"And the book says: "We might be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us."
It's been a while since I reviewed one of my all time favourite movies, and for good reason. I think everyone that enjoys writing, drawing, painting or any other form of creative activity will agree that you always look back on your early work and cringe at what you see, and even though I've only been doing this for less than six months, I'm a victim of this phenomenon as well. I find my very first blog posts rather horrible, mainly because I was a lot worse at writing back then, but also because I started out writing about all my favourite movies all at once. I honestly think those reviews are repetitive and a little boring to say the least, and when I came to this realisation sometime during February, I decided to wait a good while before writing about another favourite. I rewatched Paul Thomas Anderson's Magnolia a couple of days ago though, and decided it was about time I immortalised my thoughts about it on the interwebs, when I found myself tearing up just 10 minutes into the movie.
Magnolia is one of those movies that has a huge array of different characters that are all somehow connected to each other, in this case by a quiz show on TV, and these characters each take part in one or several of six plot lines/stories that affect and influence each other in some way or another. The events of the movie take place in a medium size town somewhere in California over a period of about 24 hours, and it becomes apparent right from the beginning that all of the main characters are dealing with some sort of inner struggle. Each of the characters and their problems are depicted in very specific detail, and for it to make sense, writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson had to make the movie three hours and eight minutes long. This is a hell of a long movie, but, if you have the patience that is required and are a fan of fantastic film making, I guarantee that Magnolia will keep you immensely entertained from start to finish.
After my first viewing of this movie, the only thing I really found memorable about it was it's music. Of cause, I've come to love a bunch of other things about about it after several additional viewings, but there's still something about this music that just gets me every time. Aimee Mann composed and wrote eleven original songs for this movie, and although Hans Zimmer's Now We Are Free from Gladiator is still my favourite movie song, Mann's One, Save Me and Wise Up, all from Magnolia, are very close contenders to the number one spot. These songs fit the situations in which they are played absolutely perfectly, and they serve as a brilliant tool to amplify the desired effects of the specific scenes. The most memorable example is the utilisation of the song Wise Up, which takes place about two thirds into the movie. I won't spoil it, but I promise that it's one of the more memorable and unique experiences you'll ever have watching a movie. I know that talking a bunch about the music of a movie as one the very first things might not seem logical, but I really mean it when I say that it's one of the most important things about the whole movie. Listen to it on Spotify or on YouTube trough the provided links, you'll understand what i mean.
Aimee Mann sure did an amazing job, but of cause, there's still a bunch of things about Magnolia that are just as fantastic. The cast immediately comes to mind, and oh man, what a brilliant fucking cast it is. Julian Moore, William H. Macy, John C. Riley, Tom Freaking Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffmann, Philip Baker Hall, Jason Robards and Melora Walters, all cream of the crop actors that bring their absolute a-game in this film. It's a huge cast, and the fact that all of their characters are equally important and vital to the story, none of them getting boring, disposable or forgetable for even a minute, is a testimony to just how gifted Paul Thomas Anderson is at creating and developing characters in his movies. Julian Moore's character is my personal favourite, partly because she's my favourite actress of all time, but mostly because her character seems so real. She doesn't use any sort of sophisticated Hollywoodishly fake and inhumane poetrylike dialogue to express how miserable she is, instead, she slaps people around, acts like a bitch, and curses three times in every sentence. Her way of dealing with what's going on and what she's done in her past is realistic and believable, and one of my favourite things about the whole movie.
Writing about all the remaining characters would take way too long, but I have to express my thoughts on at least a few more of them. Quiz Kid Donnie smith, played by William H. Macy, is the only character that almost never gets into contact with any of the other principle characters. This is done to emphasize how lonely the character is, and the way William Macy portrays this is simply amazing. He always does a good job at playing weak, lonely, sad and helpless characters, just look at my movie review of Fargo. In Magnolia he's absolutely heart wrenching, and one of my favorite characters for sure. I almost made his quote "I really do have love to give, I just don't know where to put it!" the tag line of this review, for the simple reason that it summarises his character perfectly. The one you see up there now, also spoken by Quiz Kid Donnie Smith by the way, fits the movie better as a whole tough. It was either that or "respect the cock!".
Some people believe that Tom Cruise gives his best performance of all time in this movie, and although I do agree that he is very convincing as Frank T.J. Mackey, a sexist, bitter and traumatised "ladies man", I think he was a little better in both Minority Report and Collateral. That doesn't mean he's not freaking great in this movie though, and his character is the one that experiences the biggest personal transformation of them all. John C. Riley and Melora Walters have some great chemistry in their shared scenes, Riley giving what i believe is his best personal performance, and Philip Seymour Hoffmann was terrific at playing a male nurse, however ridiculous that may sound. It was funny to see him work with Tom Cruise in such a peaceful manner, considering how they would go on to try and kill each other several times in Mission Impossible III seven years later. To sum it up; all Paul Thomas Anderson's films are centered around characters. Just look at the The Master and There Will Be Blood for an example; both movies have several shining examples of amazing character development. In Magnolia, there's nine.
"And the book says: "We might be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us."" There's a good reason why I chose this quote as the tag line for this review. All the principle characters in Magnolia are struggling with inner demons that have tight grips on their individual pasts, and they're stuck in a miserable an enjoyable present because of this. The over all theme and message of the movie is that you don't necessarily have let go of the past in order go move on, but instead look the devil in the eye, confront your fears, and accept and forgive yourself for being who you are. Cruise's character is the one that has the hardest time doing this, and as a result, he's the one that reacts the heaviest when things start to go awry. At one point near the ending of the movie, when everyone is doing the exact opposite of what Paul Thomas Anderson is trying to teach the audience about forgiving yourself, something completely unexpected and surreal, almost divine, happens. An unimaginative and close minded audience member might consider this incident unrealistic and anti climatic, but if you have been payed attention to the development of the story and the characters and have a bit of biblical knowledge, your jaw is gonna drop like the base would in a night club. D-d-d-d-drop the jaw. I was completely swept away by this twist the first time I saw it, and it's one of my favourite things that has ever happened in any movie ever. EVER.
Being the movie magician that he is, Paul Thomas Anderson wrote and directed Magnolia as close to perfectly as humanly possible. I've only watched three of his movies, but there's no doubt in my mind that he's my favourite director of all time, simply because he understands character development and the interaction between actor, script and camera down to a science. Everything about Magnolia is perfect in my opinion, from the editing to the music, the acting, the dialogue, the character development, the phasing, the cinematography; it's spellbindingly good. This 1999 masterpiece almost makes me tear up several times, it's my favourite Paul Thomas Anderson movie, one of my favourite movies of all time, and 110% worthy of my highest rating. In other words: There's no two ways about it. Magnolia is Movie Magic at its finest. (6/6)
Magnolia IMDb page here
Magnolia movie trailer here
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