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The Master
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The Master
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- 2012
- Paul Thomas Anderson
- 131 mins
- 15
Summary
Drama starring Amy Adams, Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman. After being discharged from the Navy, troubled sailor Freddie Quell falls in with "The Cause", supposedly a self-help organisation led by the charismatic Lancaster Dodd.
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Review
A star rating of 4 out of 5.
Andrew Collins
After the oil-rush epic There Will Be Blood, single-minded writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson's most conspicuous success, he conjures another richly evoked American period drama here. The postwar optimism and material upswing of the early 1950s have bypassed the demobbed, mentally damaged sailor Freddie Quell (Joaquin Phoenix), who, after a chance meeting on a yacht, is taken under the patriarchal wing of Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), persuasive leader of psychobabbling self-help organisation The Cause. A spellbinding, forcefully physical Phoenix imbues his tongue-tied, short-fused alcoholic with sufficient guileless charisma to explain the enduringly symbiotic mentor-pupil relationship that drives the narrative - and causes friction with Dodd's straight-laced wife (Amy Adams). The Scientology-like movement develops into a cult, and questions are asked of the self-righteous Dodd by sceptics, the police and even his own son (Jesse Plemons). But what might have been Anderson's latest masterpiece fails to fully take dramatic flight in an unsatisfying final act. It remains, however, vital, character-driven film-making.
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7.1/10
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Credits
Cast
rolenameFreddie QuellJoaquin PhoenixLancaster DoddPhilip Seymour HoffmanPeggy DoddAmy AdamsHelenLaura DernElizabeth DoddAmbyr ChildersClarkRami MalekVal DoddJesse PlemonsBill WilliamKevin J O'ConnorJohn MoreChristopher Evan WelchNorman ConradMartin DewWayne GregoryJoshua CloseCliff BoydKevin J WalshFrankFrank Bettag
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Crew
rolenameDirectorPaul Thomas Anderson
Details
Theatrical distributor
Entertainment
Released on
2012-11-02
Languages
English
Guidance
Swearing, sex scenes.
Available on
DVD and Blu-ray
Formats
Colour
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