Review of Magnolia (1999) by Spangle — 22 Aug 2014

Who would guess that a film like this would be successful? However, it absolutely is. Magnolia explores the themes of loneliness, regret, forgiveness, the past, and parent-child relationships, with snapshots of the life of a group of broken and troubled people who are all linked, even if they do not know it.

Thanks to great acting from the ensemble cast featuring Tom Cruise, Melinda Dillon, Jeremy Blackman, Philip Baker Hall, Philip Seymour Hoffman, William H. Macy, Julianne Moore, John C. Reilly, Jason Robards, and Melora Walters, Magnolia's diverse (yet not as diverse as you may think) are brought to life brilliantly.

It also does not hurt that the writing is superb and the depth we go to with these characters in just three hours is amazing. On that note, this one comes in at three hours and in spite of it, it feels like it was nothing more than an hour and a half, as the runtime just flies by.

The ending is incredibly odd, though it brings the biblical references and the freak happenings of this one to conclusion nicely, as odd as it may truly be. Overall, Magnolia is a beautiful and brilliantly made film that will move and entertain you.