Movie #668........................."The Master"

Movie #668 "The Master" was intriguing from beginning to end, and very well acted. This is the start of Oscar season, and I would think when they search for whom to nominate, they will think of Phoenix and Hoffman, and maybe Amy Adams, who could very well be considered "the real master" of the whole thing. Phoenix walks, stands, talks, even blinks his eyes differently ---- all working at getting this very loser-type guy across. And he succeeds. We want to know more ---- we want to understand him and what makes him tick. So does Philip Seymour Hoffman, who is good at manipulating, getting people to do things for him. He quickly realizes Freddie is a hard case to crack --- he might even be insane, but there's something about Freddie.........a kinship of a kind, perhaps in their anger management frailties, that they bond. Meanwhile, wife Amy is telling her hubby to get rid of him because "it may be too late to save him" --- that is spoken from a leader of a religion of sorts? more of a cult, it seems. The film could answer a few more questions that linger after the film comes to an end, esp. the big one ---- is Freddie any better after his experience with this "religion/cult"? Our movie club stayed afterwards to discuss some of this, and my mind is still whirling with this film --- so if you see it, and you want to cash in on your thoughts, please do. I think the film shows that he's such an individual thinker, that Freddie is better off by himself, but he is lost at sea without someone to care about him ---- it's too bad for all the Freddies of the world, that the best they can do is some pseudo religious group who is ready to cast him aside because he's too much work! The Master2012R A heavy-drinking loaner named Freddie finds some semblance of a family when he stumbles onto the ship of Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a new "religion" -- some say cult -- he forms after World War II. Cast:Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, Laura Dern, Jesse Plemons, Rami Malek, Jillian Bell, Ambyr Childers, Lena Endre, Kevin J. O'Connor, Josh Close, Barlow Jacobs, Mimi Cozzens, Madisen Beaty Genre:Drama