Avoid Ancaster College. Master drops in theaters and on Prime Video this Friday. Courtesy of Master/Amazon Prime

Of all the movies that showed at this year’s Sundance Film Festival back in January, writer-director Mariama Diallo’s debut feature Master is one of the most enigmatic and elusive. It’s a strong work that reveals the harm inflicted by racism embedded in America’s academic institutions, frequently utilizing misdirects and shifts in focus to infuse itself with touches of horror. Even as its various threads risk getting tangled up, it manages to unravel into something that draws you in delicately.

The film stars a consistently stellar Regina Hall as Gail Bishop, a respected professor