The Master

The Master has built a devoted audience in Australia on Amazon Prime Video, and in the US on Amazon Prime Video and Kanopy among viewers who want their drama to earn its emotional beats. It says what it needs to say in one sitting, no filler. Its 7/10 TMDB score, built from 3,343 ratings, reflects a title that consistently delivers. Joaquin Phoenix leads a cast that never overplays its hand. There is no real reason to keep putting it off — it is right there on Amazon Prime Video.

There is a reason The Master keeps coming up in conversation. The writing in The Master treats its characters as people first, plot devices second. Freddie, a volatile, heavy-drinking veteran who suffers from post-traumatic stress disorder, finds some semblance of a family when he stumbles onto the ship of Lancaster Dodd, the charismatic leader of a new "religion" he forms after World War II. Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman lead a cast doing genuinely serious work here. It was released in 2012. What elevates The Master is a refusal to let any character off the hook too easily. It delivers reliably on what it promises, which is more than most of its competition manages.

The Master is what you recommend to people who say they do not really watch much. It rewards viewers regardless of what else is in their watch history. Short enough to finish in one sitting, substantial enough to feel satisfying. Joaquin Phoenix is the centre of it, and it is one of their strongest performances on record. The patience it asks of you early on is paid back with interest.