“The Master” opens with a long and weird scene with men on a beach. Then the focus shifts to a young man. Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) always gets himself in trouble forcing himself to flee to another life. On one of those flights, he ends up on the boat of Lancaster Dodd, the master from the title. Dodd proves to be some sort of guru who developped a past-life therapy to overcome both physical and metal illnesses. Dodd is somehow attracted to Quell so even though Quell does not fit either the group around Dodd, nor his method of healing, he remains in Dodd’s presence. The friendship has ups and downs and in the end, Quell’s path leads elsewhere. Or does it?
Dodd is played magnificently by the late Philip Seymour Hoffman. Hoffman manages to raise attraction and repel just by pulling another face. He makes Dodd into an admirable person who often seems very normal and at other times enigmatic. Surely Hoffman was a great actor. Even though I am not a big fan of Phoenix, he is good to have in this film too.
P.T. Anderson has created another drama with a good atmosphere, slightly surrealistic, with amazing camera work and just a bit different from your usual Hollywood drama.
This film will not be in any of my top-film list (not entirely my genre), but it is certainly a good film.
