Magnolia
USA 1999
Reviewed by Leslie Dick
Synopsis
Our synopses give away the plot in full, including surprise twists.
Los Angeles and the San Fernando Valley, the present. The lives of several characters intersect over the course of a day.
Television producer Earl Partridge, whose production company makes the game show What Do Kids Know?, is dying of cancer. He asks his nurse Phil Parma to help him contact his estranged son Jack, now a guru on the art of seducing women who goes by the name Frank T. J. Mackey. Earl's wife Linda, who married him for money but only now realises how much she loves him, spends the day gathering prescriptions from various doctors. Jimmy Gator, presenter of What Do Kids Know?, also has cancer and tries unsuccessfully to reconcile with his estranged daughter Claudia, a coke addict. Reported by the neighbours for playing music too loud, Claudia is later visited by police officer Jim Kurring who asks her for a date.
Jimmy presents what will be his last show; one of the contestants is Stanley, a child genius, whose father Rick bullies him. Donnie Smith, the show's star contestant in the 60s, is fired from his job that day and gets drunk in a bar where he declares love to barman Brad. The show falls apart due to Jimmy's failing health and Stanley's refusal to participate in the final round. At home, Jimmy indirectly confesses to his wife Rose he abused Claudia as a child; she leaves him. Driving home after his awkward date with Claudia, Jim sees Donnie trying to break back into his employer's offices to return money he stole. Frank arrives at Earl's for a final confrontation before Earl dies. Stanley tells Rick he has to be nicer to him. Jimmy shoots himself just as a sudden bizarre rain of frogs descends over the area which also knocks Donnie off the building and causes the ambulance carrying Linda - who has attempted a drug overdose - to crash.
In the morning, Earl has died but Linda is recovering. Jim helps Donnie return the money and then visits Claudia; they seem poised to begin a relationship.
Review
Magnolia is a street that runs east-west through the San Fernando Valley, parallel to Burbank and Ventura boulevards. And Magnolia isn't a Hollywood movie; it's a Valley movie, like Earth Girls Are Easy. The Valley is an indeterminate space of multiple overlapping soap operas, a place without distinguishing features or final destinations. Magnolia, like the Valley in microcosm, somehow incorporates no less than 12 major characters and innumerable unlikely plots and subplots into a whirlwind structure that periodically, with exhilarating insouciance, insists on its own anti-realism. (When they switch off the rain, as the weather report appears in neat text across the screen; when characters separated by space and emotional distance sing the same song together, accompanying the soundtrack; when one of the 10 plagues of Exodus erupts in these nondescript fleshpots, the thrill is something else.)
Magnolia ends up being about narrative, as it moves with an indescribable intensity between and within these various stories. The film begins (and ends) with a voiceover paean to coincidence, as if, without coincidence - spatial, temporal - there would be no tales to tell, no relations between people whatsoever. Fundamentally, it is a film against patriarchy, in which (almost) every position is doubled, as if to underline the point. There are two dysfunctional families, each headed by a powerful old man who is dying, each with one estranged child (Frank, Claudia) who can only scream with inarticulate rage when faced with a dying father. Each old man has a wife, one popping prescription drugs and eventually attempting suicide, the other apparently permanently sozzled on large tumblers of vodka with ice. All the women without exception have substance-abuse problems (Claudia is the cokehead to end all cokeheads), which make them extremely unappealing, an ironic by-product of this film so deeply critical of patriarchal structures. Paradoxically, in charting the damage done by fathers to their children (and wives), Magnolia can't help reinscribing a whole set of tired old misogynist clichés.
Then, as if we have missed the point, Magnolia presents not one but two additional damaged kids, both child geniuses: Stanley is a young boy performing brilliantly on a television quiz show called What Do Kids Know?; Donnie is an adult ex-whiz kid, famous (in a pathetic, Valley way) from the same show in the 60s. The child Stanley is demonstrably at the mercy of his single father and the oblivious adults from the show, which is shown to be a theatre of cruelty, transforming his intelligence into mere fodder for the spectacle. The quiz show scenes are harrowing, as in the heartbreaking moment where Stanley simply refuses (on live television!) to take part in the final round. Later he tells his insane father, "Dad, you have to be nicer to me." If only it were that simple. (You can't help wondering where this poor kid's mother is - in rehab, maybe?) Meanwhile, both powerful old men are television people: Jimmy Gator is the 30-year veteran presenter of What Do Kids Know?; Earl Partridge is the show's producer. In some sense, the station is understood to be the television industry's institutionalisation of fatherly abuse, as these evil old men carry over into their careers the ruthless exploitation that occurs within their families.
Within all this, there are a series of amazing performances, some extremely funny scenes, held together by Robert Elswit's radical cinematography and Paul Thomas Anderson's sheer nerve. Although Magnolia runs over three hours in length (his previous film Boogie Nights was nearly as long), nothing is superfluous to Anderson's project, and the film is worth seeing for Tom Cruise's performance alone. He plays Frank T.J. Mackey, inspirational guru for Seduce and Destroy, an organisation which instructs men how to exploit women sexually. Abandoned by his father at 14, left to nurse his cancer-stricken mother, Frank's tragedy lies in the way he is doomed to repeat his father's sins.
To continue the doubling, there are more Capraesque figures, who wander through this forest of neurosis and psychic damage like Bambis in the woods. First, there's the innocent cop Jim, who falls in love with the cokehead Claudia, in a case of severe wishful thinking: the idea that these two might make a go of it is both the only hopeful note and the most implausible dimension of the film. And Stanley the child genius has his youthful counterpart in the boy the cop encounters, a sophisticated child who functions as the Greek chorus to the movie, appearing intermittently to save somebody's life, steal a gun or recite hip-hop rhymes the cop can't understand. At least the cop is only a klutz, not a sadistic shit like the other men Claudia knows. And he really does want to know who she is, paralleling the brilliant woman reporter who cross-questions Frank into sulky silence.
The other innocent is Phil Parma, hospice nurse, who gently, tearfully places a dropper of liquid morphine in Earl's mouth, thereby saving him from the pain of remembering who he is or what he's done. Both these innocents abroad are benevolent, but their kindness is wildly at odds with the cruelty and pain all around them, and here Anderson seems to want to weave a thread of pure sentimentality into the film, which doesn't really wash. The old men talk, deathbed-style, about their crimes ("I cheated on her! I cheated on her!" they whine, as if that's the worst thing anyone could do to anyone), and then (as the film's bizarre catastrophe strikes) they die, miserably. With them out of the way, there is the tiniest vestige of a possibility of change.
This film moves between various sites - Earl's deathbed, the show, the electronics store, the gay bar, Frank's seminar, Claudia's apartment - mapping out not only a narrative connectedness, but an emotional geography. Magnolia has a rhizome structure: like the Valley, it is without centre, spreading in all directions, with proliferating nodes or intersections providing the sites of concentration. Rhizome-like, it duplicates itself structurally, as each element is repeated, with variations. It's a gambler's strategy - double or nothing - and Magnolia's gamble pays off.
Credits
- Director
- Paul Thomas Anderson
- Producer
- Joanne Sellar
- Screenplay
- Paul Thomas Anderson
- Director of Photography
- Robert Elswit
- Editor
- Dylan Tichenor
- Production Designers
- William Arnold
- Mark Bridges
- Music
- Jon Brion
- ©New Line Productions, Inc.
- Production Companies
- New Line Cinema presents a Joanne Sellar/Ghoulardi Film Company production Executive Producers
- Michael De Luca
- Lynn Harris
- Co-producer
- Daniel Lupi
- Associate Producer
- Dylan Tichenor
- Executive in Charge of Production
- Carla Fry
- Production Executive
- Leon Dudevoir
- Production Associate
- Jennifer Barrons
- Production Supervisor
- Craig Markey
- Production Controller
- Paul Prokop
- Production Co-ordinators
- Eileen Malyszko
- Supervising:
- Emily Glatter
- Unit Production Manager
- Daniel Lupi
- Unit Supervisor
- Dan Collins
- Location Manager
- Timothy Hillman
- Post-production
- Executive in Charge of:
- Jody Levin
- Supervisor:
- Mark Graziano
- Services:
- Brent Kaviar
- Assistant Directors
- Adam Druxman
- Tina Stauffer
- Jorge L. Baron
- Script Supervisor
- Valeria Migliassi Collins
- Casting
- Cassandra Kulukundis
- Voice:
- Barbara Harris
- Camera Operators
- Paul Babin
- Aerial:
- Hans Bjerno
- Underwater:
- Cynthia Pusheck
- Steadicam Operators
- Guy Bee
- Elizabeth Ziegler
- Visual Effects
- Supervisor:
- Joe Letteri
- Producer:
- Joseph Grossberg
- Executive in Charge of:
- Lauren Ritchie
- Special Visual Effects/Animation
- Industrial Light & Magic
- ILM Visual Effects Producer:
- Camille Geier
- Animation Supervisor:
- Paul Griffin
- CG Supervisors:
- Gregor Lakner
- Greg Maloney
- Lead Animator:
- Marjolaine Tremblay
- Modelling Supervisor:
- Tony Hudson
- Frog Construction:
- Aaron Pfau
- Derek Gillingham
- Production Co-ordinator:
- Robin Saxen
- Digital Artists:
- Matt Bouchard
- John Helms
- Joshua Levine
- Tia Marshall
- Steve Molin
- Julie Neary
- Barbara Townsend
- Andy Wang
- Lindy Wilson
- Animators:
- Colin Brady
- John Zdankiewicz
- Lead Matchmover:
- Luke Longin
- Digital Paint/Roto:
- Beth D'Amato
- Mike Van Eps
- Art Director:
- David Nakabayashi
- Digital Matte Artist:
- Brian Flora
- Visual Effects Editor:
- Michael Gleason
- CG Operations:
- Vicki Beck
- Tony Hurd
- Andrea Biklian
- Digital Plate Restorations:
- Michelle Spina
- Stephanie Tolbert
- Scanning:
- Mike Ellis
- Todd Mitchell
- Senior Staff:
- Chrissy England
- Patricia Blau
- Jim Morris
- Game Show Unit Motion Control
- Don Gray
- Practical Frog Effects
- Steve Johnson's XFX Group
- Effects Supervisor:
- Dan Rebert
- Lead Artist:
- Bernie Eichholz
- Sculptor:
- Glenn Hanz
- Lead Painter:
- Vince Niebla
- Thermal Plastic Engineer:
- Steve Shubin Jr
- Animatronics:
- Enrique Bilsland
- Co-ordinators:
- Bob Newton
- Fernando Favila
- Special Effects
- F/X Concepts Inc
- Special Effects Supervisor:
- Lou Carlucci
- Special Effects Administrator:
- Diane Carlucci
- Graphic Artist
- Kim Lincoln
- Game Show Opening Graphics
- Flip Your Lid
- Steve Soffer
- Set Designer
- Conny Boettger-Marinos
- Set Decorator
- Chris Spellman
- Claudia's Artwork
- Fiona Apple
- Melora Walters
- Costume Designer
- Mark Bridges
- Costume Supervisor
- Karla Stevens
- Key Make-up Artist
- Tina K. Roesler
- Make-up Artist
- Selina Jayne
- Key Hairstylist
- Kelvin Trahan
- Key Hair
- Rita Troy
- Main Title Sequence Designed/Produced by
- Balsmeyer & Everett, Inc
- Titles
- Brian King
- Opticals
- Pacific Title
- Songs
- Aimee Mann
- Additional Instruments/
Odd Pieces of Musical Business - Jon Brion
- Fiona Apple
- Conductor
- Thomas Pasatieri
- Executive in Charge of Music
- Toby Emmerich
- Music Executive
- Dana Sano
- Music Co-ordinator
- Bob Bowen
- Music Editor
- Paul Rabjohns
- Music Scoring Mixer
- Dennis Sands
- Score Consultant
- Thomas Pasatieri
- Music Technical Consultant
- Jonathan Karp
- Soundtrack
- "One" by Harry Nilsson, performed by Aimee Mann; "Also sprach Zarathustra" by Richard Strauss, performed by Herbert von Karajan, The Vienna Philharmonic; "You Do", "Momentum", "Wise Up", "Build That Wall", "Save Me", "Nothing Is Good Enough" by/performed by Aimee Mann; "WDKK Theme Song" by Jon Brion; "The Logical Song", "Goodbye Stranger" by Roger Hodgson, Rick Davies, performed by Supertramp; "Dreams" by Gabrielle Bobb, Timothy Laws, performed by Gabrielle; "Driving Sideways" by Aimee Mann, Michael Lockwood, performed by Aimee Mann; "Overture" from "Carmen" by Georges Bizet, performed by Herbert von Karajan, The Vienna Philharmonic; "Whispering" by Richard Coburn, Vincent Rose, John Schonberger
- Sound Mixer
- John Pritchett
- Re-recording Mixers
- Robert J. Litt
- Michael Semanick
- Michael Herbick
- Steve Pederson
- Recordists
- Marsha Sorce
- Gary Ritchie
- Kevin Webb
- Supervising Sound Editor
- Richard King
- Dialogue Editors
- Michael Haight
- James Matheny
- Hugo Weng
- Sound Effects Editor
- Hamilton Sterling
- Sound Effects Recordist
- Eric Potter
- ADR
- Supervisor:
- Kimberly Harris
- Recordist:
- Jeannette Browning
- Mixers:
- Doc Kane
- Thomas J. O'Connell
- Rick Canelli
- Foley
- Supervisor:
- Christopher Flick
- Artists:
- Dan O'Connell
- John Cucci
- Recordist:
- Linda Lew
- Mixer:
- James Ashwill
- Editor:
- Ed Callahan
- Game Show Unit Consultant
- Fred Witten
- Police Technical Advisers
- Call the Cops
- Stunt Co-ordinator
- Webster Whinery
- Aerial Co-ordinator
- Alan Purwin
- Dogs Supplied by
- Steve Berens' Animals of Distinction
- Helicopter Pilot
- Dirk Vahle
- Pilot
- Rick Shuster
- Cast
- Jeremy Blackman
- Stanley Spector
- Tom Cruise
- Frank T.J. Mackey
- Melinda Dillon
- Rose Gator
- April Grace
- Gwenovier
- Luis Guzmn
- Luis
- Philip Baker Hall
- Jimmy Gator
- Philip Seymour Hoffman
- Phil Parma
- Ricky Jay
- Burt Ramsey
- Orlando Jones
- Worm
- William H. Macy
- Quiz Kid Donnie Smith
- Alfred Molina
- Solomon Solomon
- Julianne Moore
- Linda Partridge
- Michael Murphy
- Alan Kligman, Esq
- John C. Reilly
- Officer Jim Kurring
- Jason Robards
- Earl Partridge
- Melora Walters
- Claudia Wilson Gator
- Michael Bowen
- Rick Spector
- Henry Gibson
- Thurston Howell
- Felicity Huffman
- Cynthia
- Emmanuel L. Johnson
- Dixon
- Don McManus
- Doctor Landon
- Eileen Ryan
- Mary
- Danny Wells
- Dick Jennings
- Pat Healy
- Sir Edmund William Godfrey
- Genevieve Zweig
- Mrs Godfrey
- Mark Flannagan
- Joseph Green
- Neil Flynn
- Stanley Berry
- Rod McLachlan
- Daniel Hill
- Allan Graf
- firefighter
- Patton Oswalt
- Delmer Darion
- Ray 'Big Guy' Gonzales
- Reno security guard
- Brad Hunt
- Craig Hansen
- Jim Meskimen
- forensic scientist
- Chris O'Hara
- Sydney Barringer
- Clement Blake
- Arthur Barringer
- Frank Elmore
- 1958 detective
- John Kraft Seitz
- 1958 policeman
- Cory Buck
- young boy
- Tim 'Stuffy' Sorenen
- infomercial guy
- Jim Ortlieb
- middle-aged guy
- Thomas Jane
- young Jimmy Gator
- Holly Houston
- Jimmy's showgirl
- Benjamin Niedens
- little Donnie Smith
- Veronica Hart
- Melissa Spell
- dentist nurses
- James Kiriyama-Lem
- Doctor Lee
- Jake Cross
- Charlie Scott
- pedestrians
- Juan Medrano
- Nurse Juan
- John Pritchett
- police captain
- Cleo King
- Marcie
- Michael Shamus Wiles
- Captain Muffy
- Jason Andrews
- Doc
- John S. Davies
- cameraman
- Kevin Breznahan
- Geoff, seminar guy
- Miguel Perez
- Avi Solomon
- David Masuda
- man coroner
- Neil Pepe
- officer 1
- Lionel Mark Smith
- detective
- Annette Helde
- woman coroner
- Lynne Lerner
- librarian
- Scott Burkett
- WDKK page 1
- Bob Brewer
- Richard's dad
- Julie Brewer
- Richard's mom
- Nancy Marston
- Julia's mom
- Maurey Marston
- Julia's dad
- Jamala Gaither
- WDKK p.a.
- Amy Brown
- WDKK page 2
- Meagen Fay
- Doctor Diane
- Patricia Forte
- Mim
- Patrick Warren
- Todd Geronimo
- Virginia Pereira
- pink dot girl
- Craig Kvinsland
- Brad the bartender
- Patricia Scanlon
- cocktail waitress
- Natalie Marston
- Julia
- Bobby Brewer
- Richard
- Clark Gregg
- WDKK floor director
- Pat Healy
- young pharmacy kid
- Art Frankel
- old pharmacist
- Matt Gerald
- officer 2
- Guillermo Melgarejo
- pink dot guy
- Paul F. Tompkins
- Chad, Seduce & Destroy
- Mary Lynn Rajskub
- Janet, Frank's assistant
- Jim Beaver
- Ezra Buzzington
- Denise Woolfork
- Smiling Peanut patrons
- New World Harmonica Trio
- harmonica players
- Bob Downey Sr (A Prince)
- WDKK show director
- William Mapother
- WDKK director's assistant
- Larry Ballard
- WDKK medic
- Brett Higgins
- Brian Higgins
- Mackey disciple twins
- Michael 'Jocco' Phillips
- Mackey disciple in middle
- Lillian Adams
- Donnie's old neighbour
- Steven Bush
- Mike Massa
- Dale Gibson
- paramedics
- Scott Alan Smith
- ER doctor
- Certificate
- 18
- Distributor
- Entertainment Film Distributors Ltd
- 16,597 feet
- 188 minutes 25 seconds
- Dolby
- Colour/Prints by
- DeLuxe
- Anamorphic [Panavision]