"I have a feeling - one of those gut feelings - that I'll make pretty good movies the rest of my life. But I guess the way that I really feel is that MAGNOLIA is, for better or worse, the best movie I'll ever make." - Paul Thomas Anderson
With this post, I will be continuing the inaugural installment of Filmmaker of the Week, with the focus being on writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson. In my last post, I talked about his first two films, HARD EIGHT and BOOGIE NIGHTS, and will be taking at a look at his third, MAGNOLIA, in today's post. As you read in the above quote, Anderson himself considers this to be his greatest achievement, so you'll understand why I've devoted an entire post to discussing it.
With this post, I will be continuing the inaugural installment of Filmmaker of the Week, with the focus being on writer and director Paul Thomas Anderson. In my last post, I talked about his first two films, HARD EIGHT and BOOGIE NIGHTS, and will be taking at a look at his third, MAGNOLIA, in today's post. As you read in the above quote, Anderson himself considers this to be his greatest achievement, so you'll understand why I've devoted an entire post to discussing it.
"We may be through with the past, but the past ain't through with us." - Narrator
Paul Thomas Anderson was in a position that very few film directors find themselves in when, after the surprising critical and commercial success of BOOGIE NIGHTS, New Line Cinema offered to back whatever film he wanted to do next, without even hearing a pitch. Seizing this rare opportunity, Anderson set out to make MAGNOLIA, an idea that started out as small and simple but expanded and blossomed into something much more substantial in scope during the writing process.
What is MAGNOLIA about? This is a hard question to answer, because it is about a lot of things. Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is a television producer who, on his deathbed, asks his hospice nurse Phil Parma (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to get in contact with his estranged son from his first marriage. His son turns out to be famous self-help guru Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), the larger-than-life spokesperson for a program called "Seduce And Destroy" that teaches men how to pick up women through coercion and deceit. Frank wants nothing to do with his father and has particular contempt for Linda Partridge (Julianne Moore), his father's second wife, who is consumed with guilt over her past indiscretions and appears on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
What Do Kids Know? is a famous game show that Earl Partridge produces and its longtime host is Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Ball), who has a strained relationship with his drug addict daughter Claudia Wilson Gator (Melora Walters) made all the more complicated by the recent news that he has been diagnosed with cancer. Claudia receives a visit from police officer Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly) when her neighbors file a noise complaint and, after failing to notice that she exhibits obvious signs of substance abuse, he decides to ask her out on a date after sharing a cup of coffee in her apartment. Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman) is a child contestant on What Do Kids Know? and he is on the verge of breaking the show's record for consecutive victories, much to the delight of his selfish and overbearing father. As the pressure begins to take a toll on Stanley, he seems destined to follow in the footsteps of Donnie Smith (William H. Macy), a former child contestant made famous by the show who is now broke, unemployed, and alone.
All of these storylines intertwine to form the complex narrative of MAGNOLIA. Anderson has created a beautiful mosaic of characters whose lives are connected through both coincidence and the flaws that each of them share. Earl is a dying man filled with regret, hopeful that in the final hours of his life he can make amends with a bitter and cynical son who has spent the past few decades hating him. Jimmy is a man of fame reduced to a man of sorrow by the two things eating away inside of him, one of them cancer and the other the knowledge that his relationship with his daughter might be beyond repair. Rick Spector (Michael Bowen), the other father character of MAGNOLIA, is a struggling wannabe actor who views his son more as a wallet than a child, seemingly oblivious to the fact that all Stanley wants is the unconditional love of his father.
Anderson offers us the three damaged children - Frank, Claudia, and Donnie - who grew into adulthood carrying the burden of what their parents did to them, unable to forgive their wrongdoers because they chose to bury their past deep inside themselves rather than confront it. MAGNOLIA is about the feelings of sadness, regret, and isolation that we all feel at some point in life, and how we must draw strength from the regrets of the past and move forward towards a hopeful future. Sometimes we have make that choice for ourselves and other times it can be forced upon us, either by sheer happenstance or by forces beyond our control or understanding.
MAGNOLIA is an ambitious film and it is fascinating to observe the precision with which P.T. Anderson weaves together all these different characters into a cohesive final product. Just short of three hours, MAGNOLIA is a bit long in tooth, but the mesmerizing performances manage to hold your attention the entire time, with special attention going to the breathtaking work of Tom Cruise. This is a movie that is well worth your time and demands to be watched more than once.
Check back again later for Part 3!
What is MAGNOLIA about? This is a hard question to answer, because it is about a lot of things. Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) is a television producer who, on his deathbed, asks his hospice nurse Phil Parma (Philip Seymour Hoffman) to get in contact with his estranged son from his first marriage. His son turns out to be famous self-help guru Frank T.J. Mackey (Tom Cruise), the larger-than-life spokesperson for a program called "Seduce And Destroy" that teaches men how to pick up women through coercion and deceit. Frank wants nothing to do with his father and has particular contempt for Linda Partridge (Julianne Moore), his father's second wife, who is consumed with guilt over her past indiscretions and appears on the verge of a nervous breakdown.
What Do Kids Know? is a famous game show that Earl Partridge produces and its longtime host is Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Ball), who has a strained relationship with his drug addict daughter Claudia Wilson Gator (Melora Walters) made all the more complicated by the recent news that he has been diagnosed with cancer. Claudia receives a visit from police officer Jim Kurring (John C. Reilly) when her neighbors file a noise complaint and, after failing to notice that she exhibits obvious signs of substance abuse, he decides to ask her out on a date after sharing a cup of coffee in her apartment. Stanley Spector (Jeremy Blackman) is a child contestant on What Do Kids Know? and he is on the verge of breaking the show's record for consecutive victories, much to the delight of his selfish and overbearing father. As the pressure begins to take a toll on Stanley, he seems destined to follow in the footsteps of Donnie Smith (William H. Macy), a former child contestant made famous by the show who is now broke, unemployed, and alone.
All of these storylines intertwine to form the complex narrative of MAGNOLIA. Anderson has created a beautiful mosaic of characters whose lives are connected through both coincidence and the flaws that each of them share. Earl is a dying man filled with regret, hopeful that in the final hours of his life he can make amends with a bitter and cynical son who has spent the past few decades hating him. Jimmy is a man of fame reduced to a man of sorrow by the two things eating away inside of him, one of them cancer and the other the knowledge that his relationship with his daughter might be beyond repair. Rick Spector (Michael Bowen), the other father character of MAGNOLIA, is a struggling wannabe actor who views his son more as a wallet than a child, seemingly oblivious to the fact that all Stanley wants is the unconditional love of his father.
Anderson offers us the three damaged children - Frank, Claudia, and Donnie - who grew into adulthood carrying the burden of what their parents did to them, unable to forgive their wrongdoers because they chose to bury their past deep inside themselves rather than confront it. MAGNOLIA is about the feelings of sadness, regret, and isolation that we all feel at some point in life, and how we must draw strength from the regrets of the past and move forward towards a hopeful future. Sometimes we have make that choice for ourselves and other times it can be forced upon us, either by sheer happenstance or by forces beyond our control or understanding.
MAGNOLIA is an ambitious film and it is fascinating to observe the precision with which P.T. Anderson weaves together all these different characters into a cohesive final product. Just short of three hours, MAGNOLIA is a bit long in tooth, but the mesmerizing performances manage to hold your attention the entire time, with special attention going to the breathtaking work of Tom Cruise. This is a movie that is well worth your time and demands to be watched more than once.
Check back again later for Part 3!
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