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I like many think of Paul Thomas
Anderson is one of the strongest
filmmakers working today
a staggering writer-director combo that
you just don't see very often where
boogie nights are there will be blood
are consistently ranked as some of the
best films of their respective decades
so movies work seems to just go under
appreciated like punch-drunk love which
makes sense
while personally I love the film I can
see how it's considered to be the black
sheep of his career but I've always been
so disappointed in the reception of the
master which to me fits right in with
the rest of his filmography and stands
out as one of his greater achievements
but it seemed to leave many people
underwhelmed bored and maybe even a
little confused
so it's this story of a guy who returns
home from the war in 1950s America 20
years before Anderson himself was born
so to research the time he looked at
various different sources from
biographies of John Steinbeck to Diaries
written by soldiers even some old war
stories from Jason Robards who appeared
in Anderson's film Magnolia another
prominent resource for Anderson was a
film called let there be light
a documentary that was produced by the
United States government
Hayden game
well farewell sir you overseas yes sir
it says here on your record Moses that
you had headaches and she had crying
spells yes sir
I believe in your profession is called
nostalgia in other words Moses yes it
was induced when shortly before the war
I received majority on
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it was hidden from public viewing for
over 30 years and it's pretty easy to
see why I can't imagine it would make
for a good recruitment tool but it did
prove an excellent way for Anderson to
get into the mind of the Saylor
character he had to be toying around
with though Freddie is different from
these other soldiers and there were more
than just the veterans and let there be
light influencing the character talk
about the first time you saw Baraka and
how that really kind of moved you I like
in general movies that are just pictures
and music or something like that and
that Baraka just kind of really did it
for me I remember the first shots a
monkey saw as a monkey in the snow and
he's falling asleep
it is absolutely hypnotizing one of the
best things I've ever seen and I showed
it to him one day and I said you know
and he just loved it too so let's try
and do that so throughout the film we
see Freddy's primal instincts completely
dictate his behavior as he just sort of
wanders through existence never staying
in one place for too long until he comes
upon the master and the cause say back
Beyond and return to the pre-birth area
back beyond back beyond beyond
Dianetics served as the basis for the
causes teachings using a sort of
hypnosis therapy that the master claims
can cure anything ranging from allergies
to something as severe as leukemia by
uncovering trauma sustained in past
lives and correcting them returning
humanity to its inherent state a perfect
while initially skeptical of the whole
thing Freddie forms a bond with the
master through their shared love of
booze cool cigarettes and women there's
a sweetness though to Freddie that the
master reveals in their first round of
processing Freddie quell
notice the technique he uses to break
Freddie down a barrage of rapid
questions often repeated multiple times
which must be answered consecutively
without blinking or they have to start
from the beginning in front at first
we'd see what we would expect from
Freddie we see his temper flare up we
see his childish sense of humor but then
we see him start to break when thinking
of the man he may have killed earlier in
the film when thinking of his dead
father or his psychotic mother and then
he gets asked this question locked in a
room for the rest of your life would be
in there with you doors whose doors
that's gonna throw one Mary one day she
and Lin yes the massachusett
how many yet aren't you with that lovely
girl I got no reason on the fool do you
love doors yes you love every night yes
sir I aren't you with her I don't know
yes you do tell me why you're not with
her if you love her so much I told her I
come back and I never went back and
though I just I gotta get back to her I
don't know
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remember this soldier from let there be
light his scene is transposed almost
word-for-word into the film but watch
how Freddy's version was out as your
headache they're crying he's not about
to talk to this quack about something so
deeply personal but you can see the pain
in his eyes a pain he's not willing to
reveal to anyone until he meets the
master the master did what no amount of
traditional therapy could accomplish
break Freddy down and force him to
confront his demons instead of just
drowning them out with women or with
alcohol by using these techniques of
rapid questioning the no blinking rule
it's all putting this pressure on Freddy
to answer quickly and more importantly
to answer honestly
it's why he joins the cause and becomes
a fervent defender of it and its
teachings because of the Masters ability
to break down Freddy's walls and bring
out this vulnerable side he trusts him
and starts to believe everything he says
and I think it's pretty clear that the
master does really believe what he's
teaching he isn't manipulating Freddy
even Anderson himself confirms this but
eventually the Vale begins to lift in
the face of constant detractors even
within the Masters own family and making
all this up you don't see that as well
as some pretty blatant hypocrisy from
the master for a man who presents
himself as a scholar with class and
grace he has some of the worst outbursts
we see in the film the answers to your
questions why do you ask
I'm sorry you're unwilling to defend
your beliefs in any kind of rational oh
if you if you if you already know the
answers to your questions then why ask
big [ __ ] if you don't mind good night to
you
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probably that one of the ideas in the
film you know whether we'd really talked
about it or not but what happened you
know it's like Siegfried and Roy like
what happens if you have a tiger then
Chris Rock's word that goes tiger you
know he went tiger
having an animal having a monkey and
putting diapers on it and what's
eventually going to happen is it's not
gonna like it they'll hat and it's
diapers it's gonna like it's gonna bite
you it's gonna get mad it doesn't like
it I guess he's somebody probably that
is moved through most of his life alone
or sort of learned to survive alone but
that doesn't mean that he doesn't
completely hunger or desire to be around
people or to be part of something the
second he feels too much you know
goodwill in the room is probably the
moment he's gonna split you know that
much love and attention is probably
worth bailing on for it for somebody
like him which is you know it doesn't
make any sense but it does you know for
anybody that knows that feeling so when
given the chance in the pick a point
seen near the end of the film Freddy
chooses to finally follow his heart and
go see about a girl only when he turns
up he finds out that he's too late she's
married now with children and whatever
future he may have imagined with Doris
is now gone nowhere to turn he pays the
master one last visit the one who guided
him the one who sought good in him the
one he could laugh with and drink with
one who stood up for him protected him
the one true friend he's ever had it's
an incredibly emotional goodbye for the
both of them but Freddy is a sailor just
going wherever the wind takes him if you
leave you
I see every time
we can sting
oops could ward you more
the scene ends and we follow Freddie to
a pub where he's picked up some girl and
the final shot falls on Freddie lying on
the beach next to the sand woman from
earlier in the film it's Anderson's way
of showing us that he hasn't really
learned anything from his journey and
arrives roughly where he started I think
it's part of why so many people make it
to the end and say what did I just watch
what was the point of all of that and
I'd argue that there really isn't a
point not in the traditional sense
anyways there's no big dramatic pull or
sudden shocking deaths no huge character
transformations despite all of the
events of the film there's not really a
whole lot that happens but I would argue
that it doesn't matter the relationship
between Freddie and the master is the
story it's above all a story of
friendship and how some people are just
destined to keep drifting through life
never really finding purpose which is
incredibly sad but at least Anderson
gives Freddie a happy ending got a
really nice email the other day from
this great filmmaker tatia rosenthal she
sent me this really nice note and she
said I was so happy that your movie had
a happy ending
and that Freddie ended up where he
belonged naked and being an animal being
someone else you know so this talk about
lonely yes of course you know he's got a
lot of things wrong with him but that
kind of feeling that I don't know what
will happen with him or how it'll go for
him but was nice to see him in his
element completely naked
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and our keep on changing partners till I
hold more
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