One of the effects of the financial crisis is that many directors who everyone agrees are extremely good but not particularly commercial have found it tough to get movies made. We haven't had a film from Paul Thomas Anderson since 2007's There Will Be Blood, largely he couldn't get funding for love nor money. Now he's back with The Master. The first footage debuted yesterday at Cannes and now we get a teaser trailer for the film, which undoubtedly has a bit of a There Will Be Blood vibe. Set in America in the years following World War II, a charismatic intellectual (Philip Seymour Hoffman) launches a faith-based organization and taps a young drifter (Joaquin Phoenix) as his right-hand man. But as the faith begins to gain a fervent following, the onetime vagabond finds himself questioning the belief system he has embraced, and his mentor.
