Film: The Master

Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Genre: Drama
Source: USA (2012)
Rating: R
Location/Format: Blu-Ray
Grade: B

I know in my intellectual bits that I should like The Master a lot more than I actually do. Paul Thomas Anderson is a brilliant filmmaker, and I full believe there is a whole lot more going on in this movie that I picked up on. But I never felt quite clear on what he was going for as a filmmaker, or even (at times) what the plot of the movie was. Joaquin Phoenix has PTSD, sexual hang-ups, and a drinking problem. That much was clear. Philip Seymour Hoffman plays the leader of a Scientology-like cult. OK, check. But the ins and outs were by turns intensely compelling and bone-numbingly dull, so in the end I came away lukewarm on the movie as a whole. Though a lot of critics seem to be calling it his best film yet, it didn't compare to There Will Be Blood, or even less "careful" works like Magnolia and Boogie Nights. I know there's genius there, but I couldn't quite put my finger on it. Shame on me, perhaps.

That said, there is a lot that I really did like about this movie. It's beautifully shot, for one, from the opening shots to the close. There's a sterility and a picturesque aloofness to the era that is captured well, and the quality of the light and camera plays off the 50s era hairstyles and fashions beautifully. Even when the plot lost its hold on me, the picture kept it.

The liquidity of the film impressed me as well, and I mean that in several senses. Water is everywhere in the movie, from the boat wake (boat unseen) that pops up throughout the film, to the beach on which Freddie Quell, Phoenix's character first appears, to the boat on which he meets Hoffman, there is an emphasis on water that impressed me after the vivid use of oil in Anderson's last film. I think there's a metaphor there for Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman's character) himself, continually shifting his philosophy, his identity, his religion to fit his needs and desires of the moment. His "religion" is liquid, shaping itself around whatever ideas he feels at the moment. An interesting sequence halfway through the film cuts from Dodd singing a song to a group of friends to Dodd still singing the same song, but now with all the women nude. At first I had trouble determining if this was real or if this was Freddie Quell's vision of the world (as mentioned, he has some severe sexual hang-ups and obsessions), but the following scene with Amy Adams as Dodd's wife convinced me that no, this was one possible route Dodd could take his new cult--down a path of sexual exploration. That she convinces him to back off from this only reiterates his own liquid sense of truth.

Similarly, Quell's name itself could be metaphorical in relation to water. He wants to be quelled, to be calmed, the way storms and waves are, and looks to Dodd to make it happen. Their dynamic is complex and ever-shifting, and though Freddie first looks for peace by making ridiculous dangerous alcoholic concoctions, Dodd convinces him to start looking elsewhere. Whether or not he can "fix" and "quell" Freddie's raging demons seems to be at the heart of the film.

In the end, the film didn't quite come together for me. That said, I have to admit that the first time I saw There Will Be Blood I liked it but didn't love it, and now it's one of my favorites, so it's possible a repeat viewing would change my mind. The problem is, I'm not sure I want to watch it again. Blood's Daniel Plainview is such a fascinating figure, but partly because you're not sure whether you love him or hate him as the movie goes on. Quell, on the other hand, I never really liked. While Phoenix's performance was great, the character himself is just a little too greasy and smarmy and mean for my taste. I wanted him to find peace, I suppose, the way I generally want people to find peace. But I can't say I felt particularly empathetic toward him. I just didn't really want much to do with him. 

Alternate Film Title: "Sand Women I Have Loved"