The Master
Chronologically, I actually watched “La Notte” one day before “The Master” and I should have blogged it first, but after coming out of a little blogging slump, I figured it makes sense to start with the easier film to write about, which is definitely “The Master”. On many levels it’s actually a fairly complex film, but ultimately I did not feel very emotionally involved. It was a suspenseful, wonderfully filmed and cleverly acted, but it didn’t have an impact on me personally like literally every good relationship movie does.
“The Master” actually reminded me a lot of “There will be blood”. Both are somewhat Hemingway-like about the existential struggle of working-class men without the proper support of women. Amy Adams may have a prominent role in this story, but her chemistry with Philip Seymour Hoffman is non-existent (I don’t think I have ever seen such a mismatched couple) and her character manages to stay a completely bland, subserviant woman even though she voices her opinions strongly. Of course Dodd chose a woman like that, just like he chooses his followers (and unsurprisingly, a lot of them are women), but he uses them all and to some degree, he is also using Freddie. Interestingly, I find it hard to describe Freddie’s connection to the cult. He’s different from other followers and most importantly, he is somehow in Dodd’s closer circle without really doing anything to be in it, yet at the same time he is kind of an outcast who is close to nobody but Dodd himself. While he is making trouble for the cult, it doesn’t seem like the cult is doing anything for him or helping him with his past demons. Dodd is somehow his master, yet he doesn’t exactly listen to him as a disciple would. In fact, the relationship between Freddie and Dodd is what makes the film really shine. It’s not clear to me why Dodd picked Freddie to become his disciple, heck I’d even say he created his own monster. Their relationship is as antagonistic as a dysfunctional father-son-relationship can be, and I could have spent the entire film watching Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix fight. Those two are the best thing that happened to the film.
It’s probably safe to say that the darkness and the working of the cults in “The Master” remain difficult to understand. Is this actually a good depiction of Scientology?
A part of me thinks that “The Master” is a really weird biography-like movie, the type that Hollywood makes sometimes that I just somehow don’t get on an emotional level, like “The Aviator” or “The Wolf of Wall Street”. At the same time, it surely is a very good film and I would totally recommend it if you like this style of film.