Magnolia Review
by "Shay Casey" (gumbyshay AT hotmail DOT com)February 10th, 2000
***1/2 out of ****
Year: 1999
Starring Tom Cruise, John C. Reilly, Jason Robards, Philip Baker Hall, Melora Walters, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman, Jeremy Blackman, Melinda Dillon
Written by Paul Thomas Anderson
Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson
Rated R
"Magnolia" is the strangest kind of masterpiece, one that's both frustrating and enthralling at the same time. Is it confusing? Almost certainly. But there's a reason. "Magnolia" is the kind of film that wants to challenge you, that assumes that you, the viewer, do indeed have a brain, and you do know how to use it. Paul Thomas Anderson's film is not one to lay everything out neatly for you. It's for this reason that "Magnolia" is consistently maddening, but where that is usually a criticism, here it's oh so right. Why? Because the film dares to surprise, to keep pulling the rug out from under us. It is certainly not your typical film, and as such, it's not for everyone. But to those who enjoy a challenging film open to more than one interpretation, "Magnolia" is a dazzling experience. You don't see films as ambitious and audacious as this one come along too often.
This film interlocks the stories of several apparently disparate characters in the San Fernando Valley. First we have dying TV mogul Earl Partridge (Jason Robards), who wastes away under the care of his gold-digging wife Linda (Julianne Moore) and hired nurse Phil (Philip Seymour Hoffman). We are introduced to a children's game show called "What Do Kids Know?" hosted by veteran TV man Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), who like Earl, is dying of cancer. The current "whiz kid" on the show is Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman), a young man pushed to succeed by his overbearing father. The former whiz kid was Donnie Smith (William H. Macy), now a grown man whose life is in a shambles. He loses his job and considers resorting to a life of crime. Gator's daughter is cocaine-addicted Claudia (Melora Walters), who finds herself attracted to Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly), a seemingly stable beat cop. Earl's long-lost son turns out to be misogynist speaker Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), who teaches men how to better disrespect women because, in his view, they don't respect men. The stories twist in and out of one another in more ways than I could possibly explain here, but let's just say many of them are rather unpredictable.
The most noticeable strong point of "Magnolia" is the bravura acting engaged in by the entire cast. Your personal opinion of which performance is the best may depend mostly on what you thought of the characters they played, but there really aren't any weak links here. Everyone pulls his or her weight. My personal favorite was John C. Reilly, whose cop balances a fatherly impulse with deeper insecurities masterfully. As such, his unconventional romance with the drug-addicted Walters seems positively touching. His impulse is not to act as a policeman and bust her for narcotics possession, but to help her escape the problem. Tom Cruise is extremely well-cast as the self-important motivational speaker. His breakdown to a female reporter during an interview is astoundingly deliberate, with the reporter methodically wearing down Frank's false bravado by pulling out revelations from his past. The only point where Cruise really stumbles is in his final big scene, when he's forced to cry on Robards' deathbed, and he displays that he hasn't quite got the acting chops to pull it off. After excelling at playing freaks and weirdos, Hoffman finally gets to play a more well-adjusted human being and does it very convincingly. Macy does his usual chameleon job into the former quiz kid who wants braces because he thinks they'll make him more attractive to his favorite bartender. Moore has what's probably the most underwritten part, but beefs it up with sheer force of talent. Her character is one-note, but her performance is quite accessible. The veterans-Robards and Hall-inhabit decaying forms with ease, with Hall's on-air breakdown being on of the more fascinating scenes in the film. There are several I haven't mentioned, but rest assured, they did fine work. No weak links.
After his critically-lauded hit "Boogie Nights," Paul Thomas Anderson seems to have been given the freedom to follow his own vision, and "Magnolia" is it. Anderson's vision is sprawling and confused, excitingly and wonderfully so. The major stylistic point of interest is Anderson's decision to throw standard three-act film structure out the window in favor of a more musically-oriented construction. An article in "Entertainment Weekly" quoted the director as saying that he drew greatly from The Beatles' "A Day in the Life" for his film's structure. Such influence is evident in the way "Magnolia" climaxes twice, each being preceded by a long and deliberate buildup. The first climax occurs around the middle of the film, when many of the major characters experience a certain public or private deflowering. Gator collapses on his game show. Stanley has an on-air "accident." Frank is exposed in an interview. And so on. Any old film might have then rushed to a conclusion, but "Magnolia" is not any old film. Instead of a resolution, we get a drop-off, and the tension starts building again. (With regards to the Beatles reference, this is where Paul McCartney starts singing "Woke up, got out of bed, dragged the comb across my head.") Then it climaxes again in a wondrously bizarre scene that will have audiences talking for weeks. To reveal it would be a crime, but it does serve a purpose other than to shock. It ties together the film's themes in one fell swoop.
It's necessary because the themes present in "Magnolia" are not up front for all to see. They can be seen in the subtle Biblical references (Exodus 8:2 is everywhere, but you have to look closely), in the vague connections between characters, and in the film's clever opening sequence. "Magnolia" starts with a narrator (Ricky Jay) relating three supposedly true stories of chance occurrences. Coincidence and happenstance are recurring themes throughout the film, with the final climax being the mother of all chance occurrences. The most important thing to remember about "Magnolia's" surprise finish is that it is not randomly inserted to test the audience's reflexes. Jay narrates that these chance occurrences do not happen randomly; they happen for a reason. The final scene seems to help certain characters meet their destiny, to get other characters to meet when they might not have otherwise. It also relates to another major recurring theme: family dynamics and father-son relationships in particular. It seems a warning to many of the film's characters not to repeat the sins of the past. Will the message connect? That is left for us to decide.
It would be pointless to list all of Anderson's technical brilliance, because it is all there, just like we saw in "Boogie Nights." He ties images and music together seamlessly (with a nice assist from Aimee Mann), he is remarkably able to intercut scenes together without losing coherence, and his film manages to remain consistently interesting, despite the three hour running time. But the most impressive aspect of "Magnolia" is how complex Anderson's vision is. Is it perfect? That's kind of hard to decide. As is often the case with films that tell many interconnecting narratives all at once, different audience members are sure to find some characters intriguing and others annoying, but which characters those are stems mostly from personal preference than anything else. What we have here is a film whose conviction manages to overshadow its flaws (I was mildly annoyed by Robards' deathbed soliloquy and Moore's one-note drug addict), and one whose themes are varied and challenging. If someone were to ask me just what was the point of "Magnolia," I would reply that there isn't one. There are many.
-reviewed by Shay Casey
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