Paul Thomas Anderson has proven himself over the last decade and a half to be one of the most original, ambitious filmmakers out there with the likes of Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch Drunk Love and then There Will Be Blood. But every great creator of art must have at least one weak day at the office and his latest, The Master, may just be that for PTA.
The film centres on a young Navy officer (Joaquin Phoenix) who returns home uncertain and lost but finds a haven of sorts within The Cause, a Scientology-esque movement headed by the charismatic and controlling Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman).
Fascinating and hypnotic one minute, quixotic and maddening the next, The Master is once again Anderson hitting the ambitious track but his reach exceeds his grasp, failing to hold everything together into the cohesive, satisfying whole he’s proved not just capable of but masterful at in the past. It is infused with a tremendous sense of passion and creative thinking but it’s altogether too abstract and segmented to make a lasting impact. It feels like a film made up of intriguing and provocative sections here, there and everywhere but never comes together quite right as an overall experience.
The whole thing hinges on the performance of Phoenix, which makes his notorious faux craziness stunt look like kids play. He goes way out there and you sort of have to go with him otherwise there’s an immediate disconnect as a viewer. Similar to Daniel Day-Lewis in Anderson’s There Will Be Blood, Phoenix completely throws himself into the role and it’s his commitment that means it’s difficult to take your eyes off him throughout. Hoffman is phenomenal as always, anchoring the madness in some sort of reality – or as much reality as there can be in this off-kilter ‘50s throwback – and serving as the calmer yin to Phoenix’s bizarro yang.
Anderson has always been an actor’s director – just look at his previous films for a vast array of fantastic performances – and along with the two leads there’s terrific turns from the likes of Amy Adams as Hoffman’s devoted wife, Laura Dern as an obsessive follower and fan of The Cause and Jesse Plemons as Hoffman’s son, one of the most interesting side characters in the film who could have done with a bit more screen time if only because he’s the one making the most sense.
After his masterful work on There Will Be Blood, Jonny Greenwood has once again produced an unusual and unnerving score that somehow captures the literal and conceptual anarchy taking place on-screen, though it’s impact is threatened because it’s used far more sparsely than perhaps it should have been. It reminds me of Trent Reznor and Atticus Ross’ work with David Fincher; their (Oscar-winning) score was powerful and memorable in The Social Network but the one for The Girl With the Dragon Tattoo which followed only really worked within the film as opposed to sending you away thinking about it. Still, we should count ourselves lucky we have people like Greenwood doing movie scores at all, bringing in an unusual home-made approach (metal banging in weird sequence and so forth) when so much else is either electronic or full-on orchestral.
At 144 minutes the film takes its time but I don’t think it earns such a lengthy running time. Its freewheeling approach to the story may mirror Phoenix’s messed up character who is both repelled and drawn to his new way of life but it leaves the film feeling like it lacks purpose or drive. Not that everything needs to be tied up with a neat little bow on top but had there been a backbone to keep everything in place the film would get much closer to the masterpiece it is so clearly striving to be.
Ultimately I can’t say I wasn’t disappointed with The Master. It frustrated me as much as it did engage, with as many beguiling sequences as there were maddening ones. What it’s all about is anybody’s guess – possibilities range from an examination of mental illness to homosexual repression – but there’s a sense that even the usually faultless Anderson doesn’t even know. It’s almost like he is discovering the film as it goes along, never minding the rough edges left behind on the road, and perhaps that’s a good thing but it leads to a certain coldness and lack of structure. At one point one of the characters says “He’s making all this up as he goes along” and we’re left suspecting that very well may be the case.
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The Master is (widely) released in UK cinemas on November 16th.
