I hate art house
cinema. Primarily because I am never
sure if the movie was good or not. So it
becomes extremely difficult to rate or review.
It exposes my limitations and makes me look and feel very vulnerable. I am an amateur critic but a wrong review
will of course go a long way in hampering my credibility.
I for one can
ill afford the negative publicity. Other
than that disclaimer, I would like to add one more. I do not have a
professional qualification in the world of cinema. Therefore my apologies in advance. I did not find the 2.5 hours that I spent on
The Master extremely compelling.
I am quite
certain that I will be receiving brickbats galore for that previous line. How can I find a movie not so great when the
most seasoned critics haven’t taken a respite from commending Paul Thomas
Anderson. But then, those were the same
critics who lauded Tree of Life which I slept through.
The Master is the
story of one Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) who has spent a lot of time at sea
during the IInd World War. He now
suffers from Post Traumatic Stress Disorder – a situation that has driven him
to alcoholism and a different kind of sex addiction.
Like most able
bodied service men, Freddie finds it difficult to get a permanent job. He dabbles around as a photographer at a
department store but that doesn’t last.
Over time he is continuously degenerating and unable to take care of
himself. He then decides to jump onboard
a steamer bound for New York.
Lancaster Dodd (Philip
Seymour Hoffman) is a man who is extremely famous in several circles. By his own admission, he does several
things. He is a physicist, philosopher
and orator amongst other things. Dodd
has rented out the boat that Freddie decides to be a stowaway on. He takes a fancy to Freddie’s specific
alcoholic concoction and tries to use his method of hypnosis to cure Freddie of
his ailments.
The Master could
not really hold me riveted to the screen.
While the screen presence of Hoffman and Phoenix was definitely
powerful, I cannot say that their performances were great because I do not know
what their characters were meant to portray.
The screenplay was an original one and I am afraid, I did not quite
understand the same.
If Phoenix was
to portray a helpless and dangerous alcoholic then he did a fab job. Similarly, if Hoffman was to portray an
insecure, supra defensive person who has the gift of the gab but little
substance then he did a great job too.
Lastly Amy Adams (one of my favourite actresses) playing a pregnant 2nd
(or 3rd) wife to Dodd – also equally insecure – was great provided
that was the intent of the character.
I would not want
my lack of cinema education to come in the way of a fair call here. Judge the movie for yourself is what I say. Was it as boring as Tree of Life – not really. But then it wasn’t a fabulous edge of the
seat drama either. I am going with a neutral
5 on 10. Worth a risk if you are OK to
look at cinema that is really slow.
Watch the trailer
on http://www.imdb.com/video/imdb/vi1378657561/?ref_=tt_ov_vi
No comments:
Post a Comment