Here is the Master (2022) Movie Review. The movie tells the story of Two African American women begin to share disturbing experiences at a predominantly white college in New England.
Master (2022) Movie Review
Master (2022) Movie is directed by Mariama Diallo and stars Regina Hall, Zoe Renee, and Amber Gray.
At an elite New England university built on the site of a Salem-era gallows hill, three women strive to find their place. Gail, just instated as “Master,” a dean of students, discovers what lies behind the school’s immaculate facade; first-year student Jasmine confronts a new home that is cold and unwelcoming and literature professor Liv collides with colleagues who question her right to belong. Navigating politics and privilege, they encounter increasingly terrifying manifestations of the school’s haunted past and present.
All right, so this film thrives on creating an unsettling atmosphere. Shadows and imagery are played with to make us question if some of the things that we see are actually real.
Also, the lore that haunts the school works to create even more of a foreboding atmosphere. Now, when Jasmine arrives at school, she instantly is put on guard because of odd looks and whispers from other students.
The sense that they know something that she doesn’t, coupled with the fact that they’re not really friendly or helpful, all work to put her ill at ease. And then us, too.
There’s the law established very early on that the school is built over the site of where a witch had been hung in the 17th century. And because of this, there’s sort of a curse that has caused some students in a particular dorm room to hang themselves over the decades. And it’s now, the room that Jasmine has been assigned to.
Regina Hall is Gail, I think she’s wonderful. She has this fierceness to her, but there’s also a sense of fear and discomfort and even some distrust that emanates just from her as she works and encounters other faculty.
Because she’s put into a position of power, her status is elevated. But that still doesn’t take away from the fact that she’s massively in the minority at this mostly white school.
There’s almost this unspoken power play of expectations that is present among her colleagues in ways she is just a figurehead who has been put in place to help change the image of the school.
As part of her position, she does get a residence, which is some creepy older house that has just this really big Gothic feel to it. Now, inside, she experiences some odd and gross things, and I mean, really, nobody would want to stay there.
Some portions of this film gave me similar feels to The Black Coat’s Daughter, and not just because it takes place at a school. I mean, there is the mystery, and then there’s possibly an occult inclusion that follows within the story, too. Plus, there’s tent set ups where something may be stalking our students.
There is some really great cinematography in this. There are a couple of scenes that feel like they come from the 70s or an 80s horror, especially with the way that the camera zooms in and out on a specific item.
It just takes like 510 seconds to resolve. It is very patient and it’s not something that we see that’s used in modern movies too much.
As Jasmine experiences her potentially supernatural weirdness and then Gail is navigating that just less than inviting faculty, the character of Liv creates a whole new layer of drama and then strangeness.
Her character arc was not one that I was expecting and I’m still not totally sure how I feel about it. I mean, it is unique and it’s also startling but very uncomfortable.
I like how it complements the finale and then how her story slowly compounds everything that Gail is working through.
And as being a horror, we should expect some gnarly visuals, but what we get is mostly just creepy imagery and then some disconcerting setups that help to make this just really an intriguing watch more than anything.
I wasn’t ever scared while watching, but I was unsettled. And then especially with the sequences where we just don’t know if they’re happening in real life or in a dream.
And there are several of these scenes that different characters experience, so we can’t be totally sure if it’s just some jacked-up vision or it’s real.
That being said though, there are a couple of times where the imagery actually worked against the dread because some of it just looked a little ridiculous and silly.
Now, I know that this is a nitpick, but for a College campus, I mean, even a small one, the dorms feel very vacant. There are just not a lot of residents to it.
I know that’s meant to help make the setting more isolating and freaky, but it just feels unnatural, and then it doesn’t add to anything within our productive really to the goal.
I like how this story begins to confront the issue of racism. Now, there are a couple of times, especially during a party that Jasmine attends, that feel a bit forced or maybe even heavy-handed, but overall there’s this great sense of dread that is permeating the story.
And the commentary on racism, It’s not buried here. I mean, there are many times where it’s addressed head on, which I enjoyed, but it wasn’t always in the way that I thought it would be.
There’s also a multi-layered gaslighting that occurs that adds a punch to the story that I wasn’t expecting. Now we watch one horror play out, but there’s been another one that’s going on the entire time and it was much less avert.
There’s also a permeating sadness to the whole thing. Not just because it’s a horror, but there really is an oppressive tone to the entire production.
I know not everything needs or even deserves a happy ending, but it was just a bummer that how some of it finally plays out. I mean, I was hoping for a certain resolution but what we get is just more grounded in reality.
And it does feel also like it’s playing a lot on just creating black trauma now because at the end of this terrible things and ideas have occurred but the status quo is pretty much intact.
I do know that this is creating a conversation with the issues that it’s addressing but what ends up happening is that we watch a few black people have horrendous experiences without any redemptive arc to come in and lessen it.
So overall, Master 2022 movie is a quieter horror that plays heavily on imagery and the tone of character motivations to create a very unsettling atmosphere.
The mental anguish our characters are exposed to is effective at causing discomfort and then they’re made all the more convincing with some wonderful performances from Regina Hall, Zoe Renee, and Amber Gray.
And while the tone of the story is dark and oppressive, by the end it just feels as if we’ve watched terrible things happen to black people with nothing to show for it.
I enjoyed the majority of the movie, Especially the social commentary and how the story addresses inequity and racism. I do just wish, though that the conclusion would have been a resolution that instills a better sense of progress.
There’s no sex or nudity, some profanity, and some violence.
I am going to give Master (2022) Movie 3/5.
You can watch Master (2022) Movie now on Amazon Prime.
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Master (2022) Movie Trailer
Here is Master (2022) Movie Trailer. Check it out.
