( CNN ) -- `` We are not animals , we are on a whole different level to that . '' So claims Lancaster Dodd ( Philip Seymour Hoffman ) , who describes himself as `` many things , '' including a writer , doctor , a nuclear physicist , and a theoretical philosopher , but also assumes the more presumptuous role of guru and spiritual teacher , even prophet . If you 've heard anything about `` The Master , '' Paul Thomas Anderson 's long-awaited follow up to the magnificent `` There Will Be Blood , '' you will know that Dodd is reportedly based on sci-fi novelist and Scientology founder L. Ron Hubbard . Hoffman suggests someone more professorial than preacher : an Old World sophisticate with a New World faith in scientific methodology ; charismatic , kindly , even utopian , but a charlatan whether he admits it to himself or not . He steadfastly believes in a better world , a higher calling , just so long as it gravitates around him ( and always has ) . Ironically , `` The Master '' does n't . Dodd is by some stretch the secondary role in the film . The protagonist is one Freddie Quell ( Joaquin Phoenix ) , an Everyman of an especially disheveled , even wretched sort , a lost soul and a drifter who serves in the Navy during World War II and ca n't get his act together once the war is over . Phoenix looks skinnier and more gaunt than in his last film , when he played a grotesque , creatively exhausted version of himself in the faux-documentary `` I 'm Still Here . '' That was two years ago , and one reason to celebrate `` The Master '' is simply because it gives us another chance to marvel at this superb actor . His hair flecked with gray , sneery and sinewy , Phoenix resembles Montgomery Clift and John Garfield : postwar stars who embodied the anxieties and alienation of the returning GIs in male melodramas tinged in varying shades of noir . Freddie is a ball of nervous energy , agitated and intense , so bottled up with sexual frustration he 's ready to pop . He funnels his aggravation into the manufacture of hooch , lovingly concocted from diesel fuel , or paint thinner , or photo chemicals , and imbibed at your own risk . A stowaway on Dodd 's borrowed pleasure steamer , Freddie intrigues the older man : he 's the savage beast , a test case for his theories of psychological and spiritual advancement . But there 's more to it than that . Lancaster shares Quell 's taste for raw alcohol . They are drinking buddies as well as doctor and patient , master and servant , messiah and acolyte ... perhaps even soul mates . Their relationship disturbs and perplexes Dodd 's loyal disciples , including his formidable wife ( Amy Adams ) , who considers Freddie beyond saving but fears that her husband could go the other way . Over the course of several years each man will disappoint the other , yet they struggle to sever whatever it is that binds them . The most classically minded of America 's young filmmakers , and the most prodigious , Anderson draws on John Huston and Elia Kazan , Fred Zinnemann 's `` From Here to Eternity '' and George Stevens ' `` A Place in the Sun . '' Even more than in `` There Will Be Blood , '' `` The Master '' demonstrates a remarkable lucidity and assurance . Who knows ? It may prove to be one of the last movies ever shot and shown on 70mm , but Anderson does n't go in for epic vistas or the proverbial cast of thousands . The camerawork is artfully composed -- each frame designed with intelligence and care -- but also fluid and self-effacing . It 's a long movie , but one that feels cut to the bone . Anderson makes his points so succinctly , and with such subtlety , not a few viewers at the Toronto International Film Festival admitted they felt it would require a second viewing to catch up with it . Fans of this director -- who has previously gone in for more flamboyant gestures -- may even feel a little disappointed . There 's nothing quite so grandstanding as Daniel Day Lewis 's infamous milkshake scene , no oil rigs bursting into flame and frogs do n't fall from the sky . But still , this film examines a not dissimilar dynamic to the `` There Will Be Blood '' love-hate between the priest and the killer , and imbues it with greater sensitivity and depth . Where Day Lewis 's Daniel Plainview thirsted for black gold , Freddie Quell has a far different and more reasonable hunger : for love , and peace , just enough to get through this world straight . Far and away the best American movie unveiled at TIFF , `` The Master '' also has Weinstein muscle in its marketing . It 's still five months to Oscar night , but it will be a surprise if this does n't earn nominations across the board , with Phoenix a front-runner for best actor and Hoffman just a step behind him . In the end it may not have the emotional uplift the Academy or a popular mainstream audience craves , but make no mistake , this is an enthralling drama about a peculiarly American restlessness , and the striving for insight and grace .
Philip Seymour Hoffman and Joaquin Phoenix play characters with a complex relationship . The film is the long - awaited follow - up to ` ` There Will Be Blood '' Critic named it the best film ever at the Toronto International Film Festival .