Magnolia

Life, man....LIFE! - Bob Ferguson Only having watched a few of PT Anderson's films this was the most uncomfortable as a whole. At the start I catch myself laughing at Cruise's Frank T.J. Mackey but after that it's just ... a lot of sadness. Sad people going through life filled with regret. Also anger. And doubt. Fear too. But here the big one is regret. By the time Earl Partridge tells the story of his wife and sun I was so on the edge that I felt relief. I listened to this old man's past of regret as a short period of clearance in the his confusion due to sickness. In a film filled with standout scenes and performances this is the first that openly and totally earnestly speaks its truth. It would not be the last. It would be followed by precipitation of a certain kind to remind us that this is a story about life. About real problems felt by fictional people. People who get to actually say the things we most often would not. People who can face their past and look forward. Of whom some are brought together by some sort of divine intervention. Because they earned it. Also for the film to leave us on a more positive note. With a smile and a catchy pop song. So that after all the sadness you meet the credits with positivity. Feeling alive. Feeling hopeful. Because there is something after the storm.