"magnolia" revisited
"i don't deny that there should be priests to remind men that they will one day die. i only say it is necessary to have another kind of priests, called poets, actually to remind men that they are not dead yet." - g.k. chesterton
"without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. without innovation, it is a corpse." - winston churchill
last night, i watched the film "magnolia" from director p.t. anderson for the first time since seeing it at the theatre in 1999. i couldn't help but remember the impression it left on me back then. from the opening narration regarding the improbability of chance, to the common refrain sung by the characters, to the plague of frogs, to the end credits, i was captured. it was as if i was watching a birth, or discovering a new land. to me, it was one of the most obedient displays of creativity captured on film that i had ever seen. there were no compromises.
anderson, more so than any other american director i can think of, embodies the role of poet as a filmmaker. he juxtaposed youth and death, sin and salvation, love and contempt, chance and fate, and hope and despair, in the context of both absurdity and reality. without flinching, he propelled characters through a universe that all at the same time, made no sense, and yet was laced with providence and meaning.
there wasn't a single character that had a hold of certainty. every one of his characters could be described as devastated by the labor of life. "life isn't short. it's long," was uttered. and despite that, anderson created a scenario where redemption and restoration came through the common union of people whose lives impact those around him. he demonstrated an influence of existence. a world where strangers, are not strange. a portrait of humanity that diminishes the ideal of happiness, with one of responsibility to each other.
it has been said that historians help us know the common lessons of the past, but poets help us feel the common lessons of humanity. "magnolia" is an excellent example of the emotive nature of cinema.
"without tradition, art is a flock of sheep without a shepherd. without innovation, it is a corpse." - winston churchill
last night, i watched the film "magnolia" from director p.t. anderson for the first time since seeing it at the theatre in 1999. i couldn't help but remember the impression it left on me back then. from the opening narration regarding the improbability of chance, to the common refrain sung by the characters, to the plague of frogs, to the end credits, i was captured. it was as if i was watching a birth, or discovering a new land. to me, it was one of the most obedient displays of creativity captured on film that i had ever seen. there were no compromises.anderson, more so than any other american director i can think of, embodies the role of poet as a filmmaker. he juxtaposed youth and death, sin and salvation, love and contempt, chance and fate, and hope and despair, in the context of both absurdity and reality. without flinching, he propelled characters through a universe that all at the same time, made no sense, and yet was laced with providence and meaning.
there wasn't a single character that had a hold of certainty. every one of his characters could be described as devastated by the labor of life. "life isn't short. it's long," was uttered. and despite that, anderson created a scenario where redemption and restoration came through the common union of people whose lives impact those around him. he demonstrated an influence of existence. a world where strangers, are not strange. a portrait of humanity that diminishes the ideal of happiness, with one of responsibility to each other.it has been said that historians help us know the common lessons of the past, but poets help us feel the common lessons of humanity. "magnolia" is an excellent example of the emotive nature of cinema.
posted by wlr at 10:39 AM
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