Judging from all the trailers of “The Master,” some of the themes seem to be dealing with the disorienting feeling that down is up, and what you know is never the full truth. And listening to a bit of Jonny Greenwood’s work for the film, the score will be rolling with that tide.
“Application 45 Version 1” is the track that you’ll get if you pre-order Nonesuch’s Sept. 11 drop of the soundtrack to the Paul Thomas Anderson film. And it’ll have you poking around for the downbeat, wondering if it’s minor or major and generally exciting the jitters that are beyond your 4 p.m. cup of caffeine. The cello is enough to give you goosebumps.
This is the second time Greenwood and Anderson have teamed up, after their phenomenal combination on “There Will Be Blood”: the score to that film was ruled ineligible for a soundtrack Academy Award, as it included previously recorded material. However, it did earn a Grammy nod for Best Score Soundtrack but lost out to “The Dark Knight” because, man, seriously.
Something tells me Greenwood has his lesson learned and has conjured some all-original, newly recorded hauntings for this guy: he probably wants that nomination. In Contention is surmising that it’s… already in contention, up against, perhaps, Mychael Danna’s “Life of Pi” and John Wiliams’ “Lincoln” scores.
“The Master,” starring Joaquin Phoenix and Philip Seymour Hoffman, is out in theaters on Sept. 14 and has already screened in Chicago and Santa Monica.