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Magnolia

The TVClubHouse: Movies/Library ARCHIVES: Movies & Library 2007: Magnolia users admin

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Westtexan
Member

07-16-2004

Sunday, September 10, 2006 - 8:05 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Westtexan a private message Print Post    
I know that this movie came out in 1999, but I just now saw it. It got great reviews, but left me very confused and annoyed.

Anyone interested in explaining the movie to me?

How do all these stories supposedly connect? What is the point behind the opening that nothing is a coincidence? I am lost.

Kitt
Member

09-06-2000

Sunday, September 10, 2006 - 9:14 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Kitt a private message Print Post    
I thought Magnolia was awful - long, drawn out, and frankly I just didn't get it. So I can't help, but you're not alone!

Westtexan
Member

07-16-2004

Monday, September 11, 2006 - 3:39 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Westtexan a private message Print Post    
Glad to know it's not just me, Kitt. Way too much use of the F-word. Good grief. Everyone was screaming and yelling with loud music constantly playing in the background. That gave me a headache. And scenes switched back and forth so rapidly that I got whiplash. Is this the definition of ground breaking movie making?

Ketchuplover
Member

08-30-2000

Monday, September 11, 2006 - 4:56 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ketchuplover a private message Print Post    
I believe the common thread was battling your demons.

Westtexan
Member

07-16-2004

Monday, September 11, 2006 - 7:25 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Westtexan a private message Print Post    
Does that mean that the common thread was the original Magnolia thread some five years ago and most people felt like me?

Spygirl
Board Administrator

04-23-2001

Monday, September 11, 2006 - 9:26 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spygirl a private message Print Post    
Oh wow, Westtexan. Magnolia is, for me, one of the three all-time best movies. It was so underrated and yet the story is fabulous and the acting stunning! How could a movie with Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, William H Macy, Jason Robards, Phillip Seymour Hoffman, and John C Reilly get ignored?! But it was also released in the same year as American Beauty. Ironically, they are similar movies, but Magnolia was almost completely ignored. I always thought it was because it was much darker than American Beauty, MUCH longer, and contained a lot more offensive material (particularly around Cruise's character).

My slant in evaluating this movie is from the perspective of a Marriage and Family Therapist, where we are entrenched in ideas of relationship dynamics, family patterns, and the impact of recursivity. It is a movie I have recommended to students and clients alike, but it is certainly not for the feint of heart.

One of the most predominant themes of this movie is the Bibilical notion of "sins of the father"...There is this whole series of story lines surrounding the struggles of daughters and sons and the burdens passed to them from their fathers. In fact, the impending deaths of their fathers provides a critical point in their lives for healing, but that kind of peace requires a hard and painful confrontation with their own pasts. This is a fabulous notion we teach in our field around understanding the impact of the past and facing it in an effort to redirect the future and prevent the continuation of negative and destructive patterns (abuse, incest, addiction, etc.).

Another wonderful theme in the movie is the whole idea of interconnection - how things don't just happen by chance. In my field, circular causality (i.e. one thing influences another and then influences another...or maybe the metaphor of ripples in water is a better metaphor) play a prominent role in how to examine relationships. We are not isolated beings - we are people in relationship with others and those relationships influence us and help to orient us to who we are. We are relational beings.

I personally love the movie for its glimpses of forgiveness and redemption and the impact of intergenerational issues on future generations. We can't escape what we've been given from our previous generations, but we can intentionally alter their impact on us and on our children.

But, I'm a dorky therapist, so what do I know?


Finqwik
Member

09-23-2000

Monday, September 11, 2006 - 9:59 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Finqwik a private message Print Post    
Wow! Very insightful spygirl I could not agree with you more. In my own much more banal way I want to say this is one of the most amazing movies I've ever seen. I had never heard of it and caught it by chance on the movie channel several years ago. I had the presence of mind to hit record on the vcr and eventually I bought the DVD.
It just is a superb observation of what makes us human. I found it very powerful and it stayed with me long after I finished watching.
The Ami Mann soundtrack is also quite remarkable and well worth a listen to.

Spygirl
Board Administrator

04-23-2001

Monday, September 11, 2006 - 10:09 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spygirl a private message Print Post    
Oh, Finqwik, I forgot to even mention the Ami Mann music!! It is so great!

I'm glad to hear that you enjoyed it. I own it and show clips of it at times in teaching. It is quite powerful but I do need to get it on DVD since I only have it on VHS.


Brenda1966
Member

07-03-2002

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 - 11:57 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Brenda1966 a private message Print Post    
OK, it's been years since I've seen Magnolia, but I looked back at my "notes" and when I saw it in 2000 I said "compelling story about human pain". When I saw it again in 2001 I said "better on the second viewing". I gave it high marks both times. I like PT Andersens work -- he seems to always do something interesting. Boogie Nights is clearly my favorite of his.

Westtexan
Member

07-16-2004

Tuesday, September 12, 2006 - 2:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Westtexan a private message Print Post    
Spygirl, I really appreciate your viewpoints and especially since you are a family counselor. I think that adds a really interesting perspective. Sometimes movies move one person and not another for whatever reason. But I like to think of myself as a sophisticated movie aficionado whatever and am often baffled when others don't like what I and most critics find an outstanding movie. I wonder how could these people could not love this movie or "get it". Now I feel like one of those people and think that I must be missing something and need someone to point it out so I'll "get it" and have that AHA moment.

After reading what you wrote about the theme, "sins of the father" I got to thinking about the boy genius. He went to his father and told him to be nice and the father just told him to go to bed. Maybe the boy gets that if his father doesn't change, it will be something the father will regret later in life as he dies of cancer and the boy will have to grow up coping with such sins. Maybe?? Because, "it happens all the time."

I did think the acting was terrific! I think I am becoming a big John C. Reilly fan. Yet, I don't know why he would be all into this messed up girl (thank goodness for her that he is) after only one odd date. Maybe I should try that technique on my next dates instead of being normal me. Ha.

Anyway, thanks all for your posts. I may never come over to your side about the movie but maybe I will grow to appreciate it. Thanks.

Spangs
Member

10-07-2005

Wednesday, September 13, 2006 - 8:16 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Spangs a private message Print Post    
I think that John C. Reilly was so into that messed up girl, because he believed himself to be really messed up as well. Remember when he lost his service gun? It was heart wrenching to view how despondent he was over it, and how he saw himself as a loser for losing it. And towards the end of the movie, when he helped the William H. Macy character set things right after his failed burglary attempt. He told him that sometimes we just need another chance to do the right thing. This movie blows me away!

Alegria
Member

07-05-2002

Saturday, September 16, 2006 - 2:39 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Alegria a private message Print Post    
This movie is such a rich experience. It's a good one to view a few times. Very special.

Yankee_in_ca
Member

08-01-2000

Saturday, September 16, 2006 - 10:54 am   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Yankee_in_ca a private message Print Post    
I absolutely LOVE this movie. Yes, it's odd. Yes, it's complex. But for numerous reasons (including many that Spygirl so very eloquently expressed earlier in this thread), it's one of my favorites.

It's also one movie where I enjoy Tom Cruise's performance -- I think he played that character perfectly. And I've never really been a Cruise fan.

I have seen it probably 3 or 4 times and I'd watch it again. (I own the DVD)

Philip Seymour Hoffman's performance BLEW. ME. AWAY.

John C Reilly was great too. And the Amy Mann sequence was brilliant.

Ketchuplover
Member

08-30-2000

Thursday, March 01, 2007 - 7:54 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ketchuplover a private message Print Post    
I own the DVD too. So there. in an unrelated matter there's a glowing review of the upcoming(fall)Jesse James movie over at aintitcool.com

Tishala
Member

08-01-2000

Friday, March 02, 2007 - 4:08 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Tishala a private message Print Post    
I was at a preview screening of the Jesse James film on Monday night at the Grove. I just hate to fill out the questionnaires after the film is over.

Ketchuplover
Member

08-30-2000

Friday, March 02, 2007 - 7:49 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Ketchuplover a private message Print Post    
How was it??????????????????????

Tishala
Member

08-01-2000

Friday, March 02, 2007 - 8:46 pm   Edit Post Move Post Delete Post View Post Send Tishala a private message Print Post    
I thought it was quite good, but I looked at the aintitcool review and I don't think I really agree with it being quite THAT good. Casey Affleck is great in it and Mr Pitt is better than he is in most films. It has great cinematography, too.