Review of Magnolia (1999) by Bradley W — 23 Jun 2012

Magnolia is a magnificent piece of film that is a deep drama about the strange happenings in life. Paul Thomas Anderson is one of my favorite directors, he has directed some of my favorite films like There Will Be Blood and Boogie Nights and here he has made another masterpiece.

There are so many things to say about this script that I don't know where to begin. Well first off, its great. The themes of this film range from fatherly neglect, how life can be unfair, and how the past can truly effect our future.

I was very eager to watch this film due to its praise and it being directed by Anderson, and he has really outdone himself. This is a marvelous character study that has many different people with different personalities and lives, but are connected in one way or another.

They all have related problems, and they all try to solve it in different ways. The cast fits the characters perfectly but is Tom Cruise who steals the show here. Cruise plays a self-help speaker, and his range goes off the charts here and I mean at one moments he is happy and the next moment he is letting off anger, and he is really just a great actor.

Julianna Moore, Jason Roberts, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, Melora Walters, John C. Reilly, William Macy, and the rest all provide their own little taste of great acting, and it surprised me but somehow Anderson has given so much conflict and humanity that they all are memorable.

The raining frogs represents the randomness of life, and how is effected everyone in the film in the process. What a great and spiritual way to end such an epic piece of film making. Magnolia is a brilliantly scripted and directed film that may be Anderson's best film as well as a great example in general of perfect and effective cinema.