If you’re looking for conclusive proof that the Oscars are a bit of a joke and really shouldn’t be taken at all seriously then the inexplicable snubbing that The Master received this year would probably stand up in court. Fair enough, Phillip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams both received hugely deserved best supporting actor and actress nominations for their powerhouse performances but where was Paul Thomas Anderson’s nod for directing? Or director of photography Mihai Malaimare Jr’s for his astonishing cinematography. And above all, what madness prevented Joaquin Phoenix from being put up for best actor? Actually, his publicly saying he has no interest in the Oscars probably accounts for that last one.
Paul Thomas Anderson’s follow-up to There Will Be Blood was one of 2012’s most eagerly awaited releases and it arrives on Blu-ray with its mesmerising visuals intact. It was shot on 65mm and many cinemas were able to project it in 70mm, making it a truly larger than life experience that is never going to be matched watching it in your living room but it’s still beautiful enough to be utterly immersive. Anderson’s composition and Malaimare’s cinematography together with the flawless period art production are so exquisite that each individual frame would be at home in an art gallery. Then there’s Jonny Greenwood’s haunting score, which manages to amplify the surreal, unsettling atmosphere.
The fact that it’s visually and aurally staggering was never in contention though, but a lot of viewers and critics felt that the film had some major narrative problems. Rumours surrounded the film before its release and a lot of people were expecting it to be a straightforward and critical biopic of Scientology and its founder L. Ron Hubbard. The fact is Anderson’s films have never been straightforward or followed traditional narrative paths and while The Master revolves around a shadowy and insular cult known as The Cause’ and its fiery leader Lancaster Dodd (Hoffman) who bears more than a passing resemblance to Hubbard it’s much more complex and intangible than that.
Essentially, it charts the relationship between Dodd and his latest recruit; traumatised navy man Freddie Quell (Phoenix) but to say this is a film about two men’s relationship makes it sound like a small scale character study. The last word you would use to describe The Master is small. Like There Will Be Blood before it this is grand, sweeping drama told in a defiantly cinematic fashion that is often so overwrought that it borders on operatic in its intensity.
With his Oscar nomination Hoffman is now receiving more attention than Phoenix but both performances are staggering. Anderson has said that he originally intended to film flashback scenes of Quell’s experiences in the Pacific theatre during WW2 but soon realised that Phoenix’s performance made this unnecessary; the horror he’s experienced is all there in his twisted and self-conscious body language, gnarled facial expressions and unintelligible mumbling. It seems the war has literally chewed him up and spat him out. In fact, this misshapen sailor man reminded me of Popeye. I might be alone in that but he does often comes across as comical; he is permanently and ferociously horny as well as addicted to his own lethal homebrewed moonshine. However we spend a good 45 minutes with Quell before he encounters The Cause. He’s living rough and staggering from one drunken misadventure or violent outburst to another, and despite the fact that Phoenix doesn’t seem at all concerned about making him likeable only the most hard hearted viewer wouldn’t feel pity for a man who is clearly suffering from what would now be recognised as Post Traumatic Stress Disorder.
Once Quell ends up in Lancaster Dodd’s hands the titular Master becomes obsessed with him in a way that some viewers have interpreted as homosexual but to me seemed more about Dodd’s determination to tame and brainwash a man whose mind is already broken in a way he can’t understand. Anderson has been reticent in saying definitively that The Cause represents scientology and Dodd is a facsimile of Hubbard, but the cult and its leaders’ insular untrusting nature and refusal to be questioned are fully recognisable as the scientology we know today. Hoffman plays the leader and his weird ideas about past lives with such conviction that I found myself constantly changing my mind about whether he was simply a con man or if he believed what he was saying. In one scene where he is confronted by a sceptic his fury at being questioned is truly terrifying.
The scenes between Quell and Dodd are constantly unpredictable and often explosive and their performances are like the twin engines driving the film forward. This isn’t to take anything away from Amy Adams, who gets less screen time but is equally memorable with her calculated turn as Dodd’s aloof wife who might actually be the real brains behind The Cause.
The Master performed poorly at the box office and has left a lot of people who actually saw it unimpressed, which I find baffling. To me it’s the kind of mind boggling film that leaves you feeling the need to sit in silence for a few minutes after the credits roll just to let it sink in before immediately wanting to discuss and dissect it with other people who’ve seen it.
Extras include some fairly standard behind the scenes stuff and deleted scenes but the real gem is the inclusion of John Huston’s 1946 documentary Let There Be Light. This film was radical in its day for openly discussing the idea of WWII veterans suffering from nervous disorders and Paul Thomas Anderson has cited it as the major influence on The Master. In fact some of the interviewed veterans’ comments made it into the script as Freddie Quells’ dialogue.
Overall Verdict: A mesmerisingly surreal, often bewildering but always beautiful film that will imprint itself on your mind.
Special Features:
Back Beyond Outtakes and Additional scenes
Unguided Message Behind the Scenes
Trailers
Let There Be Light (1946) John Huston’s landmark documentary about WWII veterans.
Reviewer: Adam Pidgeon