The Master: Re-Processed by DominicCobb

Well it's a new year (happy 2014!) which means it's time for me to get going on my resolutions, and the resolution most relevant to this thread goes thusly: to complete my first feature-length fan edit.

The subject: Paul Thomas Anderson's brilliant 2012 film, The Master. I've been planning this one for a few months now. I did a rough cut awhile back and put it on the shelf. Now I'm dusting it off with the goal being to get it done as soon as possible, preferably sometime this year.

On the forum's thread for the movie I wrote about this very edit:

I have it mapped out in my mind. I won't go into details but it puts more of the focus on Freddie (I mean it takes some of the focus off Dodd), and it would feature a number of deleted material and less than chronological order. By the way, this would be a fan mix. Simply an alternate cut. I'm going to start fooling on it, and I'll probably start a thread if I decide to seriously pursue it.

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Yeah, so I finally started a thread and I won't be giving away many more details at this time, simply because it'd be hard to explain without a cutlist (which I don't have yet). But I'll be a little clearer than I was. The focus is more on Freddie; specifically I'll be cutting most scenes that don't feature him, and I'll be taking the opening section of the film (the army stuff) and placing it throughout the film (as flashbacks). As well, I'll be adding some relevant deleted material.

Ultimately the edit will run a few minutes under two hours if I stay close to my rough cut. This will be a fan mix, as I said before. My changes are really just things that felt right to me. This will be, in a way, my interpretation of the material, putting emphasis on specific themes and such that I found most interesting in the original film. This is not meant as a fix or a replacement to the original, rather it is simply an alternate way of looking at it.

I'm pretty excited to get this finished and released. I will be updating when I see fit. Questions, comments, concerns welcome.

Awesome! I'll send you a pm later with some of my own edit ideas for this. I'll be happy to preview anything for you.

Cool beans, cool beans.

I know you said this is just an alternative cut, but please, do whatever you can to fix this POS. I absolutely loved everything PTA had done right up to The Master. What a disappointment it was.

Well, obviously we disagree as to the quality of the film, and I'm not trying to improve the original, but it is possible that you one might prefer my version as I do think it will be fairly different than the theatrical - probably thematically and maybe tonally and pacing-wise.

If you have any particular qualms that you think could be fixed shout them out, I might incorporate your ideas if I feel it meshes with my own vision.

Don't listen to Adabisi. The Master rocks. And I'll be looking forward to this edit!

Adabisi said:

I know you said this is just an alternative cut, but please, do whatever you can to fix this POS.

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Just use cash and you'll be fine.

I wish I never had to make this addition:

I bought the master on bluray today, as well as Capote, Charlie Wilson's War and Synecdoche New York. Very sad time for fans of the great man.

looking forward to your edit Dom

I've been quietly working on this edit and I'm happy to say it's possibly, maybe (just about) done. Neglify's been gracious enough so far to have a look at my fruits of labor and his help has been invaluable. The second opinion's been great, and it'd be awesome if I could also get a third opinion. If anyone's interested in viewing a finished work print, PM me. Many thanks in advance.

Review posted at ifdb:

I'm a huge fan of Paul Thomas Anderson, Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix so I was very excited (perhaps too excited) to see this film when it was released. The film really let me down and I easily consider it to be Paul Thomas Anderson's worst. I found it boring and unfocused.

DominicCobb's edit is not an attempt to improve the film, but rather present an alternative take on the material. Edits that take this stance as a starting point at generally make for a very interesting and enjoyable experience and I can say that DominicCobb has been very successful in this regard. And, although he may disagree with me on this, I feel the edit is superior to the original and makes for a better film. The end result still not up to par with Anderson's earlier work, but this is no fault of the editor.

A/V quality and editing is great. The deleted scenes are woven in very well and the slight dip in quality is barely noticeable.

The narrative is still largely unfocused, but it is certainly better than the original.

Overall, DominicCobb has done a great job with this and I'm sure any fans of the original will absolutely love this edit. For me it was a slight improvement on a film that I consider to be big disappointment. I can't say I really enjoyed it, but this was certainly no fault of the editor. DominicCobb has the right mindset to make some really interesting edits and I'm looking forward to what he'll do next.

Thanks for the review Adabisi!

No problem. Although it wasn't really my cup of tea, I really respect the work that went into this. My only suggestion would be to put just a little more effort into your menu screen.

Thanks again. I just used Final Cut Pro's DVD maker, which only gave me the option to change the backdrop. I wasn't crazy about it either and I'll be using something different next time.

MY REVIEW

I have been aware of this edit since its release a few years back and finally watched it this evening after a second visit to the original. Maybe my spirit was in a different vessel in 2012 as I wasn’t crazy about the film but something was telling me to watch the film again. A neoteric fascination I have with cults and the power of brainwashing was probably the kickstarter - that alongside research and exploration into world of Scientology. A flask of Freddie's potion shouldn’t becloud the fact that there is a real masterclass in acting from the leads. The parallels between Phoenix’s Quell and his Oscar winning Joker performance are uncanny. As for Hoffman – it’s just gut wrenching we will never see him on celluloid again.

I wholeheartedly agree with DominicCobb’s decision to truncate the opening act, this is done skilfully through a series of voiceovers and montages that lead us to Quell stowing away on the Alethia. The rearranging of scenes as flashbacks and added deleted footage really opened my mind to Freddie’s post war struggle with PTSD. I no longer thought of him as just an inebriated arsehole.
The new ending is wonderful –it is certainly not a case of sailing off into the sunset fully redeemed but at one point as I watched the credits I certainly felt it was. The conclusion would have been more impactful if we knew Freddie hadn’t sailed off to China previously when he left Doris but if we look at it from a different angle, is another trip to China just Freddie repeating himself – is he leaving the man he loved when previously it was the girl –never having learned anything never fully reprocessed. He is a paradigm until the moonshine gets the better of him. DominicCobb you have certainly re-processed me into thinking the Master is a modern gem.

I would love to get my hands on a higher quality version. I viewed the DVD on my computer monitor but feel that if i watched this on my TV the picture quality would diminish.