March 17, 2005
Magnolia: Bittersweet Symphony
Magnolia is one thing George and I have always agreed on. It's our favorite movie ever, hands down. The cinematography is incredible yet subtle, the soundtrack, by Amie Mann, weaves seamlessly into the film. In fact, the director was such an Amie Mann fan that he said he actually came to her with the basic outlines of the movie and then she made the soudntrack and he shaped the film around it. Magnolia has a strange cast with such big names as Tom Cruise and Julianne Moore sharing the spotlight with lesser knowns William H. Macy and Jeremy Blackman. The film moves gracefully between all the different characters and their plotlines and threads them together like beads on a necklace. It's a film about the heart wrenching trauma and suffering of being human, but also the scattered moments of truth and joy. For those of you who saw the preview or heard about the frogs falling from the sky and thought, not a movie for me, don't worry. It's meant to be a symbolic act and lasts only for five brief minutes of this beautiful and brilliant story.