"It's not raining [Magnolias], you know, it's raining . . . "
Written: Jan 22 '00 (Updated Dec 14 '02)
Product Rating:
Pros: A powerful message that we must atone, accept, forgive, delivered by a fine cast.
Cons: Long takes and Cosmic Jokes some may not find profound.
The Bottom Line: MAGNOLIA: a long, exhausting film, brilliantly acted and cut, a cosmic joke on us all. We may have to wait too long for the punch line, but it's worth it.
MAGNOLIA is a serious, powerful film. With its emphasis on close-ups, it will be more so on video. If you can stand the idea that all the money, success and luxury American society offers business or celebrity leaders also buries them in the same deluge of pain, addiction confusion, fear, and regret that pelts the failures and junkies of our land, you may find MAGNOLIA an engrossing experience.
We are all frogs, the film says, and we need to be kissed.
I don't really know what else I can observe, what I can add to the discussion.
MAGNOLIA proves a demanding film because, after a trio of bizarre anecdotes concerning chance and death, all narrated in voice over, the film launches a loop of loosely related sequences that involve a naive cop trying to solve a crime at the ghetto end of Magnolia Avenue in LA ; a dying TV executive, his repentant wife, his hyperbolic estranged son; a pressured quiz kid and his father; an alcoholic TV quiz show master and his loving wife, their drug addicted daughter; and an old quiz kid who never quite grew up. As others have noted, these characters are trying to come to terms with the failure in their lives. Some of them atone for their sins against others; some do not.
But each discovers his or her concerns can be altered by Chaos in a couple of moments.
That idea is the message of the film.
A large cast is uniformly excellent, especially John C. Riley as the cop and Jeremy Blackman as the young quiz kid. All are involved in long cross-cut sequences and subjected to extreme close-up examinations held for excruciating periods of time. Some of these sequences and examinations are stronger than others. Blackman's quiz kid eventually is sympathetic and meaningful, but William H. Macy's old quiz kid seems feckless and at sea throughout. Macy is what the boy may become.
One gains the impression that we are dealing with a Noah's Ark of the Human Race, floating down Magnolia: Two fathers, two mothers, two grown children, two small children, two seekers who have never found their goal.
Writer/Director Paul Thomas Anderson creates dramatic, wrenching scenes, and surrounds his concept with an atmosphere of Cosmic Mystery.
Whenever Anderson builds tension, and gains the involvement of his audience, the songs of Aimee Mann and the music of Jon Brion are often present. I sometimes find the use of songs annoying, but here Mann's rhythmic, hypnotic comments sustain the mood. Of course, Anderson goes too far by having half the major characters break into lonely rendition, in their particular situations, at the same time.
He also undercuts his film and the dramatic impact of his characters by injecting whimsey and (literally) underlining his meanings, which are at heart fairly obvious.
A woman said to me the other night: "Well, you know, years ago people thought it was a sin not to be close to your family, not to succeed, not to give back. Today, loyalty is a virtue for suckers! Going away without a thank you is no big deal. Ain't that obvious? Don't you get it?"
Unfortunately, I do get it. Writer/Director Anderson wants us to look at "it."
Whether you find MAGNOLIA a great film depends on what you bring to it, which is also obvious.
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