The Master

So just how damning an indictment of scientology is PT Anderson's latest opus? Well it's hard to say seeing as how "the Cause" as the film calls it, is barely even mentioned. I was shocked at just how little to say The Master has in terms of pretty much everything. I am a very patient viewer, yet at times this film was interminable, with pointless scene on top of pointless scene, leading the audience in what only could be described as a spectacularly empty direction. If not for the altogether brilliant and Oscar worthy dual performances by Joaquin Phoenix and Phillip Seymour Hoffman I shutter to think what kind of unmitigated disaster this film would have been. Whenever the two actors square off, most notably in the "processing" scene, the film comes to vibrant life. Unfortunately, those moments are few and far between and the majority of the picture remains pretentious and in some cases nearly unwatchable. I kept asking myself what a brilliant filmmaker like PT Anderson was trying to say with this film and all I got was that aimless, immature, psychotic and severely alcoholic veterans are easy prey for cult-like entities to indoctrinate. Funny enough that would have been a sufficient revelation if the film had bothered to delve deep enough into the inner workings of "The Cause" rather than fumble about the periphery. Probably the most let down I've been by any film this year.