The Master - SPOILERS!

[Pozer]

So the San Francisco screening happened, right?

No one wants to comment?

LoL no reactions on the film from early SF screening should have been on RK's list.

[Cloudy]

The film just washed over me like a "hazy fever dream" as somebody else put it. It was angry, it was drunk, it was dark, it was hilarious (HILARIOUS), it was brutal, it was dreamy/hazy, it was beautiful, it was endearing, it was a concoction of feelings...it's a film that needs to be viewed so many times. It is EASILY PTA's most DENSE work to date. EASILY. This one is for the analysts, for the intuitionist...the scenes are so thick. Some of the greatest sequences ever put on film. THIS IS A FUCKING EXPERIENCE.

...and to top it all off, I got to meet PTA!

EDIT: This might be unoriginal, but as I was watching. This felt like PTA's A Clockwork Orange. I'm really excited for all of the analysis this film's going to get. THERE'S SO MUCH TO TALK ABOUT.

[ono]

So I'm wondering... who's going to be the first to actually say something meaningful about the film itself?  Because everyone who's seen it so far seems to be talking around it, dumfounded, waiting for others to chime in.  It seems like everyone is just too shellshocked thus far.  Maybe that's the point.

Congrats, teeth, on meeting the man.  A nice, endearing description.  Don't wash that hand.  Cloud - your description has me excited though it glosses over content.  It's just heralding the way for other people to do the dirty work when our appetites are already whetted!

[Cloudy]

Ono, since it's a surprise screening and I couldn't watch it again the next day(showing), I'm saving any real meaningful conversation about the film for after I really get acquainted. For now, it's all just feelings, deeply rooted feelings. Watching the film for the first time leaves no room for analysis in my opinion. He created a piece that you need to just submit to on first viewing.

I think everyone is/will be in the same boat.

[Pubrick]

I think cloud's review was perfect.

What kind of content do you want? Point by point plot synopsis? Reactions like cloud's are exactly what people should be saying right now, at least til the film is released and everyone can chime in on "why did Freddie suck his own dick for five minutes"..

Until then getting a glimpse of people's emotional reaction still says plenty about the film for me. But then if you came here for hardcore spoilers I can see how you'd be disappointed.

[Cloudy]

Here's a SPOILER:

Recently read that PTA placed the last shot of the film purely based off "instinct" in the editing room. You can tell that this film was the greatest film he's made in the editing department - akin to Terrence Malick films. But, the fact that the last shot of the film was found in the editing room later in the process makes me wonder if it has any significant meaning to him/the film as a whole. To me it does, but the fact that it wasn't thought out in advance just makes me wonder. I have this weird bizarre feeling that the film is not as much of a puzzle as it seems to be. Usually PTA's films are never like that. They are very straight forward, and the themes/characters are what bring all of the meaning to his films.

The film was such a puzzle and lucid dream combined that the contrast makes one wonder whether the journey to figure out the puzzle is worth it, or whether the film is just meant to be felt purely emotionally/thematically.

EDIT: As you can tell, I'm a fucking confused first-time viewer.

[72teeth]

all the trailers have had a weight about them that seems so important, but in actuality, it just pt adding his own gravitas to his baby

the whole Scientology thing got way blown out of proportion... it's not a statement.. it's definitely revealing, but nothing above anything you can't find with a little research..


i doubt Paul was being "naive" when he attached Scientology to the first whispers of this movie.. he knew it the buzz it would create
And how genius, all this bizarre history that's so sworn to secrecy that all of Hollywood is afraid to even mention it..  All this fresh fruit just there ripe for the pickn's, so he picked it! and ate it! Snooze you lose everybody else, you shoulda jumped on that shit because it's fucking interesting! 

but then again, Eyes Wide shut had nothing to do with the illuminati the first time i saw it...

this is pt's loveletter to the lonely man portraits of the 70's, wrapped up in something everybody is interested in..


and this is a classic PTA-PSH showcase! He throws in all our favorite PSH/PTA bells and whistles! Ham! Silly faces! Lancaster Dodd is a total theatre kid. he's great and such a diverse character.. you love him because he means well.

But it's Joaquin at bat, and he fuckin kills it. what a feral animal, even physically speaking. he transforms.





Oh my god... the blues.
and greens.

and blacks.

it's beautiful.


and i think "The Line" for this one will be:

"Are you unpredictable?"

[matt35mm]

I have actual things to say about the film other than descriptions of how it felt to see it... but I'm not really sure what the point of this thread is right now. Are we really meant to get into the nitty gritty of it even though only 4 or 5 of us have seen it? It's clear that most people reading the thread haven't seen the film, and I don't want to spoil it or talk around the stuff I'm wanting to talk about.

I will say that I don't think one needs more than one viewing to start figuring anything out about it. It's all there, right in front of you, clear as day. You'll know what you've seen and you'll know what it means but it will take a little while to figure out how you feel about all of that. In the meantime, you'll be thrilled with the profoundly good filmmaking. The man knoooows where the camera needs to be, and when (editing). It's stripped down, simplified, distilled. It's his least flashy film. The actors and the words have nowhere to hide.

I can say more when I know that people will know what I'm talking about.

Oh, and the score is so fucking good.

[ono]

Above All, I am a Thread. An Official Spoiler Thread, Just Like You

Go, go, GO!

[polkablues]

This thread is specifically for people who have seen the film to discuss it with people who have seen the film.  Everyone else (me, for example) is viewing it at their own risk.

[Cloudy]

and this is a classic PTA-PSH showcase! He throws in all our favorite PSH/PTA bells and whistles! Ham! Silly faces! Lancaster Dodd is a total theatre kid. he's great and such a diverse character.. you love him because he means well.

But it's Joaquin at bat, and he fuckin kills it. what a feral animal, even physically speaking. he transforms.

Thank you. Well put. "FERAL" is the word.
Very representative.

I will say that I don't think one needs more than one viewing to start figuring anything out about it. It's all there, right in front of you, clear as day. You'll know what you've seen and you'll know what it means but it will take a little while to figure out how you feel about all of that. In the meantime, you'll be thrilled with the profoundly good filmmaking. The man knoooows where the camera needs to be, and when (editing). It's stripped down, simplified, distilled. It's his least flashy film. The actors and the words have nowhere to hide.

That's what I was getting at too, I feel like it's all there in front of us, clear as day (definitely bad word choice). But the thing is, in the first viewing--for me at least--it took me to places where my attempts to explain it in words just fail terribly.

I had a similar experience with The Tree of Life.

[brockly]

Lancaster Dodd is a total theatre kid. he's great and such a diverse character.. you love him because he means well.

i really shouldn't be in this thread, but this caught me off guard. i'm kind of shocked at the idea that PTA has written him a likable character, or especially a character who "means well". not really looking for an explanation, and i already tossed out the presumption of an L. Ron depiction long ago, but i can now definitely say that i have no idea what to expect from this movie.

[Cloudy]

The production design of the last scene of TWBB was inspired by 'A Clockwork Orange' (PTA said it in an ASC article). I'm wondering how many of you guys feel that the design of the final scene (not the last shot) of The Master was inspired by 2OO1? That whole room exuded 2OO1 to me. It was shot/composed/blocked so hypnotically. The lighting behind Master is what really set off that idea to me...There's so much to say about that last fucking scene...can't wait for more viewings...!

[RegularKarate]

I will say that I don't think one needs more than one viewing to start figuring anything out about it. It's all there, right in front of you, clear as day. You'll know what you've seen and you'll know what it means but it will take a little while to figure out how you feel about all of that. In the meantime, you'll be thrilled with the profoundly good filmmaking. The man knoooows where the camera needs to be, and when (editing). It's stripped down, simplified, distilled. It's his least flashy film. The actors and the words have nowhere to hide.

Hmmm... I think I need to see it again though. I think with a movie like this, you get theories in your head and you have to see it again to filter it through your new theories to see if they fit.

Here are some questions that contain spoilers and may or may not have been plainly answered in the film:

1. How did Lancaster Dodd reach Freddie at the movie theater? Was this scene in Freddie's head or do they have a real connection to one another that the phone just represents?

2. What was Peggy upset at Lancaster about when she jerked him off into the sink?  It seemed like this was a reaction to Freddie's tryst with Lancaster's "Daughter".

3. Are Lancaster and Freddie part of the same person? In a way, I feel like that's an obvious yes, but how much?

4. What was the deal with the unpublished manuscripts? Was this an act of faith? a test?

And I just realized what I assume was an obvious parallel between Freddie making a concoction that he completely improvises each time yet people seem to drink it and enjoy it and come back for more and The Cause.

So, more than a couple of us have seen it now. Let's start talking.

[Pedro]

Spoiler Warning in Spoiler Thread

I'm not ready to answer your other questions yet, but

2. What was Peggy upset at Lancaster about when she jerked him off into the sink?  It seemed like this was a reaction to Freddie's tryst with Lancaster's "Daughter".

Drinking.  I believe the words were "you have to give up the hooch".  This is in line with the next scene where she tells Freddie to stop boozing or leave the house.