The Master (Paul Thomas Anderson, 2012)

[Brianruns10]

Yeah, that AS isn't right. By all indications this film was shot in Panavision system 65 which has a native AS of 2.20:1, cropped to 2.39 for 35mm reduction prints. And P.T. isn't cropping in camera to 1.85 (ala Tati's Playtime), because a shot of the 65mm neg cutting show a full aperture image. I think it was cropped or otherwise manipulated for the youtube release, erroneously.

[Jeff]

Yeah, here is the piece of film shows that it is standard 5-perf 65mm, so definitely 2.20.


It's not uncommon to crop trailers to 1.78/1.85 for showing in front of 1.85 films, on television, internet etc.

[hearthesilence]

Yeah, cropping trailers is fairly common. The last time I noticed this was Meek's Cutoff - it was shot in Academy ratio, but every screening of the trailer I've seen in the theaters was cropped to make it appear 1.85:1.

[Roger Ryan]

All the same, that wide shot in the (military?) office is already pretty "wide"; how much more empty wall space or cabinets are we supposed to see at either side?

Love the trailer - I wish all trailers simply gave you a taste of one scene.

[Cde.]

Every shot in that teaser appears to have been composed for 1.85:1.

[mfunk9786]

A full breakdown of the footage shown at Cannes has been posted on Cigarettes and Red Vines. It's below, and not to heap too much hyperbole on this film without having seen it yet (but fuck, it's PTA's follow-up to There Will Be Blood, fer chrissakes), it sounds incredible, and sounds like Joaquin Phoenix and Amy Adams will definitely be in the Oscar conversation:

SpoilerShow

If you saw the trailer earlier today, you have some idea of what we saw, but it was a different assembly. While the soundtrack was the same at the beginning, with that unnerving Jonny Greenwood score and the interview between the Army official and Joaquin Phoenix, the images themselves were different. We saw Phoenix standing in a hallway, writing on a piece of paper affixed to a corkboard. As the interview reached its end, the camera pushed forward so we could read the very short and direct note: "Gone to China," and then his signature.

We saw the same footage of the fight on the beach, the footage of him drinking the alcohol that looks like it's coming from a torpedo, and then the close-up of him sitting across from the guy that's interviewing him. "What happened? Sir?"

"Let's just see if we can't help you remember what happened."

Then began new footage. Joaquin Phoenix running across a field, afraid. Him on a boat, walking along a deck at night. And then his first encounter with Philip Seymour Hoffman. He asks Hoffman, "What do you do?"

"I do many many things. I am a doctor, a writer, a nuclear physicist, a theoretical philosopher. But above all, I am a man."

We see Hoffman onstage, addressing a group. "I'd like to talk to you today about cold feet and narrow minds. People who have cold feet cannot move forward. People who have narrow minds cannot move side to side. They both take courage. This is what I'd like to talk about."

Then Amy Adams is introduced, and she's got a crazy intensity, even in these short clips, that practically radiates off the screen. "This exercise will help you with your concentration. Look at my eyes. I want you to place something in the future for yourself that you would like to have. It's there, waiting for you."

Then it's back to Hoffman and Phoenix, sitting across from each other in some intense encounter, Hoffman challenging him. "Say your name."

Phoenix sounds hesitant in his response. "Freddie Crock."

"Say it again."

Louder this time. "Freddie Crock."

"Might as well say it one more time, just to make sure you know who you are."

"Freddie Crock."

We see a group of people shooting on the beach, Phoenix among them, and then we see Adams confronting Hoffman, almost in tears. "And this is where we are at," she says. "At the lowest level. To have to explain ourselves. For what? For what we do, we have to grovel. The only way to defend ourselves is to attack. If we don't do that, we will lose every battle we are engaged in. We will never dominate our environment the way we should unless we attack."

Now we appear to be jumping scene to scene, moment to moment. It's just impressions. Adams laughing, out of control. "It's a grim joke."

Hoffman groans. "I was thoughtless in my remarks."

As the scenes cut from one to the next, we keep returning to a haunting image of Phoenix, framed in a window, punching himself in the head. Fast.

Hoffman accuses him. "You linger in bus stations for pleasure." Another shot of Phoenix, punching faster now. Back to Hoffman. "Is your life a struggle?" Punching faster and faster. "Is your behavior erratic? Are you unpredictable?" Phoenix, sitting across from Hoffman, farts loudly and begins to laugh as Hoffman recoils. "What a horrible young man you are."

It seems like they're picking at him, breaking him down. "You're a dirty animal who eats its own feces when it's hungry."

We see them meeting, talking about Phoenix. Amy Adams in particular doesn't seem to trust him. "I wonder how he got here and what he's after. Is it really all so easy that he just came across us? He's dangerous and he will be our undoing if we continue to have him here."

Hoffman's not convinced, though. "If we are not helping him, then it is we who have failed him… is it not?"

Adams is the last one to speak as the title comes up. "The Master." Simple white letters on a black background. "Perhaps he's past help. Or insane." And the Greenwood score ends on a lone violin, mournful. It was a dizzying piece of footage, and much of it was just close-ups against stark black backgrounds, these great actors and their faces and nothing else. It certainly made me eager to see what PTA has been up to, and it also pretty much confirms any report that tied the film to the origins of Scientology. While they may not be doing a straight biopic of L. Ron Hubbard, if you're familiar with his life, it would be impossible not to see him and his wife and the early followers in what we saw tonight.

[hearthesilence]

SpoilerShow

SHOOTING on the beach.

A blogger at IndieWire claimed it look like he was masturbating. Idiot.

[mfunk9786]

PTA screened The Master for his friend Tom Cruise, the Weinsteins want to screen it for John Travolta as well.

Envious of high-level Scientologists for the first time ever.

[Roger Ryan]

PTA screened The Master for his friend Tom Cruise, the Weinsteins want to screen it for John Travolta as well.

I'm really hoping that the Weinsteins (or Anderson, for that matter) aren't going to re-cut the film based on the opinions of Cruise or Travolta.

[mfunk9786]

I trust Anderson to stick to his guns, and I trust that he has final cut (as well as final cut of the home video releases, for that matter) in his contracts from here on out. I think this (like hiring a few well known Scientologists to act in the film) is an effort to get the film out without incident.

[mfunk9786]

Pretty terrific Huston homage spotted in The Master trailer

[Antoine Doinel]

SpoilerShow

SHOOTING on the beach.

A blogger at IndieWire claimed it look like he was masturbating. Idiot.

Hi, I'm that idiot. The shooting scene is something different, the brief moment I'm talking about was later in the footage I saw. He was alone on the beach, not in a group, back to the camera, with his suit lowered and definitely working at doing something. Granted, I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's what he was doing.

And yes, how I phrased it in the piece I wrote made it seem like it was directly after Amy Adams line, but it's much later.

[Tom Hagen]

Teaser trailer #2. Now with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Amy Adams.

[Jeff]

Continues to look fantastic. There's a palpable air of menace in both trailers, and I think part of it is due to that incessant, insinuating Jonny Greenwood piece. Early on, the Joaquin Phoenix role had been pegged as supporting. It's starting to look like the lead to me, and apparently he gets top billing.

[hearthesilence]

SpoilerShow

SHOOTING on the beach.

A blogger at IndieWire claimed it look like he was masturbating. Idiot.

Hi, I'm that idiot. The shooting scene is something different, the brief moment I'm talking about was later in the footage I saw. He was alone on the beach, not in a group, back to the camera, with his suit lowered and definitely working at doing something. Granted, I could be wrong but I'm pretty sure that's what he was doing.

And yes, how I phrased it in the piece I wrote made it seem like it was directly after Amy Adams line, but it's much later.

My apologies, and thanks for the clarification.

[mfunk9786]

Not as effective as the first trailer, but glad to see Amy Adams and Philip Seymour Hoffman. Adams does indeed look like a woman possessed. I realize that this is about as repetitive as it gets, but I can't wait for this fucking movie

[Matt]

That first shot of Hoffman looks like it came straight out of a Kubrick film, specifically the way Patrick Magee is lit and shot in A Clockwork Orange.

[Jeff]

Film is finished and submitted to the MPAA. It has been rated R for "sexual content, graphic nudity and language."

[swo17]

So basically, There Will Be Man Parts.

[Grand Wazoo]

EDIT:
Damn, looks like the image link died after I posted it.

[mfunk9786]

Hm?

[SpiderBaby]

He probably wanted to post this teaser poster:

[mfunk9786]

Whoa! Stunning.

[Niale]

For those of you who have not read the script, and dont get the poster (although the first trailer kind of makes it obvious

SpoilerShow

The main character is a BIT of an alcoholic

Groundbreaking info I know

[flyonthewall2983]

Full trailer coming tonight, according to @cigsandredvines.