Wednesday 18 February 2015

The Master (2012 Paul Thomas Anderson & scr)

An outstanding trio of performances from Joaquin Phoenix (apparently pronounced 'wa-keen'), Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams, who all were Oscar and BAFTA nominated, this long film has a wry sense of humour running throughout, particularly concerning the authenticity of Hoffman's hypnotism activities. It's an extraordinary bit of acting from the Phoenix but Hoffman achieving a lot by doing very little. (The 'processing' scenes between them are great, as is scene where Phoenix wrestles him to the ground in what looks like an improvised moment.) With Jesse Plemons, who we've just seen in Olive Kitteridge, and who we should really have recognised from both Breaking Bad and the Fargo series.

It's shot by Mihai Malaimare, a Romanian with a limited CV, and scored by the weird and wonderful Jonny Greenwood.

We're going to have to rewatch There Will Be Blood  to check whether the same perverse humour infects that one.

It was shot in 65mm

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