Extra Credit: The Master

The Master, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is not your typical piece of cinema. The lack of a traditional plot form could leave some people unsatisfied. However, I felt that the character study and acting were rich enough to make for a compelling watch. Phillip Seymour Hoffman’s Lancaster Dodd, and Joaquin Pheonix’s Freddie Quell are two deeply flawed if not broken human beings. One would not have to reach far to conclude that their relationship is almost a love story. They seem to feed off each other in every aspect filling the holes left in each others lives. This is also evident in the way that Anderson films the movie. It can be tense and uncomfortable at times, especially when the camera lingers on Quell’s face. There is also a clear juxtapose created in the way that Anderson chooses to light the scenes with Dodd always being cast in bright rooms and Quell followed constantly by literal darkness. The score sets the mood well, being tense and hesitant at times setting a great mood for the film. The relationship between these two individuals, one being soft and charismatic, and the other being volatile, and hostile, trying almost in vain to co-exist. I feel as though you can most definitely see Dodd’s character as a sociopath, he clings to the idea of being “The Master” of these people that want to love him. Dodd feeds them ideas to create himself as this all knowing being. I also believe this intense relationship between Dodd and Quell formed because Quell was the total body encompassment of a totally lost animalistic man. Quell’s entire body language suggest animal like traits; his hunched shoulders, almost timid at times. But once provoked Quell lashed out like a wild animal toward anyone that spoke against Dodd (Quell being as an animal and Dodd acting as his master).  The Master is unconventional, brilliantly presented and compelling, which takes you on an emotional ride.  That ride however is the point of the movie, and in my opinion a ride most certainly worth taking.