Who is Freddie Quell?

I liked this film and didn’t know why until I left the theater. I realized that I had already been influenced by the Scientology noise that preceded the release of the movie and because of this I believe that I missed or at least misunderstood a good deal of the script. I had already decided before seeing “The Master” that I would see it at least one more time, which I always do with films that are driven by dialog. 

Some hours later, after getting past my misunderstanding and the incredible interpretations done by Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams I came to realize the movie was not an attempt at depicting known people (not based on anything) and began to see in the same light of  Dogville or The Tree of Life, stories that are more complex and near mythical (maybe even biblical) that never end. Archetypical and like most of our stories, it leaves us with no answer to the beginning, like which came first chicken or egg or was Jesus and/or Lucifer, and was (the) Grigori Rasputin a myth that ends without ending. At times I think P.T. Anderson is telling one story, with each of his films being a chapter. I would love to know. 

Again the acting was incredible and Joaquin Phoenix performance is breathtaking. I found myself to looking for Jimmy Emmett (To Die For) and could not find him any more. Amy Adams, who usually plays younger than she is, shows up as a powerful matriarch similar to Sissy Spacek’s Ruth Fowler in “In The Bedroom”. Philip Seymour Hoffman is the complete package, a leading man who carries a movie with his intellect and not his body or looks.  

Related articles

• The Master: Charisma to Spare, but What of Substance? (stilettosstoliandscribbles.wordpress.com)
• Trailer of the Day “The Master” #PhilipSeymourHoffman #JoaquinPhoenix #AmyAdams (productiondreams.wordpress.com)
• Movie Review: The Master [2012] (twscritic.com)
• Joaquin Phoenix, Proves There’s a Thin Line Between Genius and Insanity (guardianlv.com)