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Many have presumed “The Master” to be a Scientology allegory, but it needn’t be confined to such a headline-friendly box. There are indeed parallels between L. Ron Hubbard’s brainchild and Paul Thomas Anderson’s latest, as Philip Seymour Hoffman’s cult leader, Lancaster Dodd, shares the same era (1950s) and initial setting (a boat) as the Dianetics creator. But “The Master” contains much broader implications, charting an individual’s struggle to belong that’s both specific to post-WWII unease and fully applicable to any age of souls lost in society.
At the center of this tale is alcoholic Navy veteran Freddie Quell, whom Joaquin Phoenix embodies so devotedly that the actor’s physical makeup seems permanently altered. Portraying a rootless drifter in a perpetual haze, Phoenix contorts his mouth and hunches forward to highlight a grandfatherly frame. The chameleonic lead is matched by Hoffman, who’s as expert as ever as a complex false prophet clinging to Freddie, his new recruit and right-hand man, as a surrogate son. (Amy Adams is solid, but unremarkable, as Dodd’s enabling wife, Peggy.)
Despite numerous scenes underscoring a master-servant bond, with Freddie playing the tough dog to Lancaster’s near-infallible order-barker, the relationship these men share is less about their respective roles (or religious beliefs) than what it means for each of them. Lancaster needs an impressionable underling to validate his preachings, and to counteract the personal doubts and insecurities his naysayers fuel. Though habitually resistant, Freddie needs a life guide and communal identity outside of himself.
The latter drops “The Master” into the company of 2012 films like “Cosmopolis” and “Oslo, August 31st,” other chapters of a growing movie narrative about isolated characters torturously toiling over their roles in the world. If ’11 was the year of films about invasion and annihilation, ’12 is about surviving amid the contemporary rubble, which, most often, piles up in one’s own mind. Anderson’s failure to deliver a brilliant epic on par with “There Will Be Blood” is largely remedied by his formidable conveyance of a distinct and resonant human quandary.
The Master
R
Three reels out of four
Opens Friday at the Ritz Friday
Recommended Rental
The Avengers
PG-13
Available Tuesday
What could have been an overstuffed disaster turns out to be a rather classy affair, as director Joss Whedon crafts “The Avengers” into a brisk and handsome collective blockbuster, deftly joining the tales of seven heroes into one highly watchable adventure.
Geek god Whedon knows his way around a comic book adaptation, not to mention an action sequence. With Robert Downey Jr., Chris Hemsworth and Scarlett Johanssen, it’s one of the year’s best popcorn movies.
Contact the South Philly Review at editor@southphillyreview.com.
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