Vox Nova at the Movies: Magnolia
Paul Thomas Anderson’s three-hour opus Magnolia isn’t as polished as his latest film and suffers from an overuse of profanity, but no other film I’ve seen reaches me as deeply on so many levels. I’m generally an overly abstract, crusty-hearted fellow with about as much empathy in my soul as fat cells in my body, and so I’m usually roused more by heavily intellectual tales than by heavily dramatic stories, but Magnolia appeals to my head and my heart in a way like no others. It’s not the most philosophically sophisticated or emotionally exhausting film I’ve seen, but it contains such a near-perfect walloping synthesis of theme and action that each viewing leaves me in an intense state of wonderment.
Magnolia follows the narrative structure of interweaving multiple stories that at first glance appear not to relate but, as the film progresses, touch one another in ways large and small. There is the story of a dying man and his caretaker, a lonely, good-natured cop given an opportunity to connect with someone in need, a misogynistic motivational speaker who trains men to abuse women, a young wife of an old man torn by guilt over her infidelities, a grown former quiz kid psychologically broken by his parents, a child protégé facing a similar fate, a game show host dying of cancer, and his adult daughter whom he may have abused years ago.
No one better captures the effects of sin than Paul Thomas Anderson, and contrapasso is certainly a theme here as it is in his most recent film, There Will Be Blood, but where Blood ends in hell on earth, Magnolia looks to the future with hope. Unlike the 2007 movie bearing the name, Magnolia really is about atonement. Anderson, I’ve read, described his movie as a confession in the religious sense of the word.
Stories dealing with religious themes run the risk of becoming religious propaganda. Magnolia deals with religious themes, and it even has a scene of divine intervention that well-deserves the adjective “biblical,” but it avoids the risk of losing its narrative function by keeping God a possibility and a mystery rather than a plot-proven or empirically-proven fact. Anderson keeps the door open to the possibility that the biblical scene has no religious significance, that it is, in the words of the child protégé, “just something that happens,” but he also peppers his movie with traces and hints that the scene in question should be interpreted as a religious event. The reoccurring weather forecast, particularly the final “Skies clearing” forecasted before Los Angeles is visited by an event straight out of Exodus, puts the natural explanation in doubt.
I don’t recommend Magnolia to everyone. It’s a hard film of horrid, miserable people enslaved to their vices who are trying desperately to free themselves from their misery. Anderson shows that sometimes there’s a reason for the misery, and though his characters may not find much freedom from it, misery isn’t the last word.
(This post completes a series on my favorite films made in my lifetime that I’ve posted over at Journeys in Alterity.)
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In the category of explosively exhausting, “Breaking the Waves” comes immediately to mind. “Magnolia” didn’t hold a candle in that regard to it.
Heard of it, but haven’t seen it. Babel might be the most emotionally draining movie I’ve seen.
Might want to warn your readers of the semi-graphic (although brief) flashes of porn in Magnolia in addition to the strong profanity mentioned. But yes, a good and cerebral flick if one’s scruples can tolerate it.
I don’t think I’ve ever seen a film that displays redemption so beautifully.
An interesting note about the writer/director, P.T. Anderson: I read an interview with him some years ago (I can’t remember where — maybe Wired?) where he made a statement that he wants to make films that expose the hypocrisy and pietism of american Christianity. Especially in terms of the claim that all humanity can be redeemed and then witnessing how petty and inhumane Christians often are toward those who actually need redemption. How would most Christians react if they hung out with Frank Mackey or Linda Partridge for fifteen minutes?
Agreed, Matt. Interesting note about the interview. I can definately see that theme in There Will Be Blood. I hope he does more with it.
Not sure if you’ve seen Boogie Nights, but I think such a sentiment is unbearably prevalent in that film (perhaps even more than Magnolia). Not a film I’d recommend, but one I regard as necessary viewing. It’s a film that does not entertain but edifies in an explicit, Christ-haunted, Flannery O’Connor sort of way.
I have seen Boogie Nights, Matt, and share your assessment.
Why in the world did you choose now to post a review of Magnolia?
I welcome it. That is by far one of my favorite films.
Speaking of Christ-haunted, Anderson’s Punch Drunk Love rocked me. Basically the story of a man who finds, in love, the power to face his shame.
Wierdly, I didn’t like There Will Be Blood at all. Maybe I need to give it another chance.
I’ve been doing a series on my own blog about my favorite films (those made in my lifetime). I rank Magnolia at number 1, and I thought that what I had to say about it, particularly its religious content, might be of interest to readers of VN.
I enjoyed Punch Drunk Love as well. All of Anderson’s movies, really.
The movie was half decent until everybody breaks into song like a cheesy rock video. It was downhill from there.
Nah. The song works! Anderson sets it up as “something that happens.” Besides, the movie is largly based on the music of Aimee Mann, so it’s fitting that the characters should take up her tune.
Thanks for this post on Magnolia. Has Tom Cruise ever done a better job? That said, I wasn’t too impressed with his presence at the death bed. Still, overall, good?
I didn’t like the now-it’s-a-musical thing either, Pauli.
Boogie Nights is a must see. If you’re uncomfortable with the material, consider this solution: find and watch over and over the scene in which the Philip Seymour Hoffman character risks all and shows Dirk Diggler his new car, and everything that means about him, about those characters, and about our whole mean world. Ah, but it’s impossible to receive all that meaning without access to the rest of the film. Nevermind.
For exhausting, has anyone seen Mike Leigh’s Naked? You just can’t beat Sebastian Cole at that classy restaurant, chewing rudely through a piece of duck or whatever as his date looks on unimpressed, while saying with utter conviction in that confident way of his, “Life is for enjoying.”
Naked forever!
I haven’t seen Naked, James, but thanks for the recommendation.
Oh, yes, Tom Cruise has never been better, but I thought his acting at the death-bed scene was just fine. Not Hoffman quality, but decent enough not to be distracting.
And maybe with some more “life experience” I will get a better grip on what counts as a good death bed scene. But growing that way might be a bit like “God make me chaste, but just not yet.”