Movie Review: 'The Master'

Usually you sit through a movie, and by time the credits start to roll, you’ve made up your mind about what you just watched. Sure, you may need to let it marinate in your mind a bit before making any firm proclamations -- but you usually know, at the very least, whether you liked it or not. I’m not so sure The Master operates in such simple terms. As people shuffled out of the theater, I remained seated, with one thought running through my head: what did I just watch?

The Master acts as writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s most challenging and perplexing work to date. While many have pinned the film “the Scientology movie,” more than anything, it’s an in-depth character study. And in that aspect, The Master succeeds brilliantly. Joaquin Phoenix plays Freddie Quell, a disturbed WWII vet who, while in a drunken stupor, sneaks aboard a party yacht that belongs to a beguiling man named Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). Bearing striking similarities to the Church of Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard, Dodd is the leader of a cult-like, faith-based organization called “The Cause.” Soon thereafter, Freddie becomes both Dodd’s right-hand man and guinea pig – forming a conundrum of a relationship that is just as fascinating to watch as the individual characters themselves.

As Freddie, Phoenix is nothing short of astounding. Freddie isn’t likable, not by a long shot; he’s crass, ill mannered, erratic and at times downright violent. Phoenix plays Freddie with a constant air of unpredictability and foreboding. When he was on screen, it’s nearly impossible to be fully at ease. More than that though, Phoenix brings these odd mannerisms and little idiosyncrasies to Freddie that make him not just a fully realized character, but a living, breathing portrait of a disturbed man. From his lopsided snarl to his slightly unhinged laugh, this performance is the true essence of what the best actor Academy Award is all about – and you can be sure that no one deserves that title this year more than Joaquin Phoenix.

Being the visual artist that he is, Anderson creates a distinct tone that is more telling of the film’s overall meaning than any one scene. This is a movie that operates best when you commit to it, take it all in and appreciate its many individual merits without the need to know what overall purpose it attempts to serve – the type of film that proves to be both rewarding, and at times even frustrating, with its deliberate disconnect. While it very well may be a bit too slow for some viewers (at 137 minutes long, it can’t help but drag), the vibrant cinematography, powerhouse performances by Hoffman and Phoenix, and Jonny Greenwood’s haunting score win out in the end. Even so, the question still remains: what is The Master really about? Like the devoted members of The Cause, are we, the viewers, searching for meaning where there is none? As for the followers of The Cause – almost certainly. As for us – only another viewing could tell for sure.

Rating: B+