I would say that despite the film's flaws, Paul Thomas Anderson continues to prove he is one of the great modern filmmakers with "Magnolia." At best, it displays a poetic quality. The way story lines intertwine emotionally, often times without blending in the actual plot of the movie, creates a desperate, lonely tone. Even though the film doesn't find Anderson at his most focused, his total disregard of typical cookie-cutter Hollywood storytelling is refreshing.
With that said, I find some serious flaws with the film. I've heard Anderson saying he relished the chance to create a film around the songs of Aimee Mann. She does indeed add some good music to the soundtrack, but the way it's edited into the film in several scenes is quite annoying. In one of the opening scenes we are introduced to all the main characters as Mann sings "One is the loneliest number." This would work fine, but the song is quite sparse and simple, and the arrangement is quite long. I know this was necessary, since there was quite a bit of story to set up, but by the end of the sequence, I wanted to scream, "turn off that #@%&* song!," especially since it was featured fairly loud in the audio mix. In another scene, Mann's song "Wise Up" is played as we see the characters in their various situations singing along. The lyrics lent themselves to what was happening at that point in the movie, and I don't have a problem with the premise, but for the time being it spoiled my suspension of disbelief. Jason Robards was very ill. Why didn't Anderson leave the singing in that part to Philip Seymore Hoffman, or at least have had Robards mutter the words in a manner believable for someone in his physical condition. I'm sure Anderson intended this musical sequence to have more of an art house quality than the rest of the picture. Still, I've seen sequences where actors have broken into song where, although definitely still the stuff of movies, they worked more effectively (off the top of my head, "Almost Famous" comes to mind). My biggest complaint with the music comes at the end of the picture. In an emotional scene between Melora Walters and John C. Reilly, Thomas has another Mann song so high in the mix you can't hear what Reilly is saying. I'm sure Thomas wanted to us to see how the lyrics related to the moment, but the song would have worked much more effectively in the background. I find myself straining to hear the dialogue when I watch the scene. I want to stress that I don't have a problem with Mann's music, I just think Thomas went overboard with including it in the film. Instead of enhancing Magnolia, it detracted from it.
Another complaint I have is that Anderson seemed to force a theme upon the film, when the film already had an unsaid theme of it's own. I'm talking about adding the whole thing about how sometimes the seemingly unimaginable, the stuff of movies, happens to everyday people. I don't see how the scenes that bookend the movie, the stuff about the suicide, the diver and the robbers adds to the movie. And I don't see how the thing with the frogs adds to it, either. They don't drastically detract from it, but Anderson definitely lost focus. The rest of the movie had a theme of its own- This is a lonely world. It can be difficult letting go of the past when it won't let go of us.
Although Thomas' use of ensemble casts and multiple storylines are his forte, in this case, he went a little far. In "Boogie Nights" we had Eddie/Dirk Diggler holding the whole thing together. With Magnolia, their is no central character, and the movie drags as a result. Although all of the actors gave great performances, some dead weight could have been cut from the script. Julianne Moore was great in some emotional scenes, but her character in particular seems to have been unnecessary to the movie. The role should have been cut or broadened. It doesn't add much emotionally to the film. When I go back and watch the movie, I find myself fast-forwarding through her scenes. I just don't have any emotional attachment to what's going on. Same with some of the scenes with Robards and Hoffman- great actors, but upon a second viewing some of this stuff just drags. After seeing Hoffman's great performance in "Boogie Nights," his talent almost seems wasted.
The Fast-Forward-stoppers, the scenes that I find myself popping this movie in for, are the ones featuring Melora Walters (Claudia Wilson Gator), and John C. Reilly (Jim Kurring). The scenes with these characters have a focus the rest of the movie lacks. I loved John C. Reilly in "Boogie Nights," but I love this character even more. As he attempts to flirt with Claudia, he displays a charming nervousness that goes beyond the script. I can imagine the heartache and loneliness that his character has experienced without the script having to lay it all out for me. Melora Walters came as a surprise. It seems that the performances of Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore have been heralded, but the emotional bulk of their performances don't seem to match-up to the performances of Walters and Reilly (although Cruise did great work, especially in the bedside scene with Robards). The less-famous and consequently less-heralded Walters really knocked one out of the ball park. In a manner that went far-beyond the script, I could believe this lady couldn't function without constant lines of cocaine; I could believe that the past wouldn't leave her alone.
This is a good movie that could have been a great one. Anderson could have cut some of the unnecessary characters or scenes. He could have chosen a character or two to feature more prominently as he did with Dirk Diggler in "Boogie Nights." After seeing the great performances of Reilly and Walters, I wish they would have been the ones to get the star treatment.
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