Review of Magnolia (1999) by Brendan C — 26 Jul 2013

Magnolia is without a doubt an acquired taste. It is also without a doubt one of the most intellectual movies I have ever watched. I didn't get it the first time, but the second time I found it really interesting. Its extremely bizarre quirky style is just part of what makes director Paul Thomas Anderson unique. Directors and screenwriters like Paul Thomas Anderson, Quentin Tarantino, and Charlie Kaufman have invented their own unique genre in film. You have to analyze their films to get why they were made, and to understand what they want you to understand. Though films like Magnolia are really bizarre they are much more thoughtful then the average blockbuster. That is why I appreciate films like this.

The film is revolved around several characters, and several stories that are happening at once. It isn't one that I could give a good synopsis for that you would have a good expectation for what the film will be about. It is about several different characters going through different kinds of crisis. It is a psychological drama that leads you all over the place, and eventually connects the stories.

Frank "T.J." Mackey (Tom Cruise) runs a program called "Seduce and Destroy" that helps men get girlfriends. Seduce and Destroy is a very famous program that has helped many men. He is famous because of it. His father Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is dying of cancer. He is being taken care of by Phil Parma (Phillip Seymour Hoffman). Linda Partridge (Julianne Moore) is his trophy wife works on getting his prescription for morphine while Phil takes care of him, and tries to get in touch with his son Frank. Frank is in the middle of one of his Seduce and Destroy seminars while Phil anxiously tries to get in touch with him.

Officer Jim Kurring (John C. Rielly) is sent to investigate a disturbance, and he finds a body, and a boy tries to tell him who did it by rapping to him. He then goes to Claudia Wilson Gator's (Melora Walters) house, who is a cocaine addict to investigate another disturbance. He ends up asking her out on a date. Claudia Wilsons father Jimmy Gator (Phillip Baker Hall) is a game-show host, and he is also dying. The show he hosts the show "What do kids know?".

The film tells the stories of all different kinds of people. From ordinary people to celebrities, and to people that are on drugs or dying. Frank "T.J." Mackey and Jimmy Gator are the two celebrities in the story. They are both on TV, but they are both completely different people. Jimmy is like another version of his father. Like Frank's father Jimmy is dying, and he also cheated on his wife at some point. His child Claudia also hates him, as Frank hates his father. That is the similarity between Earl Partridge, and Jimmy Gator. They don't actually connect to each other in the story, but there is just a similarity between the two.

The story shows how relationships between parents and their kids will affect them. I feel like Frank is this really eccentric guy, and very weird partly because of how what his father did to him earlier in his life effected him. Claudia was affected really badly, and I felt like her cocaine addiction is to help escape her messed up life, and the pain of whatever her father did. Even the kid on the show "What do kids know?" has a ruthless father. The kid is Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman), and you can tell how pressured he is by his father. It is just another aspect that shows how parents affect their kids. I feel like that is the part of the story that Paul Thomas Anderson wanted the audience to think about when he wrote the screenplay.

I feel like I should give a lot of credit to Tom Cruise for his performance. There were a lot of good performances in this movie, but his probably comes to my mind first. He had to take on a very eccentric and weird character that was full of energy. The type of character that you would have to really invest yourself in so you could pull it off right. I also feel like Tom Cruise is a very eccentric guy in real life so he was just a good fit for the role, and a great casting choice. I am not always a fan of his, but I felt like this was one of his best performances.

This was a really good intellectual movie that joined several stories perfectly. It is great writing, and directing. Paul Thomas Anderson created something completely original, and unique with magnolia. What he created with the film is very weird, but interesting and though provoking. It is one that if you didn't like the first time I would recommend watching again, because you may like it more. That was what happened with this film and I. Weird intellectual movies like I feel like are only for a certain audience. They are more for an audience that analyzes films, and notices specific details that the director probably was hoping you would notice. I am a part of that audience so I really liked this film. I would say that it is the best film that Paul Thomas Anderson made or at least one of the best.