THE MASTER.

Oh, The Master... a movie that seems to say so much and nothing at all simultaneously. Likewise, it's bringing out reactions from fans where they want to talk about it but can't find the right words. First, let's see what this puppy is about. Freddie (Joaquin Phoenix) is an ex-Navy guy who is now a drunk and a sex-craved lunatic who can fly off the handle at a moment's notice. But one day he meets Lancaster Dodd (Philip Seymour Hoffman), the titular Master, who wrote a book called The Cause that introduces a whole new cultish religion and/or belief system that is gaining both followers and controversy. Albeit wary, Freddie slowly becomes one of the group while continuing to fight his own demons... as well as Dodd's wife, Peggy (Amy Adams), who doesn't seem to agree with Freddie's inclusion in the cause. (And she may or may not be kind of the mastermind behind everything.)

This is definitely a character study through and through. The acting is brilliant in this film, and you're fascinated with what will happen next and how these characters will react. Unfortunately, to me... only one of these characters is all that interesting. Joaquin Phoenix gives a brilliant performance, and you never know what he's going to do next in the film... but I found myself not really caring about him as a character or his story. There was no empathy. Nothing. In fact, I couldn't even get into the movie until at least 15-20 minutes in after Hoffman joins the film. (For reference, the part that hooked me was the first interview scene between the two guys. Hands down the best scene in the movie.) But even then, the latter half of that scene eventually pulls away from Hoffman and puts more focus on Phoenix's background and this relationship with this girl Doris... and my interest began to wane again. Outside of Phoenix's random jolts of insanity, I just couldn't get into his character. It didn't help that he's incredibly hard to understand, at least in the first half of the movie. So, of course, Hoffman was the character I loved watching. I just wish it would have ended with... more.

And I think "more" is the main issue with the film. The story is incredibly lacking. Everything else is great, but the story just isn't there. It introduces so many points and never follows through. A character sets up an affair with Phoenix that never goes anywhere. Hoffman's son's ambivalence toward the cause is discussed in one scene but never goes anywhere. And there is just so much like that throughout. There's no payoff to anything. And I don't necessarily need payoff in everything, especially if ambiguity is done well. But here... I don't think it is. And when your film centers around the battling minds of two insane people, you would expect some kind of explosive ending, maybe something like the bowling alley in There Will Be Blood. Nope. The film just... ends. No real resolutions. No major conflict. No tension. It's just... a choice is made and the film ends.

The movie is even vague on its themes. Even discussing the film afterward with Tom Clift and James Blake Ewing, we had trouble figuring out just what this movie's intent was. What's its purpose? What's it trying to tell us? And I still haven't really come up with an answer. The best we could come up with at that time was a study in the extremes of insanity. You have the uneducated hot shot wild card with Phoenix and the more charistmatic, enigmatic, intellectual force of Hoffman. Otherwise, I'm not too sure. To me, though, the biggest potential draw is the idea that the majority of the film might not even be real. Early in the film, Phoenix's sanity is questioned when he's accused of having visions, to which he responds it was only a dream. And there were a handful of moments throughout the film that build on this (the female nudist gathering and the phone call in the theater moments, for instance). I guess when you're weak-minded (and/or insane), you can be swayed to see anything a certain way.

This is also a movie not to watch with Mother. It is an incredibly sexually charged film. Freddie is like a teenage horndog delinquent. He'll literally have sex with anyone or anything... age, relation, marital status, and the fact it's just sand does not deter him in the slightest. He thinks about sex awake and asleep, as we (again) do see some hallucinations he has. And don't forget a masturbation scene and a handjob scene. Oh, and this film is not above fart jokes, either. There is more than one in this movie.

Overall, this is a movie to see for its performances (and, if nothing else, that first interview scene which is just phenomenal). It's, of course, shot beautifully, as well. But the acting is where it's at. You're definitely not here to see it for a story. So if you need a solid story for your dramas, look elsewhere (though there is a fair bit of comedy, so that does help). I can definitely see this win awards for Phoenix or Hoffman, though I wouldn't go so far to say Best Picture. It just doesn't come all together for me in the end. There are a couple lines, I believe in the same scene and/or back-to-back, that pretty much sum up the movie... and I'm sure it was on purpose. The first is "I could fall asleep, wake up, and not have missed a thing." The second is "He's making this whole thing up as he goes along; don't you see that?" And I do see that.


I Am McLovin!

50/50 Review #32: We Own The Night.

I always felt this was kind of the odd duck in James' Month.  In a month of what is essentially classics of various genres, we have a 2007 crime drama with Mark Wahlberg. But I rolled with it. The film follows a night club owner named Bobby (Joaquin Phoenix), who tries to keep his personal and professional lives separate. The illegal drug deeds going on at his club, for instance, wouldn't go over too well with his police chief father, Burt (Robert Duvall), or his rising star police officer brother, Joseph (Mark Wahlberg). In fact, the only person that knows his police ties is his girlfriend, Amada (Eva Mendes). But when his two lives start to collide and his family is threatened, Bobby has to make some tough decisions that will impact his life forever.

I can safely say I was pleasantly surprised with this movie. I honestly knew almost nothing about it going in except the cast, and the story really captivated me. The idea that Bobby would have to infiltrate what is essentially his second family all while simultaneously conflicting with his blood family was great. The lengths Bobby has to go and the toil it puts on him and weighs him down was fascinating to watch. And I don't say this often, but... at just shy of 2 hours, I honestly think it could have used another 15-20 minutes at least.

You're going to think I'm strange for saying this, but honestly... the film's biggest problem was that it needed more Mark Wahlberg. It's not because he was so fantastic in the film... it's more like he was barely in it. Honestly, the only characters that were built were the ones played by Joaquin Phoenix and maybe Robert Duvall. You get maybe a couple scenes before Wahlberg leaves the film for probably an hour or more, and then only a couple more scenes until the big climax after that. I would have liked to see more of the brotherly conflict between the two and how this case was really messing with both their heads and their relationship with each other. And then by the end, you're supposed to feel for the guy when a shootout happens, but there hasn't been much build-up for the psychology of the the character for me to care or grasp it. And then there's Eva Mendes, who they try to build up a little, but she's mainly just background fodder to give Joaquin something else to worry about. By the time the big emotional scene between them happens, I don't have much of an emotional connection with her, either.

But when this flick does things right, it really does them right. In fact, I'd say this movie has some strokes of genius scattered throughout. James mentioned there's a brief shot of Eva Mendes in this movie that's one of his favorite shots of the last 10 years. And without telling me which one, I can safely assume I know which he's talking about. And then there's my favorite scene in the movie. There's a car chase in the rain about halfway in. There's no music, and in fact, most of the sound is slightly muted. The majority of the scene happens from the perspective of inside one of the cars (only occasionally showing the outside). It's a hard scene to explain, but it's so masterfully shot and edited that I think it easily belongs in any Top 10 Car Chase list.

It's not a perfect movie, but it's a really good one. The acting is really good, particularly from Joaquin Phoenix and Robert Duvall. The fact that this film seems to have flown under so many radars is kind of surprising to me. The idea is a great one, and despite the need for a little more character development on certain characters, it was pulled off pretty well. But if the story doesn't sound interesting to you, you should at least see it for the car chase scene, as it's worth watching just for that.


A Keanu 'Whoa'