Review: The Master (2012) is an intimate, if aloof, American epic told on a sprawling 70mm canvas.

The Master

2012
137 minutes
rated R

by Scott Mendelson

Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master is such an aggressively ambiguous picture that it is almost a risk to attempt to assign explicit meaning to it.  It is a sprawling and majestic character study, visually dynamic (see it in 70mm if at all possible) and superbly acted throughout.  But it is arguably more of a technical exercise than an emotional journey, as the film keeps us at somewhat of a distance even as the characters occasionally pour their hearts out onscreen.  But as for the film's deeper meaning, I imagine each and every single viewer will have differing opinions on that, and yes I admit my thoughts on the film may in fact be less worthwhile by virtue of only taking in a single theatrical viewing.  But as Roger Ebert occasionally said, it's not 'what it's about' but 'how it's about it'.  Whatever it is The Master is about, and I do have my theories, it tells its story in a rather splendid fashion.

Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master gets a teaser.

P.T. Anderson's long-awaited follow-up to There Will Be Blood is allegedly a fictionalized version of the origins of Scientology (with Philip Seymour Hoffman playing an L. Ron Hubbard-esque figure), but this teaser has nothing of that nature to tease.  Instead all we get is a jittery Joaquin Phoenix nervously being interrogated by an authority figure about an unseen incident.  Obviously this is an exceedingly cryptic little clip, but for die-hard fans (I've liked all of his four of his previous films but only loved Magnolia) it will have to do.  The Master opens on October 12th.  As always, we'll see.

Scott Mendelson