I must admit, I found The Master rather opaque, much like its two central characters. It's wonderfully made, and there are some truly beautiful shots in it, but all up I wondered if it might just have been a little empty - not really about anything. Having said that, more than the much publicised Scientology element, I think that maybe the true subjects of this film are human relationships and human-ness, in light of which (and in light of the focus on character and identity as performed in those of Paul Thomas Anderson's other films that I've seen), the opacity may well be deliberate. I don't know how much I enjoyed The Master; I even felt a bit bored at times. And yet I'm inclined to watch it again.
