Picture: Joaquin Phoenix Toronto International Film Festival - Celebrity Sightings Toronto, Canada - 07.09.12
It seems as if Paul Thomas Anderson can do no wrong. His previous films; Hard Eight, Boogie Nights, Magnolia, Punch-Drunk Love and There Will Be Blood are all held in high regard, but does The Master live up, and even better his previous work?
The answer has to be a resounding yes. With an impressive and growing score of 85% on review aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes, and a host of excellent reviews, it looks like P.T Anderson's cinematic reputation continued on the ascendency. "An often brilliant '50s-throwback character drama that never feels nostalgic, with terrific central performances and a luminous, unforgettable visual beauty," beam Empire Magazine, while The Los Angeles Times chimes in, saying, "It's a film bristling with vivid moments and unbeatable acting, but its interest is not in tidy narrative satisfactions but rather the excesses and extremes of human behavior, the interplay of troubled souls desperate to find their footing." The newspaper primarily involved in fiscal matters, The Financial Times were also doting over Joaquin Phoenix's latest outing: "This is a glorious movie, an omnivorous, many-coloured satire on the chameleon-hued carnivores of our souls," they say.
It was hard to find a negative review, but in the interest of balance, here's the most negative thing we could muster, from USA Today, "Aiming for epic, it's undeniably thought-provoking, but too ambiguous to fully satisfy." Even in that negative review, there was a positive, which goes to show just how good this film is. Go see it.
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