The Master

The elemental question is can you save someone that doesn't want to be saved?
Loosely based on L. Ron Howard and his Church Of Scientology, The Master's two central characters are about control and freedom, brilliantly portrayed by Phillip Seymor Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix.
How Joaquin didn't get the nod for an Oscar is a mistery to me.
His character portrayal was raw intensity, recklessness, vulnerability and impulsive abandon - total freedom.
Find me a man that has no master and I will show him to be the first such in human history, so says the Master, who believes that we are all geneticaly incoded and programmed through eons.
So he introduces a cure, first through memory realization and then revises it, making it possible through imagination.
The movie ends on a note that suggests that no amount of deprogramming can be totaly successfull and that people in their essence can not be changed.
The free man choses freedom over love, rather than become a slave to love and ultimately he remains primal, reveling in pure sexuality.

He was.

But he should have won.

I really can't write up much for this film based on my viewing, but I can say I was underwhelmed. While the acting was good it never really pushed anything. The jailhouse scene was great but I don't recall any other memorable moments TBH. It felt under accomplished to me, and seems to have no mission other than looking fancy. It Definently requires another view, but right now I'd give it a .

Also this:

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I have to disagree, since Daniel-Day Lewis pulled off an amazing performance as Lincoln.

Back to the movie, I felt it was well-acted, but the story felt really muddled. As a character study, it's a fantastic look at how one can be redeemed from self-destruction, and a look into how a self-made belief system can corrupt. Look at this film as a character study instead of an actual story in order to appreciate it. In that view, 3 out of 4 stars. As a method of storytelling, however, I'd drop it to a 2 out of 4.

I'm with you on that, would have loved to have seen him win it for his role in The Master.

This film is brilliant, so glad I saw it. Is it just a fantastic character-study of two individuals ? Is it about a false prophet and him making people believe his lies ? Or is it simply a study of a man unable to change his ways? Not sure, but I love The Master.