The Master

“If you figure a way to live without serving a master, any master, then let the rest of us know, will you? For you'd be the first person in the history of the world.“ - Lancaster Dodd.This is absolutely phenomenal. Nothing short of cinematic masterpiece. An intimate character study that feels as vast as an epic. At its core, it is a story about the aching, universal desire for belonging and how fragile souls gravitate toward systems, leaders, or relationships that promise meaning in a chaotic world. Absolutely brilliant themes on display such as belonging and isolation, faith vs doubt, power and submission, trauma and healing, truth vs fabrication.  But at the absolute core of it all, and frankly I think this is the absolute highlight of this masterpiece, we have two of the greatest acting performances of all time bouncing off of another. Absolutely masterful stuff from Phoenix and the late Seymour Hoffman. They each embody two completely different acting philosophies and yet fuse them into one electric relationship. Phoenix gives a performance that is raw, physical, almost animalistic. In contrast, Hoffman delivers a masterclass in restraint and subtlety. I have only really began diving into Hoffman’s work as of late, and this and Synecdoche, New York have proven to me what a fine actor he was. So sad that we lost such a remarkable actor and human being. The rest of the cast is probably great too, but it’s gonna be hard to really look past those two performances on this first watch. This is fucking tremendous, and I shall be rewatching because wow!