Respect the cock...

This is a great film. Probably my second favorite P.T. Anderson film behind Punch Drunk Love. But just by a hair. The cast is killer in this movie and the story is powerful. Two things I want to talk about: the Christian theme and how it's overdone.

So the movie has this theme of forgiveness and grace. It's pretty undeniable. And I like that. The characters are either messed up because of their parents, or they are regretful for what they have done to their kids. And the 'kids', at least by the end of the movie, seem like they are going to be ok. So, there's the grace. I think the frogs falling from the sky, and the impossibility of that, are a symbol of these parents and the awful things they've done. You think how or why does this awful stuff happen (a father leaving his 14 year old son to take care of his dying mother; another father molests his daughter and cheats on his wife - his daughter becomes a cocaine fiend, etc) . It should be just as impossible as, say, frogs falling from the sky. But it happens all the time and we are used to it. That's one idea. The other is that the frogs stand for grace and divine intervention. After the frog thing happens the screwed up characters (Frank T Mackie, Claudia, Whiz Kid Donnie Smith) get a second chance. I don't know if second chance is the right phrase. They definitely seem like they are on a new path in their lives. A positive one.

So all of that is very good to me. I like that theme. It feels realistic. I mean the frog stuff. Ha. But seriously, it's a brave theme for a director. Of course, it doesn't feel Christian. Like I wouldnt expect to see it played on a sunday morning in church. Maybe a Tuesday. But it is. The entire movie is swimming in a pool of Judeo-Christian motifs. "And the book says we may be done with the past but the past is not done with us." That's very Old Testament. And the frogs-divine-intervention thing is Christian. So it's really the Bible. That's what it is.

Ok, my second topic: how this theme is overdone. The more I watch it the more I notice how important it was that for Anderson that the audience got the message. But, holy crap, give us some credit. If getting the point across was so important to Anderson, why didn't someone tell him that at least an hour could have been shaved off without touching the theme? I do love the movie, but honestly. For example, the opening is entirely unnecessary. The whole lesson on coincidence and fate. And how many times did the line "The past may be done with us..." need to be in the movie? Twice tops. I guess I don't like movies where the point is driven home so forcefully. I want things to be left open a little. I want some mystery and subtlety.

I think that Anderson was maybe writing this movie for himself. I just get that feeling. And he wanted to believe in second chance and forgiveness and grace. Which is not bad. Not at all. I desperately want to believe in grace and divine intervention. But most of the time everything feels neutral and stale. But there's two types of reality, the one perceived and the one hoped for. Magnolia fits right in the middle.

One more thing. Magnolia contains one of the most powerful lines. William H. Macy, playing Donnie Smith, says, "I really do have love to give; I just don't know where to put it." You could cut that line with a knife, it's so thick with meaning and importance. Honestly, for me, that sums up the entire human race. There I said it. Ok, I should probably take that back.