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Magnolia review
:. Director: P.T. Anderson
:. Starring: Julianne Moore, William H. Macy
:. Running Time: 3:08
:. Year: 1999
:. Country: USA
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In Magnolia, an Altmanesqe ensemble piece, director Paul Thomas Anderson returns to his favorite location for wacked out needy people: the San Fernando Valley. Though he proves that over-ambition and arrogance do not always make the perfect movie, there is a magnetic pull towards these broken characters. The film may be too long and somewhat pretentious, but in the end one willingly gravitates to the pain. There are some truly moving moments of expert acting that offer glimpses inside damaged people who are all inter-connected in some way, though however contrived at times.
At the apex of this film we find two old men dying of cancer who have cast a circle of destruction around them. Earl Partridge (played excruciatingly well by Jason Robards) owns a TV station and is on his deathbed. His young wife, Linda, played with despair by Julianne Moore, realizes that even though she was a money-grubber when they married, she really does love him now as the end nears. Earl wishes to see his son Frank Mackie (Tom Cruise) before he dies, to make amends for abandoning him. Frank, a TV mysogynist/self help guru, obviously harbors a long standing aggression that comes out during his "classes". The other old codger, Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall) is the alcoholic host of a game show for whiz kids on the same station owned by Partridge. His daughter Claudia (Melora Walters) hates him for abusing her and has become a coke head to deal with all of the mess. So we have two TV people, one who has abandoned his son, another who has abused his daughter. Read: TV is bad.
Anderson's gift is that he gives complexity to his characters. Two of them, Frank Mackie (Cruise) and Donnie Smith (William H. Macy), are especially emotionally stunted. One was abandoned when he was 15 and now gives seminars with topics like "Seduce and Destroy" and the other is an emotional halfwit whose fame as a game show whiz kid and money hungry parents have left him paralyzed and unable to deal with life as a fortysomething. "I used to be smart, now I'm just stupid" he laconically informs us. He is as passive as Cruise's character is aggressive, thus striking a balance to the emotional extremes in this film. Claudia is also stuck, but she has not been destroyed by her father. She freely lavishes her rage and pain until she realizes it will consume her. One fault with her otherwise poetic performance is that Anderson takes so long to get to the core of her pain. Anyone watching her confrontation with her father at the beginning of the film would know why she hates him so much. The result is that Jimmy's story drags on, and we do not delve further into her character.
Claudia is also half of the heart of the movie (as Moore was in the overrated Boogie Nights). Her other half is Officer Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly), who gives an outstanding performance. He's basically a good guy who wants to do a good job and see the good in people. He accepts his lot in life and tries to brighten it up a bit. Basically, he's one of the few characters in the film actually acting like an adult and looks beyond pitying himself to extend a hand to others. Of course, he's a awkward with his girl and is not the sharpest knife in the drawer, but then who really knows how to do everything perfectly 24 hours a day anyway? His tenderness gives hope in an otherwise thoroughly depressing film.
As all of the characters do a big depressing sing-a-long midway through the movie and belt out "it's not going to stop", they have no idea how right they are. Like a trip to the grocery store that ends up taking 17 hours, their misery just takes so long and any hope of arriving at a great final moment, of putting all of this together into something formidable, is lost. Anderson throws everything our way and then just leaves it there. On top of that, there's the music. While Aimee Mann's music is beautiful and spiritually guides the film, at times you want to scream as blaring music takes over the entire production. You have to strain to hear the characters and it's incredibly annoying. Her music is compelling and to use it in this way was a disservice to the film and to her.
One assumes at the end that Anderson wants to paint a vivid picture of misery and warn the public that one can never escape all of the bad things one does. Somehow or another there will be a reckoning. Although Anderson deems this truism to be of biblical proportions, sadly it does not makes up for all of the precious time wasted waiting for the characters to connect. The performances in this movie are what will stick with you. Anderson has a talent for developing complex, fascinating characters. He must figure out what to do with all of them. Magnolia, for all its moments of brilliance, lets its house of cards crash down.
Anji Milanovic
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