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Master Movie Review
Master
Theatrical Release: March 18, 2022
Running Time: 99 Minutes
Rating: R
Writer/Director: Mariama Diallo
Cast:
Regina Hall (Gail Bishop), Zoe Renee (Jasmine Moore), Talia Ryder (Amelia), Talia Balsam (Diandra), Amber Gray (Liv Beckman), Ella Hunt (Cressida), Noa Fisher (Katie), Kara Young (Sascha), Bruce Altman (Brian)
Master marks a promising yet wildly uneven film debut for writer-director Mariama Diallo. Our attentions are divided between faculty member Gail Bishop (Regina Hall) and freshman Jasmine Moore (Zoe Renee), both new to the school. Whereas Bishop is exalted as the school's first Master (as in head of house), Jasmine feels somewhat uncomfortable amidst the casually racist comments of her peers. Both women also feel the impact of residing in a building said to be haunted by the ghost of a woman hanged by witchcraft. Jasmine occupies the room where back in the 1960s the school's first black graduate fell victim to the alleged curse.
Diallo succeeds at setting the scene and immersing us in an environment we haven't encountered in countless films before. The challenges of introducing diversity to a predominantly homogenous environment are specific to the present day and make for an intriguing subject. Maggots spill out of portraits, Jasmine's sleep is disturbed by an otherworldly presence under her bed, and a teacher (Amber Gray) applying for tenure is subjected to a grading dispute. The viewer longs for these disparate story ideas to come together in a cohesive and compelling way, but it never happens. Diallo longs to imbue her first film with substance and relevance unusual for horror movies, but the disjointed final product feels like a first draft that got placed in a greenlight pile instead of beginning the processes of feedback and creative honing.
The worst instincts are present in the film's final act, in which a bizarre twist regarding racial identity is introduced with no chance of being sufficiently explored or explained. What could have been a timely and thought-provoking work ends up quite hollow and underdeveloped. That might explain why the film reaches Amazon Prime as original content rather than sparking conversations in art houses or multiplexes.
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