The Master
Paul Thomas Anderson makes a return to film after the superb There Will Be Blood with a cast led by Paul Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix. The Master has been an interesting project for a number of years, not least because of it’s subject matter and the story of it’s production.
The Master is an immensely evocative title conjuring at once the idea of someone being masterful at a practice and the idea of control. Ask yourself: when was the last time you heard someone refereed to as ‘master’ in a film that wasn’t set in the american south, post abolishment, or in a Transylvanian castle? Been a while hasn’t it. The titular master is played by Philip Seymour Hoffman a war veteran who upon being released from duty decides to start his own religion. You starting to see where this is going?
Yeah that’s right! Tom Cruise really isn’t going to like this film! Like really! Like South Park Cruise in the closet really!
The master is a film that definitely has nothing to do with Scientology or the founding of that particular brand of lunacy, which is why you’ll all be happy to hear that the initial trailer isn’t creepy at all. Ok that’s a lie!
In fact it’s kind of got a patent on creepy at the time of writing. An introduction to Joaquin Phoenix’s character a former soldier and drifter who becomes ‘the master’s’ most loyal follower, we find a man clearly on the brink of insanity. Phoenix has been out for a while after his pseudo breakdown documentary failed at the box office. In this trailer we can see why it seemed so crazy when he said he was retiring, and I for one can’t wait to see his full performance.
The Master has been through hell to get here, P.T.A. is one of the most respected directors in Hollywood and his last film whilst making money led to a best actor oscar for Daniel Day Lewis. So why so difficult? The fact is no one wanted to fund a film that was going to be potentially critical of Scientology. Well actually there was one person: Megan Ellison, heiress to the Oracle billions. So here we are, and something tells me... there will be fireworks.