The Master

Paul Anderson's unequivocal account of a controlled demise into insanity is played through with a brilliantly delirious soundtrack that leaves you stunned and in awe at its grandeur.

Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) is introduced almost like dishevelled shipwreck, hacking at coconuts, letting out his frustrations on a female sand sculpture with his fellow soldiers before hunching over and masturbating in public in what you come to realise is a man broken by war. His obsession with sex is rife from the start as the Rorschach test proves with every picture jokingly described in a crude way before he is let loose on society as a man trying to find a path in a new America.

Not being able to settle himself in any place for too long in what appears to be the effects of post-traumatic stress syndrome, Freddie stumbles upon a helping hand in the form of Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman). He quickly makes Freddie his new project, putting him through something called “processing” as he tries to tame the animal.

The Scientology parallel of the film is there, but it isn’t the central focusing point, rather it is looking at the human relationships formed around Dodd and the manipulations that occur through a beautifully shot 65mm film. Malaimare’s cinematography is one to remember here and the first film to be shot in this format in 16 years catches every glance, reaction and detail in a slightly gritty fashion. The horror edge is delivered through Johnny Greenwood’s beautiful soundtrack which reminded me strongly of the work Alberto Iglesias has done for Pedro Almodóvar. It’s refreshing to hear percussion being used effectively in a film as too often it is simply a forgettable backbeat or emphasis on a crescendo; sometimes sliding in and out of synch in a disorientating manor fitting perfectly into the surroundings and this is before even mentioning the dreamscapes which I’ll allow you to discover for yourself.

For anyone interested, there is one copy of the 70mm print circulating UK cinemas in December. Personally I’m interested to see the difference in this traditional picture size. After a year of failing 3D sales and with The Artist cleaning out most of the awards last year, could this be the start of cinema looking for its roots instead of worrying about how many fps you can squeeze out? Probably not but it’s nice to see some directors still experimenting with the old.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt1560747/