6. Slow Boat To China In Paul Thomas Anderson's The Master
This may be a spoiler for people who have not yet seen Paul Thomas Anderson's latest venture into the soul of man (you should check it out, it's really good) so you can skip ahead to number five if you need to. Phillip Seymour Hoffman's Master Lancaster Dodd is an enigma, how can a man who purports knowledge of everything that is important be anything other than secretive? The Master has another great musical sequence in which Hoffman's character sings A-Roving while Joaquin Phoenix's character pictures all the dancing women in the room naked. But how can you beat the bellowing and seductive voice of Hoffman when he tailors his performance for an audience of one? So when Lancaster Dodd recalls (imagines?) that he had met Freddy Quell (Phoenix) in a past life as members of a French resistance that sent messages across enemy lines, is it really so weird that he proceeds to serenade him with a particular big band song? The answer is still yes. Keeping in line with his tradition of absurd endings (frogs falling from the sky, milkshakes being consumed) Anderson pumps up the homoerotic tension in this scene. The sheer weight of Hoffman's brilliant performance makes the scene a compelling conundrum rather than a laughable disaster, and the sincerity in which Phoenix responds to the song is just as good. With the huge glass window behind Hoffman's character (which is neither stained like a traditional church nor transparent, an apt metaphor for The Cause) enveloping him, Hoffman sings away without musical accompaniment. The Master will have you scratching your head, but this scene is certainly a highlight.