Magnolia

Thursday, December 26, 2024
7:00 PM / Broadway Theatre

MAGNOLIA (a Requisite Cinema 25th anniversary screening) / USA/ 1999 / Dir: Paul Thomas Anderson
Written and directed by Paul Thomas Anderson and nominated for three Academy Awards, Magnolia is a cinematic Rubik’s Cube of heightened realism and complexity, that ambitiously interweaves stories set in the San Fernando Valley – brought to life with an exceptional cast. Earl Partridge (Jason Robards) and Jimmy Gator (Philip Baker Hall) each carries with them a gnawing regret like the very cancer they are both fighting, while the majority of the rest of the cast deals with the scars inflicted upon them in their youth, as they head towards their own emotional unravelling. Anderson takes a cue from Newton’s Third Law of Motion, “For every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction,” and begins to fashion his own law in Magnolia – “There are no coincidences” – as the late-great magician Ricky Jay so convincingly narrates, via the almost supernatural circumstances of seven deaths outlined in the film’s prologue: “This was not just a matter of chance. These strange things happen all the time.” Magnolia put an exclamation mark on 90’s cinema, finding its way into Ingmar Bergman’s “Favorite Films” and Roger Ebert’s “Great Movies List.”

“Magnolia is operatic in its ambition, a great, joyous leap into melodrama and coincidence, with ragged emotions, crimes and punishments, deathbed scenes, romantic dreams, generational turmoil and celestial intervention, all scored to insistent music. It is not a timid film. ” – Roger Ebert

“One of the most enthralling and exhilarating American movies in ages.” – Derek Adams, Time Out

“The more you think about Magnolia – the dry wit, the bravura staging, the intricate design, the wondrous performances – the better and more unusual the film seems.” – Michael Wilmington, Chicago Tribune