I'm not going to bother with a plot recap, because the plot (such that it is) isn't really that important. The film is really about performances (and really the film really spends all its time with the two principles - Hoffman and Phoenix) and its going to live and die with how engaging they are. Thankfully, they are, otherwise the 2 and 1/2 hour runtime would have been unbearable. Still this is definitely one of those films that I'm glad I saw once, but will probably never watch again (kind of like your mom). This of course puts it way ahead of Paul Thomas Anderson's last work, There Will Be Blood, which just annoyed me. Anyway, The Master is worth seeing for the performances, but I don't know that you need to go out of your way to do so.
Brief tangent. I'd be interested to see PTA do something like Punch Drunk Love again, instead of these 'important' event films. I think that these critically adored filmmakers can get a little too wrapped up in their own hype, and run the risk of falling into unbearable pretension. Doing something like an Adam Sandler film or some other genre exercise like Steven Soderbergh's been up, would be a good a way to stretch. And interesting to watch as well.
Brief tangent. I'd be interested to see PTA do something like Punch Drunk Love again, instead of these 'important' event films. I think that these critically adored filmmakers can get a little too wrapped up in their own hype, and run the risk of falling into unbearable pretension. Doing something like an Adam Sandler film or some other genre exercise like Steven Soderbergh's been up, would be a good a way to stretch. And interesting to watch as well.
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