User reviews

I saw this movie at Miami film festival. Although the tempo was slow, and characters were not very well developed, the cinematography was excellent. Long and artistic takes were attention capturing and worked well with minimalist conversation style.

The use of magic was interesting as well, it was not revealed in the movie if these were real paranormal instances or there was some sort of explanation.

The over-use of vodka made me think of prototypes. Was this was an intentional effect, I don't know.

Erman Akdogan

Why Polish films need to suck? Another movie, full of vodka, some swearing and cheap sensation. Film is full of "atractions" : we have a drunkard, a prostitute, a guy with past,a lesbian, and other minor characters. Speaking of whom, they are simply sketched, don't make a real character, but rather types. The whole story is senseless and unbelievable. The plot isn't clever or logical. It is chaotic composition of elements. Maybe it is to make it look like events from real life but it is just annoying. I've seen it on Camerimage but I have not found many good shots in that. The previous Trzaskalski's film, EDI was much better, more consisted, touched important issues, had beautiful pictures, a general idea behind it. A good movie. And this "Mistrz" is unwatchable. It gives you nothing, evokes some cheap drama, awful dialogues kill all the scenes that could be at least average. I almost forgot, there were naked women of course, and 45-second long sequence of sexual intercourse. Watch something better, don't make your opinion on Polish cinema by means of this crap. The whole film is about circus and it is a circus indeed, full of grotesque clowns and cheap tricks. The only good thing about it, is that director didn't copy any Hollywood movies in order to make a film with American-like plot with Polish flavours. He made quite original piece of nothing that might win some awards if you find a jury where there will be people who believe that a scene with a silent man standing on a field with a bottle of vodka in his hand has any poetic significance, and they are able to imagine any "deep" in it, although, it doesn't have any.

It is rare for a movie to leave me questioning the motivations of the characters. The tendency in cinema seems to be towards playing to one side or another and avoiding ambiguity. This film is full of that ambiguity. Throughout the film I found myself mulling over what the characters internal dialogue would be and wondering at the significance of certain actions. I will grant you that The Master is not a perfect film...the female characters are sometimes flimsy and there are times when the plot is not real tight...but there is a depth to this film that is not found often. It is up to us to draw the line between fantasy and reality and to determine what leads a character one way or another. I love that, and it leads me to recommend the movie.

But then, what do I know?