[Invid Ninja]

Originally Posted by Delirium

Good luck. I seem to be in the minority, but I thought it was a load of bloated bollocks, personally.

Don't get me wrong, I've very much enjoyed PTA's previous output, not least There Will Be Blood (and the thematic similarities are clear). But I found The Master a chore to say the least; a plodding, drudging and ultimately unrewarding mess. It's very ACTED - achingly so, and you can almost feel its cloying self importance drip off the screen. I can barely remember Jonny Greenwood's forgettable score ("but it's Jonny Greenwood" cry the masses). And regards the 70mm - I saw it in digital and it looked fine, but it didn't have half of the striking cinematography of TWBB. Now that film was a looker.

I spent an afternoon reading all the reviews I could in order to ascertain what exactly is so wondrous about this film, and not one - for all the gushing articulation - could actually tell me. Even PTA seems not to know what it's about, umming and ahhing his way awkwardly through interviews without even hinting at the The Master's central plan. But it would be cheap to dig at it for its lack of story - lots of films I love have little to no story - no, it's just its mind numbing, pompous tedium that got my goat. And don't expect character development, just enough scenery chewing to give the viewer indigestion. As for man blindly following a master - methinks the reviews are proof enough that this is a curious case of life imitating art.

Well I just got back from it, bear in mind it's my introduction to PTA's films so I am not terribly aware of the quality of his other work. 'sighs'. I really enjoyed it, sue me.