Magnolia (1999). Directed by Paul Thomas Anderson. Starring Jason Robards, Philip Baker Hall, Tom Cruise, John C. Reilly, Melora Walters, Julianne Moore, William H. Macy, Philip Seymour Hoffman. Indescribable. A movie that has to be seen to be believed. It seems Altman-esque to me, in that Anderson has assembled a large cast who play disparate characters, all inhabiting the same geographical space on a given day. We see the characters go through the day separately as Anderson switches back and forth among their story lines, which sometimes intersect. The characters are all vividly drawn, and even at a playing length of three hours the film has enough forward momentum to carry the viewer on inexorably to the end. Some who see this movie will feel cheated by the ending, which includes an event of Biblical proportions which affects the outcome of the story. But Anderson has laid the groundwork for his ending, and it worked for me. Grade: A-
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