Magnolia - Tara's Review
Magnolia: The Western Hemisphere’s Lotus Flower
This review is prefaced with the fact that it took about three weeks of digesting P.T. Anderson’s latest film before I could even take pen to hand, or hand to keyboard, to attempt to say anything worthy of the praise this film deserves. I don’t think I have ever seen a movie as enchanting or haunting.
There has been mixed criticism buzzing around “Magnolia.” The most negative of which suggests that the movie is “too long,” “...pointless,” and (my personal favorite) “lacks closure.” I assert that, if you don’t get it, perhaps you are unworthy to receive it. In all its surreality - what, with the weather, the operatic thread, the biblical allusions - it is ultimately self-reflexive and self-reflective. You cannot walk out of the theater after seeing this movie and not be thinking about your own life, its patterns, shortcomings and areas which need change, growth and enlightenment.
I read somewhere that the plot consists of eight purely coincidentally related people’s stories. What movie did that person see? The movie, although it leads one to believe it is about coincidence, is actually about the undeniable fact that THINGS HAPPEN, even things that seem impossible. Go read your bibles, kids - the basis of Christian faith (not to mention numerous other world religions) is founded on the whole notion of the impossible, which is nothing more than the doubter’s word for “miraculous.” So in its surreality, the film is actually quite realistic (trust me, if you can believe in burning bushes, you can believe that this movie represents someone’s perception of reality somewhere).
The plot revolves around eight intrinsically related stories. Oh, and in case you missed it, all the players are related by media; in this instance, the television industry. We have Father Earl Partridge, king of media and a crotchety, womanizing, neglectful spouse and father who now laysdying. In a stand out performance, Philip Seymour Hoffman, portrays Earl’s caretaker, Phil Parma, with unmitigated sensitivity, pride and sincerity. Linda, Earl’s estranged wife, who is only now realizing that she does have deep and abiding love for Earl, even though she is guilty of multiple affairs. Then we have Frank T. J. Mackey as Earl’s estranged son. Frank, a television, infomercial, self-help guru, hawks his “Seduce & Destroy” package, a product of years spent in a dysfunctional family. Next, there is Jimmy Gator, the long-term host of the game show, produced by Earl Partridge, that pits genius children against adult challengers. Jimmy is a womanizing, incestual, unfaithful bastard. And as it goes, his daughter Claudia, is also completely screwed up. She is self-loathing, drug addicted and in need of some serious saving from herself and the world. Enter Jim Kurring, bumbling LAPD officer. Jim, portrayed by John C. Reilly in his best performance to date, along with Phil Parma, represents the core of goodness at the center of this film. He wants to help others and possibly find some salvation for his own broken soul in the midst of it all. There is also Stanley Spector (if you know your Ibsen, this name says it all!!!), the kid genius and current champion on the game show from hell; all he wants is to be treated better by his father. And lastly, but far from least, Donnie Smith, the ex-child genius and champion of the aforementioned quiz show. He has little else to shape his identity in this world and, as a result is excruciatingly lonely. Now, what is one to do with this mix of misfits? Tell the story of their lives, and ours, of course. P.T. Anderson drops his players, like colors on a canvas, one-by-one into the insanity of everyday in L.A. But first he takes a detour to tell of three bizarre, almost urban legend status, stories. The point of this introduction is to plant firmly in the viewer’s mind that things we won’t believe are happening, are about to actually happen. It also serves as a reminder that in the midst of seeming total chaos lies deeply intricate patterns.
Anderson uses the unpredictable nature of weather to introduce the characters and stories. The weather’s behavior is symbolic of the character’s emotions and situations. And I might be off base, but it seems to me that a number of the character’s names are reflective of their personalities or roles. For example, Earl - Old English for “nobleman,” here as father and king of media empire; Phil - from Philip, Greek for “horse lover, ” later for “love” - remember those dogs?; Stanley Spector - Stanley is from the OE for “stone clearing,” (perhaps the quality of mind one must have to be that smart) but it’s really the last name that I think sums up his plight: a ghost of a child, forced to enact his father’s will; Donnie Smith - from the Gaelic “world rule,” befitting a champion, now devalued by a generic anyman/everyman last name; Frank T.J. Mackey - unclear, perhaps a play on Francis, as in Saint, son of a wealthy merchant who in later life receives the stigmata, otherwise the name just reeks of testosterone; Linda - a short form of Belinda, for “beautiful,” also means “snake” or “serpent” in Teutonic; Jim Kurring - short for James, a Latin/English form of Jacob, from the Latin Iacomus, in the NT James is an important apostle, the brother of the apostle John, another James is also mentioned in the Bible as being the brother of Jesus - Kurring, well sounds like “caring;” Claudia - from the Latin for “lame,” as in what happens to abused animals; and finally Jimmy Gator - James + Gator, a vicious animal - need I say more?
Some of the movie’s intertwined themes include bondage and freedom. A repeated line in the film constantly reminds us that these people (like ourselves) are products/victims of their pasts. Not only are Magnolia’s players prisoners of their pasts, they are prisoners of media. This alone opens the door for a scathing analysis of the effects of the Hollywood lifestyle, money & fame, and how media can manipulate and destroy people and families. Something must happen in order to be liberated and move towards personal freedom and enlightenment (in Eastern mythology a symbol of enlightenment is the lotus flower). For the purposes of “Magnolia,” it is song and weather. Notice how much music there is in this movie, particularly the little boy who raps to Jim Kurring about a criminal and the moment of operatic greatness as each character is shown during the movie’s climax singing along with Aimee Mann’s “Wise Up,” a brilliant song which explains how bad things are not going to stop happening to us until we wise up (read free ourselves of our pasts...). And then the weather....go read your Exodus! Transgression, confession, atonement and consequences drive this story to epic greatness.
I don’t think I could say anything more without giving it all away. Yet, the stories are so rich and complex, nothing I have said does justice.
In addition to the brilliant, multi-layered, novelistic script is the amazing directing, cinematography and music. P.T. gets superb performances from all his talent, especially from Tom Cruise,playing against type as Frank Mackey. These characters are not just characters on a page or in a film; they are palpable, breathing, pulsing people. They transcend the film.
The camera work is also fantastic. The lighting, the camera angles, simply everything comes together to further deepen one’s understanding of a character. Blues, golds and pinks for Claudia. Whites and golds for Earl and Phil. Reds for Linda. Anderson just keeps pulling tricks from his magic bag.
Then there is the soundtrack: Aimee Mann’s haunting voice throughout, singing these peoples lives. Throw in a couple of choice Supertramp songs to cover the quiz-kid-show story and the soundtrack is a stand alone work of art, telling its own tales.
In my opinion, not only is this the best of Anderson’s three films and the best film of 1999, this is one of the greatest movies I have ever seen. It is like great literature, replete with symbolism, depth and multiple truths. It is relentless, unhypocritial, unashamed, and timeless. “Magnolia” is an instant classic and is here to stay.
-- Tara
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