Rather… whoa, I have no idea how to process The Master.
And I mean that in a good way.
Really, movies like this are more horror movies to me than horror movies are. Seeing, however fictionally, people can mess each other up and take advantage of each other and exert their own beliefs on each other and just generally psychologically ruin each other. Or at least avoid contributing to the psychological healing of each other, while pretending to contribute to the psychological healing of each other.
And that score was ridiculous and fantastic. Good on you, Jonny Greenwood.
Mostly, I think I’d like to write a letter to my fellow moviegoers right now.
So.
Dear fellow moviegoers,
There were moments in this movie that were funny, I realize that. They were usually pretty clearly established as jokes. But every time just about every single one of you laughed, it wasn’t at those clearly established jokes. It was at things that really, really weren’t actually funny. Maybe some of them were ironic and/or awkward, but that’s as close as it gets.
Guys, when you sit there and you laugh at people basically brainwashing each other and taking advantage of their fellow human’s psychological weaknesses, you just make me really disappointed in audiences. ‘Cause you know what? Trauma isn’t funny. Psychological abuse isn’t funny. Psychological abuse inflicted, to any degree, on those who are dealing with trauma really isn’t funny.
And what was so funny about that ending? Were you just laughing because you were expecting something more definitive? Were you expecting there to be some grand finale? Did you need a literal “I’m finished!!” as per Paul Thomas Anderson’s last, There Will Be Blood? Were you laughing just because you were so uncomfortable?
Sincerely,
Your disappointed peer.
Also, Joaquin Phoenix, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams, everyone else, excellent jobs, man. I bought the utter creepy psychosis wholly.
–your fangirl heroine.
