Magnolia

Eight seemingly unconnected main storylines and a couple more subordinate storylines that cut through them all? Three hours long? With Tom Cruise actually acting? Impossible to rein in from the director’s chair? Evidently you haven’t seen Magnolia yet. It has its flies in the ointment, but overall it is very powerful and supported here and there with a scene that gives the impression “as if frogs were falling from the skies". The atmosphere is as engrossing as it is unusual. I thought up a working title for it: Magnolioid. (2005-01-20)

If I were to review Magnolia objectively, I wouldn't be able to give it a rating lower than the highest one. Fortunately, I can evaluate it purely based on my own opinion, and despite Paul Thomas Anderson's flawless direction, I couldn't help but feel that three hours is too long and somewhat unnecessary. Of course, all the storylines are interconnected, and no individual characters could have been removed, but the whole game show, the host, and the genius young man all felt terribly boring to me, and I was looking forward to the story switching to someone else, which unfortunately applies to former contestant William H. Macy as well. On the other hand, Tom Cruise, Philip Seymour Hoffman, and John C. Reilly are amazing, and whenever any of them had the opportunity to showcase their acting skills, I was consistently moved. (2006-09-16)

It's a long film that stands on the performances, which are basically without exception excellent. Still, I couldn't get into the film and I don't see anything in it that was all that great. Maybe someday, upon a second watch, but I doubt it. Paul Thomas Anderson is not a director I would seek out. His talent can't be diminished, though. (2016-04-02)

First and foremost, this film is not as complicated and difficult as it may seem at first glance. But it does have something to it and definitely does not lack originality, inventiveness, many unforgettable scenes and situations, and, last but not least, great performances by almost all of the main actors. (2005-02-15)

Nine instruments that each initially play their own melodies. Nine rays that come down... And a camera that seems to wander aimlessly through the stories of different people, listening and watching here and there... And then suddenly the splinters of melodies and lights begin to resonate, destinies come together, intertwine, stories begin to take shape. Guilt, punishment, forgiveness on the threshold of death. It's amazing how sensitively Anderson managed to capture the nine great catharses of his life, how he managed to escalate Magnolia from the vulgar and fleeting cacophony of the introduction until the twist, when all the characters are connected by singing the song Wise Up. Three hours of an extraordinarily personal and strange story, which already demonstrates its principle in the prologue – some things are simply not a coincidence. Magnolia's meaning is not only in passive viewing - the viewer is encouraged to look for a purpose that is well hidden (see, for example, the rain of frogs). The amazing acting performances work as a magnet, the highlight of which for me is the incomprehensibly strong Cruise in the role of Jack, aka Frank. I never thought he could act so emotionally. In addition, the Czech dubbing was excellent... The only blotch on the beauty of the film remains the fact that it is sometimes too stretched and marked by dead spots. Yet in the midst of a torrent of unreal, it's like that rain of frogs. It just happens! (2004-02-13)