Religion movie ‘masters’ great filmmaking
By Michael Chasin · Daily Trojan
Posted Yesterday at 9:54 pm
There are few cinematic events more noteworthy than the release of a Paul Thomas Anderson film. Though the director only had five features under his belt before the release of his latest work, each one, to a varying extent, is regarded as a masterpiece. With the release of The Master (a title that Anderson is no doubt used to bearing himself), it’s no wonder that audience expectations of the director’s new work are high.
Luckily, there’s little need to curb the hype. Once again, Anderson rises to the occasion.
The film opens with Joaquin Phoenix as Freddie Quell, a sex-obsessed and hot-headed veteran of World War II’s Pacific theater. V-J Day triggers Quell’s aimless cavorting through a number of low wage jobs until he drunkenly stumbles onto a yacht filled with the family and closest friends of Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the leader of a new religious movement known as The Cause. Dodd takes a liking to Quell, who soon becomes Dodd’s right-hand man as Dodd leads his congregation and tries to spread his message to the world.
Like There Will Be Blood before it, The Master is very much a character piece, focusing on the relationship between its two leads. In that respect, it’s entirely successful. Phoenix and Hoffman are world class performers at the top of their games, playing off each other beautifully in every minute they share onscreen. An early scene in which Dodd subjects Quell to an intense Q&A session as a form of psychological processing could win either man an Oscar. And though the two characters couldn’t be more different, they form a deep and believable bond with each other.
http://dailytrojan.com/2012/09/17/religion-movie-masters-great-filmmaking/
This movie is getting pretty good reviews. It may be to Scientology what Elmer Gantry was to the Holiness movement.
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