Watching movies is a very favorite activity of mine. As soon as I watch a movie I write my views. Then I read reviews to understand what the critics think of it. I have picked up some useful hints on what to look for in the movies through this exercise. I watched Magnolia last week and here is my review of the movie.
I try not to reveal the key plot elements. I want the reader to enjoy the movie as much as I did. Hopefully I will not spoil it for you.
Title: Magnolia (1999)
Director: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written by: Paul Thomas Anderson
Starring: John C Riley, William H Macy, Felicity Huffman, Juliane Moore, Tom Cruise, Jason Robards, Phillip Seymour Hoffman
I first saw P. T. Anderson's movie Darjeeling Express a couple of months back and simply loved it. I was amazed by the imagination of the director-writer. While reading its reviews I found that P. T. Anderson has also directed Magnolia. I had brought it once before but returned without watching it. This time I was in the mood for such a movie which has absorbing narration with good characterization.
And I was not disappointed. This is a 3 hour movie and I enjoyed every moment of it. There was never a dull moment in this intricate story of many subplots. This is a fine example of what it means to watch a well written Screen Play. Right from the beginning the film's narration travels back and forth and back and forth that I realized how daunting it should be to write a screen play like this. The start of the movie itself is very interesting. They set up the premise of the movie by narrating really strange and weird incidents where things happen out of the blue and is hard to believe.
What follows is really one of those stories where there are parallel subplots going on and keeps you guessing how they all are merged together. The ensemble cast is so great that you are just satisfied with these characters simply playing their roles. Even Tom Cruise has given a pretty solid performance. The characters I like most were those played by Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Phillip Baker Hall, Juliane Moore and Jason Robards. Jason Robards portrayal of an old man on his death bed is convincing and overpowering.
This fits in with my love for movies like Boogie Nights where they show the night life of the decadent. I kept feeling that this movie reminds me of Boogie Nights and then read that P. T. Anderson wrote Boogie Nights too. This movie too has its share of TV stars, bar life and rich late night revelers.
The most important achievement for the movie is how it treats human relationships in such depth without even once getting into pontification or sentimentality.
Watch out for John C Riley who plays a police offer who is not very well respected by his colleagues. But he is a god loving gentlemen and is a also a loyal cop. He keeps busting houses but seems to always land up in the right place while fighting crime.
The director shows how skilled he is in bringing out the characters of the role. This movie is a great source of rich characters and some brilliant acting.
For someone who cannot imagine close and long lasting familial bonds in American society this was a nice introduction. I could see the longing for parental relationship, the dying parent's regrets for not being there when their child needed them,. a father's guilt at mistreating his daughter and the daughter's lack of belief in any human being all form a very nice mosaic of characters and plots.
One thing I could not understand was the significance of the name Magnolia.
I give this movie an 8 out of 10
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