Magnolia

So…anyone actually get what just happened? I don’t know where to start because a lot just happened; it was chaotic, surreal, funny, and just overall a fever dream. My emotions were an absolute rollercoaster on this film due to how much the tension would change from being normal to suspenseful. It felt as if someone would be talking to you normally, and then just screaming at you, and then back to being normal just to scream in your face.  The film had a lot of peculiar moments to say the least; most of those being Frank’s Cock thing, I can’t remember the name of it, but I think it was called the cock event or something like that. But I found myself laughing at him in the first hour, to then being scared of him due to the fact he was acting insanely unhinged. Then I felt bad for him in the last hour. Basically the film threw me all over the place with him, I didn’t like him and I still don’t as he’s a bit of a misogynist prick, but I think Tom Cruise did a phenomenal job at changing his expressions during each time you were to see him. Getting more and more uncomfortable to watch. Also this film had a pretty stacked cast and I only knew Tom Cruise was in this so I was pretty shocked to see a lot of familiar faces. Luckily everyone was experienced and incredible in this; they all had their own unique stories, which all had moments of downhill and conclusion. But what I liked the most was that they didn’t feel basic and boring, the stories being told weren’t predictable. They were unpredictable, unusual, and very different to what I was expecting; it made for moments of uncertainty of what could be happening next due to how different the stories were. Thinking maybe they connect, maybe they don’t, you don’t know and the film often has you questioning what’s going to happen next. What I really liked was how it reeled you in; each character is different, each story is different. But the part that reeled me in wasn’t the fact they were all different to eachother it’s the part where they’re so bizarre. None of these stories make a lot of sense, they do but they don’t. It’s all a bit of a massive fever dream, and I have to say it’s a pretty solid one at that. There were a lot of moments of confusion, panic, and tragedy during this film. Where each emotion was varied, but did a strong and powerful showcase on each one. In a sense of showing it wanted to be sad, confusing, tense. It wasn’t all over the place, it was arguably strategically placed and important for certain scenes to be feeling an emotion, whether you were on board the character or not. Now let’s talk about pacing, I wouldn’t necessarily talk about it but this is a 3 hour film. So I was skeptical on this; even though I’d heard so much positive news and feedback from it. But it’s a long film, so now that I have seen it. I would like to say, don’t let the run time intimidate you; because it’s really not that bad, in fact it’s a fly by on how good the film is. Once you get sucked into the world of Magnolia there isn’t an escape, it’s almost as if you’re glued to the screen wondering what’s next? What now?  Thank you Lara for the recommendation, I’m super sorry I put it off for so long, I’m happy I saw it now thank you!