When acclaimed writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson’s The Master was released back in September of 2012, it was the toast of cinephiles all over the world, and marked the official beginning of awards season. While getting us excited in seeing his first film in 5 years since his powerful There Will Be Blood, Anderson – the meticulous storyteller that he is – released a film that has since gone on to polarize audiences and critics alike.
In the coming weeks before its initial release, The Master was ready to sweep into the mindset of cinema audiences. Early buzz is always prevalent with a Paul Thomas Anderson film, but The Master was getting some of the strongest energy the director had even been given. The film itself became a star. The Master was one of the first feature films to be shot on 70mm in quite some time, so there was a new resurgence in making sure this was a film not one to be missed on the big screen. Early reviews from an August screening of The Master touted it to be the one film to beat during Oscar season.
Then it was released, and while some found Anderson’s stripped down approach to telling the story, a tantalizing companion to the film’s beautiful and haunting visual imagery a strong point, others found it to be confounding. Since The Master was released early in the Oscar season it has seen many more prominent films of equal or greater stature blaze a trail in its path, and among other reasons stated in this article is why The Master has lost its momentum and probably won’t be represented at the Oscar podium on February 24th.
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10 Comments
I think years from now, “The Master” will be held as a cinematic classic. Just you watch and see.
Can I get an Amen!!
I think you are being overly generous by naming skyfall as an oscar contender among those other great movies , yes I liked skyfall but lets be real
To even think about “Argo” and “Life of pi” being considered ahead of “The master”, is something I will never understand.
“The master” is on the finest film pieces ever created. With a powerful and poetic exploration of cinema as a whole. Giving “The master” a screenplay nod would only prove how wretched and misinformed Academy members know about what true cinema really means.
That’s why the Oscars should never be considered as a valid award to true cinema.
the sequel should be out soon, the baiter
Kyle, the documentary Joaquin Phoenix was in where he was bragging about how he would retire from acting was called I’m Still Here, not I’m Not There. That’s the movie about several people playing Bob Dylan.
Dammit, I knew I should have looked that up! Way to go brain, now I must poke you with a Q-Tip again!
Do you think that because Lincoln sanitized the ending (i.e the lack of the Ford Theater moment), that it undermined it’s own effectiveness and power?
It was a bit sanitized, although it was a nice trick in having his son at a theater as well to throw us off a bit, half expecting to see it then.
I think it would have felt out of place in the film, it was more celebrating a period of his presidency, rather than his entire life story. It really should have just ended after they passed the emancipation. That shot with Lincoln at the window with his son, while they listen to the bells…beautiful, that would have been a great ending.
I hope you realise all the Oscar buzz it has came from pipe-dreaming viewers. Of course it was never gonna do very well.
Best film in decades, though.