Tom Cruise and Jason Robards in "Magnolia."

MOVIE INFORMATION

With 10 as a must-see, Jack gives this film a: Stars: Tom Cruise and Philip Seymour Hoffman Director: P.T. Anderson Rated: R, with strong profanity Length: 188 minutes

ROCHESTERCRITIQUE

Having seen this film, how would you rate it? 10 5 9 4 8 3 7 2 6 1

By Jack Garner
Democrat and Chronicle

(Jan. 7, 2000) -- A little love can go a long way. But it's not always easy to find.

Sometimes it takes a bit of forgiveness. Sometimes you have to swallow your pride. Sometimes you have to learn how to recognize it. Sometimes you need to learn to love yourself before you can accept it from someone else.

And sometimes you need a wake-up call -- like finding yourself on your deathbed. Or witnessing a bizarre act of nature.

Writer-director Paul Thomas Anderson explores all those points -- and more -- in Magnolia, his startlingly original ensemble film with Tom Cruise, Julianne Moore, Jason Robards, Fairport's Philip Seymour Hoffman and others.

In many ways, the three-hour drama is the moral flip side of Anderson's previous film, Boogie Nights, which examined life in southern California's porno industry in the 1980s.

Boogie Nights was about the emptiness of lust. Not to put too fine a point on it, Magnolia is about the fulfillment of love.

Don't misunderstand: Magnolia is no sappy Hallmark card. Anderson remains an aggressively dark and edgy filmmaker -- his exploration of love is through an ensemble of characters who are damaged, self-destructive and in dire need of a hug or somebody to listen.

Magnolia follows the ins and outs of several sets of fractured relationships over one day in California's San Fernando Valley.

A dying man wants to reconcile with his long-estranged son; a bumbling police officer falls for a drug addict he meets on a case; a quiz-show host hides a checkered past; and a boy genius struggles to get his exploitative father to show him affection.

The only thing they have in common is the one thing they need more than anything else.

Magnolia carefully balances its story lines and characters, cutting back and forth with artful expertise to slowly build a composite tale. It's been a winter of overly long films, but Magnolia is one that deserves to take all the time it needs.

This may remind filmgoers of Robert Altman's 1993 California ensemble picture, Short Cuts. Anderson's film, though, features a more hopeful theme and more intriguing characters.

Chief among them is Frank Mackey, a charismatic guru who has elevated hating to an art form. Cruise plays him to a "T" -- it's the actor's most electrifying performance. In a marvelous satire of men's post-feminist efforts to define themselves, Anderson has Mackey leading volatile, foul-mouthed seminars on the art of seduction.

Other standout performances include Hoffman as a passionate hospice nurse who struggles to bring Mackey and his dying father together; John C. Reilly as the love-struck cop; and Philip Baker Hall as the quiz-show host no longer able to hide his big bundle of guilt.

Magnolia offers a wealth of riches, including startling moments of happenstance that are best left as surprises. I'll guarantee you've never seen anything like them on or off the screen.

Coming on the heels of Boogie Nights, this film clearly establishes Anderson as a unique and audacious talent. I can't imagine where he'll go from here.