Movie Spoiler THE MASTER (2012) starring Joaquin Phoenix - after review

It has been five years since the release of PT Anderson’s There Will Be Blood. His films, whether you like them or not, are well-crafted and a marvel to observe. After looking at the titles right now on next year’s release schedule, I’ve had an epiphany. I’ve known for some time that Hollywood product is becoming more commercial and profit-driven, with concentrations on known literary properties, as the years have gone on. But, I’ve kind of just ignored it and felt comfortable in my own bubble bitching how crappy films are nowadays, secretly waiting for the next year things would slightly get better, and films that tickle my personal fancy, just so I can fill a Top Ten List at the end of every year. But, I’m realizing that I need to get over myself and open my eyes up to the limited, but bountiful options that are out there.  

Quell ruminates over an abyss

Many, including myself, speculated this film would be a take-down of Scientology.  In fact, Anderson smartly shoots for a more universal approach.  While it's clear he uses founder L. Ron Hubbard's religion as a template, rather than expose the specific group's questionable underbelly, the director focuses on the student/teacher relationship between Freddie Quell (Phoenix) and Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman).  Frankly, Tom Cruise (who scored an Oscar nod for Anderson's Magnolia at the turn-of-the-century), John Travolta, et al, get off scott-free.  Anderson is more concerned with a lost soul's susceptibility to the influence of others who profess to have all the answers, or, in Dodd's case, carries the gravitas as one who appears closer than most others.  Dodd immediately recognizes a kindred virile, youthful, curious spirit in Quell and takes him under his wings as a project of sorts.  His goal is to tame the base animal within his subject as a way of validating his own beliefs to himself.  However, beset with doubts and his own shortcomings, Quell proves to be quite the challenge.

Quell's alcohol-fueled romantic passion

A few years ago, I wrote Phoenix off as a tool. The friends I saw it with were fortunate enough to catch a very special 70mm screening at the Landmark in Los Angeles this past weekend (I highly recommend this if you're lucky enough to be in an area that is doing this). Incidentally, the last film I saw there with one of them was Phoenix’ last film, Two Lovers, released in 2008, over four years ago. That was before he “retired” from acting, grew a bushy beard, acted aloof, and made that mockumentary about him becoming a hip-hop star. I was way too hard on him and he has totally redeemed himself here, proving his mettle as one of the best film actor's of his generation. He strikes me as pretty messed up person, but it’s clear that he has rededicated himself to his profession and channeled his demons into one of cinema’s best performances of the year.  Phoenix brims over with a raw edginess, which Anderson encapsulates and shapes into an involving tale.  Hoffman, the title character, is solid, and Amy Adams, as his dutiful, yet assertive wife proves her versatility in adapting to yet another diverse role on her resume.  

Quell's disdain for being ordinary

The Master is one of those thinking-person’s films that I’m gathering wouldn’t have any problem getting funded in the late 1960s/1970s. Yet, today, the Megan Ellison's Annapurna-funded film stands as an exception. I’m not saying that I’m giving the movie more leeway, because it bucks the system and tells an actual story, regardless of its monetary prospects. I am saying, however, that I’m trying harder now to give films such as these more of my attention, because if I don’t, that’s less of an excuse for someone else to.

Will it end up on my Top Ten List for the year? Probably. Is it something that I can jizz all over? Maybe not ... right now. Or maybe so, and I just haven’t tapped into the part of myself that can (no pun intended). What I know is that PT Anderson tried to tell an original story that hadn’t been done before. His intentions were true, and its execution was nothing short of impressive. Is it great? It quite possibly is and I want to be more flexible to opening myself up to that over time. I’m also hoping that more people go see this film, so they can at least give it a chance and decide for themselves.  If greatness can be achieved these days just by being thought-provoking, then, consider Anderson's latest mission accomplished.

Movie Spoiler Summary 
The film opens up with seaman Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix) on a ship in the middle of the ocean and then at the beach in the early 1950s. He and his mates create a woman made out of sand, presumably with no ladies in their immediate proximity, and he copulating with her. Later, they extract a liquid out of some artillery (?) below deck. It becomes very clear over the course of the beginning of the film that Quell has an interest in mixology, particular involving substances not fit for consumption, making him a hard-core alcoholic like few others. He’s a lost soul, hell-bent on destroying himself from the inside. After class instruction on assimilating to the real world, he submits to an inkblot test with a Rorschach doctor (Mike Howard). All Quell can make out of the creations are cocks, vaginas, and coitus. He’s questioned by another doctor (Bruce Goodchild) about a crying episode he recently experienced over reading a letter from a past love, as well as relationships with family members.  By no coincidence, these interactions are eerily similar to a cult he will later join up with.

One of Quell's Portrait Photos

Quell begins to make his living as a photographer at a department store. A bluesy ballad cover of the White Stripes “Blue Orchid” (with the lyric "Get thee behind me satan") plays over the soundtrack. There’s a lovely extended shot of a dressed-up salesgirl Martha (Amy Ferguson) walking through the establishment before connecting with Quell. In the light room, she drinks one of his concoctions not knowing the ingredients and they begin to get intimate, before they go out for dinner, where he loses steam quickly and falls asleep at their table. During a photo shoot the next day with a businessman (W. Earl Brown), Quell provokes a fight which ends in an ugly altercation. Needless to say, his days as a professional photographer are numbered and likely inconsistent, few and far between.

While working on a farm, he offers one of his lethal beverages to his Filipino colleagues, causing one of them to have an incredibly adverse reaction. Quell flees the fields. While passing the docked cruise ship Alethia, he decides to stowaway, while Lancaster Dodd, or as he is known for most of the film as “The Master” (Anderson veteran Philip Seymour Hoffman) dances on the top floor with his wife Peggy (Amy Adams), while the guests encircle them in admiration. As the vessel embarks back on the river towards New York City, in a great shot juxtaposed to the previous frame, Dodd has a private moment below deck with another woman with only the bartender in attendance, everyone else above them.

Ambyr Childers plays Elizabeth Dodd

The next day, one of the members of “the Cause” (the name of Dodd’s cult) discovers Quell and brings him to Dodd’s attention. The Master has a long conversation with Quell, while familiarizing himself with the young man. It turns out that Quell had partied with the guests the night before who enjoyed his talents as a mixologist. When Dodd asks him about more beverage, Quell responds, “I can make something special for you. How do you like to feel?” He takes a liking to the confused Quell and invites him to his daughter Elizabeth’s (Ambyr Childers) wedding to Clark (Rami Malek), with the patriarch officiating the occasion on deck. At the reception afterwards, Dodd shares a metaphor of taming the dragon within. Later, he exclaims, “We fought against the day and we won.” Quell mingles with the guests and meet’s Dodd’s son Val (Friday Night Light’s sweet-natured Jesse Plemons), who it’s later revealed enjoys living off his father’s fortune, but believes him to be a charlatan quack. Peggy and Quell converse during breakfast the next day and they sit down to dine. She shares that Dodd has many enemies who believes him to be harmful and/or full of shit, but has also taken a shine to Quell. Dodd conducts an audit with one of the members. Peggy informs Quell that “we record everything … through all lifetimes,” which takes on a figurative and literal significance, as we watch Quell walk below deck to a table full of people taking notes of Dodd’s session utilizing audio surveillance equipment. Quell sits down and hits on the women while they work. He writes down the message, “Do you want to fuck?” to one of them.

Rami Malek plays Clark, the possibly
gay husband of Dodd's daughter Elizabeth
(why else would she stray?); Malek will
appear in the final Twilight film in November

Later, he creates a drink cut with paint thinner and shares the beverage with Dodd, who performs an audit on Quell. He asks him several questions, often repeated. In a funny moment, Dodd asks Quell, “Are you unpredictable?” and he farts (I love potty humor). While he laughs, Dodd casually calls him a “silly animal.” Dodd shuts the process down, but Quell insists they proceed. Dodd acquiesces and implores Quell to answer without blinking, sending them back to start all over each time upon failure in what becomes one of the most engrossing scenes in the film. Quell shares some personal details, including having sex with his aunt when he was younger (so he says), as well as the cross he still bears for losing the love of his life, Doris Solstad (Madisen Beaty), in Lynn, Massachusetts. The scene involves flashbacks to the romance he shared with Doris years ago, when she was only sixteen. At one point, she serenades him with “Don’t Sit Under the Apple Tree.” They end with the last time Quell saw Doris. He stands outside her bedroom window, about to be shipped off to sea; she was also going to make a trip to Norway to visit family. He rips off her screen to kiss her in a memorable shot. After the audit, Dodd and Quell share a smoke (Dodd’s favorite brand is Kool).

The ship docks and Dodd and his entourage attends a party held by the very wealthy Mildred Drummond (Patty McCormack, who was excellent and left quite an impression as the demon child in The Bad Seed way back when). The socially awkward Quell cases the home for valuables. Partygoer John More (Christopher Even Welch) interrupts Dodd’s audit on Margaret O’Brien (Barbara Brownell, who appeared in a film called Mark of the Witch decades ago) after butting in with one too many “excuse me’s.” More challenges Dodd on his methods, as well as his unproven beliefs involving reincarnation and being able to heal the infirm: “Good science by definition allows for more than one opinion … otherwise, you merely have the will of one man, which is the basis of cult.” Dodd ends matters with, “If you already know the answers to your questions, then why even ask, PIG FUCK?!” Later, Peggy dictates an aggressive letter which Dodd transcribes. Quell enlists Clark to mess More up (or worse) in his hotel room. When Quell informs Dodd of his actions, he’s verbally reprimanded. Dodd preaches pacifism in regards to his critics, but he takes no measures to rectify what Quell had endeavored on his behalf.

Elizabeth looking for trouble in Quell's crotch

In Philadelphia, Helen Sullivan (the always welcome, talented, and little used, Laura Dern) puts Dodd and his people up in her home. During a lecture, Elizabeth quite overtly, yet unnoticeably hits on Quell. Dodd dances and sings “Maid of Amsterdam” during a celebration. During a quick cut, suddenly, every woman in the room is nude (hinting at sexism within the cult: the males are fully clothed). Later, in Adams’ best moment, Peggy approaches Dodd from behind in the bathroom. While employing a hand job, she grants him the permission to stray, but is very clear about the rules (anyone as long as she and any of her acquaintances don’t find out). She also offers Quell an ultimatum: he must sober up if he is going to continue to sponge off her husband. Val informs Quell he thinks his father is a crock, “He’s making all this up as he goes along. You don’t see that? I could sleep and wake up and not miss one thing.” Quell begins one of his outbursts when the police arrive to arrest Dodd (this is when the audience first hears the name “Lancaster Dodd”--from an outside, objective source) for operating a medical practice without a license. Quell goes bat-shit crazy and they both end up in cells adjacent to each other. In another great scene from Phoenix, Quell tops himself from earlier and goes even more over the edge, punishing himself for believing in Dodd, violently banging his head on his bed and destroying his toilet). The Master attempts to talk him back down, but then gives up and urinates in his cell commode. In court, Judge Phoenix (Thomas Knickerbocker) orders Dodd to pay a heavy series of fines. (Side note: Anderson favorite Big Love’s Melora Walters is a singer in a band in a scene that may have been cut, or I completely missed her.)

At dinner, everyone gossips about Quell being suppressive and perhaps a spy, and tries to convince Dodd to cut him loose once and for all. Unconvinced, Dodd welcomes Quell back into Sullivan’s home, embracing him and giving him a playful spank. With the assistance of Peggy and Clark, Dodd begins to conduct an intensive audit on Quell, involving a series of activities (voluntarily remaining in a room while pacing, facing his fears; staring into Peggy’s eyes as they turn from blue to black; Clark subjecting repeated lines to challenge Quell while they stare at each other; and Peggy reading pornography to Quell) conveyed through montage. There is another flashback to Quell’s time a sea, including when he read Doris’ heartbreaking letter.

Dodd celebrates the printing of his second book

In Sullivan’s home, Peggy announces the debut of Dodd’s second book in Phoenix, Arizona. Out in the desert, Dodd and Quell dig up a container holding Dodd’s unpublished work. After self-publishing The Second Saber (“as a gift to homo sapiens” is inscribed on the title page) with his own printing press, Quell and Clark take to the radio and streets to push Dodd’s latest tome. Quell uses his talents as a photographer to take a professional picture of Dodd for the book jacket. The release is held at the 1st Phoenix Congress. There, a nervous Quell beats the heck out of a critic who reduces the book’s content worthy of a “three page pamphlet.” While a song-version of “A-Tisket, A-Tasket” plays, an astute Helen approaches Dodd about a important adjustment he made in his beliefs reflected in his new book, which may have happened unconsciously or was deliberate and conducted conspicuously (probably the former, as Val asserted, “He’s making all this up as he goes along”). He reacts unfavorably to her for bringing it to his attention. Out in the desert, Dodd enlists Quell, Elizabeth, and Clark, to play a game of “Pick a Point.” The rules are simple, as Dodd demonstrates by picking a point and riding his motorcycle to the point and back again. When it’s Quell’s turn, he hops on the vehicle, picks his point, drives past it, and leaves everyone behind. The song “No Other Love” plays.

Two men traveling separate directions

Quell visits Doris’ mother (Lena Endre, a Swedish actress who appeared as Mikael’s girlfriend in the original The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo films) and learns that she remarried four years ago to an unattractive kid he used to know (making her married name Doris Day). While watching a Casper feature in a beautiful, empty movie theatre, an attendant hands Quell a telephone (!). Somehow, inexplicably, Dodd learned the location of Quell's whereabouts and implores him to visit him at his new school in England. Quells travels via ship and meets Dodd in his grandiose office. Peggy is there and cuts to the chase, asking him rhetorically, “You can't take this life straight, can you?"  She earnestly displays how much her religion means to her and how disgusted she is at Quell's disrespect.  It's revealed that their daughter Elizabeth is a DCF (a possible acronym signifying a suppressive person).  In a vulnerable, sympathetic moment, Dodd muses, "Free winds and no tyranny for you.  Freddie, sailor of the seas; you pay no rent, free to go where you please.  Then go, go to that landless latitude and good luck.  [If it forces] you a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you?  For you will be the first person in the history of the world."  Dodd believes what he does, because he knows nothing else that works better for him.  Anyone who doubts him, stands in his way towards enlightenment (as any person devoted to their religion).  He cannot tolerate such beings in his life, well-intentioned or otherwise.  Dodd gives him one more chance to remain or leave his cult forever, in this world and otherwise.  "If we meet again in the next life, you will be my sworn enemy and I will show you no mercy."  Dodd sings, "Slow Boat to China," a song made popular only a few years before.  Quell leaves and picks up a woman, Winn Manchester (Jennifer Neala Page), at a bar. After they have sex, they chat and Quell humorously requests in regards to his member, "Now stick it back in, it fell out."  Later, he falls asleep on the beach during the daytime. Role credits.

Oscar Predictions 
Right now, I’m calling Actor (Phoenix), Original Screenplay, Cinematography, Best Picture, Director, Supporting Actor (Hoffman), Supporting Actress (Adams), Editing, Art Direction (in that order from likely to least likely). As the box-office definitely is showing some weak signs early on in interest, and therefore prospects could wane. However, while I could see someone stepping ahead of him in the Best Actor race, Phoenix is a lock and I imagine he’s the one to beat right now.

Box Office 
I’m a little confused by the quick rollout, especially after the film set an all-time record (surpassing the recent feat of Moonrise Kingdom) on per-theater average. It opened in five cinemas and, instead of gradually rolling out (to, say 50, then, say 150, etc), it shot its load the second weekend and its average plummeted more rapidly then perhaps it might have with a more cautious approach. Miramax waited until the fifth weekend to expand to 800-some-odd screens with There Will Be Blood, three weeks later than TWC's The Master. I’m not saying to read the final rites, as it’s still to early, I just found the decision to be rather unusual and shocking for a film as pensive as this one. Even Black Swan waited until the third weekend before such a leap, yet that film was a psychological thriller set in modern time with hot, young actresses. There was a major difference in variables and this indeed was a tougher sell. I guess we shall see.

Shot from the trailer I don't recall in the film

Another shot I don't remember