Rent Magnolia (1999)

Original And Clever Drama of Intertwining Stories - Magnolia review by GI

After his brilliant study of the American porn industry of the 1970's with Boogie Nights (1997) Paul Thomas Anderson followed up with Magnolia. A complex drama that sets itself up with three introductory stories as a film about coincidence when in fact it's a film about connection, pain and regret. The action takes place over one day in the San Fernando Valley as several lives become intertwined and, for the most part, hurtle towards a final cataclysmic collision the like of which is completely unexpected. This is an ensemble piece with some quite remarkable performances. Jason Robards is Earl Partridge, a TV magnate, who is dying of cancer and has deep regrets over his past treatment of his first wife and the love of his life and their son from whom he is now estranged. Philip Seymour Hoffman (an actor that always raises the game when he appears in any film) is the nurse tending Earl and the only character that doesn't seem to be suffering from self-loathing. Then there's Linda (Julianne Moore) Earl's younger second wife who married him for his money but who has since fallen in love with him and feels no joy only utter anguish. Earl's TV company produces a tacky quiz show where children are pitted against adults. The host is Philip Baker Hall who loathes the job and is also dying but harbours a dark family secret which he hides from his living wife, Melinda Dillon but which involves his cocaine addicted daughter Claudia (the wonderful Melora Walters). To top all of these Tom Cruise excels as the slimy Frank TJ Mackey, a loathsome man who runs motivational speaking engagements called 'Seduce & Destroy' to teach weak men how to get sex by basically being downright misogynistic to the women in their lives. It's a brave performance with real depth. Linking all this together is a very profound narrative that is complex and very powerful and with biblical references liberally sprinkled throughout for the keen viewer to spot. This is a highly original film and on first viewing it may baffle but it's worth repeated looks as the thrust of the ideas soon start to reveal themselves. The surrealistic ending is certainly unique in a film like this.