THE MASTER (2012) P.T. Anderson's film on the origions of Scientology (sort of), Starring Philip Seymour Hoffman, Joaquin Phoenix, Amy Adams, and Laura Dern

Oh yeah--just catching up on all of this now.

Just saw this in 70mm--still digesting but I liked it about as much as I liked TWBB, which is a lot with reservations.

Strangely (or perhaps not) it reminded me a lot of Gregory Bateson's thesis about alcoholics and their obsessive need for self-control--basically the dialectic that both Freddie and Dodd seem to struggle with.

― ryan, Friday, September 21, 2012 7:48 PM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

yeah, the basic idea is that alcoholic is caught in a double-bind of control (ie, controlling his drinking and being controlled by it). I think this is a relevant passage:

The friends and relatives of the alcoholic commonly urge him to be "strong," and to "resist temptation." What they mean by this is not very clear, but it is significant that the alcoholic himself—while sober—commonly agrees with their view of his "problem." He believes that he could be, or, at least, ought to be "the captain of his soul." But it is a cliché of alcoholism that after "that first drink," the motivation to stop drinking is zero. Typically the whole matter is phrased overtly as a battle between "self" and "John Barleycorn." Covertly the alcoholic may be planning or even secretly lay¬ing in supplies for the next binge, but it is almost impossible (in the hospital setting) to get the sober alcoholic to plan his next binge in an overt manner. He cannot, seemingly, be the "captain" of his soul and overtly will or command his own drunkenness. The "captain" can only command sobriety —and then not be obeyed.
Bill W., the cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous, himself an alcoholic, cut through all this mythology of conflict in the very first of the famous "Twelve Steps" of AA. The first step demands that the alcoholic agree that he is powerless over alcohol. This step is usually regarded as a "surrender" and many alcoholics are either unable to achieve it or achieve it only briefly during the period of remorse following a binge. AA does not regard these cases as promising: they have not yet "hit bottom"; their despair is inadequate and after a more or less brief spell of sobriety they will again attempt to use "selfcontrol" to fight the "temptation." They will not or cannot accept the premise that, drunk or sober, the total personality of an alcoholic is an alcoholic personality which cannot conceivably fight alcoholism. As an AA leaflet puts it, "trying to use will power is like trying to lift yourself by your bootstraps."

Really interesting,

Just found this interview with PTA:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/09/11/paul-thomas-anderson-the-master_n_1874053.html

Phil says it best in his press conference in Venice. He says, I wish I could walk out into the streets and shit and fuck every woman that I see and all this different kind of stuff, but I can't do that, and I think I'm gonna go find a master to teach me how not to do that

Towards the end of the 75-minute conversation, an audience member asked [James] Franco to discuss a specific movie role on his resume that had initially intimidated him. Franco couldn’t really think of one, which reminded him of a funny story.

“Well, I don’t know if this is a funny story but it’s a true story,” he said. “Paul Thomas Anderson was getting ready to make the Master and he called me and we met. And we talked and we ended up meeting for coffee. We didn’t talk about the Master but I met him to chat. And then he kept calling me and he wanted to talk and talk but I didn’t know what he wanted to talk about because we’d always just kind of bulls— on the phone. So then when he started talking about the role he said ‘Do you feel like you can do this?’ And I said ‘Yeah, totally. Look, I think you’re like the best American director. I feel confident. I know I can do this.’ And he said to me ‘But I want this to scare you. I want this role, going on this journey to scare you.’ And I was like ‘Scare?! I know I can do it.” Franco now had the laughing audience in the Stephen F. Austin Intercontinental ballroom in the palm of his hand. “And so, incredible movie, needless to say I didn’t get the part. I guess I wasn’t scared enough or something, or whatever reason I didn’t get it. And then when I saw Joaquin in that movie I realized ‘Oh, he wanted me to like lose my mind.’ And so I guess that’s just to say I usually don’t get scared of roles."

lolllll

ha yes

from rex reed's review:

espite the undeserved praise some critics have lavished on the director for filming the whole thing in 65-millimeter, the expensive process is wasted on an endless parade of debilitating and annoying close-ups.

er, surely he means 70mm?

the format used resulted in a 65mm frame on 70mm stock or something like that

lol @ the notion of 65mm being 'wasted' on a close up

needed more cock shots

there r lots of benefits to shooting on a bigger negative that apply whether youre shooting a face or a canyon - like, look at the portraits of richard avedon, u cant get that 'look' from a smaller negative

its 65mm in-camera but printed on 70mm stock iirc, the extra for the soundtrack.

yeah I saw this in 70mm twice and I'm no expert but I don't think the 35mm version would've shown off Joaquin's craggy paralytic face to its full effect

think I saw it in 35mm, but regardless, the 'look' of being shot on 65mm will come through whether its projected in 35mm or 70mm or w/e

it looked really good

I'm going to give this another try tomorrow night. lag∞n, you might want to avoid this thread for a few days.

er, surely he means 70mm?

― TracerHandVEVO (Tracer Hand), Saturday, November 17, 2012 1:34 PM (3 hours ago) Bookmark

its shot on 65 and printed on 70, iirc

the whole thing wasnt actually shot on 70, there were definitely some 35mm scenes

what on earth does this even mean

it means... time to die.

what max said... 5mm reserved for the optical audio track

Fresh Air interview with PTA (worth seeing) talks about how some close-up scenes were created/filmed on the fly on a day when the 65mm camera was broken: erotica-reading scene, what color are my eyes scene.

You'd think at some point word would've gotten around that hey, if you badmouth Lancaster Dodd to Freddie Quell you will find yourself in a headlock getting pummeled for a few minutes. But apparently it didn't.

Anyway I like Phoenix and generally don't like Hoffman, but they were both fine in this. There's really not much narrative momentum in this, is there? I had no firm idea of what FQ saw in the Cause/LD aside from daddy issues, wanting to find a Sand Lady to fuck, etc.

The last 20 mins aren't as huge a fuckup as the end of There Will Be Blood, but "Slow Boat to China" was bullshit. Could be PTA's best film, but I've never found him to be a major filmmaker, and this seems to be about as deep as he gets (not very).

That Irving Berlin song "Get Thee Behind Me Satan" is amazing though!

Could be PTA's best film, but I've never found him to be a major filmmaker, and this seems to be about as deep as he gets (not very).

I think it is his best, which is to say it's a good film with several impressive sequences (mostly in the first 50 minutes) but not much more.

Much prefer him in emotionally splattery Magnolia/Punch Drunk Love mode.

I prefer chemotherapy to Punch Drunk Love

If we're just talking about PSH's perf in that movie, then yes.

jeez he was in that too eh (have blotted out as much as i can)

PDL had a gallery of terrible performances, pick one

You know Adam Sandler was actually pretty decen-*giggle breakdown*

y'all are no fun, I liked that movie when I saw it when I was 12 or 13 or something!

I think I own it actually.

The first 5-10 minutes of The Master are a nice riposte to 50 years of Greatest Generation properganda. (Could've done with more sailor wrestling tbqf)

hopefully the DVD will have extended sailor-wrestling and sand-lady cuts

thinking back I think the sand lady was the best part of this movie

Should of cut right from that to PSH yelling "Pig fuck!"

does anyone think the sand lady might be up for some awards this season

yeah, where's detrius 2012 at

She's got Ernest Borgnine's posthumous vote.

This is the thread where we discuss matters pertaining to the detrius that accompanies the "End of the Year in Cinema" -- 2012

Would like to see this in 70mm just for the shot of him running away from the migrant workers.

i wanted to see this again but its not playing here anymore ;_;

phoenix channelling robin williams' popeye in this on occasion

the out-of-focus shots got on my nerves really quickly.
― seriously, THIS GUY (daria-g), Monday, September 24, 2012 4:55 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

i dont remember any out of focus shots.
― Hungry4Ass, Monday, September 24, 2012 9:18 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

when he's walking on the dock towards the yacht
― barthes simpson, Monday, September 24, 2012 11:55 AM (1 month ago) Bookmark Flag Post Permalink

ha, had this word-for-word convo coming out of the film

thought this was OK; pretty boring in parts but joaquin was very watchable & beautifully photographed

the way I remember it the focus in that shot kept shifting from Freddie in the foreground to the people on the boat dancing in the background, it was pretty purposeful and made sense imo

yep, there's so many rhythms going on in that shot; Phoenix's walk, his looking from his path to the boat, the dancing on the boat, and the focus shifting

also the party music clashing with the film score

that particular shot doesn't make it seem possible that he slipped onto the boat, though.

(I checked the running time after the movie to make sure that PTA elided their meeting, and that the projectionist hadn't dropped a reel -- I saw it in 70mm celluloid)

?

you see him get on the boat

I didn't, musta been the focus

ya but the scene of him first on the boat is, seemingly deliberately, cut out of the movie.