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133 of 148 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Controversial, engrossing, spellbinding...and WONDERFUL., September 2, 2000
There have been many terrific reviews written by other Amazon members that go into great detail about why this film was fabulous or why it worked or didn't. So I won't waste time boiling down all of the stories going on in this film again."Magnolia" is a near masterpiece... The reasons it was a box office dud are too numerous to mention, but they run the gamut from its confusing title -- to the decision to keep superstar Tom Cruise's name in the background -- to the bad-worth-of-mouth recorded by rating services which survey people looking for conventional narratives and resolutions as they walk out of theaters. I see 50 to 60 films a year (and not for a living), and I avoided "Magnolia" out of fear. Fear of wasting time, more important than wasting money. And another concern was the film's controversial resolution, the critical element that determines the success or failure of most movies with a mass audience. Now that I've seen "Magnolia" on video and have finally been able to philosophically, intellectually and logically string together its elements, there is no doubt that this is one of the most wonderful accomplishments on film ever made. "Magnolia" takes you on a journey whereby a master story teller challenges you to hang onto a breathtaking ride of images, content and music, and find the thread that strings everything, including the last 20 minutes...together in a way that makes coherent sense. Yes, the point of the movie is that there are things that defy scientific logic. "Magnolia" tackles this premise and applies it to human behavior in a dazzling kaleidescope of aural, verbal and visual montages -- which make it IMPOSSIBLE -- to stop this film to come back to later. You're pulled into the tornado, wondering how's it going to end? This film is worth BUYING, especially with all of the extras on DVD. But it's also worth "previewing." I won't lie to you. A conventional audience might not like "Magnolia's" structure and its last 20 minutes. But the rest of it is hands down wonderful. I guarantee you will enjoy it. The acting, the story, the dialogue are consistently mesmerizing, from start to finish. I can't guarantee you will agree with the cosmic, unexplainable force that joins everything together in the end. Personally, I would have chosen something less comical -- and saying "frogs falling from the sky" doesn't spoil the point of the movie even though I would have preferred huge hailstones on a July afternoon in California. The controversial decision to visualize what for most of the movie is abstract -- is the root of why I think the film is misunderstood by some -- and hated by others. Yet I believe "Magnolia" is a fabulous film. Whether you like the film on the whole or not, I guarantee that you won't be bored, which is the curse of all lousy movies. Everything about "Magnolia" is mesmerizing. And if the resolution seems initially a bafflement, if you think about it some more, everything will make sense. You will find that things that seem visibly ridiculous or irrational are no more or less the same as the "unscientific randomness" of human behavior that is TOTALLY PLAUSIBLE. In sum, see this, rent this, buy this -- but don't dismiss or ignore "Magnolia" -- it's 99 7/8ths the work of a great young master.
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42 of 49 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Intense, Captivating Drama, November 26, 2000
Strange things happen in life; random occurrences sometimes so bizarre that the reality of it is often stranger than fiction, things one would say could only happen in a movie, and if they did, you wouldn't believe it. But then again, maybe those things happen in movies because they actually do happen in real life. And when they do, is it fate, or coincidence? Are these "random" acts isolated, or merely pieces of some larger, synchronistic puzzle that somehow fit together in the end? Thought provoking questions for the ages, some would say, proficiently addressed here by writer/director Paul Thomas Anderson in his discursively brilliant film, "Magnolia." Anderson puts the lives of a diverse cross-section of individuals and seemingly unrelated incidents under the microscope for an examination of these random acts and coincidences, from which he ultimately draws some conclusions about providence and happenstance. What he finds is fraught with irony and underscored by the notion that what happens to one must and does, in fact, effect another sooner or later, for better or worse. All of which serves to point out that no man stands alone; in the end, bills come due and must be paid. We must all face the consequences of past decisions and actions, at which time the relevance of the irrefutable symbiotic nature of Man comes so vividly into play, wherein dissimilar individuals may reap the benefits of simply being a part of the community of Humankind. Or then again, perhaps not. The story Anderson weaves is fast-paced, sometimes frantic, and thoroughly engrossing, achieving levels of emotional intensity that are at times remarkable. The quick pacing of the film belies the gradual way the story comes together to form the tangible connections derived from the intricacies of the plot. It's a dynamic piece of filmmaking, extremely well written and delivered by Anderson and his superb cast. There are a number of memorable performances here, among them Tom Cruise, who plays Frank T.J. Mackey, a self-styled guru of the "men's movement," whose teachings are anathema to feminists everywhere. It's an intense performance (for which he deservedly received an Oscar nomination), quite unlike anything he's done before, and possibly his best work since "Rain Man." Other notable performances are turned in by William H. Macy, as "Quiz Kid Donnie Smith," the once gifted youth who emerges dysfunctional in adulthood, and by John C. Reilly, as Officer Jim Kurring, a caring individual with a truly benevolent nature. But the most superlative performance of the movie is given by Philip Seymour Hoffman, as a male nurse named Phil Parma. His sensitive, subtle portrayal of this caretaker to dying man Earl Partridge (Jason Robards), is delivered with nuance and incredible depth, and provides some of the most poignant moments in the film. While taking nothing away from Cruise, who was outstanding as well, Hoffman is the one who should have been nominated, moreover, should have won, the Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his work here. A performance just doesn't get any better-- or more real-- than this, and it is unacceptable that it should not be recognized as such. Rounding out what is, in essence, an ensemble cast, are Philip Baker Hall (Jimmy Gator), Julianne Moore (Linda Partridge), Melinda Dillon (Rose Gator) and Melora Walters (Claudia Wilson Gator). One of the best films of 1999, "Magnolia" conveys a moral without moralizing, is rich in metaphor and altogether captivating, with an ending that may take you aback, if indeed, you haven't been paying close attention (there are at least two clues during the film, admittedly obscure, but there nevertheless). It is intense, unremittedly so, and may leave you breathless and pondering the mysteries of life; but this is filmmaking at it's best, and especially for avid movie-watchers, one that absolutely must not be missed.
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17 of 18 people found the following review helpful:
5.0 out of 5 stars
Superbly Sympathetic Movie, June 18, 2000
By A Customer
I watched Magnolia last week on television pay per view, in my hotel room, at the end of a terribly long day at work - not the best time to see a movie. Yet what I saw was so enthralling, so moving, my attention was rapt.There are scenes in some movies that are terribly moving because the writer has such sympathy for people who are hurt or lost in some way. I think of Timothy Hutton's character in Made in Heaven or Diane Lane's in Walk on the Moon. Magnolia has that sympathy in spades for an entire world in hurt, living in regret or frustration or worry. Although some reviewers clearly didn't respond, I think the vast majority of people will. It's an interconnecting tale of many characters with connections to one another's pasts or present (either through family or work) in a day in the Los Angeles suburbs. There are many recurring subjects - parents and children, drug addiction, television, forgiveness, insecurity of one's appeal to others, cancer, the haunting of the past, coincidence itself. The acting is superb, the movie deliberately unrealistic in some effects, yet terribly so in many others. The "philosophy" of the movie is quite old-fashioned - a restatement of the importance of love and understanding between people, regardless of their failures as human beings. There is an astonishing simplicity about much of the dialogue - e.g., "Dad, you've got to be nicer to me" and much of what the policeman says about forgiveness. I have read reviews here attacking the screenplay - yet most people will want to cry during the course of it. That's pretty powerful. The movie is haunting - when it's over, it makes the particular thing you are doing seem insignificant. Why are its effects so profound? I don't know - perhaps because the characters are so well drawn, the acting so magnificent, the desires of the characters so present in all of us, the intensity of the dilemmas facing human beings so vividly displayed. This is a movie that will strike very deeply. It cannot easily be chewed, discussed and forgotten in a drink with another after the movie. It doesn't easily lend itself to "I liked this part, how about you?" sort of discussion. This wonderful movie is probably best seen alone. Do see it - you won't forget it.
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