I wasn’t sure what I would think of Magnolia when I set out to watch it last week. I’d heard of the movie but didn’t have any idea what it was about, only that it was stylistically unusual. When my brother’s friend Ian, who had brought it over, began reciting a litany of apologies for the uncouthness of Tom Cruise’s character, it occurred to me to worry, but I didn’t want to wimp out and not even give Ian’s favorite movie a chance. So I watched. And I was confused. And then I was hooked.

Magnolia is a very lengthy movie that follows several distinct storylines that occasionally intersect. It’s a character-driven drama that chronicles one day in the lives of a number of people, most of whom are deeply flawed. After a prologue ruminating on the nature of coincidence and interconnectivity, director P.T. Anderson takes us right into the thick of things, and at first it’s a whirlwind journey marked by perplexity. The scenes are brief, so we flit from one storyline to the next without having any clear idea of who these people are or why we should care about their problems. But the glimpses are enough to intrigue us, and soon the pace slows down enough for us to get to know each of the characters fairly well, no easy feat in a film with such a large ensemble of major players. The acting is superb here, and each character is distinct and ultimately sympathetic to some extent, no matter how many horrible things they have done.

One storyline involves a terminally ill man desperate for reconciliation with his son. Jason Robards portrays Earl Partridge, who looks much older than he is. He’s on his deathbed, raspy from the ravages of his disease, so it’s rather painful to listen to him talk. But he still has a great deal to say, and luckily Phil, the compassionate aide beautifully portrayed by Philip Seymour Hoffman, is a good listener. Although we don’t know much about Phil’s background, we can tell a great deal about his character from the beginning, and he is one of two models of decency in the midst of so many morally ambiguous people. Quiet, mild-mannered and truly committed to Earl’s well-being, he dedicates his day to tracking down Frank Mackey, the Tom Cruise character Ian was so sure I would hate. Frank is a motivational speaker of sorts whose program is entitled Seduce and Destroy. There’s a ring of unreality about this that perhaps makes Mackey less repulsive to me. The idea of holding massive seminars training men, in graphic language, how to pick up chicks and engage them on a physical level, seems just slightly askew to me, so while his program is pretty repugnant, I was never able to take it very seriously. And after all the warning about the language in his scenes, I didn’t really feel his profanity was any worse than that found in other parts of the film. Granted, that means that a great deal of this movie contains objectionable language, and I certainly could have gotten along without it, but I turned my mental censors on and simply tried to pretend it wasn’t there as often as I could. And it was worth it because this is a film in which light eventually overcomes darkness. It’s worth wading through some muck for such an ultimately beautiful story. Mackey, who seems so cool and confident and uncaring at first glance, turns out to be one of the most damaged characters of all, and one for whom we have the most sympathy. Slightly removed from all this is Linda, Earl’s wife, played with fragile ferocity by Julianne Moore. Earl’s illness throws her into a crisis of conscience not unlike the one he himself is experiencing. There’s a whole lot of adultery going on in this movie, or rather the after-effects thereof. And they aren’t too pretty.

Elsewhere, ten-year-old genius Stanley (Jeremy Blackman) is reluctantly gearing up for a big quiz show showdown. He seems in place to become reigning champion, but if all this attention and glory was once fun for him, it has since lost his appeal. He feels used and unappreciated by his father, who pushes him too hard and constantly berates him. When it becomes apparent to him just how little he is actually respected, Stanley must decide whether to stay the course or make a definite move in the interests of protecting his own happiness. Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall), host of the show – to which other characters tune in at various points in the film – has just been diagnosed with cancer, and he tries to reconcile with his daughter Claudia (Melora Walters), who wants nothing to do with him. His wife (Melinda Dillon) begins to be suspicious as to the reasons why. There are a lot of skeletons in Jimmy’s closet, though he seems to have it all together on the outside, at least for a while. But Claudia is a mess inside and out, scarcely able to function in a society in which she long ago lost faith. But all that begins to change when she meets Jim, a cop and the first person in a long time who’s treated her like a worthwhile human being. John C. Reilly is charming as square, nervous, forgiving Jim, who is the other truly upstanding character in this film. He is just as passionate about his job as Phil, and he strives constantly to make people’s lives better, evaluating each case carefully to determine whether the person at fault is truly a danger to society. He has a gift for seeing the good in people that have been thrown away by the rest of the world. During his rounds, he also encounters Dixon (Emmanuel Johnson), a street-wise kid who later intersects with Linda at an opportune moment, and Donnie Williams (William H. Macy), who used to be in Stanley’s position and now is a washed-up train wreck of a man bitter about his exploited childhood but longing for more positive feelings to replace his resentment.

The soundtrack, featuring songs by Aimee Mann, gels well with the movie, especially in the sing-along of sorts, which is jarring but fits, showing each of the characters begin to take stock of their situation and attempt to do better. They’re stirred out of complacency even more by a most unusual occurrence that is at once the most disgusting and most beautiful series of scenes in the film. The cinematography is exquisitely done, especially in scenes where our sense of the characters’ connections to one another is strongest. Though it takes a while to become completely enthralled, Magnolia is well worth its excess of three hours. It is filled with filthy language and dubious situations, but ultimately it is a redemptive film with a more compassionate outlook than many films with less objectionable content. It encourages us to accept one another as imperfect individuals while always striving to conquer our own demons, and for me, that overrides its ugliness – yes, Ian, even Tom Cruise.

Recommended:
Yes

Viewing Format: DVD