Just saw Magnolia on HBO. Is it my imagination, or is that movie just one uncomfortable scene after another, over and over?
Examples:
[ul]
[li]A cop crying in the rain, searching in vain for his gun.[/li][li]A guy agonizing over his crush on a male bartender.[/li][li]A woman rushing around her apartment trying to hide her cocaine, with music blaring and a cop at her door.[/li][li]A man trying to tell his daughter that he’s dying while she screams hysterically at him to get the Hell out of her house.[/li][li]A woman trying to get her husband to admit that he molested their daughter, right after he admits cheating on her.[/li][li]A man sitting by his father’s deathbed, screaming epithets at his father while willing himself not to cry.[/li][/ul]
God, that movie just WORE ME OUT! And it’s three frikkin’ hours long!
The only scene that was more entertaining than uncomfortable was the one with Tom Cruise yelling, “Respect the cock! Tame the cunt!” <— I think that’s the quote. He was just BORN to play that part.
I had the same reaction. Interesting, beautiful at times, but exhausting and gut-wrenching. Though I would like to watch certain scenes again (The son/father and the cop/junkie storyline especially) I don’t know if I can sit through the whole thing.
This is an interesting study of what can happen when a hot auteur director is given carte blanche to execute his vision, when indeed some restraint might have helped matters. I couldn’t help thinking that this movie wanted to be epic, but couldn’t summon the importance.
But if people ask me if it’s worth seeing, I say yes without hesitation. Weird.
I disagree with that… I think the movie wanted to avoid being epic, and instead wanted to be very personal and intimate. It wanted to show the connections that link people, even on the most distant level. It wasn’t a “big” story, even though it was a long and involved one. Rather, I saw it as a lot of small, intimate stories that were connected by coincidence.
Same here. Truly told, Magnolia is one of the best movies I’ve seen recently. Great music (by Aimee Mann, partially the inspiration for the film), some awesome performances, a strong script, and a unique concept. I recommend it unreservedly. It’s not easy to watch, but it’s worth the effort, I think.
I just wish I had seen it in the theatre. On the DVD, the “Magnolia Diary” makes for some interesting background story. And the uncut video promotion for Tom Cruise’s character is just hilarious. He had some fun with that role. grins
And I loved the scene where the kid walks into his father’s bedroom just before dawn and tells him “You need to be nicer to me.” Made me cry like a baby.
Great timing, I just watched this (for the first time) last night. I thought it was worth watching, but I didn’t think it was utterly fantastic.
Slight sidenote–I am fascinated by the little coincidences that have caused me to meet some of my friends. Given the little “prologue,” I guess I had anticipated more of that in the movie. Yes, I realize all the characters were connected, but I guess I was waiting for one big scene where all the loose ends were going to be tied together. Like during the bullfrog storm or something.
You know, the description of the film makes it sound worth watching, even to me. And I’ve already seen it- and disliked it. Really, I’d set myself up for this heart wrencher, this Oscar winner. I think it was even my birthday, so goodness knows I was ready to have my emotions tampered with. Nada. Something just didn’t flow, which seems to be a problem with a lot fo films these days. I liked many of the characters, the acting was great, but no go.
That was a great review, Cervaise… matches how I felt about Magnolia almost perfectly, though I have to say I enjoyed Magnolia more than I did Altman’s Short Cuts. It got to me more.
As for Closet Land… another of my favorite films! I jsut watched it again last week, and I agree. Uncomfortable to sit through, but a great film.
I love Magnolia, but I can understand why many people don’t. It’s extremely long, has an elliptical, meandering storyline, and is far more driven by character than plot. In addition, the musical sequence and the rain of frogs at the end of the movie leave many people confused and bored. But for patient viewers who open themselves to the movie’s theme that our pasts actions haunt us in the present and that we cannot escape the small connections that bind people together, Magnolia will be a revelation of stunning beauty.
gobear you’re clearly a person of well-reasoned opinions, Cervaise, I love your outlook, your writing, and your site.
But I kinda resent the implication that my problem with Magnolia, or anyone’s for that matter, is based on a lack of patience or insight. Every time I hear a phrase like
I get this mental image of a beatified, enlightened group of individuals sitting in their ivory screening room discussing art films and snickering derisively at common tripe like Saving Private Ryan.
Accessibility is not a bad thing. If I am not inspired to make the effort required to root out every possible interpretation of a scene, or every unique tracking shot, I will place the blame on the filmmaker, not myself.
Generally, I found Magnolia to be interesting but not the tour de force that many cinephiles take it to be. I prefer to think that “PT” was messing with the critical establishment and chumming the waters with Oscar bait as much as he was exploring ideas of loss. It’s too confused, too manipulative, too half-baked to call it great. To me. I base this opinion on a completely open-minded exploration of a film I really wanted to like, not fast-forwarding through the slow parts, or whatever an “impatient” viewing is.
Actually, I think Magnolia and Saving Private Ryan have quite a few points of contact. Both could have benefitted by somewhat tighter editting, both were highly and deliberately manipulative, both good films that a large number of folks consider great films.
Wholheartedly. For the first hour I kinda liked it, the second hour I was growing impatient, and for the third hour I was weary. By the time I saw that they weren’t going to tie everything together neatly and this was just a bunch of mildly related stories, I was pissed. A lot of the scenes did give me the same uncomfortable feeling that Fargo did when William H. Macy was trying to sell the guy the car undercoating.
The only things I liked about it was the Tom Cruise role (and I really don’t care for Tom Cruise in general) and the soundtrack.
When I first saw Magnolia I didn’t think I liked iot. But I kept thinking about it. it has this almost haunting, voyeuristic quality. I have seen it now four times and every time I get something new out of it. And if you didn’t like it, it is just because you didn’t get it! (I’m just kidding about that)
I was kind of lukewarm about it. I was, however, totally nauseated by the rain of frogs, smashing into windscreens and being crushed under cars. This is perhaps why I’ve only seen it once and don’t think I’ll make it through again. That scene with Julianne Moore in the pharmacy, though, is outstanding acting.
I was captivated and enthralled when I saw it. My sweetheart was just the opposite. It wasn’t due to a deficiency in either of us – we just have different tastes in movies.
Note that in a recent Gosford Park thread I blather about how much I like character over plot. In some cases, I should add.
Here is one case where it is definitely not true. So far I have found Paul Thomas Anderson’s work to be ambitous and, well, just a wee bit overdone. I was bored and confused by Magnolia, as was my wife, and we turned it off after about 30 minutes. Perhaps my impression was colored by some reviews I had read, but Note that I like character studies that don’t go anywhere (plot-wise). Anyway, yech to Magnolia