Bold directors allow audiences to embody key characters and, for better or for worse, reshape their perception on humankind.

The Master

The Weinstein Company

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Anderson is one of those guys, and his 1950’s-set high drama about the inception of Scientology looks equal parts ambitious and petrifying.

A cast consisting of Philip Seymour Hoffman, Amy Adams and Joaquin Phoenix predicts a stupid-good film. Hoffman plays a charismatic “Master” of an incipient religious practice, which focuses around a contentious Cause. Adams portrays his ideologically faithful spouse. Then there’s Phoenix: the enigma and the nucleus of the plot. His role as a returning Naval veteran diverts paths once connected with Hoffman and his side-pocket sanctimony.

Anderson fuses stimulating thematic elements with deep characters, and then handcrafts a story with the perspective and scope that most couldn’t even dream up. “The Master” will teem with pitch-quiet dialogue, offbeat camerawork and plenty of psychosis. Oh, and Jonny Greenwood (you know, the Radiohead deity) is composing yet another score for this film. Get ready to feel.