2. The Master
The Master wasn't a box office hit... hell, they lost money on the film, but PTA is already working on his next film as I'm typing away. Why? Because, although whatever PTA makes may not be gold, it's incredibly enriching to watch and learn from his films; he's a rare director that truly makes you see film as an art form. Art has always had the power to deepen certain meanings and themes in our lives. When people look at paintings, they're enamored not just by the beauty of what's in the frame, but by what the picture means. Many people were put off by The Master, including some critics who thought the weak link in the film was the storytelling as it seemed to have no real narrative drive, which I agree with, but there were such strong themes and metaphors in the film that had me thinking long after the film ended. While it may be my own pretentiousness that could be clouding my judgment, I believe that the films that speak to the human condition, revealing an element of truth we can relate to are some of the greatest films we'll ever see. I believe The Master was such a film. Going along with the animal motif in the film, we see Freddie on the beach in the beginning of the movie and then we see him at a beach again doing the same thing he was doing in the beginning of the film. Between the beginning and the end, Freddie is jumping around from place to place, from job to job until he comes across Lancaster Dodd and his followers. There are multiple shots of Freddie running away from people or entering into another place; most of these shots are framed by rectangles or squares that almost appear as portals into different worlds or habitats. As Freddie comes and goes, he's searching for his place in the world and when he meets Lancaster Dodd, he feels as if that is it. He doesn't know that what he's doing is irrational or weird or animalistic; he simply doesn't know any better, but Dodd does. Dodd tells Freddie that he is "above all, a man... just like you" but he's just as much an animal Freddie is. When he is accused of being a leader of a cult, he does his best to hold back his full anger, but a few profanities burst out of him as an instinct. His sexual appetite is inferred to when his wife says she doesn't want to find out about anything when it comes to extramarital affairs, and there always seem to be more women than men at his gatherings. Dodd does his best to keep his animalistic tendencies under wraps and when he meets Freddie, he sees himself and needs to tame Freddie just like he's tamed himself. Of course, Dodd's best efforts to tame Freddie are in vain or are simply temporary. The only thing that seems most human in Freddie is his love for Doris, but when that is no longer a reality, Freddie has a final showdown with Dodd, who realizes that Freddie must fully devote himself to The Cause or leave it forever. Freddie leaves, ends up in a bar meeting a woman, who he sleeps with and tries to "process," but he almost seems like a parrot repeating lines he's heard. Then we finally see him on the beach, back in his natural habitat. Now, what does it all mean? That man is really an animal, that we're all Freddie Quells, who can't change what we are? Or are we all Lancaster Dodds pretending and fighting against the reality of our nature? I'm not sure. But it makes you think, doesn't it? The best films do; they make us ponder again and again about what we've seen and how we relate to the images unfolding on the screen in terms of experiences, beliefs, and desires. I believe the Best Picture nominees did that, as sappy as Les Miserables was, I can understand its nomination along with Silver Linings Playbook, Lincoln, and Argo amongst the others. It's just hard to believe the Academy didn't think The Master deserved to be up there as well.