Review of Magnolia (1999) by Asif K — 29 Aug 2011

An intriguing and entertaining study in characters going through varying levels of crisis and introspection. This psychological drama leads you in several different directions, weaving and intersecting various subplots and characters, from a brilliant Tom Cruise, as a self-proclaimed pied-piper, to a child forced to go on a TV game show and the pressures he faces from a ruthless father.

Starring, Jason Robards, Julianne Moore, Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, John C. Reilly , Melora Walters , Jeremy Blackman , Michael Bowen , William H. Macy , Philip Baker Hall , Melinda Dillon , Emmanuel Johnson , Lillian Adams , Henry Gibson , Felicity Huffman , Ricky Jay , Alfred Molina , Luis Guzman.

Directed by one of my top favorite directors, Paul Thomas Anderson. his movies like There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights are one of the best movies ever.

Nominated for 3 Oscars, Best Supporting actor Tom Cruise, Original Song and Original Screenplay. it was a winner of many awards but mostly for acting ensembles and a hit at festivals winning Golden Berlin Bear.

One of the most weirdest film making ever. this is a psychological drama movie which is a big mosaic of nterrelated characters in search of happiness, forgiveness and some meaning of their current or past life in California. this movie is literally not quite explainable. it is a deep, sad, depressing and quite complex movie with many stories of many people. I have seen quite these type of movies recently but this is way different than others.

Running time of this movie bothered me alot. and the other thing is that even though with many characters and incidents happening to them, many unanswered questions are left. character development was a bit weak for some. P.T Anderson as I said did a fantastic job with this movie. Screenplay was the best thing about the movie. edited okay, not very good. good cinematography and score with a lovely song Save me. good overall.

It required 30 minutes for me to actually understand and feel the movie or what was going on. it is slow and may bore some people, if editing was done a bit better and the running time was reduced while the plot could have been more compact, this movie would have been a very good movie. but, still it is a good experience.

Tom Cruise clearly gave the best performance of his career as a supporting actor here. this uptight speaker kind of role with his emotional past just superbly done. he is the best performer and the best actor or character to look for here. Julianne Moore though seems good but she is an overrated actress according to me. still she does great talking while crying scenes ever. John C. Reily and Philip Seymour Hoffman were nice too. William H. Macy was my favorite performer after Tom. overall this great ensemble performances and the variety of shades in their characters with their own distinct interesting stories and objectives makes this movie a wonderful experience.

Some scenes like the beginning of this movie hinted me that it is gonna rock, though it was slightly disappointed afterwards. it shows some incidents narrated by some actor about how strange things happen everyday in the world. some parts of the movie is illogical but that is never a bad thing if not shown well. OMG! and the ending!!!! the most weirdest and shocking endings I have ever seen in my life, SPOILER* you see raining frogs, though a water sprout or something does that in real life but here it was without rain or water. I read it was a Biblical reference but no idea why actually it was used. * SPOILER END.

This movie has a poetic premise to it, it is the most imperfect of the perfect movies of 1999. many developments in the movie are so surprising. many things happens that are connected to something else. like I said, strange things always happens. give to watch, IF YOU CAN.