The Master - 2 1/2 stars

The movie is set in the 1950s.  It's about a troubled soldier who becomes a drifter after World War II.  Joaquin Phoenix plays the drifter, Freddie Quell.  He has a lot of problems.  He's probably got PTSD.  He's also horny as hell.  When the soldiers are on a beach goofing around and one soldier makes a woman out of sand, Freddie gets on top of it and starts humping it.  This makes the other soldiers laugh until it keeps going on too long.  Freddie isn't trying to make the other soldiers laugh.  He's actually trying to get off with this sandwoman.

After the war, Freddie tries to lead a normal life but he keeps getting fired for getting into fights.  Eventually he meets Lancaster Dodd (Phillip Seymour Hoffman), the leader of a cult or movement or something like that.  Dodd likes Freddie instantly, and here Freddie finds his purpose.  He gets into The Cause and becomes Dodd's right hand man and chief enforcer.  He does things like beat up people who speak out against The Cause.

A lot of people assumed this movie would be about Scientology.  It isn't, although there are similarities.  Paul Thomas Anderson (writer, director, producer) said that Dodd was inspired by L. Ron Hubbard, and there are similarities to the way Scientology began.  But the movie is about a fictional man and a fictional movement, and Dodd isn't even the main character.  The movie is really about Freddie and his journey.

I loved the first 30 - 45 minutes of this movie.  I was fascinated watching Freddie's journey.  Phoenix gives probably the best performance of his career, and will be nominated for an Academy Award for this movie.  He is so good that he manages to steal every scene he is in with Hoffman.  It's nice to have Phoenix back after the whole crazy quitting acting to become a rap star fiasco.

Once Dodd starts putting Freddie through strange tests, the movie starts to drag.  The tests, called processing (like auditing?) are interesting at first, but when Dodd starts making Freddie close his eyes, feel the walls and describe them, I almost dozed off.  It gets so monotonous and doesn't go anywhere. 

There is a good movie here.  I wish we got to know more about where Dodd came from, what The Cause is all about, something.  But the longer the movie goes on, the more it meanders without a plot or narrative.  During the first half, I thought I was watching the best movie of the year.  Then the movie just lost me.  I can't quite recommend it, although there is stuff in this movie worth seeing.  This one is a tough call.