review: Magnolia.

I won’t even get into the cast except to say that Philip Seymour Hoffman is, yet again, amazing and that Tom Cruise, who I usually can hardly stomach, gives the performance of his lifetime (approached only perhaps by his unpredictably high-quality character in Eyes Wide Shut) as he is perfectly cast in Magnolia as the chauvinist motivational speaker Frank T.J. Mackey, a transparent egoist with numerable issues in the closet. Paul Thomas Anderson, in writing and directing this epic film as well as such greats as Cigarettes & Coffee, Hard Eight and Boogie Nights all before he was 30 years of age, is an obvious young prodigy artist turned adult enlightened spirit doing what he is naturally inclined to do. Rarely do such mature and accomplished works come from such a young artist. This is an example of his gifted facility as several vignettes culminate around a surprising unnatural event which subsequently turns the film quickly into a questioning of what it takes for us to stop for a moment and realize that we can, indeed, move on. Aimee Mann provides a chilling and potent soundtrack which contains songs which reportedly were a catalyst for Anderson’s script. One artist inspires another and the amazing cast carries forward an absolute revelation in cinema. This is a sensitive film which examines our difficulty in letting go… of each other… of the past… of the present… of our guilt… of everything. We are constantly engaged in the futile attempt to hold on to the ever moving. So, in closing, I will do something which I infrequently do… quote from the bible: "And if thou refuse to let them go, behold, I will smite all thy borders with frogs" Exodus 8:2. Enjoy this beautiful exodus.