Tell us what you thought of 'The Master'
Paul Thomas Anderson's latest opens in limited release today
Joaquin Phoenix in "The Master."
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Well, the day has finally come -- for those of you lucky enough to live in New York or Los Angeles, that is. After an enigmatic marketing campaign, and an unorthodox series of pop-up screenings preceding festival appointments at Venice -- where it won Best Director, Best Actor and very nearly the Golden Lion too -- and Toronto, Paul Thomas Anderson's sixth feature film is here to dazzle and perplex the general public. I flipped for it in Venice (the next few months will have to be impossibly astonishing for it not to crack my year-end Top 5), and many top critics are similarly enthused -- for the number-crunchers, its Metacritic score is currently a robust 87. Not everyone's a believer in this gleaming but prickly movie, however: our colleague Drew McWeeny has doubts, and I anticipate some interestingly varied reactions from your good selves. (Awards expectations are similarly scattered, though I think it can go the distance.) Chime in below when you get a chance to see it and feel free to rate it above, as well.
2012-2013 OSCAR PREDICTIONS
Best Picture
Best Director
Best Actor
Best Actress
Best Supporting Actor
Best Supporting Actress
Best Adapted Screenplay
Best Original Screenplay
Best Cinematography
Best Costume Design
Best Film Editing
Best Makeup And Hairstyling
Best Original Score
Best Original Song
Best Production Design
Best Sound Editing
Best Sound Mixing
Best Visual Effects
Best Animated Feature Film
Best Documentary Feature
Best Foreign Language Film
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Login or create a HitFix account Login SignupLaura Stewart
September 14, 2012 at 12:44PM EST Reply to CommentGuy, do you think PTA can win his first directing Oscar? Even if it doesn't win BP, I can't imagine anyone going above and beyond what PTA did with The Master.
Matthew Starr
September 14, 2012 at 12:48PM EST Reply to CommentI loved it, favorite of the year so far followed by Beasts and The Grey. I am far from understanding all the themes, metaphors and subtleties of the film but it was such a unique and engaging cinematic experience that it has stuck with me and I pretty much ready to see it again.
Also I think I might have seen Kris and April at the Ziegfeld on Tuesday night but I'm not certain because I don't know exactly what they look like. Kris were you and your wife wearing like all black?
Kristopher Tapley Caught this late, but yes! Not that that narrows it down. :)
September 15, 2012 at 9:14PM ESTMatthew Starr Pretty sure it was you guys then.
September 15, 2012 at 9:21PM ESTBrock Landers
September 14, 2012 at 12:56PM EST Reply to CommentIt's the best film of the year so far. I actually didn't find it to be as ambiguous or "out there" as many people seemed to. It's not as direct as There Will Be Blood, given that Plainview had distinct goals in mind, whereas Freddie was a drifter, but overall I thought the narrative of The Master was quite strong. Phoenix gives the best performance of the year, and while DDL may end up being great in Lincoln (he was fine in the trailer, but it didn't scream winner to me), I don't see anyone being better than Phoenix.
While most will say Blood is the better film (and I probably agree, as I have seen Blood probably 7 or 8 times, while The Master only once) I think there is one particular decision that he made that was better than a similar decision he made on Blood. That is in the casting. With Blood, Dano never presented much of a threat, because DDL's presence completely overshadowed him. With The Master, PTA ensures that his two lead actors are of equal strength and presence and it makes those barn burner scenes that much better. PTA said in a recent interview that he has tried to get Joaquin to be in every film he has made so far. I have a sneaking suspicion that he actually wanted Phoenix for Blood.
As for awards prospects, obviously all of the top categories are locks for nominations. I think it will get at least one acting win. As for winning BP, I think any chance went out the window as soon as Phoenix's character's monologue about getting rid of crabs went from funny to downright chilling. Predicting a director split is stupid, but I can see PTA getting a lot of votes.
Xavier I haven't seen the master yet and won't get to until november because I live in Australia. However I have to respectfully disagree about Dano being miscast in there will be blood. The point wasn't for him to directly confront DDL's character in every scene. He was working behind the scenes, indirectly influencing DDL's plans by persuading and manipulating the community around him.
September 14, 2012 at 10:49PM ESTAs a priest he could not be seen directly and maliciously getting in the way of others and likewise Plainview couldn't directly confront or attack a priest while trying to gain the trust and support of said community.
The tension was bubbling under the surface save for a couple of scenes and Dano for me was a great foil to DDL and was suitably conniving and just as underhanded and ambitious as Plainview but in a slightly different way
DylanS Having just rewatched "Blood", I would like to weigh in on Dano. I don't think he's miscast, but I think Anderson made a few errors with his character.
September 14, 2012 at 10:59PM ESTa) He presented him as being more of a villan to Day-Lewis' chacter than he actually was and was really more of a side character who's part foil/part mirror to Plainview.
b) Anderson lets Dano frequently go over the top in scenes (specifically the "mad preacher" scenes). I gett that he's supposed to come across as crazed, but there's a way to do crazed that isn't also irritating, and Anderson let it become irritating. Also, Anderson let the wimpy dynamic of his character become really irritating and overwrought in the scenes where Day Lewis directly threatens him) A personality trait that was directed too broadly, IMO.
Brock Landers I actually think Dano gives a good performance and am fine with him being cast, I just think the role calls for a presence that is a bit stronger than what Dano can provide.
September 14, 2012 at 11:01PM ESTHere's a review of the film by Tarantino (who is PTA's best friend) that touches on this a bit:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qmWNJl0wCzc
Xavier I still think he's fine and the crazed aspect is not over the top if you've ever seen an evangelist really go at it, if his evangelizing is annoying then they did their job in my opinion.
September 15, 2012 at 2:59AM ESTRashad Dano is out of his element. Cillian Murphy would have been perfect.
September 15, 2012 at 6:11AM ESTDylanS Murphy would be a good alternative, but I think he would suffer in the exact same ways that Dano did.
September 15, 2012 at 6:16PM ESTDylanS
September 14, 2012 at 8:35PM EST Reply to CommentGuy: I'm curious, as far as major awards hopefuls that we haven't seen yet (Django, Life of Pi, ect.), what are you anticipating most?
Guy Lodge Of the 2012 films that nobody has seen yet, the one I'm most looking forward to is Zero Dark Thirty -- I can't say any of the supposed "major" awards hopefuls have me champing at the bit.
September 15, 2012 at 5:35AM ESTAs for films that have been screened but that I haven't seen yet -- essentially, the Toronto stock -- I'm most excited to see Silver Linings Playbook.
Rashad
September 15, 2012 at 12:37AM EST Reply to CommentI liked it, didn't love it. I found the 70mm presentation to be underwhelming, and no different than a digital showing.
Hoffman is by far best in show, and the movie really should have been all about him.
Billy Shakes
September 15, 2012 at 1:23AM EST Reply to CommentIt is a regrettably uninteresting film. PTA’s technical skill is again much in evidence, but the film suffers from a lack of considered ideas, and never manages to shape its stumbling around into either a compelling character portrait of any person in the film or into an affecting narrative. PTA is perfectly content to merely string along a series of scenes of Phoenix’s Freddie guffawing, slurring, mumbling, and generally indulging in asinine behavior (Is any veteran supposed to be inherently worthy of cinematic screentime, no matter how insipid?). This won’t even be a top 15 film for 2012. And Phoenix’s performance is being misjudged by many people. It's excessively tic-driven and mealy-mouthed, inferior in technique as well as totally insensible to the pathos of his superb acting in Two Lovers. There were only a few scenes in The Master that allowed for Phoenix to project any emotionally complex state or reaction, one being the processing, where his distress was totally persuasive and his use of his face in those close-ups immensely skilled. But again, too much of it was just one-note physical gimmickry. I felt nothing watching him punch walls and rant repeatedly and cock his head askew and screw his mouth. I can't see this getting more votes than DDL speechifying or Denzel doing his thing.
Oh, and I can't really say this looked at all better than The Tree of Life in 4K, so I think the digital projection bashing needs to go.
Wroteawholebunchasonnets
September 15, 2012 at 1:33AM EST Reply to CommentThe desultory annals of a semi-retarded World War II veteran. Shot with care!
Prettok
September 15, 2012 at 1:57AM EST Reply to CommentFantastic. Now scientologists are going to attack American embassies worldwide. Nice going PT Anderson.
Guy Lodge Huh?
September 15, 2012 at 5:38AM ESTRashad It's a joke about upsetting religions.
September 15, 2012 at 6:12AM ESTGuy Lodge Thanks, Rashad -- I did pick up on that very subtle allusion. What I don't get is what bearing it has on anything the film is doing.
September 17, 2012 at 5:48AM ESTJJ1
September 15, 2012 at 7:36AM EST Reply to Comment|-
I eagerly anticipate seeing this within the next few weeks as it creeps into theaters near me.
I DO look forward to it with trepidation. Not a huge PTA fan. He's just not usually my cinematic thing (loved Boogie Nights, so-so on Magnolia, hated Punch-Drunk Love, didn't care for TWBB).
My issue with PTA films are that I find them distancing and sometimes sluggish, narratively. The storytelling doesn't reel me in.
One of my favorite critics (James Berardinelli) used just those words in his review: distancing and sluggish. Of course, he also said that it was impeccably mounted and wonderfully acted - both of which I fully expect and look forward to.
But I wonder if 'The Master' will be wildly admirable, yet miss the mark for me, narratively, again. Can't wait to see for myself. I am hopeful. :)
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JMC
September 15, 2012 at 5:24PM EST Reply to CommentNo "tell us what you thought" about ARBITRAGE? (I thought it was fantastic by the way.)
Cordy
September 16, 2012 at 2:10PM EST Reply to CommentI am still processing, but the word I keep coming back to is hypnotic. It was gorgeous, and the performances (essentially just the 2) were astonishing. This is the perfect part for Phoenix and he knocked it out of the park. I can't wait to see it again, but I agree with Kris that it is not nearly as ambiguous as people have been saying. It's pretty clearly about the control of our inner animal...it is even stated in that way in the introductions to the cause.
/3rt
September 16, 2012 at 2:40PM EST Reply to CommentYesterday I attended the first matinee of The Master at the Cinerama Dome. And since the curtains closed I haven't been able to completely process what I saw. The first half of the picture is crowd pleasing easy and Joaquin Phoenix seemed more frightening than a figure of fun, while I laughed with the audience in all the right parts with his character, as the movie went on it became less funny, more disturbing, and sad.
I get the detractors' complaints and I don't begrudge them or deny their point of view, but, Paul Thomas Anderson's aim is at something that no one else is doing, not Scorsese, or the mental patient Malick. He should be given the benefit of something more than a knee-jerk response. The Master feels like a movie worth re-visits, not because you missed something but, the texture, the tone, the music and photography, Phoenix's performance and character call out for more consideration.
A
Chris138
September 21, 2012 at 10:38PM EST Reply to CommentJust got back from seeing it in 70mm, which looked stunning. I thought the performances were great all across the board, especially Philip Seymour Hoffman. It's definitely a movie that leaves a lot to chew on, and I'd certainly watch it again. The audience I was with was just about full and by the time the credits started rolling there was some scattered applause and a lot of people scratching their heads. Kind of reminded me of the first time I saw The Tree of Life.