As a huge fan of
Paul Thomas Anderson's previous films and a huge fan of Philip Seymour
Hoffman (but then who isn't?), I was sorely dissapointed with The
Master.
"The Master" stars Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Quell, a disturbed WW2 veteran who is unable to keep a job down and Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), who describes himself as “a writer, a doctor, a nuclear physicist and a theoretical philosopher” and leads Freddie deep into the heart of a cult-like organisation called “the Cause”. Lancaster is fascinated by Freddie and puts him through various bizarre and repetitive experiments and the film tracks their relationship over many years.
The problem with The Master is not to do with the acting, which is quite brilliant, nor to do with staging, sound or cinematography, which are all as good as it gets. If you take any individual scene and watched it independently from the rest of the film, it would be as engrossing and as fascinating as the best of any cinema.
The
problem with the film lies in it’s overall structure, which never
allows the audience to understand or become involved with the two
main characters.
Both
Freddie and Lancaster are searching for some sort of salvation in their
relationship with each other. This relationship is the focus of the
entire film, and of every scene. But Freddie is so odd and disturbed
that it's difficult to understand precisely what motivates him to
undergo these experiments by his free will. Equally, while Lancaster is
witty and engaging, the film barely hints as to why he is so fascinated
with Freddie or what he intends to achieve by
his bizarre experimentation. It's as if the script writer focused so
closely on their relationship that they forget to give any context to
it.
The long repetitive scenes focusing on the bizarre, repetitive experiments that Freddie is put through were about as interesting as your auntie's damp sock, partly at least because the motivations behind the experiments remained so unclear. As I could not engage with the relationship between these characters I became disengaged with the film as a whole.
The are interestingly themes of sexuality, faith and americana running through the film, as well as tatenelising hints at a larger world outside of the world of Dodd and Quell. A few examples would be Dodd’s relationship with his wife (Amy Adams) who really seems to have a handle on him, or the nature and growth of the Cause itself. However, these stories remain peripheral and the central relationship, the heart of the film, remains a mystery throughout.
The long repetitive scenes focusing on the bizarre, repetitive experiments that Freddie is put through were about as interesting as your auntie's damp sock, partly at least because the motivations behind the experiments remained so unclear. As I could not engage with the relationship between these characters I became disengaged with the film as a whole.
The are interestingly themes of sexuality, faith and americana running through the film, as well as tatenelising hints at a larger world outside of the world of Dodd and Quell. A few examples would be Dodd’s relationship with his wife (Amy Adams) who really seems to have a handle on him, or the nature and growth of the Cause itself. However, these stories remain peripheral and the central relationship, the heart of the film, remains a mystery throughout.
BOOM
