The Master

The Master (2012) plays out between a sailor returning from the Second World War and a man founding a new belief movement. Freddie is out of the war, alcoholic, unable to govern himself. One night he stumbles onto a boat and meets Lancaster Dodd. Dodd is building a movement: past lives, sessions, purification through questions. He takes Freddie in. The film neither exposes Dodd nor vindicates him. The subject is the bond between them: Dodd wants to prove he can tame Freddie, and Freddie wants, for once, for someone to claim him. Dodd's movement openly resembles Scientology and that was argued about before release. PTA said he was not targeting any specific organisation. The best section is the first session: Dodd asks Freddie the same questions again and again without blinking. One take, two faces, no music. It was shot on 65mm and projected in that format at a time when 65mm screenings had all but disappeared. Jonny Greenwood wrote the score. Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix are the entire film. It runs 144 minutes. Good for: character cinema, PTA, and performance. Less good for: there is no plot, the film answers nothing, and the pace is heavy.