not a film about new religion.
The Master is at its most interesting when snippets of what lies beneath the protagonists rise to the surface. Even though for the majority of the film we see Phoenix enraged and psychotic while Hoffman’s exuberant and opinionated Dodd is embroiled in ego mania, they at times leak out characteristics suggesting an entirely different person is nesting inside. At times it seems Quell and Dodd admire each-other for being able to express the feelings they both secretly long to but can’t.
While The Master is brilliant it is not always a comfortable watch, but for a film so full of blood and with a two hour and twenty minute running time, it moves fast and lingers long in the memory.
The Master is released on 2nd November in London.
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