By MICHAEL BOYLAN
mboylan@thecitizennews.com

Have you heard about the film “Magnolia?”

If you have, you have either heard that it is the best movie of the year or that it is absolutely vile. I have decided that it is a little of both and it is too important to miss.

First, a warning. I have never seen as many people walk out of a movie as I did Saturday afternoon, and I saw the South Park movie five times. The jumpy pace of the first 20 minutes, as the film introduces the characters and story lines, and the extremely coarse language certainly aggravated some viewers. The deserters most likely had other expectations of the film.

Though it settles down after its frenetic opening, “Magnolia” has a very hard edge. It is not a nice, happy story, nor is it a sentimental tear-jerker. It is not set in the South and just because it is attracting critical acclaim, does not mean it is on the same wavelength as “Shakespeare in Love.”

The story is about 11 people in Southern California whose lives intersect over the course of several days. The cast is chock full of excellent actors and actresses including Tom Cruise, Jason Robards and Julianne Moore. The performances are excellent, as is the dynamic script from director Paul Thomas Anderson.

But many of the characters are not extremely likeable. They, just like many real people, have problems and issues that bog them down. It is those problems and issues that are at the center of the film. One of the core issues of “Magnolia” is when to blame and when to forgive.

No one story takes importance over any of the others in the film, but the Cruise/Robards, father/son story line best illustrates what Anderson is trying to accomplish. Cruise plays Frank Mackey, a self-help guru that teaches men to “seduce and destroy.” He has not seen his father in over 20 years and has virtually invented a past to hide his pain.

Robards plays Earl Partridge, a television producer on his death bed and Mackey's deserting dad.

Mackey feels that his past has created the person that he is today. It is his rage against his father that fuels his “Seduce and Destroy” seminars and that rage has made him successful. Partridge realizes that his past wasn't what made him leave his wife and child, but rather himself. Though the two never open a dialogue in the film, both men are able to find some sense of closure.

Hopefully, no one has ruined the ending of the film for you, and it does take three hours to get there. I will just say that an event of biblical proportions occurs and though it seems misplaced (and many things feel that way at first in the film) it makes perfect sense and adds to the film's overall effect.

“Magnolia” is a discussion film. That is not to say that this will necessarily open up an inner dialogue of where you are today or what or who has led you to your position. Anderson was obviously saying something with “Magnolia” and in trying to determine what he is trying to say, the audience will eventually grasp the overall concept and realize the impact that the film had.

Is this the best picture of the year? Probably. It is so rich with character and dialogue and so full of wonderful cinematic techniques that the film sticks with you, despite all of the things that made people leave the theater. It is films like “Magnolia” that make you forget that Hollywood also makes movies like “Ernest Goes to Jail.”

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