Review of Magnolia (1999) by Paul N — 09 Feb 2014
Ambitious. Unwieldy. Audacious. Insane. Emotional. Hysterical. Sublime. Overlong. MAGNOLIA is all these things and so, so much more. Paul Thomas Anderson's intimate epic about lost souls, human connection and interaction in the San Fernando Valley is, by and large, a stunner.
It features some of the most exciting, audacious filmmaking you will ever see, is such a multi-layered, mature work, and has such a mainline to the human condition that you'll wonder... how in the hell did this emerge from a 28 year old writer/director/producer, making just his third film?!? Sure, it's 3 and a bit hours long and goes a little haywire at times, but it's such a beautiful, thrilling, intriguing, unapologetically emotional journey -- with so many great actors putting in career-best performances -- you've got to applaud the filmmaker's wild ambition and respect his singular talent.
Standouts among the cast are John C Reilly, Melora Walters, Julianne Moore and Tom Cruise -- you won't see Cruise, both the actor and the image, utilised better than he is here. Due to the picture's sweep, ambition and heady mix of raw power, quirkiness, cinematic energy and melodrama, the film is not to everyone's taste, but those who fall for it will fall hard.
This review of Magnolia (1999) was written by Paul N on 09 Feb 2014.
Magnolia has generally received positive reviews.
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