WEBVTT - Magnolia (Archive)

0:00:00.240 --> 0:00:03.400
<v Speaker 1>Hey, film Spotters, Adam and Josh. Here. You know, the

0:00:03.400 --> 0:00:07.600
<v Speaker 1>film Spotting Archive has a lot, it has reviews, it's

0:00:07.600 --> 0:00:11.040
<v Speaker 1>got top fives and more going back to two thousand

0:00:11.080 --> 0:00:13.920
<v Speaker 1>and five. And if you want access to that full archive,

0:00:14.520 --> 0:00:16.760
<v Speaker 1>just become a member of the Film Spotting Family. That's

0:00:16.760 --> 0:00:19.320
<v Speaker 1>one of the benefits you get, and you can learn

0:00:19.640 --> 0:00:23.760
<v Speaker 1>more about that at film spottingfamily dot com. Now we've

0:00:23.800 --> 0:00:27.520
<v Speaker 1>got a new Paul Thomas Anderson film this week, so

0:00:27.560 --> 0:00:31.040
<v Speaker 1>we're going to dip into that archive for our review

0:00:31.240 --> 0:00:36.080
<v Speaker 1>of Magnolia, which wasn't all that long ago, right, Adam.

0:00:35.840 --> 0:00:38.880
<v Speaker 2>No, No, twenty nineteen. It was part of our nine

0:00:38.880 --> 0:00:41.279
<v Speaker 2>from ninety nine series. Yeah, we're getting ready for one

0:00:41.320 --> 0:00:44.120
<v Speaker 2>battle after another. We're seeing it this weekend. We'll talk

0:00:44.159 --> 0:00:48.120
<v Speaker 2>about it on next week's episode. Nine from ninety nine

0:00:48.240 --> 0:00:50.280
<v Speaker 2>was fun. Of course, that was jam pack because nineteen

0:00:50.360 --> 0:00:53.680
<v Speaker 2>ninety nine is one of our all time great movie years.

0:00:53.880 --> 0:00:57.840
<v Speaker 2>We talked about the matrix being John Malkovich, the Blair

0:00:57.880 --> 0:01:01.080
<v Speaker 2>Witch Project, the Sixth Sense, Fight Club, Eyes Wide shut.

0:01:01.200 --> 0:01:04.640
<v Speaker 1>Wait wait wait wait wait you skipped over muffle my

0:01:04.680 --> 0:01:08.200
<v Speaker 1>Mouth Star Wars episode one. Uh huh, I think you

0:01:08.240 --> 0:01:09.800
<v Speaker 1>also missed American beauty.

0:01:09.840 --> 0:01:11.640
<v Speaker 2>Oh kay, we talked about those two. You know, we

0:01:11.680 --> 0:01:15.280
<v Speaker 2>had to reckon with the entire year. And yes, we

0:01:15.480 --> 0:01:20.480
<v Speaker 2>also revisited Magnolia. People are gonna hear this just before

0:01:20.920 --> 0:01:23.440
<v Speaker 2>they hear us talk about on Friday and we share

0:01:23.480 --> 0:01:28.240
<v Speaker 2>the results to the current deeply flawed, deeply troubling, more

0:01:28.319 --> 0:01:31.160
<v Speaker 2>like film spotting pole question. Actually, they won't hear the

0:01:31.200 --> 0:01:34.360
<v Speaker 2>results because we're setting up the new question that people

0:01:34.360 --> 0:01:39.200
<v Speaker 2>can vote in right now, the PTA Decade's Poll. Do

0:01:39.280 --> 0:01:41.160
<v Speaker 2>you keep you can only keep one decade. Do you

0:01:41.200 --> 0:01:44.480
<v Speaker 2>keep the nineties that has boogie nights in Magnolia? Or

0:01:44.520 --> 0:01:48.080
<v Speaker 2>do you keep the two thousands? Or do you keep

0:01:48.200 --> 0:01:51.320
<v Speaker 2>the twenty tens. We're leaving out the twenty twenties for now.

0:01:51.920 --> 0:01:55.520
<v Speaker 2>It's such a tough choice, Josh. And maybe people listening

0:01:55.520 --> 0:01:58.920
<v Speaker 2>to us talk about Magnolia will make them think that

0:01:59.120 --> 0:02:01.480
<v Speaker 2>the nineties is the decade they have to hold onto.

0:02:01.720 --> 0:02:04.400
<v Speaker 1>It's probably it's probably going to give the nineties a

0:02:04.400 --> 0:02:07.160
<v Speaker 1>little bit of a bump in that poll for now.

0:02:07.200 --> 0:02:10.640
<v Speaker 1>From November twenty nineteen. Here is that nine from ninety

0:02:10.760 --> 0:02:12.639
<v Speaker 1>nine review of Magnolia.

0:02:13.320 --> 0:02:14.919
<v Speaker 3>There is the story of a boy.

0:02:14.760 --> 0:02:18.720
<v Speaker 1>Genius Thomas Kate Jong, the Peaceful, Cleanly Year, and the

0:02:18.760 --> 0:02:23.359
<v Speaker 1>game show is Jimmy Gator Live from Burbank, California.

0:02:23.600 --> 0:02:24.839
<v Speaker 3>First question for twenty five.

0:02:25.320 --> 0:02:28.160
<v Speaker 4>This French playwriting actor joined the Beijar group of actors

0:02:28.200 --> 0:02:28.880
<v Speaker 4>and the ex.

0:02:28.760 --> 0:02:31.960
<v Speaker 3>Boy genius Chrisky Donny Smith. I used to be smart.

0:02:32.000 --> 0:02:34.160
<v Speaker 3>Now I'm just stupid. There is the story of the

0:02:34.280 --> 0:02:35.680
<v Speaker 3>Dying Man. I'm Marl Partry.

0:02:36.160 --> 0:02:39.560
<v Speaker 4>I have a son you now you do find him?

0:02:39.600 --> 0:02:42.040
<v Speaker 3>I'm right TJ Mcki his lost son.

0:02:42.320 --> 0:02:43.280
<v Speaker 5>What did he say?

0:02:43.520 --> 0:02:45.120
<v Speaker 2>Because I Am not going to take care of him?

0:02:45.120 --> 0:02:47.680
<v Speaker 3>What's he want? The dying man's wife, I'm in departres.

0:02:48.400 --> 0:02:49.880
<v Speaker 3>I took care of him through this Alan what now?

0:02:49.880 --> 0:02:50.760
<v Speaker 4>And then me and him?

0:02:50.800 --> 0:02:53.400
<v Speaker 3>Do you understand there's no one else? No one else

0:02:53.600 --> 0:02:56.000
<v Speaker 3>the caretaker. I'm Phil Parma.

0:02:56.720 --> 0:02:59.120
<v Speaker 6>See this is the scene of the movie where you've

0:02:59.160 --> 0:02:59.640
<v Speaker 6>helped me up.

0:02:59.680 --> 0:03:01.119
<v Speaker 3>And there's the story of a mother.

0:03:01.360 --> 0:03:05.400
<v Speaker 2>Unlike Paul Thomas Anderson, sadly, my creativity couldn't match my ambition.

0:03:05.520 --> 0:03:08.919
<v Speaker 2>This week I started learning the guitar chords and rewriting

0:03:08.960 --> 0:03:11.880
<v Speaker 2>the lyrics to Amy Mann's Wise Up before I realized

0:03:11.919 --> 0:03:13.720
<v Speaker 2>I just wasn't going to be able to pull off

0:03:13.760 --> 0:03:16.840
<v Speaker 2>singing your setup. Oh wow, that's no joke.

0:03:16.800 --> 0:03:19.000
<v Speaker 1>I started, Oh, don't tease me.

0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:23.040
<v Speaker 2>It could have been great, So I'm taking an easier

0:03:23.120 --> 0:03:26.280
<v Speaker 2>route instead one already paved for me. You asked whether

0:03:26.360 --> 0:03:29.320
<v Speaker 2>Pta was already a master filmmaker in ninety nine or

0:03:29.360 --> 0:03:31.960
<v Speaker 2>if he was still warming up with Magnolia, and an

0:03:31.960 --> 0:03:34.880
<v Speaker 2>av club piece from August described the film as quote

0:03:34.920 --> 0:03:37.160
<v Speaker 2>exactly the kind of thing an artsy kid with all

0:03:37.200 --> 0:03:39.600
<v Speaker 2>the feelings would write. It's also the kind of thing

0:03:39.640 --> 0:03:42.640
<v Speaker 2>that begs for the red pen end quote, and earlier

0:03:42.720 --> 0:03:45.360
<v Speaker 2>this week in the Film Spotting newsletter, our producer Sam

0:03:45.440 --> 0:03:49.560
<v Speaker 2>took a similar tack, comparing PTA's sprawling, intense day in

0:03:49.560 --> 0:03:53.600
<v Speaker 2>the life of several somewhat randomly connected Southern Californians to

0:03:53.680 --> 0:03:57.440
<v Speaker 2>Sergeant Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club band. It's become conventional wisdom,

0:03:57.480 --> 0:03:59.880
<v Speaker 2>according to Sam, to consider the five or so years

0:04:00.000 --> 0:04:02.200
<v Speaker 2>prior to two thousand and sevens there will be blood

0:04:02.400 --> 0:04:04.960
<v Speaker 2>as a quote sort of gestation period where Paul Thomas

0:04:04.960 --> 0:04:08.520
<v Speaker 2>Anderson transformed from a wonder kind with more talent than wisdom,

0:04:08.840 --> 0:04:11.760
<v Speaker 2>eager to show off how thoroughly he's absorbed the lessons

0:04:11.800 --> 0:04:14.800
<v Speaker 2>of his idols to an artist of mature genius content

0:04:14.920 --> 0:04:18.880
<v Speaker 2>to use his outsized talents to more enigmatic and subtle ends.

0:04:19.160 --> 0:04:21.919
<v Speaker 2>End quote. He then confesses I was guilty of this

0:04:22.000 --> 0:04:25.400
<v Speaker 2>kind of thinking myself before revisiting Magnolia. It definitely struck

0:04:25.440 --> 0:04:27.400
<v Speaker 2>me as the work of a younger artist, but in

0:04:27.440 --> 0:04:29.760
<v Speaker 2>the same way that Sergeant Pepper's is the work of

0:04:29.839 --> 0:04:33.039
<v Speaker 2>young artists. Both or Try Anything, Slash Everything works of

0:04:33.120 --> 0:04:36.719
<v Speaker 2>boundless artistic imagination and formal mastery. But there are also

0:04:36.760 --> 0:04:41.799
<v Speaker 2>works of great beauty, empathy, and understanding, you know, masterpieces.

0:04:41.839 --> 0:04:44.360
<v Speaker 2>So a little bit of that classic Sam van Holgren

0:04:44.440 --> 0:04:46.880
<v Speaker 2>van Purbley in there for you. I'm going to propose

0:04:46.920 --> 0:04:50.120
<v Speaker 2>that you, too, Josh, were guilty of such thinking coming

0:04:50.160 --> 0:04:53.599
<v Speaker 2>into this revisit. The receipts include your three out of

0:04:53.640 --> 0:04:56.800
<v Speaker 2>four star blurb, presumably written back in ninety nine.

0:04:56.839 --> 0:04:57.280
<v Speaker 3>Is that right?

0:04:57.440 --> 0:04:58.720
<v Speaker 1>Yeah? I think it's pulled from that.

0:04:58.720 --> 0:05:02.680
<v Speaker 2>Okay, in which you call mag another great imitation of

0:05:02.720 --> 0:05:06.080
<v Speaker 2>a great movie from writer director Paul Thomas Anderson, and

0:05:06.120 --> 0:05:10.440
<v Speaker 2>you cite Altman's Nashville and Shortcuts as Magnolia's prime influences.

0:05:10.800 --> 0:05:14.960
<v Speaker 2>You're complimentary, to be sure, but the imitation implication suggests

0:05:15.000 --> 0:05:19.120
<v Speaker 2>a still relatively unformed artist, a position supported by your

0:05:19.200 --> 0:05:23.120
<v Speaker 2>letterboxed ranking of PTA's films. I want to state clearly that,

0:05:23.720 --> 0:05:25.960
<v Speaker 2>at least according to my research, you have not actually

0:05:26.040 --> 0:05:29.800
<v Speaker 2>given a negative review to any Paul Thomas Anderson movie, but.

0:05:30.120 --> 0:05:30.839
<v Speaker 1>That would be correct.

0:05:30.960 --> 0:05:34.800
<v Speaker 2>You do have in last place his debut Hard eight

0:05:35.040 --> 0:05:38.960
<v Speaker 2>or Sidney, third from the bottom, his second and breakout

0:05:39.000 --> 0:05:42.680
<v Speaker 2>feature Boogie Knights, and in between those two is the

0:05:42.680 --> 0:05:46.479
<v Speaker 2>film we're discussing, Magnolia. His three earliest works are the

0:05:46.480 --> 0:05:50.440
<v Speaker 2>ones you fancy the least. So are you sticking to

0:05:50.520 --> 0:05:53.480
<v Speaker 2>this narrative or are you ready to revise the list?

0:05:53.720 --> 0:05:57.800
<v Speaker 2>Is PTA's Tale of Wounded Children, despicable patriarchs and they're

0:05:57.839 --> 0:06:02.200
<v Speaker 2>collaterally damaged caretakers, more profound develop piece of art than

0:06:02.240 --> 0:06:04.600
<v Speaker 2>you initially gave it credit for, and did any of

0:06:04.640 --> 0:06:07.839
<v Speaker 2>the performances surprise you? On this rewatch? In your blurb,

0:06:08.080 --> 0:06:11.560
<v Speaker 2>you rightfully praise John c Riley's do gooder policeman Jim Kurring,

0:06:11.760 --> 0:06:15.880
<v Speaker 2>Philip Seymour Hoffman's emotional hospice attendant Phil Parma, and Tom

0:06:15.960 --> 0:06:21.039
<v Speaker 2>Cruise's malevolently charismatic seduce and destroy instructor Frank TJ. Mackie,

0:06:21.040 --> 0:06:24.080
<v Speaker 2>a role that earned him a Best Supporting Oscar nomination.

0:06:24.440 --> 0:06:26.839
<v Speaker 2>But you were not a fan of Julianne Moore's manic

0:06:27.000 --> 0:06:30.560
<v Speaker 2>adulterous wife Linda, or William H. Macy as whiz kid

0:06:30.600 --> 0:06:34.120
<v Speaker 2>Donnie Smith, who has so much love to give? Won't

0:06:34.200 --> 0:06:36.960
<v Speaker 2>you give some of your love to Macy and to

0:06:37.000 --> 0:06:41.040
<v Speaker 2>the artistry of PTA, artistry that extends beyond breva steady

0:06:41.040 --> 0:06:45.200
<v Speaker 2>cam shots to non diegetic ensemble singalongs, and of course

0:06:45.440 --> 0:06:48.400
<v Speaker 2>Frog's falling from the sky. Or will you always think

0:06:48.440 --> 0:06:51.680
<v Speaker 2>of Magnolia most fondly as the stepping stone to PTA's

0:06:51.680 --> 0:06:54.360
<v Speaker 2>true masterpiece, his next film, Punch Shrunk Love.

0:06:54.600 --> 0:06:54.760
<v Speaker 5>Hm.

0:06:55.400 --> 0:06:58.360
<v Speaker 1>Yes, Punchdrunk Love is just so wonderful. That's a whole

0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:00.560
<v Speaker 1>other conversation. Can't wait till we do that Sacred cow

0:07:00.640 --> 0:07:02.840
<v Speaker 1>review of that one. But I think this is going

0:07:02.920 --> 0:07:04.720
<v Speaker 1>to be I don't know that we've had a full

0:07:04.720 --> 0:07:07.200
<v Speaker 1>on Maya Colpa in the nine from ninety nine series,

0:07:07.279 --> 0:07:09.680
<v Speaker 1>yet I know positions have shifted a little bit later

0:07:09.800 --> 0:07:15.040
<v Speaker 1>and there. But who was this stingy bastard in nine?

0:07:15.240 --> 0:07:15.520
<v Speaker 2>Yes?

0:07:16.160 --> 0:07:16.480
<v Speaker 3>Who?

0:07:17.120 --> 0:07:19.920
<v Speaker 1>Now? Mind you? What I was hoping because you've stated

0:07:19.600 --> 0:07:22.720
<v Speaker 1>so badly three out of four stars, you know, positive review?

0:07:23.840 --> 0:07:26.320
<v Speaker 1>But why why did I get so focused on the

0:07:26.400 --> 0:07:29.000
<v Speaker 1>things that held me back from it?

0:07:29.160 --> 0:07:31.280
<v Speaker 2>Just wrote it off as an ultimental talk.

0:07:31.040 --> 0:07:34.080
<v Speaker 1>About no no, Now, don't rephrase what you've already read.

0:07:34.120 --> 0:07:36.560
<v Speaker 1>That's not exactly how I couched it. Noticed the word

0:07:36.600 --> 0:07:39.320
<v Speaker 1>great there when I noticed it when I wrote a

0:07:39.440 --> 0:07:42.520
<v Speaker 1>great imitation. So we're going to get to, you know,

0:07:42.640 --> 0:07:44.480
<v Speaker 1>how I feel about some of those things I pointed

0:07:44.480 --> 0:07:46.880
<v Speaker 1>out before. But what was with me that that's where

0:07:46.920 --> 0:07:50.800
<v Speaker 1>I decided to go first? Yes, this thing has so

0:07:52.720 --> 0:07:57.360
<v Speaker 1>wonders to it. The reservations I have pale in comparison

0:07:57.760 --> 0:08:02.320
<v Speaker 1>to what this movie does well, And I would say

0:08:02.320 --> 0:08:04.920
<v Speaker 1>of the performances. We'll circle back to that. But my

0:08:04.960 --> 0:08:08.440
<v Speaker 1>biggest sin was probably in a longer print review that

0:08:08.520 --> 0:08:11.520
<v Speaker 1>I wrote that I dragged out of some boxes. I

0:08:11.600 --> 0:08:16.040
<v Speaker 1>didn't care for Malaura Walters and this watch she just

0:08:16.360 --> 0:08:18.800
<v Speaker 1>stunned me. Now, maybe those three characters have something in

0:08:18.840 --> 0:08:21.280
<v Speaker 1>common we can get to. Maybe it's just a matter

0:08:21.320 --> 0:08:24.040
<v Speaker 1>that I had not yet learned to appreciate melodrama. I

0:08:24.080 --> 0:08:27.000
<v Speaker 1>described this as we led into this review as a melodrama,

0:08:27.040 --> 0:08:29.640
<v Speaker 1>and I don't think that was a genre that I

0:08:29.760 --> 0:08:32.480
<v Speaker 1>quite understood twenty years ago as well or appreciate it

0:08:32.480 --> 0:08:34.120
<v Speaker 1>as well as I do now. Maybe that had something

0:08:34.160 --> 0:08:37.080
<v Speaker 1>to do with it, But yeah, I way underrated this,

0:08:37.200 --> 0:08:39.400
<v Speaker 1>even if I think it's still it's more of a

0:08:39.440 --> 0:08:42.559
<v Speaker 1>master work in progress. I'll stand by that. But I'm

0:08:42.600 --> 0:08:44.080
<v Speaker 1>not going to be as harsh as it sounds like

0:08:44.080 --> 0:08:50.280
<v Speaker 1>that AV Club reappraisal was. It's still something absolutely wonderful

0:08:50.720 --> 0:08:53.000
<v Speaker 1>as is, and I'm looking forward to spending some time

0:08:53.040 --> 0:08:53.840
<v Speaker 1>on those positives.

0:08:53.920 --> 0:08:56.520
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, me as well. I'd love to hear more because

0:08:56.880 --> 0:08:59.360
<v Speaker 2>I'm also a big fan of this film, and I'm

0:08:59.360 --> 0:09:01.520
<v Speaker 2>a big fan of all of Paul Thomas Anderson's films.

0:09:01.520 --> 0:09:05.440
<v Speaker 2>Our rankings are very different, though ultimately the same, because

0:09:05.440 --> 0:09:07.720
<v Speaker 2>we're positive on all of them, and I think watching

0:09:07.720 --> 0:09:10.439
<v Speaker 2>Magnolia again, I did realize that it would be very

0:09:10.440 --> 0:09:15.440
<v Speaker 2>easy to be completely overwhelmed by it or exhilarated by

0:09:15.440 --> 0:09:18.280
<v Speaker 2>the sheer audacity and the speed of it. It's three

0:09:18.320 --> 0:09:21.080
<v Speaker 2>hours and eight minutes long. I'd forgotten, honestly that it

0:09:21.120 --> 0:09:23.760
<v Speaker 2>was that long yea too, and didn't quite believe the

0:09:23.840 --> 0:09:26.440
<v Speaker 2>timer on the TV when it said it was that long,

0:09:26.640 --> 0:09:31.360
<v Speaker 2>But especially that first ninety minutes before PTA deliberately slows

0:09:31.400 --> 0:09:32.920
<v Speaker 2>the movie down. And I think there is a point

0:09:32.920 --> 0:09:36.760
<v Speaker 2>where he deliberately slows it down. It's during Stanley's decision,

0:09:36.840 --> 0:09:39.200
<v Speaker 2>the kid on TV who has told the world that

0:09:39.240 --> 0:09:42.160
<v Speaker 2>he's not going to answer that question. He's standing his ground.

0:09:42.200 --> 0:09:44.320
<v Speaker 2>He's not going to be forced into this position anymore.

0:09:44.600 --> 0:09:47.959
<v Speaker 2>And similarly, all of the other characters at that moment

0:09:48.000 --> 0:09:52.120
<v Speaker 2>are having kind of breakthrough personal moments, and that's where

0:09:52.320 --> 0:09:55.920
<v Speaker 2>he really does. PTA, for better or worse, elongate that

0:09:55.920 --> 0:09:59.640
<v Speaker 2>that entire section, I think. But up until that, with

0:09:59.720 --> 0:10:02.439
<v Speaker 2>the me music and the quick cuts that do connect

0:10:02.440 --> 0:10:06.800
<v Speaker 2>all these storylines and characters, it just propels forward. And

0:10:07.200 --> 0:10:09.520
<v Speaker 2>as we talk about the artistry of it and how

0:10:09.559 --> 0:10:12.199
<v Speaker 2>bold it is and whether or not it reflects an

0:10:12.240 --> 0:10:14.720
<v Speaker 2>immature artist at this point, I mean, I did listen

0:10:14.760 --> 0:10:18.559
<v Speaker 2>to the interview PTA gave to Mark Maron on WTF

0:10:18.559 --> 0:10:21.560
<v Speaker 2>a few years back where he basically says in that interview, Yeah,

0:10:21.760 --> 0:10:24.000
<v Speaker 2>it probably should have had twenty minutes cut from it.

0:10:24.040 --> 0:10:25.960
<v Speaker 2>I was a little bit out of control. I was

0:10:26.320 --> 0:10:28.480
<v Speaker 2>overly eager, and I wasn't going to be stopped. I

0:10:28.520 --> 0:10:30.640
<v Speaker 2>was going to have my way on that movie. Who

0:10:30.679 --> 0:10:33.120
<v Speaker 2>am I to argue with pta, but that boldness going

0:10:33.160 --> 0:10:35.040
<v Speaker 2>for a moment like we get with the frogs at

0:10:35.040 --> 0:10:37.760
<v Speaker 2>the end, like the amy Man song wise Up that

0:10:38.000 --> 0:10:40.880
<v Speaker 2>we've referenced a few times, even the moment like the

0:10:40.920 --> 0:10:43.559
<v Speaker 2>one with Jim and Claudia. So this is John c

0:10:43.720 --> 0:10:46.920
<v Speaker 2>Riley and Malaura Walters who have met when he has

0:10:47.440 --> 0:10:50.520
<v Speaker 2>been called to her house by neighbors who are complaining

0:10:50.520 --> 0:10:54.080
<v Speaker 2>about the noise. So there's some disturbance there and they

0:10:54.440 --> 0:10:58.319
<v Speaker 2>do end up making a connection and going out that evening,

0:10:58.400 --> 0:11:01.600
<v Speaker 2>and they're two very broken people we see in that moment.

0:11:01.880 --> 0:11:03.520
<v Speaker 2>But she has a line at one point where she says,

0:11:03.559 --> 0:11:05.360
<v Speaker 2>now that I've met you, would you object to never

0:11:05.400 --> 0:11:08.240
<v Speaker 2>seeing me again? That does feel a little bit forced,

0:11:08.360 --> 0:11:10.920
<v Speaker 2>And now in retrospect, I know that that is a

0:11:10.960 --> 0:11:14.439
<v Speaker 2>line from an amy Man song, and her songs are

0:11:14.480 --> 0:11:18.240
<v Speaker 2>really the foundation of this entire soundtrack. But it was

0:11:18.280 --> 0:11:20.040
<v Speaker 2>a line he fell in love with, and he said,

0:11:20.520 --> 0:11:22.360
<v Speaker 2>I'm going to find a reason to get this into

0:11:22.400 --> 0:11:24.200
<v Speaker 2>the movie. I'm going to go ahead and force it

0:11:24.280 --> 0:11:27.000
<v Speaker 2>into the film, And you know what, I'm on board

0:11:27.000 --> 0:11:29.840
<v Speaker 2>with all of that, But it is the intimate moments

0:11:30.200 --> 0:11:32.640
<v Speaker 2>that make the film so much more for me than

0:11:32.679 --> 0:11:35.440
<v Speaker 2>those pyrotechnics. And I will go back to that same

0:11:35.440 --> 0:11:38.080
<v Speaker 2>scene with Jim and Claudia where it's pretty early in

0:11:38.120 --> 0:11:41.200
<v Speaker 2>the conversation and she's saying to him, you're so good,

0:11:41.440 --> 0:11:44.640
<v Speaker 2>you're so put together, you're a police officer, and pta

0:11:44.720 --> 0:11:47.959
<v Speaker 2>doesn't linger on John c Riley's face, but he does

0:11:48.320 --> 0:11:50.400
<v Speaker 2>keep the camera on him just long enough to see

0:11:50.400 --> 0:11:54.960
<v Speaker 2>that flicker in his eyes where Riley is processing Jim,

0:11:55.120 --> 0:11:59.720
<v Speaker 2>the character he's playing, is processing so much. In that flicker,

0:11:59.840 --> 0:12:03.880
<v Speaker 2>he's recognizing that they're exactly the same, that they are broken,

0:12:04.240 --> 0:12:08.040
<v Speaker 2>that in addition to that, he's somehow fooled her, and

0:12:08.040 --> 0:12:10.959
<v Speaker 2>that he's going to have to be completely honest with her,

0:12:11.400 --> 0:12:14.560
<v Speaker 2>like he isn't really with anybody else, and it's gonna

0:12:14.559 --> 0:12:17.880
<v Speaker 2>be uncomfortable, and he's gonna reveal just how truly pathetic

0:12:18.040 --> 0:12:20.160
<v Speaker 2>he is to her. And that kind of I guess

0:12:20.520 --> 0:12:24.560
<v Speaker 2>nakedness of it, of that emotion, of that vulnerability, is

0:12:24.600 --> 0:12:26.600
<v Speaker 2>really what I think makes Magnolien special.

0:12:26.880 --> 0:12:31.840
<v Speaker 7>Can I tell you something? Yeah, of course, I'm really

0:12:31.840 --> 0:12:34.960
<v Speaker 7>nervous that you're gonna hate me soon. You're gonna find

0:12:34.960 --> 0:12:35.840
<v Speaker 7>stuff out about me, and.

0:12:35.840 --> 0:12:39.079
<v Speaker 8>You're gonna hate me, no, Like, what what do you mean?

0:12:39.920 --> 0:12:44.200
<v Speaker 7>You have so much, so many good things, and you

0:12:44.240 --> 0:12:48.240
<v Speaker 7>seem so together. You're a police officer, and you seem

0:12:48.280 --> 0:12:51.480
<v Speaker 7>so straight and put together without any problems.

0:12:51.640 --> 0:12:55.400
<v Speaker 8>I lost my gun today? What I lost my gun today?

0:12:55.400 --> 0:12:57.079
<v Speaker 8>When I left you? And I'm the laughing stock of

0:12:57.120 --> 0:13:01.000
<v Speaker 8>a lot of people. I wanted to tell you. I

0:13:01.040 --> 0:13:01.760
<v Speaker 8>wanted you to know.

0:13:02.000 --> 0:13:02.600
<v Speaker 3>And it's on my.

0:13:02.679 --> 0:13:06.440
<v Speaker 8>Mind and it makes me look like a fool. I

0:13:06.480 --> 0:13:07.280
<v Speaker 8>feel like a fool.

0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.839
<v Speaker 1>That might be my favorite scene. Really love the film

0:13:10.840 --> 0:13:15.560
<v Speaker 1>on this rewatch, and you're right, it's relatively unshowy in

0:13:15.679 --> 0:13:17.720
<v Speaker 1>terms of the camera work compared to a lot of

0:13:17.760 --> 0:13:21.079
<v Speaker 1>what we get here. But the timing of Riley's response

0:13:21.679 --> 0:13:26.600
<v Speaker 1>when Officer Jim jumps in as she's talking about how

0:13:26.720 --> 0:13:29.600
<v Speaker 1>she's messed up and he's so good and I lost

0:13:29.640 --> 0:13:32.040
<v Speaker 1>my gun today, and it's like he just he blurts

0:13:32.040 --> 0:13:33.679
<v Speaker 1>it out, because you're right, he's trying to keep up

0:13:33.679 --> 0:13:35.839
<v Speaker 1>with her with what she's throwing at him. And then

0:13:35.840 --> 0:13:38.680
<v Speaker 1>what he follows that up with, I'm looked down on

0:13:38.920 --> 0:13:41.839
<v Speaker 1>and I know that, and he's he's it's it's as

0:13:41.840 --> 0:13:44.400
<v Speaker 1>if he may have always known that, but he's maybe

0:13:44.440 --> 0:13:47.160
<v Speaker 1>never admitted it to himself until this moment, right, and

0:13:47.240 --> 0:13:51.120
<v Speaker 1>her presence and her vulnerability is allowing him to do that.

0:13:51.360 --> 0:13:54.800
<v Speaker 1>And then there is a bit of technical virtuosity when

0:13:54.840 --> 0:13:57.600
<v Speaker 1>they kiss and we get the camera push in on right.

0:13:57.920 --> 0:13:59.920
<v Speaker 1>I will have other things to say about other us

0:14:00.240 --> 0:14:02.600
<v Speaker 1>of camera pushes, the maybe four hundred and eighty three

0:14:02.640 --> 0:14:05.520
<v Speaker 1>we get in the first twenty minutes, but this camera

0:14:05.559 --> 0:14:09.880
<v Speaker 1>push is absolutely perfect. I also like about Officer Jim

0:14:09.920 --> 0:14:14.040
<v Speaker 1>and Riley's performance out He's always talking and the choice

0:14:14.080 --> 0:14:17.000
<v Speaker 1>Anderson makes. There are a couple times in the movie

0:14:17.040 --> 0:14:19.400
<v Speaker 1>where he's still talking and we see that but we

0:14:19.480 --> 0:14:20.280
<v Speaker 1>can't hear him.

0:14:20.360 --> 0:14:20.520
<v Speaker 5>Right.

0:14:20.600 --> 0:14:24.320
<v Speaker 1>One is when he's escorting Donnie back into the store

0:14:24.360 --> 0:14:26.640
<v Speaker 1>to put back the money's from that he's rout from

0:14:26.640 --> 0:14:27.040
<v Speaker 1>the and.

0:14:27.000 --> 0:14:29.960
<v Speaker 2>The sail actually in a more dramatic way.

0:14:29.840 --> 0:14:31.800
<v Speaker 1>That's what I was gonna say. With Donnie, we see

0:14:31.880 --> 0:14:34.440
<v Speaker 1>his mouth moving, we see Officer Jim's mouth moving, and

0:14:34.440 --> 0:14:37.280
<v Speaker 1>we just don't hear him. But then you're right, the

0:14:37.360 --> 0:14:39.600
<v Speaker 1>final scene we do kind of hear him, and if

0:14:39.600 --> 0:14:42.440
<v Speaker 1>you listen in over the Amy Man song, you can

0:14:42.480 --> 0:14:44.280
<v Speaker 1>make out what he's saying, but it's not what the

0:14:44.360 --> 0:14:46.840
<v Speaker 1>soundtrack prioritizes no, So it's just a good way of

0:14:46.920 --> 0:14:50.600
<v Speaker 1>keeping that reaction yes and keeping that character consistent. This

0:14:50.640 --> 0:14:52.640
<v Speaker 1>is a guy who's just always talking, trying to say

0:14:52.680 --> 0:14:56.280
<v Speaker 1>the right thing, being helpful more often than not, I think.

0:14:56.080 --> 0:14:57.000
<v Speaker 2>But certainly trying.

0:14:57.040 --> 0:15:01.080
<v Speaker 1>I do love that quality about him. So the overarching

0:15:01.160 --> 0:15:04.480
<v Speaker 1>thing that I enjoyed about this movie seen in a

0:15:04.520 --> 0:15:07.560
<v Speaker 1>second time, and it sounds ridiculous not to have watched

0:15:07.600 --> 0:15:10.080
<v Speaker 1>this movie a second time because it is so overwhelming.

0:15:10.120 --> 0:15:11.960
<v Speaker 1>How could I not have wanted to go back to

0:15:12.040 --> 0:15:14.680
<v Speaker 1>it and try to figure out more and just pe

0:15:14.680 --> 0:15:15.560
<v Speaker 1>smart again.

0:15:15.480 --> 0:15:17.320
<v Speaker 2>More than any other film. And I'll just say real quick,

0:15:17.320 --> 0:15:20.960
<v Speaker 2>we've watched some mind benders in this nine series for sure,

0:15:21.000 --> 0:15:23.200
<v Speaker 2>looking back on The Matrix and The Sixth Sense and

0:15:23.360 --> 0:15:26.160
<v Speaker 2>other films and John Welco to make sense, and this

0:15:26.240 --> 0:15:27.800
<v Speaker 2>is the only one where I really feel like I

0:15:27.800 --> 0:15:29.760
<v Speaker 2>needed to watch it a second time before discussing it

0:15:29.840 --> 0:15:31.640
<v Speaker 2>or what would ultimately be a third time.

0:15:32.120 --> 0:15:35.200
<v Speaker 1>For sure, And as wild as it all is, it

0:15:35.240 --> 0:15:38.400
<v Speaker 1>all comes together in at least one way. I'm not

0:15:38.400 --> 0:15:41.680
<v Speaker 1>saying there's an answer or a clue, but it is

0:15:41.760 --> 0:15:45.640
<v Speaker 1>considering this essential question, it seems to me basically, do

0:15:45.800 --> 0:15:49.120
<v Speaker 1>things happen for a reason? Is everything the phrase that's

0:15:49.240 --> 0:15:53.640
<v Speaker 1>repeated often a matter of chance? Or are things crucially connected?

0:15:53.720 --> 0:15:57.080
<v Speaker 1>And I think from the structure of this film, to

0:15:57.160 --> 0:16:00.800
<v Speaker 1>the emotional beats that it hits, to the throw the

0:16:00.880 --> 0:16:04.480
<v Speaker 1>frogs in here too, Magnolia argues that, yes, we are connected.

0:16:04.880 --> 0:16:09.200
<v Speaker 1>It may not be entirely sure how we're connected or

0:16:09.240 --> 0:16:12.000
<v Speaker 1>why we're connected, but undoubtedly this is a movie that's

0:16:12.000 --> 0:16:15.480
<v Speaker 1>pro connection, it's anti chaos, and I think this is

0:16:15.520 --> 0:16:18.360
<v Speaker 1>why for all of its tragedy, and you know, there

0:16:18.440 --> 0:16:21.680
<v Speaker 1>are some really awful things we learn that these some

0:16:21.720 --> 0:16:24.560
<v Speaker 1>of these characters have suffered. Yes, I do find it

0:16:24.840 --> 0:16:27.840
<v Speaker 1>strangely comforting, and I think this is maybe where the

0:16:27.920 --> 0:16:31.280
<v Speaker 1>regret theme is important. And regret is also something that's

0:16:31.360 --> 0:16:34.120
<v Speaker 1>mentioned a number of times by multiple characters when we

0:16:34.160 --> 0:16:36.880
<v Speaker 1>learn about the awful things they've done that they should

0:16:36.920 --> 0:16:41.360
<v Speaker 1>be regretful about. But if regret, basically, if everything is

0:16:41.760 --> 0:16:44.520
<v Speaker 1>just a coincidence, then what's the point of regret?

0:16:45.080 --> 0:16:45.240
<v Speaker 3>Right?

0:16:45.320 --> 0:16:48.760
<v Speaker 1>Why bother with regret if there's no sense of control

0:16:48.800 --> 0:16:51.720
<v Speaker 1>here at all? And I think it's because the movie

0:16:51.720 --> 0:16:54.640
<v Speaker 1>shows us that there is regret, because we are connected

0:16:55.040 --> 0:16:57.120
<v Speaker 1>by the things that are beyond our control, yes, by

0:16:57.120 --> 0:16:59.640
<v Speaker 1>things that are greater than us, yes, but also by

0:16:59.640 --> 0:17:03.760
<v Speaker 1>our voices, especially those choices in our relationships. So again

0:17:03.840 --> 0:17:05.960
<v Speaker 1>back to Officer Jim near the end, when he says,

0:17:06.520 --> 0:17:08.920
<v Speaker 1>can we forgive? That's the part that's the tough part

0:17:08.960 --> 0:17:11.080
<v Speaker 1>of the job. That's a tough part of walking down

0:17:11.080 --> 0:17:11.600
<v Speaker 1>the street.

0:17:11.680 --> 0:17:11.920
<v Speaker 5>Right.

0:17:12.400 --> 0:17:15.160
<v Speaker 1>That's one way to corral the chaos of the universe,

0:17:15.560 --> 0:17:18.639
<v Speaker 1>to forgive. And that's a through line that was just

0:17:18.720 --> 0:17:22.240
<v Speaker 1>so consistent for me in watching this movie. That is

0:17:22.240 --> 0:17:24.080
<v Speaker 1>probably one of the things I should have focused on

0:17:24.119 --> 0:17:27.520
<v Speaker 1>and been less worried about whatever trick Anderson was pulling

0:17:27.560 --> 0:17:28.440
<v Speaker 1>out of his bag to get there.

0:17:28.480 --> 0:17:31.080
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, well, there's certainly a lot of Catharsis here, and

0:17:31.760 --> 0:17:35.399
<v Speaker 2>there are undoubtedly connections not just being made with the camera.

0:17:35.440 --> 0:17:37.800
<v Speaker 2>But if you really break it down all nine or

0:17:37.840 --> 0:17:40.000
<v Speaker 2>ten or however many characters there are in this film,

0:17:40.359 --> 0:17:42.680
<v Speaker 2>we see that there is something that is linking them

0:17:42.720 --> 0:17:46.040
<v Speaker 2>beyond just the thematics, but there's that thematic element as well,

0:17:46.119 --> 0:17:50.439
<v Speaker 2>And in every sort of subplot there is an element

0:17:50.560 --> 0:17:53.880
<v Speaker 2>of a patriarch, as I mentioned, who has done terrible

0:17:54.000 --> 0:17:57.200
<v Speaker 2>damage to a child, and I think one of the

0:17:57.240 --> 0:17:59.520
<v Speaker 2>things that's kind of comforting about the ending of the

0:17:59.520 --> 0:18:01.640
<v Speaker 2>film though, or a moment near the end of the film,

0:18:01.680 --> 0:18:06.680
<v Speaker 2>even though it's not necessarily the moment of emotional breakthrough

0:18:06.720 --> 0:18:08.560
<v Speaker 2>we would want on the part of the father, But

0:18:08.640 --> 0:18:11.399
<v Speaker 2>when Stanley is able to go into his father and

0:18:11.520 --> 0:18:16.320
<v Speaker 2>confront him with his father's mistreatment of his abuse, maybe

0:18:16.359 --> 0:18:19.840
<v Speaker 2>not on the scale of Malaura Walter's character or of

0:18:19.880 --> 0:18:23.400
<v Speaker 2>Frank tom Cruise's character at the hands of Jason Robard's

0:18:23.520 --> 0:18:25.399
<v Speaker 2>but the fact that he's able to go in you

0:18:25.440 --> 0:18:27.920
<v Speaker 2>talk about that connection. It's as if, even though he

0:18:28.000 --> 0:18:30.719
<v Speaker 2>doesn't know those other people in this story that we're watching,

0:18:30.840 --> 0:18:32.960
<v Speaker 2>we know the other people and we know what they've

0:18:33.000 --> 0:18:35.480
<v Speaker 2>lived through, and we know what they regret and feel

0:18:35.680 --> 0:18:38.720
<v Speaker 2>at this point in their lives, and somehow he has

0:18:38.760 --> 0:18:41.320
<v Speaker 2>absorbed that and now he's able to go into his

0:18:41.359 --> 0:18:44.160
<v Speaker 2>father and say things need to be different, and there's hope.

0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:47.840
<v Speaker 2>There's hope in Stanley that somehow does I think, make

0:18:47.920 --> 0:18:50.680
<v Speaker 2>you feel better about everything at the end of this film.

0:18:50.720 --> 0:18:52.480
<v Speaker 1>I like how that scene is played too, though, where

0:18:52.600 --> 0:18:56.520
<v Speaker 1>his father doesn't he kind of ignores him and tells

0:18:56.560 --> 0:18:58.119
<v Speaker 1>him to go to bed. You go back to bed twice,

0:18:58.160 --> 0:19:02.280
<v Speaker 1>so it doesn't play it for this easy, now cathartic moment,

0:19:02.320 --> 0:19:04.119
<v Speaker 1>but you're right, you do get the sense that a

0:19:04.200 --> 0:19:05.680
<v Speaker 1>choice has been made. That's Stanley.

0:19:05.760 --> 0:19:08.040
<v Speaker 2>I think it's just in the act of confronting it.

0:19:08.080 --> 0:19:09.360
<v Speaker 2>And I'm going to talk about that a little bit

0:19:09.359 --> 0:19:13.520
<v Speaker 2>more because when you talk about John c Riley's character

0:19:13.720 --> 0:19:17.520
<v Speaker 2>and him telling us in that kind of voiceover about

0:19:17.760 --> 0:19:21.160
<v Speaker 2>how hard it is just dealing with forgiveness and getting

0:19:21.200 --> 0:19:24.080
<v Speaker 2>through the day, that's a meta element in a film

0:19:24.080 --> 0:19:25.879
<v Speaker 2>that has a lot of them. The fact that we

0:19:26.000 --> 0:19:29.639
<v Speaker 2>hear him sometimes talking to us where it's almost as

0:19:29.680 --> 0:19:31.880
<v Speaker 2>if there's a documentary crew in the car with him,

0:19:31.880 --> 0:19:35.400
<v Speaker 2>but not really, but he's clearly just talking to himself.

0:19:35.480 --> 0:19:36.120
<v Speaker 2>To himself.

0:19:36.200 --> 0:19:38.000
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, that's how I understand it, but it very.

0:19:37.960 --> 0:19:40.439
<v Speaker 2>Much feels like he's talking to us the audience. And

0:19:40.720 --> 0:19:44.919
<v Speaker 2>there is that moment where Phil Parma, the Philip Seymour

0:19:44.920 --> 0:19:48.200
<v Speaker 2>Hoffman character and Wow, talk about an amazing performance, not

0:19:48.240 --> 0:19:50.960
<v Speaker 2>a surprise and believe somehow a surprise. It's just how

0:19:51.000 --> 0:19:53.040
<v Speaker 2>good it was. When he's talking on the phone and

0:19:53.080 --> 0:19:55.840
<v Speaker 2>he's saying, this is that scene in the movie. Things

0:19:55.840 --> 0:19:58.000
<v Speaker 2>happen in the movie sometimes like this and I need

0:19:58.040 --> 0:20:00.040
<v Speaker 2>you to now do it. I like that because it

0:20:00.040 --> 0:20:02.879
<v Speaker 2>fits in with I think everything else is going on

0:20:03.280 --> 0:20:08.119
<v Speaker 2>in the film. The moment when we are exiting Malaura

0:20:08.200 --> 0:20:12.919
<v Speaker 2>Walter's apartment and the camera quickly shows us the painting

0:20:12.960 --> 0:20:14.760
<v Speaker 2>on the wall and the part that says, but it

0:20:14.840 --> 0:20:17.119
<v Speaker 2>did happen that's written on the painting, a note just

0:20:17.200 --> 0:20:19.800
<v Speaker 2>for us the viewer. The fact that most of the

0:20:19.880 --> 0:20:23.240
<v Speaker 2>drama and suspense is built around a TV show, right,

0:20:23.520 --> 0:20:26.080
<v Speaker 2>characters watching it at different points. It's the game show,

0:20:26.359 --> 0:20:29.440
<v Speaker 2>and how that plays out the fact that Earl Partridge,

0:20:29.600 --> 0:20:34.479
<v Speaker 2>the Jason Robard's character, is a TV producer who is

0:20:34.480 --> 0:20:37.439
<v Speaker 2>the producer of that game show. And it makes you

0:20:37.440 --> 0:20:39.280
<v Speaker 2>think of the Partridge Family. Of course, this is the

0:20:39.359 --> 0:20:43.000
<v Speaker 2>dysfunctional version of the Partridge family, and all these characters

0:20:43.040 --> 0:20:45.720
<v Speaker 2>tie back to him. And did you catch in the

0:20:45.760 --> 0:20:49.800
<v Speaker 2>credits to the Henry Gibson character, the kind of character

0:20:49.800 --> 0:20:52.240
<v Speaker 2>who's in the bar putting on the airs of being

0:20:52.280 --> 0:20:55.320
<v Speaker 2>this rich man of class who's talking to and kind

0:20:55.320 --> 0:20:58.880
<v Speaker 2>of harassing Donnie. The William H. Macy character. His name

0:20:58.960 --> 0:21:02.200
<v Speaker 2>is Thurston Howell, which is the millionaire character from Gilligan's island,

0:21:02.240 --> 0:21:05.200
<v Speaker 2>so Pta is playing with all of this stuff, including

0:21:05.440 --> 0:21:08.399
<v Speaker 2>all of the different references to Exodus eight two and

0:21:08.480 --> 0:21:10.879
<v Speaker 2>the different uses of the numbers eight and two that

0:21:10.920 --> 0:21:12.639
<v Speaker 2>are in the film. The movie just dares you to

0:21:12.760 --> 0:21:15.919
<v Speaker 2>repeatedly watch it, as we noted for these connections. But

0:21:16.200 --> 0:21:20.200
<v Speaker 2>a couple more, Cruz unravels in front of a camera.

0:21:20.320 --> 0:21:23.760
<v Speaker 2>His entire facade breaks down when he's questioned for a

0:21:23.800 --> 0:21:26.040
<v Speaker 2>TV news profile of some kind. And isn't the whole

0:21:26.040 --> 0:21:28.960
<v Speaker 2>film in a way just a bye? How obviously cinematic

0:21:29.000 --> 0:21:31.160
<v Speaker 2>it is. Isn't it all kind of like a TV

0:21:31.280 --> 0:21:34.440
<v Speaker 2>drama with all these different characters that you meet, whether

0:21:34.480 --> 0:21:37.160
<v Speaker 2>it's a sitcom or whatever, or a melodrama, all these

0:21:37.160 --> 0:21:39.600
<v Speaker 2>different storylines. Think it's just kind of checking in on.

0:21:39.680 --> 0:21:42.240
<v Speaker 1>I compared it, and not derisively, to a soap opera

0:21:42.400 --> 0:21:43.280
<v Speaker 1>in my original partner.

0:21:43.400 --> 0:21:46.240
<v Speaker 2>There is the element to it, but that all from

0:21:46.280 --> 0:21:48.639
<v Speaker 2>me is building to a great moment in this idea

0:21:48.680 --> 0:21:51.480
<v Speaker 2>of confrontation. And I want to talk about some of

0:21:51.480 --> 0:21:54.040
<v Speaker 2>the surprises in the movie for you. If there were,

0:21:54.320 --> 0:21:56.880
<v Speaker 2>as there have been throughout this series, certain moments where

0:21:56.920 --> 0:21:59.680
<v Speaker 2>you just completely had forgotten about them in the twenty

0:21:59.720 --> 0:22:02.080
<v Speaker 2>years that have passed. I kind of forgot about the

0:22:02.119 --> 0:22:06.520
<v Speaker 2>Melinda Dylan character who plays Philip Baker Hall Jimmy Gator,

0:22:06.560 --> 0:22:09.359
<v Speaker 2>the TV host wife, and I forgot about that scene

0:22:09.600 --> 0:22:12.879
<v Speaker 2>completely that they have where he's come home from the

0:22:12.880 --> 0:22:16.760
<v Speaker 2>taping he has had some kind of attack, he's dying,

0:22:16.920 --> 0:22:18.480
<v Speaker 2>and we've seen her up to this point be the

0:22:18.560 --> 0:22:21.280
<v Speaker 2>doting wife. She has always been caring for him and

0:22:21.400 --> 0:22:24.920
<v Speaker 2>worried about him, and you feel like she has possibly

0:22:25.000 --> 0:22:28.600
<v Speaker 2>become content to accept a certain version of her life.

0:22:29.080 --> 0:22:32.440
<v Speaker 2>She is married to this guy who's successful, She's had

0:22:32.440 --> 0:22:35.400
<v Speaker 2>a good life, and she loves this man, but she's

0:22:35.440 --> 0:22:38.840
<v Speaker 2>been in denial about his past indiscretions, which he confesses

0:22:38.880 --> 0:22:42.280
<v Speaker 2>to cheating on her multiple times, and she's probably been

0:22:42.320 --> 0:22:46.080
<v Speaker 2>in denial about the sexual abuse of their daughter. And

0:22:46.359 --> 0:22:50.120
<v Speaker 2>it's only when he unburdens himself of one of those

0:22:50.200 --> 0:22:53.119
<v Speaker 2>anchors that's around his neck as he's dying, but not

0:22:53.280 --> 0:22:57.240
<v Speaker 2>the other, that she forces him to really confront it.

0:22:57.240 --> 0:22:58.880
<v Speaker 2>It's as if she's saying, if you're going to try

0:22:58.880 --> 0:23:01.880
<v Speaker 2>to make yourself feel better as you die by telling

0:23:01.960 --> 0:23:05.080
<v Speaker 2>the truth and making me deal with this now, well

0:23:05.400 --> 0:23:08.240
<v Speaker 2>then you're gonna have to actually be totally honest with

0:23:08.359 --> 0:23:10.800
<v Speaker 2>yourself and with me, and I'm gonna have to hear

0:23:10.840 --> 0:23:12.680
<v Speaker 2>all of it. And her line when she turns to

0:23:12.760 --> 0:23:16.480
<v Speaker 2>him and says, I'm not through asking my questions. Yeah,

0:23:16.520 --> 0:23:18.960
<v Speaker 2>that's one of the great lines and great line deliveries

0:23:18.960 --> 0:23:21.600
<v Speaker 2>in the entire movie. I think. I think it speaks

0:23:21.600 --> 0:23:25.240
<v Speaker 2>to the inquisitive nature of this movie and that idea

0:23:25.320 --> 0:23:29.560
<v Speaker 2>of confronting truth, confronting the reality within the randomness, and

0:23:29.800 --> 0:23:34.080
<v Speaker 2>accepting certain narratives or abandoning certain accepted narratives. We see

0:23:34.080 --> 0:23:36.960
<v Speaker 2>all these characters trying to carve out these new paths

0:23:37.320 --> 0:23:39.760
<v Speaker 2>that seem to have been decided for them, So all

0:23:39.840 --> 0:23:42.720
<v Speaker 2>those meta elements actually kind of swirl together, I think

0:23:42.760 --> 0:23:44.120
<v Speaker 2>in a really neat way.

0:23:44.200 --> 0:23:46.439
<v Speaker 1>I'm so glad you brought up Melinda Dylan because I

0:23:46.480 --> 0:23:50.000
<v Speaker 1>did remember that scene. I actually did not remember. I mean,

0:23:50.040 --> 0:23:53.520
<v Speaker 1>it's really kind of the most horrible secret of the film,

0:23:53.560 --> 0:23:55.639
<v Speaker 1>So it did stick with me, but I did not

0:23:55.760 --> 0:23:58.520
<v Speaker 1>remember who played the wife, and I do not remember

0:23:58.520 --> 0:24:01.200
<v Speaker 1>how good she was in that scene. Because the element,

0:24:01.760 --> 0:24:04.320
<v Speaker 1>you're right how you describe it, But it also is

0:24:04.359 --> 0:24:06.679
<v Speaker 1>not like a got you like a courtroom sort of

0:24:06.720 --> 0:24:09.600
<v Speaker 1>you're on the stand now you realize in her performance,

0:24:09.640 --> 0:24:13.240
<v Speaker 1>the little hesitation she has, she could make that choice

0:24:13.280 --> 0:24:15.840
<v Speaker 1>to still deny it tell what you're talking about. But

0:24:15.880 --> 0:24:19.760
<v Speaker 1>the courage it took for her to say he may

0:24:20.240 --> 0:24:23.440
<v Speaker 1>die tonight, but I am going to follow this through

0:24:23.560 --> 0:24:26.600
<v Speaker 1>no matter how painful this is going to get, and

0:24:26.640 --> 0:24:28.439
<v Speaker 1>the courage that she brings to that. I think she

0:24:28.520 --> 0:24:31.280
<v Speaker 1>probably has maybe three scenes in the film or four,

0:24:31.880 --> 0:24:34.920
<v Speaker 1>but that scene between them is just so absolutely wrenching,

0:24:34.920 --> 0:24:36.159
<v Speaker 1>and she's fantastic in it.

0:24:36.960 --> 0:24:38.640
<v Speaker 4>Do you feel better now that you've said this?

0:24:41.240 --> 0:24:41.719
<v Speaker 5>I don't know.

0:24:44.440 --> 0:24:45.000
<v Speaker 3>Well, I'm not.

0:24:46.480 --> 0:24:54.320
<v Speaker 1>Mad, Oh I am, but I'm not.

0:24:54.960 --> 0:24:58.520
<v Speaker 3>You know, I love you so much, Ruse.

0:24:59.280 --> 0:25:01.199
<v Speaker 4>I'm not through asking my questions.

0:25:02.440 --> 0:25:04.520
<v Speaker 1>The other performances that I did want to talk about,

0:25:04.560 --> 0:25:06.280
<v Speaker 1>you've touched on a lot of them. I think we

0:25:06.359 --> 0:25:09.359
<v Speaker 1>covered what's so great about Riley Philip Seymour Hoffman. You

0:25:09.359 --> 0:25:12.520
<v Speaker 1>absolutely see why Paul Thomas Anderson was like, I'm eventually

0:25:12.520 --> 0:25:14.600
<v Speaker 1>giving this guy his own movie or as close as

0:25:14.640 --> 0:25:17.560
<v Speaker 1>you could. Yeah, with the Master from what he does here,

0:25:18.119 --> 0:25:21.760
<v Speaker 1>I feel like that line, this is that scene.

0:25:22.480 --> 0:25:24.920
<v Speaker 6>I know this sounds silly, and I know that I

0:25:25.040 --> 0:25:27.800
<v Speaker 6>might sound ridiculous like this is the scene of the

0:25:27.840 --> 0:25:29.200
<v Speaker 6>movie where the guy's trying to get a hold of

0:25:29.240 --> 0:25:32.560
<v Speaker 6>the long Lost Sun, you know, but this is that scene.

0:25:33.680 --> 0:25:34.560
<v Speaker 3>This is that scene.

0:25:34.600 --> 0:25:37.560
<v Speaker 6>And I think they have those scenes in movies because

0:25:37.560 --> 0:25:41.480
<v Speaker 6>they're true, you know, because they really happen, and you

0:25:41.640 --> 0:25:44.000
<v Speaker 6>gotta believe me, this is really happening.

0:25:45.000 --> 0:25:49.840
<v Speaker 1>It's again, it's it's pta like dancing, like just like

0:25:50.000 --> 0:25:53.119
<v Speaker 1>it's a little too little, too much. But if anybody,

0:25:53.119 --> 0:25:56.080
<v Speaker 1>if you tell it Philip Seymour Hoffman to say it, Okay,

0:25:56.359 --> 0:25:58.560
<v Speaker 1>it's gonna work, and he pulls it off for sure.

0:25:58.600 --> 0:25:59.919
<v Speaker 2>I just want to say he makes it something to

0:26:00.160 --> 0:26:04.000
<v Speaker 2>human would say, yeah, he does, while also being idiosyncratic

0:26:04.119 --> 0:26:07.920
<v Speaker 2>with every moment, but not distractingly. So anything that he says,

0:26:07.920 --> 0:26:10.280
<v Speaker 2>it's supposed to be remotely comic, is a little funnier

0:26:10.320 --> 0:26:12.480
<v Speaker 2>than that moment probably should be or could have been

0:26:12.480 --> 0:26:15.760
<v Speaker 2>with another actor. And you talk about wrenching every emotional

0:26:16.000 --> 0:26:19.160
<v Speaker 2>beat is a little more heartbreaking than that moment could

0:26:19.200 --> 0:26:22.840
<v Speaker 2>otherwise be. I think, because really the secret of it,

0:26:22.880 --> 0:26:25.359
<v Speaker 2>I think to the acting with Hoffmann is that he's

0:26:25.400 --> 0:26:28.399
<v Speaker 2>always serving the other character in the scene, whether it's Cruise,

0:26:28.560 --> 0:26:32.480
<v Speaker 2>whether it's Robarts, whether it's Julian Moore and her history.

0:26:33.280 --> 0:26:35.840
<v Speaker 2>Really see it right, He's just a character and an

0:26:35.880 --> 0:26:39.760
<v Speaker 2>actor ultimately who's bursting with empathy and as I said,

0:26:39.960 --> 0:26:41.800
<v Speaker 2>not a surprise because we all know he's one of

0:26:41.840 --> 0:26:44.760
<v Speaker 2>the best actors ever, and yet moment to moment he

0:26:44.840 --> 0:26:45.800
<v Speaker 2>constantly surprised me.

0:26:45.880 --> 0:26:48.080
<v Speaker 1>You know what's interesting about him in the film is

0:26:48.200 --> 0:26:50.800
<v Speaker 1>that a lot of these are uncomfortable characters, and even

0:26:50.800 --> 0:26:53.239
<v Speaker 1>if you're interested in their stories and where they're going

0:26:53.280 --> 0:26:55.560
<v Speaker 1>to go, when we return to them, you're a little

0:26:55.560 --> 0:26:58.560
<v Speaker 1>bit on edge. Whenever it comes back to Phil, you

0:26:58.560 --> 0:27:01.440
<v Speaker 1>feel like you're in good hands. This is a good

0:27:01.480 --> 0:27:04.119
<v Speaker 1>place to be. Part of that is the occupation this nurse,

0:27:04.520 --> 0:27:07.560
<v Speaker 1>but it's also the empathy that you talked about. So Cruz,

0:27:07.720 --> 0:27:09.919
<v Speaker 1>I mean, you know, not surprising that it was probably

0:27:09.920 --> 0:27:11.560
<v Speaker 1>the stand up performance for me the first time I

0:27:11.600 --> 0:27:14.040
<v Speaker 1>saw it. Watching it again, I like to think, and

0:27:14.080 --> 0:27:16.760
<v Speaker 1>having seen twenty years of time Cruise performances since then,

0:27:17.040 --> 0:27:20.160
<v Speaker 1>I like to think that on set, the early version

0:27:20.200 --> 0:27:22.440
<v Speaker 1>of Frank Mackie we get is that Cruz does like

0:27:22.480 --> 0:27:25.000
<v Speaker 1>a less misogynistic version of that for himself to get

0:27:25.040 --> 0:27:28.199
<v Speaker 1>himself pumped up for every scene. He does. It's just

0:27:28.720 --> 0:27:32.520
<v Speaker 1>fantastic how he gets himself ramped up and he's giving

0:27:32.520 --> 0:27:35.880
<v Speaker 1>two performances here. Right, there's that creening first half where

0:27:35.880 --> 0:27:38.400
<v Speaker 1>we see him and then also the bravado breaking down

0:27:38.800 --> 0:27:42.879
<v Speaker 1>during the interview that he mentioned. But really the breakdown comes.

0:27:42.920 --> 0:27:45.640
<v Speaker 1>He doesn't break down there, He kind of like shuts

0:27:45.680 --> 0:27:48.560
<v Speaker 1>down there, right, that's stare and he just says, I'm

0:27:48.560 --> 0:27:49.840
<v Speaker 1>silently judging you.

0:27:50.000 --> 0:27:51.520
<v Speaker 2>Yes, wow, yeah.

0:27:51.560 --> 0:27:54.919
<v Speaker 1>But the real breakdown comes when he does, of course

0:27:54.960 --> 0:27:59.000
<v Speaker 1>finally meet his father who's on his deathbed, and again

0:27:59.160 --> 0:28:03.000
<v Speaker 1>Cruse using his Cruise powers not to cry, right and

0:28:03.119 --> 0:28:05.720
<v Speaker 1>saying that right, I'm not gonna let you make me cry,

0:28:06.119 --> 0:28:10.400
<v Speaker 1>even though as an actor that's what the character requires.

0:28:10.440 --> 0:28:13.199
<v Speaker 1>But you just knowing what sort of a performer Cruise is,

0:28:13.240 --> 0:28:15.400
<v Speaker 1>how he's one hundred and ten percent all the time. Yes,

0:28:15.480 --> 0:28:18.280
<v Speaker 1>you can see when he's gripping his hand and trying

0:28:18.280 --> 0:28:18.919
<v Speaker 1>to prevent that.

0:28:19.080 --> 0:28:21.840
<v Speaker 2>Yeah, how much he's giving that, I think not a surprise.

0:28:21.880 --> 0:28:25.080
<v Speaker 2>You're right, And yet I did feel like he was

0:28:25.119 --> 0:28:27.040
<v Speaker 2>even better than I remembered it. And I think it's

0:28:27.080 --> 0:28:29.960
<v Speaker 2>because in ninety nine there was that element of oh,

0:28:30.000 --> 0:28:33.080
<v Speaker 2>we're watching Tom Cruise do something he's never done before.

0:28:33.240 --> 0:28:37.320
<v Speaker 2>We're watching Tom Cruise play a vile character, and there

0:28:37.440 --> 0:28:39.600
<v Speaker 2>was a performative aspect to it. As you said, there

0:28:39.640 --> 0:28:42.800
<v Speaker 2>is certainly a performative aspect to the character he's playing.

0:28:42.800 --> 0:28:46.120
<v Speaker 2>He is playing a role absolutely as Frank TJ. Mackie,

0:28:46.120 --> 0:28:49.320
<v Speaker 2>and he is a performer on stage for his sort

0:28:49.360 --> 0:28:53.240
<v Speaker 2>of sycophantic fans who are buying his product. But it

0:28:53.320 --> 0:28:56.640
<v Speaker 2>is a very textured performance and it's a very powerful performance.

0:28:56.640 --> 0:28:59.000
<v Speaker 2>And you touched on those silent moments. It isn't just

0:28:59.120 --> 0:29:03.720
<v Speaker 2>the Blake moments of misogyny and some of the exercises

0:29:03.720 --> 0:29:06.160
<v Speaker 2>he does and is underwear that all of that that

0:29:06.240 --> 0:29:10.280
<v Speaker 2>came back right, It really is again it speaks to

0:29:10.320 --> 0:29:12.479
<v Speaker 2>the whole film. It's those quieter moments. And I do

0:29:12.520 --> 0:29:15.240
<v Speaker 2>think that breakdown with Robards and you nailed it. That

0:29:15.880 --> 0:29:19.400
<v Speaker 2>demand of himself to not cry, but his body taking

0:29:19.440 --> 0:29:22.320
<v Speaker 2>over in those moments and kind of almost forcing it

0:29:22.360 --> 0:29:24.200
<v Speaker 2>out of him is really strong.

0:29:25.360 --> 0:29:38.680
<v Speaker 5>I'm not gonna cry. I'm not gonna cry for you,

0:29:38.680 --> 0:29:43.080
<v Speaker 5>you sucker. I know you could hear me. I hate

0:29:43.120 --> 0:29:51.160
<v Speaker 5>your guts. You can just dye you. And I hope

0:29:51.160 --> 0:29:52.600
<v Speaker 5>it hurts. I hope it.

0:29:52.600 --> 0:29:57.720
<v Speaker 2>Hurts now I'll throw at you. As I mentioned from

0:29:58.040 --> 0:30:00.920
<v Speaker 2>your ninety nine take, not a fan of William H.

0:30:00.960 --> 0:30:05.120
<v Speaker 2>Macy and Julianne Moore. I do think that Donnie's storyline

0:30:05.160 --> 0:30:07.640
<v Speaker 2>overall is the weakest link in the film. I do

0:30:07.720 --> 0:30:09.960
<v Speaker 2>feel like those bar scenes. Anytime we go back to

0:30:10.040 --> 0:30:13.000
<v Speaker 2>that bar, I felt as if I was ready. I

0:30:13.040 --> 0:30:15.400
<v Speaker 2>was ready to go, sooner than Paul Thomas Anderson was

0:30:15.440 --> 0:30:17.760
<v Speaker 2>ready to go, ready to get back to some other characters.

0:30:17.800 --> 0:30:20.720
<v Speaker 2>Felt like it maybe meandered a little bit and definitely

0:30:20.800 --> 0:30:24.880
<v Speaker 2>had some redundancy in terms of him articulating his pain

0:30:25.000 --> 0:30:27.000
<v Speaker 2>and his loneliness. That isn't to say though I don't

0:30:27.000 --> 0:30:29.520
<v Speaker 2>think William H. Macy's really good in the film. I

0:30:29.520 --> 0:30:32.440
<v Speaker 2>think it's exactly the type of performance we've seen from

0:30:32.440 --> 0:30:34.240
<v Speaker 2>William H. Macy in a lot of great films.

0:30:34.400 --> 0:30:37.600
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I would say, you know, I excited those two performances,

0:30:37.640 --> 0:30:39.920
<v Speaker 1>but I think it was more to suggest that the

0:30:40.000 --> 0:30:42.800
<v Speaker 1>material was not serving them as well as it served

0:30:42.840 --> 0:30:46.040
<v Speaker 1>the other characters. I do agree, and maybe for me

0:30:46.120 --> 0:30:49.480
<v Speaker 1>partly it's also the obviously it's a film of coincidences,

0:30:49.520 --> 0:30:52.400
<v Speaker 1>but having two quiz kids, a grown quiz kid and

0:30:52.400 --> 0:30:54.560
<v Speaker 1>the Young quiz Kid was almost, you know, like too

0:30:54.600 --> 0:30:57.240
<v Speaker 1>much of a doubling down on that sort of theme.

0:30:57.320 --> 0:30:59.960
<v Speaker 1>And the one thing watching again that I did notice

0:31:00.200 --> 0:31:03.600
<v Speaker 1>about both More and William H. Macy scenes and Laura

0:31:03.600 --> 0:31:05.800
<v Speaker 1>Walter scenes has a bit of this, but as I said,

0:31:05.960 --> 0:31:10.400
<v Speaker 1>I think she navigates them a little bit better. There's

0:31:10.440 --> 0:31:14.800
<v Speaker 1>a lot of shouting back and forth with other people,

0:31:14.840 --> 0:31:17.920
<v Speaker 1>whether it's the multiple lawyers that Julianne Moore's character goes

0:31:17.960 --> 0:31:21.440
<v Speaker 1>to me or Donnie with his bosses. It speaks also

0:31:21.480 --> 0:31:25.040
<v Speaker 1>to this element of this was a movie that you

0:31:25.120 --> 0:31:26.760
<v Speaker 1>get the sense, and it sounds like he said he

0:31:26.840 --> 0:31:29.600
<v Speaker 1>wasn't going to cut a second out of and those

0:31:29.680 --> 0:31:33.720
<v Speaker 1>maybe have been the places, those heightened emotion shouting matches

0:31:33.840 --> 0:31:36.800
<v Speaker 1>that those two characters get engaged in became a little

0:31:36.800 --> 0:31:39.440
<v Speaker 1>bit redundant for me. Yeah, you know, I would not

0:31:39.480 --> 0:31:42.000
<v Speaker 1>go so far to say is they are bad performances.

0:31:42.040 --> 0:31:44.440
<v Speaker 1>I don't think the material is up to the level

0:31:44.800 --> 0:31:46.440
<v Speaker 1>there in those scenes that it is elsewhere.

0:31:46.520 --> 0:31:49.920
<v Speaker 2>Well, I'll admit I'm not sure ultimately where I fall

0:31:50.000 --> 0:31:52.000
<v Speaker 2>on Julianne Moore watching this film, and I would have

0:31:52.040 --> 0:31:53.680
<v Speaker 2>said coming into it, oh, of course, I mean I

0:31:53.680 --> 0:31:56.160
<v Speaker 2>think she was nominated for an Oscar as well, along

0:31:56.160 --> 0:31:58.360
<v Speaker 2>with Cruz, and she clearly has a great body of

0:31:58.400 --> 0:32:00.920
<v Speaker 2>work behind her. I've enjoyed a lot of her performances,

0:32:00.960 --> 0:32:04.600
<v Speaker 2>but there is a theatricality that goes beyond just a

0:32:04.640 --> 0:32:07.400
<v Speaker 2>bigness and goes beyond just the yelling. There is something

0:32:07.560 --> 0:32:10.320
<v Speaker 2>very pronounced and very forced about her performance that I

0:32:10.320 --> 0:32:13.440
<v Speaker 2>don't feel in any other performance in the film. And

0:32:13.680 --> 0:32:15.640
<v Speaker 2>you could point to the fact that she's a character

0:32:15.680 --> 0:32:20.080
<v Speaker 2>who is becoming progressively unhinged and is also fueled by drugs.

0:32:20.200 --> 0:32:22.920
<v Speaker 2>I think that's very clear. So the performance being a

0:32:22.960 --> 0:32:25.640
<v Speaker 2>little bit scattered makes sense. And yet, like I said,

0:32:25.640 --> 0:32:27.800
<v Speaker 2>it did overall stand out for me as one, I

0:32:27.920 --> 0:32:31.760
<v Speaker 2>was never quite on the same plane with her when

0:32:32.280 --> 0:32:35.360
<v Speaker 2>she was on screen. I mentioned surprises in terms of

0:32:35.400 --> 0:32:37.640
<v Speaker 2>things you just didn't remember at all about the film.

0:32:37.680 --> 0:32:40.040
<v Speaker 2>Did you have anything that stood out to you a

0:32:40.080 --> 0:32:44.200
<v Speaker 2>certain scene or an idea that wasn't something you recalled

0:32:44.200 --> 0:32:45.200
<v Speaker 2>from your previous feeling?

0:32:45.400 --> 0:32:47.520
<v Speaker 1>Well, do you want to talk about the frogs? I mean,

0:32:47.680 --> 0:32:50.400
<v Speaker 1>we can't. That's the biggest surprise in the film. Obviously

0:32:50.400 --> 0:32:53.120
<v Speaker 1>I knew it was coming, but just you know, I

0:32:53.200 --> 0:32:55.800
<v Speaker 1>also had ahead of me, and are the frogs going

0:32:55.840 --> 0:32:58.440
<v Speaker 1>to make any sense this time or any more sense?

0:32:58.680 --> 0:33:01.360
<v Speaker 1>And obviously, as you suggested, they are foreshadowed. We see

0:33:01.360 --> 0:33:04.040
<v Speaker 1>that Exodus eight two, you know about the plague of

0:33:04.040 --> 0:33:07.240
<v Speaker 1>the frogs in Egypt. We see a sign that just

0:33:07.280 --> 0:33:09.880
<v Speaker 1>says Exodus eight to an audience member holding at the

0:33:09.920 --> 0:33:13.040
<v Speaker 1>game show, and someone comes and takes it away. It's

0:33:13.080 --> 0:33:16.920
<v Speaker 1>also I think foreshadowed in the Boys rap to Officer

0:33:17.400 --> 0:33:19.760
<v Speaker 1>Jim on the street. I think the final line there

0:33:19.840 --> 0:33:22.520
<v Speaker 1>is when the sunshine don't work, the good Lord bring

0:33:22.560 --> 0:33:26.280
<v Speaker 1>the rain in, which could obviously suggest the storm we see.

0:33:26.360 --> 0:33:28.360
<v Speaker 1>But also maybe there are the storm of frogs.

0:33:28.360 --> 0:33:31.320
<v Speaker 2>There are chapter breaks too, essentially which remember that are

0:33:31.360 --> 0:33:34.200
<v Speaker 2>all weather report. It suggests maybe not that frogs are

0:33:34.240 --> 0:33:36.240
<v Speaker 2>going to fall from the sky, but the weather is

0:33:36.240 --> 0:33:39.680
<v Speaker 2>getting worse. Yes, And whether the movie's preoccupied with it, and.

0:33:39.600 --> 0:33:45.000
<v Speaker 1>Whether something still No matter whatever technological developments have come about, we.

0:33:44.880 --> 0:33:46.800
<v Speaker 2>Cannot control write it can't control.

0:33:46.880 --> 0:33:49.720
<v Speaker 1>It's the ultimate chaos. So I do think with the frogs,

0:33:49.720 --> 0:33:52.440
<v Speaker 1>it's telling that the first person to experience it is Jim,

0:33:52.560 --> 0:33:55.840
<v Speaker 1>because he's maybe the only one in the film who

0:33:55.920 --> 0:33:58.680
<v Speaker 1>who seems to believe in a providential God. Some of

0:33:58.720 --> 0:34:00.840
<v Speaker 1>those moments where he's talking to him are actually one

0:34:00.920 --> 0:34:02.040
<v Speaker 1>or two are actually prayers.

0:34:03.040 --> 0:34:03.240
<v Speaker 2>Yep.

0:34:03.360 --> 0:34:07.000
<v Speaker 1>So he seems to have this sense behind him here. Yeah, yeah, kindly, well,

0:34:07.000 --> 0:34:09.160
<v Speaker 1>he seems to have a sense that there. He believes

0:34:09.160 --> 0:34:12.800
<v Speaker 1>there's someone guiding events right, putting things in his path,

0:34:12.920 --> 0:34:16.759
<v Speaker 1>giving him then the choice of what to do with

0:34:17.280 --> 0:34:20.839
<v Speaker 1>what he comes across. So something more than just coincidence. Yeah,

0:34:21.040 --> 0:34:21.799
<v Speaker 1>and I always.

0:34:21.560 --> 0:34:23.160
<v Speaker 2>Think God too to help him find his gun.

0:34:23.320 --> 0:34:25.960
<v Speaker 1>Yes, exactly, that's another one of the prayers. Also, it's

0:34:25.960 --> 0:34:30.239
<v Speaker 1>interesting that the frogs precipitate Earl's death. That's that's kind

0:34:30.280 --> 0:34:33.799
<v Speaker 1>of what they lead up to. We've been anticipating it

0:34:33.840 --> 0:34:36.440
<v Speaker 1>the whole film really, but this is when it arrives,

0:34:36.480 --> 0:34:39.839
<v Speaker 1>and death another maybe can be seen definitive act of God.

0:34:40.400 --> 0:34:42.400
<v Speaker 1>So I think the bottom line is, you know, for me,

0:34:43.360 --> 0:34:46.319
<v Speaker 1>the frogs are they're sort of like man's songs that

0:34:46.400 --> 0:34:48.839
<v Speaker 1>are sprinkled throughout. It's just another way to connect these

0:34:48.920 --> 0:34:53.000
<v Speaker 1>characters in an exact moment with a singular experience and

0:34:53.120 --> 0:34:55.160
<v Speaker 1>absolutely singular experience.

0:34:55.000 --> 0:34:58.840
<v Speaker 2>And a singular, unexplainable experience which the whole movie is

0:34:58.960 --> 0:35:02.680
<v Speaker 2>predicated on those types of experiences and this idea that

0:35:03.520 --> 0:35:08.160
<v Speaker 2>something unbelievable, something miraculous can happen. And not only can

0:35:08.239 --> 0:35:11.480
<v Speaker 2>it happen, it does happen. It happens to people every day.

0:35:11.600 --> 0:35:13.520
<v Speaker 2>And I think one of the reasons I was so

0:35:13.600 --> 0:35:15.520
<v Speaker 2>set up for it, beyond the fact that I knew

0:35:15.560 --> 0:35:19.400
<v Speaker 2>it was coming, is the prologue, which was my big surprise.

0:35:19.920 --> 0:35:21.280
<v Speaker 2>I had completely.

0:35:20.880 --> 0:35:23.200
<v Speaker 1>Forgotten me too, Yeah, had completely.

0:35:22.760 --> 0:35:26.600
<v Speaker 2>Forgotten about that opening sequence in the narration by Ricky Jay,

0:35:26.640 --> 0:35:29.560
<v Speaker 2>who does appear in the film as kind of the

0:35:29.560 --> 0:35:32.720
<v Speaker 2>executive producer or one of the producers of the game show,

0:35:32.960 --> 0:35:37.560
<v Speaker 2>and it absolutely sets the table for everything that unfolds.

0:35:37.600 --> 0:35:40.520
<v Speaker 2>It says, what you're about to watch defies rationality. It

0:35:40.560 --> 0:35:43.880
<v Speaker 2>defies reason, but sometimes so does life. So buckle up.

0:35:44.040 --> 0:35:46.279
<v Speaker 2>And so when you get frogs falling from the sky

0:35:46.320 --> 0:35:48.680
<v Speaker 2>at the end of the movie, it's almost like we

0:35:48.760 --> 0:35:49.840
<v Speaker 2>knew it was going to happen.

0:35:49.920 --> 0:35:52.239
<v Speaker 1>Yeah, I think that's fair. But here we're getting to

0:35:52.280 --> 0:35:54.000
<v Speaker 1>some of my critiques that I am going to say

0:35:54.080 --> 0:35:56.359
<v Speaker 1>still stand, and it has to do with maybe the

0:35:56.400 --> 0:35:59.920
<v Speaker 1>first twenty minutes of this film. Sam, I believe you

0:36:00.160 --> 0:36:03.480
<v Speaker 1>the phrase formal mastery and describing his revisit, and I

0:36:03.840 --> 0:36:06.440
<v Speaker 1>just don't think I think there are moments of that,

0:36:06.760 --> 0:36:08.840
<v Speaker 1>but I don't think it's consistent throughout the film, and

0:36:08.880 --> 0:36:11.520
<v Speaker 1>I don't think it has that formal mastery in these

0:36:11.560 --> 0:36:15.640
<v Speaker 1>first twenty minutes. I admire it's brio and maybe in

0:36:15.719 --> 0:36:18.399
<v Speaker 1>nineteen ninety nine like that's I just never recovered from

0:36:18.400 --> 0:36:21.480
<v Speaker 1>this sort of onslaught we get at the beginning.

0:36:21.040 --> 0:36:22.480
<v Speaker 2>Like it could be overwhelming.

0:36:22.800 --> 0:36:25.000
<v Speaker 1>Yes, I can meet us, That's how I would describe

0:36:25.000 --> 0:36:27.680
<v Speaker 1>the experience. First, we do get the narrated prologue that

0:36:27.680 --> 0:36:30.680
<v Speaker 1>you're talking about, so it whips us through these historical

0:36:30.800 --> 0:36:34.480
<v Speaker 1>incidents of coincidence. The first one shot like a silent movie,

0:36:34.640 --> 0:36:37.400
<v Speaker 1>right with the spect ratio, black and white everything, and

0:36:37.440 --> 0:36:39.520
<v Speaker 1>it's about a man being murdered in the neighborhood of

0:36:39.560 --> 0:36:42.759
<v Speaker 1>Greenberry Hill by three men named Greenberry, Hill and Hill.

0:36:43.080 --> 0:36:45.520
<v Speaker 1>Then we move to this story of a woman who

0:36:45.520 --> 0:36:48.320
<v Speaker 1>fires a gun at her husband, only to miss shoot

0:36:48.360 --> 0:36:50.680
<v Speaker 1>her son, who had just jumped to his death from

0:36:50.719 --> 0:36:52.440
<v Speaker 1>the roof of their building that was passing by there

0:36:52.520 --> 0:36:56.480
<v Speaker 1>and had loaded the gun. Yes, okay, so this is

0:36:56.560 --> 0:36:59.600
<v Speaker 1>like coming that fast and furious past I forgot Pat

0:36:59.680 --> 0:37:03.840
<v Speaker 1>Naswa too. Yeah, the scuba dive scuba I official surprise,

0:37:04.080 --> 0:37:07.120
<v Speaker 1>totally forgot about Patton Oswalt go ahead, what was his well.

0:37:07.360 --> 0:37:10.799
<v Speaker 2>Experienced He likes to scuba dive, and he ends up

0:37:10.840 --> 0:37:13.239
<v Speaker 2>getting picked up in one of those planes I don't

0:37:13.280 --> 0:37:16.080
<v Speaker 2>know the proper name, that picks water up to dump

0:37:16.120 --> 0:37:19.080
<v Speaker 2>it on forest fires, and he got picked up with

0:37:19.120 --> 0:37:22.080
<v Speaker 2>the water and dropped up the tree and died. And then,

0:37:22.120 --> 0:37:24.560
<v Speaker 2>of course the other coincidence is that he actually had

0:37:24.560 --> 0:37:26.880
<v Speaker 2>had an encounter, a kind of violent altercation or a

0:37:26.920 --> 0:37:30.400
<v Speaker 2>skirmish with the guy who ultimately was flying the plane

0:37:30.760 --> 0:37:33.919
<v Speaker 2>at his blackjack table where he's a dealer a week

0:37:34.000 --> 0:37:35.440
<v Speaker 2>or two prior, a few days prior.

0:37:35.520 --> 0:37:37.759
<v Speaker 1>And then that pilot of Pilono, learning what happened, kills

0:37:37.800 --> 0:37:41.600
<v Speaker 1>kills himself. Okay, so which brings me to admire the

0:37:41.600 --> 0:37:45.520
<v Speaker 1>brio again. But there's a sense of self satisfaction to these,

0:37:45.680 --> 0:37:48.279
<v Speaker 1>all of these sequences here that I still find a

0:37:48.320 --> 0:37:50.960
<v Speaker 1>little off putting. And there's a flippancy and a glibnus

0:37:51.000 --> 0:37:53.120
<v Speaker 1>to it as well, especially when you think about the

0:37:53.120 --> 0:37:57.000
<v Speaker 1>actual violence being recounted in these stories. So there's that

0:37:57.239 --> 0:38:00.399
<v Speaker 1>element that's our first maybe eight minutes or whatever. Then

0:38:00.400 --> 0:38:03.640
<v Speaker 1>we get this mannic sequence introducing all of these characters,

0:38:03.640 --> 0:38:05.839
<v Speaker 1>all of these people we've been talking about, and the

0:38:05.840 --> 0:38:10.360
<v Speaker 1>filmmaking itself is just too much here. I still stick

0:38:10.400 --> 0:38:13.480
<v Speaker 1>to that it's like he's coming into his powers but

0:38:13.920 --> 0:38:16.160
<v Speaker 1>is not fully in control of them. Think about the

0:38:16.160 --> 0:38:19.720
<v Speaker 1>way I would describe it, It's like Peter Parker going

0:38:19.760 --> 0:38:21.560
<v Speaker 1>out to websling for the first time.

0:38:21.680 --> 0:38:21.839
<v Speaker 7>Right.

0:38:21.880 --> 0:38:24.400
<v Speaker 1>We've seen those scenes in how many Spider Man movies,

0:38:24.840 --> 0:38:28.279
<v Speaker 1>and you're odd at what he's doing and experiencing. But

0:38:28.360 --> 0:38:30.440
<v Speaker 1>every once in a while he hits a wall and

0:38:30.840 --> 0:38:32.879
<v Speaker 1>he's going to have to get up and try again.

0:38:32.960 --> 0:38:37.080
<v Speaker 1>And this is where the camera pushes really did start

0:38:37.120 --> 0:38:39.080
<v Speaker 1>to bother me. I think half of the shots as

0:38:39.120 --> 0:38:41.680
<v Speaker 1>we meet each of these characters again, maybe it's to

0:38:41.840 --> 0:38:45.799
<v Speaker 1>develop consistency to connect them, but it pushes right in

0:38:46.000 --> 0:38:48.680
<v Speaker 1>at a dramatic moment on the central figure. I also

0:38:48.680 --> 0:38:51.279
<v Speaker 1>think there's an over reliance on the first Amy Man

0:38:51.320 --> 0:38:54.680
<v Speaker 1>song we hear one to create a sense of montage

0:38:54.800 --> 0:38:58.400
<v Speaker 1>that otherwise isn't really there in the actual filmmaking. If

0:38:58.440 --> 0:39:01.239
<v Speaker 1>you look on it, we get those repeat pushings, but

0:39:01.400 --> 0:39:03.479
<v Speaker 1>the song is doing most of the work to create

0:39:03.480 --> 0:39:06.840
<v Speaker 1>a montage out of this. So again like you're wowed

0:39:06.880 --> 0:39:10.240
<v Speaker 1>at what's being attempted here and and and maybe that's

0:39:10.400 --> 0:39:13.880
<v Speaker 1>enough for most people for you, but I think this

0:39:13.960 --> 0:39:17.040
<v Speaker 1>movie for me, Magnolia gets really good once it settles

0:39:17.080 --> 0:39:20.560
<v Speaker 1>down and stops trying to prove itself. And I think

0:39:20.600 --> 0:39:24.319
<v Speaker 1>that happens eventually, once we've met those other characters, we'll

0:39:24.360 --> 0:39:26.720
<v Speaker 1>get like that showy single take through the TV production

0:39:26.800 --> 0:39:29.120
<v Speaker 1>studio that maybe we need to see every floor a

0:39:29.200 --> 0:39:33.200
<v Speaker 1>room in the entire building, impressively done, impressively scored. But

0:39:33.800 --> 0:39:37.080
<v Speaker 1>when Magnolia settles down, that's when it's closer to a

0:39:37.120 --> 0:39:37.680
<v Speaker 1>master work.

0:39:38.400 --> 0:39:52.120
<v Speaker 4>Hey, come here, Ah, I'm gonna try talk, and I'm

0:39:52.120 --> 0:40:03.000
<v Speaker 4>trying to say something something, Do you know? Do you know? No, Bully, No,

0:40:03.120 --> 0:40:08.120
<v Speaker 4>I don't. Oh excuse my love my life, love of it.

0:40:09.160 --> 0:40:11.880
<v Speaker 1>Access to the full Film Spotting archive going back to

0:40:11.920 --> 0:40:13.759
<v Speaker 1>two thousand and five is one of the benefits of

0:40:13.840 --> 0:40:17.480
<v Speaker 1>joining the Film Spotting Family. Plus you're gonna get bonus shows,

0:40:17.560 --> 0:40:21.520
<v Speaker 1>a weekly newsletter, early access to events, and more. So

0:40:21.920 --> 0:40:24.319
<v Speaker 1>if you're interested, please do join, and you can do

0:40:24.360 --> 0:40:27.040
<v Speaker 1>that at Film Spottingfamily dot com.

0:40:27.080 --> 0:40:30.080
<v Speaker 5>This conversation can serve no purpose anymore.

0:40:30.920 --> 0:40:31.400
<v Speaker 3>The burn.

0:40:47.960 --> 0:40:50.920
<v Speaker 2>Film Spotting is listener supported. Join the film Spotting Family

0:40:50.960 --> 0:40:53.879
<v Speaker 2>at Filmspotting family dot com and get access to ad

0:40:53.880 --> 0:40:57.319
<v Speaker 2>free episodes, monthly bonus shows, our weekly newsletter, and, for

0:40:57.360 --> 0:41:00.400
<v Speaker 2>the first time, all into one place, the entire spotting

0:41:00.480 --> 0:41:02.799
<v Speaker 2>archive going back to two thousand and five. That's a

0:41:02.840 --> 0:41:04.520
<v Speaker 2>film Spotting Family dot.

0:41:04.320 --> 0:41:07.920
<v Speaker 3>Com panoply

0:41:09.600 --> 0:41:09.920
<v Speaker 8>MHM