Magnolia Review by Tim Wick

Five out of Five Beakers

This movie left me emotionally exhausted.

I have to start by saying that. I was alternatly laughing, crying, tense, angry, appalled, overjoyed, but never simply an unegaged outsider.

From the reviews I have seen, you either love this movie or you hate it. Given the strong emotions this movie forces you to deal with minute to minute, I can understand why.

"Magnolia" is a tapestry filled with compelling characters following their own threads through life. Often, those threads intersect. Sometimes that intersection is literal, sometimes it is spiritual, but you have the real sense that the lives of these characters - many of whom don't know each other and never meet - are tied together in the end.

Remarkably, it is easy to avoid spoilers in this movie. I wouldn't know how to explain it all. The cast is spectacular, lending a complete sense of reality to their characters throughout. I was especially drawn to William H. Macy as a grown up and miserable quiz-show kid and his counterpart, Jeremy Blackman, who is a kid on that same show now.

The movie opens with a montage to the music of "One" by Three-dog night (covered her by Aimee Mann). We are in essence told the central theme of the movie right there. Every character is alone in this movie. Even Jason Robards, a dying TV executive and Julianne Moore, his trophy wife are not in the same shot more than once in the entire movie. Camera shots constantly reinforce the feeling of isolation that all these characters feel.

We get the feeling we know all these people in one way or another and are constantly surprised that they are not quite what we thought. Any number of scenes mean one thing to us when we see them, but take on a completely different light when a scene later in the movie takes place. Inevitably, we learn that life does not end neatly. We win little victories, we lose battles, we fall in love, but that is not the end of the journey. The hollywood ending cannot happen in this film and we are always uncertain of what will happen next.

P.T. Anderson (who also directed and wrote "Boogie Nights" ) uses the camera like a master to alternately isolate the characters and connect them with every other character in the movie. He recognizes that this story must unfold slowly and he wants to push your buttons. Many scenes (especially the game show scenes) are uncomfortable to watch and he wants you to feel that way. He wants you to feel what his characters are feeling and he does so with incredible savvy.

The soundtrack is alternately too loud and too soft and always serves to counterpoint what is going on with the characters on screen. Most of the music is written by Aimee Mann (of 'Til Tuesday fame) and it is haunting. Always appropriate to the scene (there is one scene where we watch every character mouthing the words to the same song at the same point in time), the songs become the closest we can come to looking into these characters souls.

In the end, this movie is about surprises. Painful ones, beautiful ones and just downright crazy ones. The biggest surprise of all is the movie itself that is not only one of the best films of 1999, but one of the best films of the 90's period.

You may disagree with me when you see it. But you should see it.

Five out of Five beakers.