tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post588052162208131279..comments2024-03-12T12:38:23.542-04:00Comments on The Kind of Face You Hate: Free Winds and No Tyrannybill r.http://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comBlogger10125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-55807198855415711432020-09-29T16:45:31.824-04:002020-09-29T16:45:31.824-04:00At the end of the film:
1. Quell is using the s...At the end of the film: <br /><br />1. Quell is using the same lines with the young woman that the Master had used with him in their first session. The adopted son has identified with his father and found a way to connect that might keep him out of the madhouse.<br /><br />2. The wild spirit isn’t a man who can be saved, and the final shot shows he hasn’t changed since frame one, despite Dodd’s efforts. <br /><br />3. The booze will kill Freddie sooner than later, depending on how much paint thinner he throws in. beer Baronnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-21245149715312426922012-10-07T06:56:32.944-04:002012-10-07T06:56:32.944-04:00Let me assure you that everyone here in the south ...Let me assure you that everyone here in the south east can hardly wait to get our chance to see this. So far I've only been able to read your first 100 words, but as soon as I get our Chinese-provided wireless properly debugged we'll read the rest with relish!O. J. Miscarigehttp://sayontology.wordpress.com/2012/10/07/paul-thomas-anderson/noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-20979217211394508802012-09-30T01:59:00.752-04:002012-09-30T01:59:00.752-04:00Bill-
Good stuff. You made me replay essential p...Bill-<br /><br />Good stuff. You made me replay essential parts of this movie in my head as I read through your summary/analysis.<br /><br />Full disclosure: I'm not somebody who is fully impressed by P.T. Anderson. I think PUNCH DRUNK LOVE is a great film. The three preceding that are fun (save for maybe MAGNOLIA, which strikes me as naive nowadays...), and I disliked THERE WILL BE BLOOD. I guess my reason for getting that out there is to note that I didn't carry any fan-like expectations into my viewing of THE MASTER, other than I hoped Joaquin Phoenix was good in it (he was). <br /><br />I think you're exactly right on your assessment of Anderson's career up through PUNCH DRUNK LOVE in that that was the film that finally felt like his own. But after that, THERE WILL BE BLOOD and now THE MASTER - to me - feel like aimless efforts that simply give a good arena for talented actors to play in. I know in your review you argue that the aimlessness is the point, but the lack of "umph" for me feels like Anderson doesn't really have much to say. <br /><br />I would have liked THE MASTER to focus solely on the ambling sensory-obsessed Freddie than have anything to do with Scientology. And I while I agree that THE MASTER <i>is</i> Freddie's movie, the Scientology backdrop feels like a cheap pathway to showing how he is a broken man seeking the type of refuge that religions/cults/gangs regularly offer to the emotionally distraught. My gut tells me that Scientology was the easiest form of religion or worship for Anderson to portray negatively without catching much slack from the public. Scientology is already routinely whipped in our culture as it is, so there wasn't much risk.<br /><br />The climactic message that emerges in the final table scene where Lancaster tells Freddie that there is no pathway through life which doesn't include serving <i>some</i> kind of master seems to be a swipe at the idea that spirituality/worship are healthy crutches to some people as they push through life. Since I belong to no religion and don't believe in a god, I don't find that insulting, but it does strikes me as an arrogant endgame to Anderson's film.<br /><br />Following that moment, we're left with the image of Freddie tenderly cuddling up to his big-breasted sand castle woman again. This "animal" side of Freddie (and the film) is much more fascinating to me. I wish it had steadied itself there and used a much different backdrop.Foxhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/08067136509248849744noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-42844870230788755592012-09-27T17:42:08.921-04:002012-09-27T17:42:08.921-04:00I really liked in the flyer scene how you could se...I really liked in the flyer scene how you could see Freddie picking up on the words Bill was using and then try them himself. You could see him trying to do a good job.<br /><br />And Jason, first of all, thank you. Second, I don't necessarily disagree with you about Peggy, I think what you're saying about her role in the creation of The Cause is possible, but I think her coldness is more a function of her pragmatism than anything else. She's seen enough of how these sorts of things play out that she's become more hard-nosed about it. Referring to her as "Lady Macbeth" is completely overboard reading of her, I think. With Freddie, all she's saying by the end is that this unstable person will never change, doesn't even really believe what Dodd is teaching, and could even bring harm to The Cause, and she's probably right.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-54483350188998128672012-09-26T22:24:44.240-04:002012-09-26T22:24:44.240-04:00I read this on the way to work this morning on wha...I read this on the way to work this morning on what turned out to be a long day. But what a great start!<br /><br />As I said on Twitter, I really enjoyed the way you engaged with the movie. <br /><br />Just a quick comment ...<br /><br />"She also plots, but plotting to get your husband as well as your new friend to stop drinking paint thinner falls in my book somewhere short of regicide."<br /><br />Well, yes, that's true. It's well short of regicide. But I have a feeling that Adams' character will be the one who seems most different the second time around -- knowing what we know now. I didn't call her Lady Macbeth in my review, but I did write that Peggy Dodd "is a dutiful servant of 'The Cause,' or maybe its secret puppeteer." <br /><br />What I can't shake is that final scene of the three of them: Freddie has crossed the Atlantic for what winds up being a very short meeting, as Peggy sizes up Freddie and refuses him, leaving her husband to send him on his way, never fearing that Lancaster will disobey her, because she's running the show.<br /><br />I'm not predicting this, but I think it's possible that on a second viewing I'm going to come away thinking that "The Cause" was Peggy's baby, as much as Lancaster's, from the very start.Jason Bellamyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/18150199580478147196noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-18542106319534677732012-09-26T21:27:53.406-04:002012-09-26T21:27:53.406-04:00That flyer scene is great, by the way, and I didn&...That flyer scene is great, by the way, and I didn't have time to mention that when we talked about it after seeing it. There's a part where someone not only doesn't take the flyer but makes a mumbled comment and you see Freddie ever so briefly, almost unnoticeably, turn towards him before remembering he's in public for The Cause and going back to trying to hand out the flyers. It's a great setup by Anderson and required just enough body language from Phoenix to make it work but not make it obvious. <br /><br />Also, every time I see "The Cause" written, I see "Tom Cruise." It's driving me crazy.Greg F.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12988142631436195913noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-7706326976624547262012-09-26T12:46:35.620-04:002012-09-26T12:46:35.620-04:00No, I don't think you're full of shit. Th...No, I don't think you're full of shit. That all sounds about right to me. It's tough to say if Freddie has any hope of success. He at least seemed willing and excited to follow Dodd's teachings, for a little while. That has to count for something. But I've read some people suggest the ending of the film is optimistic, and while I can see where they're coming from, I also very much disagree.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-32452069760043587442012-09-26T10:55:32.706-04:002012-09-26T10:55:32.706-04:00I'm among the people who were frustrated by th...I'm among the people who were frustrated by the aimlessness of the final scenes, but it never occurred to me that Anderson was abandoning the story or had run out of inspiration - I just figured he was going for something I couldn't grasp.<br /><br />The more I think about THE MASTER (and I've thought about it a lot since seeing it this past weekend), the more I come to couple of conlusitons:<br /><br />First, I don't really care if Anderson fucks with our expectations in the final act - in fact, bring on the ambiguity! The confounding nature of the film is part of what makes it both impenetrable and impressive.<br /><br />Secondly, I think all the uproar about THE MASTER exposing Scientology and other cults is just so much hoo-hah and ultimately beside the point. As you note, Bill, it's really Freddie's story, and I'm not sure ANYTHING could have saved Freddie. Obviously, the Cause is working for some people, nonsense though it may be, giving them a belief structure and a sense of purpose to build their lives around. But I'm not sure that Freddie could have been helped much by ANY system - he seems irretrievably destined to loneliness and disconnection. One scene that reasonates with me is the one where he and Dodd's son in law are handing out pamphlets on the street. The son in law radiates an palpable peace and calmness and almost everyone he approaches accepts his pamphlet, whereas Freddie says the same things but his efforts are so obvious and he seems to repel everyone he speaks to. It seems that no matter how hard Freddie works at it, he's incapabable of making basic social connections.<br /><br />I think you make a great point by noting that we only see Freddie making love exactly once (he gropes the department store model, but falls asleep at dinner on their date). To me, that final image says it all - Freddie looking calm and contented with his head resting on a breast molded out of sand. It's an intimate pose with no real intimacy, since there's no other human involved, and underscores Freddie's ultimate incapability for human connection.<br /><br />Anyway, those are my thoughts - I may be completely full of shit, but until I see it again (and I will), it's the best I've got....Patricia Perryhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15394997608325540950noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-1234740017222739522012-09-25T23:22:51.584-04:002012-09-25T23:22:51.584-04:00But Anderson doesn't abandon his story the way...But Anderson doesn't abandon his story the way Benson would have been doing in your KRAMER VS. KRAMER scenario. I honestly believe the way the film sort of trails off is completely intentional and completely in keeping with Freddie's character. The film is about him more than anything else, and I think Anderson is depicting in a very authentic way how someone like him would drift into the orbit of something like The Cause, and then drift out of it again. I don't think Anderson succumbed to boredom or an absence of inspiration -- I think he was showing us the stuff that most movies would leave out.bill r.https://www.blogger.com/profile/17748572205731857892noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-2856547151523423474.post-51621895606804973972012-09-25T23:01:51.833-04:002012-09-25T23:01:51.833-04:00But then it’s back to aimlessness, as we began. Ho...<i>But then it’s back to aimlessness, as we began. However, it’s not the film that becomes aimless, as some have contended, but Freddie who has returned to that state. This is the structure. It’s hard enough for a filmmaker to let go of the architecture of traditional cinematic storytelling, but if anything it’s harder for the audience. </i><br /><br />I don't think those contending it becomes aimless (I'm one of them as you kind of know from our first reactions to it) confuse Freddie's aimlessness for the story's. I think that we get Freddie being aimless, then he meets Dodd, then we go to the party and have the guy question Dodd which pisses him off and Freddie goes and beats him up. And now, we think, the whole story will blow wide open. Now we see The Cause grow, become more powerful, more controlling and Dodd become a worldwide figure and Freddie becomes increasingly alienated towards him. Or something like that (it doesn't have to be that, that's just an example). <br /><br />The point is, the first half of the movie develops a particular structure that it abandons for the second half. It's not that it doesn't develop the story the audience wants, it's that it stops developing any kind of story altogether. That, I think, is the problem several people are having. It becomes Freddie hitting the wall and the window and wandering about and riding off on a motorcycle and then falling asleep in movies and so on. It just stops developing any kind of story, just when it was hitting full stride with the story of Freddie, Dodd and The Cause. <br /><br />We may not know how a story will develop but we have a feel for the main thrust of a story and how it will continue. Imagine <b>Kramer vs. Kramer</b> (I mention it only because we brought it up the other day) starts just like we know it does: Streep leaves, Hoffman has to take care of kid and starts to adjust. Now, the second half is different. Instead of what happened imagine a different tack in which Robert Benson decides to stop developing the story at all. The second half shows Hoffman working on ad projects, we barely ever see the kid and then, it ends with Hoffman at his kitchen table putting the final touches on a proposal. He closes it and says, "Done." Fade to black. <br /><br />Okay, but what just happened? What happened to the kid story? The divorce? Where'd it go? Does the wife ever come back? What's going on? That's a lot of the feel with <b>The Master</b>. The story just kind of disappears. Almost as if Anderson either ran out of inspiration or just decided he was bored taking it any further than he already had. <br /><br />I think the movie's first half is by far the stronger of the two. And despite what I wrote above, I think the first half is strong enough to carry the second half but by just a hair. I would still recommend it but mainly, I think, for the performances of pretty much everyone in the film (especially Phoenix and Hoffman).Greg F.https://www.blogger.com/profile/12988142631436195913noreply@blogger.com