Magnolia

Year: 1999
Running time: 188 minutes
Certificate: 18
Language: English
Screenplay: Paul Thomas Anderson
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Jeremy Blackman, Melora Walters, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Phillip Baker Hall, John C. Reilly, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Melinda Dillon, Michael Bowen, Henry Gibson, Ricky Jay, Alfred Molina

Frank says goodbye to his father.

I'd already seen Boogie Nights and was blown away by it. Something in addition to that wonderful multiple-story-strands-intersecting type of film that I've always been a bit of a sucker for. I think it was the editing. Watching Boogie Nights felt so kinetic, like the camera didn't seem to stay still for a second, moving from one scene to another relentlessly. This was the impression the film gave, and I think the camerawork combined with the editing gave it that feel. With Magnolia, Paul Thomas Anderson honed and perfected a style he tried out in Boogie Nights and so it has that feel of restless movement again, but this time the director improved these aspects in every way.

Multiple characters and story strands overlap during the course of 24-hours in San Fernando Valley, Los Angeles, brought briefly together by chance and unusual weather. TV producer Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is dying of cancer. Old, and living entirely in bed, he has nothing to do but rest, think and ruminate on the past. He is married to Linda Partridge (Julianne Moore), who constantly appears to be in the middle of a meltdown. He is being looked after by nurse Phil Parma (Philip Seymour Hoffman). After listening to Earl talk about his estranged son, he attempts to make contact in the hope of reconciling them. Earl's son is Frank T. J. Mackey (Tom Cruise). Frank is a successful misogynist, making a living running stage shows / workshops for lonely men wanting to pick up women.

Jimmy Gator (Phillip Baker Hall) is a TV personality, hosting a quiz show featuring child contestants. Like Earl, Jimmy is also dying of cancer - he has about 2 months left. He is estranged from his daughter Claudia (Melora Walters), who hates him for some reason - we later learn the reason, which then causes his wife Rose (Melinda Dillon) to walk out on him. Jimmy feels suicidal. On Jimmy's show an extremely bright young boy named Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman) is on a winning streak, while ex-extremely bright child quiz show star "Quiz Kid" Donnie Smith (William H. Macy) has grown up and is now watching Stanley on TV while sitting in a bar lamenting unrequited love.

Conscientious police officer Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly) is called to investigate reports of a disturbance at Claudia Gator's house and finds himself falling for her while spending the rest of his day dealing with a homicide and losing his gun in the process.

Jim and Claudia make tentative first steps.

The way Anderson weaves these characters around each other during the course of the film works wonderfully, and some scenes are hugely emotional. There is a theme throughout the film, which focuses on regret, and the long-reaching consequences our actions have on others - Linda Partridge regrets cheating on Earl throughout their relationship now that he is close to death, while he, on his deathbed, regrets cheating on a previous wife. Jimmy Gator regrets his actions that caused his daughter to hate him so. Even Frank, when he catches up to his dying father, whom he hated so much, crumbles, the regret now that it's too late to do anything plain on his anguished face. It's astonishingly powerful, and might still, 20 years on, be the best acting of Tom Cruise's career.

The film also makes reference to strange coincidences and unusual events that cause one event to unexpectedly cross paths with another. During the final hour, an event takes place that cause the hitherto unrelated strands to interact with each other, but this is only what Magnolia is about on the surface - there is much depth beneath. Frogs rain down on L.A. in an apparent biblical condemnation of these lost souls, but it's hard to read it like that - we've spent a long time in the company of these characters, and we know them a little. We know they're just alone, struggling with their past, desperate for love.

There are some left turns that could have gone very wrong, but Anderson makes them work beautifully. Aimee Mann provides the entire soundtrack and there is a moment in the film where the entire cast join in and sing along with the song Wise Up. It could have been so weird. It's wonderful.

But the absolute best thing about Magnolia is the ending. Focused on regret, death and some of the most difficult parts of human relationships, one of the more depressing moments is when Claudia, having agreed to go to dinner with a besotted Jim, loses her courage and runs out. The final scene of the film is just beautiful, where Jim arrives at Claudia's apartment and starts to explain how he wants to be there for her and to help her, his voice fades out and the camera focuses on her, and just before we cut to credits, she smiles and Mann's Save Me kicks off. It's such a poignantly joyful note to go out on, that you're uplifted in spite of the difficult subject matter that dominates the film's 3-hour running time.

Score: 9/10

Roger Ebert thought Magnolia was a great film - he even reviewed it twice. This is his second review, 9 years after its release and Nathan at The Dissolve compares it to Boogie Nights to examine Anderson's emerging film-making style.