The Master

Starting off on a shot of the waters that are troubled by a ships path, The Master is a film that is as enigmatic and atmospheric as its opening sequence. Freddy, barely peeks his head above the barrier of the ship, like a turtle peeking out into the world that we do not see, with tired and withered eyes that profess a sense of boredom. Or much more?

At first I refrained from writing about this film because I feared the inevitable; my words will do this film no justice. However, given that I try to make my blog posts as impulsive as possible, instead of an approach that is calculated, I said fuck it, and now here I am, typing away on a Saturday night trying to rack my mind for things to say. Honestly, this entire paragraph has been written because I am stalling for my mind as it attempts to get online. I refuse to stop typing. Silly.

Interestingly, this film, shot on 65mm, this masterpiece, has some influences from a film called Baraka, a non-narrative documentary that is also shot on 65. The opening sequence of Baraka has a scene where we see a monkey high in the mountains resting in a natural hot spring, slowly lulling off to sleep. This very scene mirrors Joaquin’s first appearance in The Master. In fact, Paul Thomas Anderson told Joaquin about Baraka and that specific scene. (2:05)

(Another interesting influence is John Huston’s wartime documentary “Let There Be Light” check it out.)

I find this interesting, because Joaquin’s character (Freddy) is arguably devolved – a monkey in a homo-sapiens world. Whereas on the other side, Philip Seymour Hoffman’s character, has a God complex of sorts, believing himself to be beyond human temptations and primal urges. But Paul Thomas Anderson, in his clever way of exploring polar opposites by entering into the in-between point between the duality that persists throughout the film, suggests that even Hoffman (or Lancaster Dodd) is no more a God than Freddy is civilized.

Given this kind of in-depth and intricate character study, it is no wonder that an author like Thomas Pynchon approved of a script written by Paul Thomas Anderson (the script for Inherent Vice). But back to the master.

The film is, “technically speaking”, a very boring film. The entire movie is just people talking and all the characters kind of just end up where they began. But the gorgeous cinematography and the excellent, nuanced, and poignant acting by Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and Amy Adams get the viewer sucked in. You always seem to come back for more. There is something here, there is something here.

By now, I have seen this film at least five times. I dare not go into depth regarding what I think the film is actually about. So I will end it here by providing a trailer to entice those who do not like to read. Also I will say, I must say, I feel like I ruined the film for those who have not seen it. I shouldn’t have written this. And if you are one of those people who refrain from divining into these sorts of films because you are afraid to be considered “pretentious” to you I say, this film is not pretentious, it is beautiful, and also, who fucking cares?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fJ1O1vb9AUU