The Filmcake

It’s not
What you thought
When you first began it
–Aimee Mann, “Wise Up”[1]

Ten years ago, Paul Thomas Anderson followed up Hard Eight and Boogie Nights with a three-hour plus powerhouse of a film. Interweaving the stories of nine main characters, Magnolia dealt with cancer, rejection, abuse, and reconciliation in a unique way.[2] While the interwoven and interconnected story line device had been used before (Magnolia owes a lot in this way to Robert Altman’s Short Cuts which also featured Julianne Moore), Anderson took the device to another level. Altman used the device to connect separate Raymond Carver stories with some aplomb, while Paul Haggis seemed to stumble over it in his poorly executed polemic Crash. Interwoven and connected stories can become so overly coincidental that it ruins any emotional connection. The story can become so unreal as to turn into farce. From the beginning of Magnolia, Anderson overcomes this potential pitfall by making it obvious that these overly-coincidental connections are not simply a device. They are a crucial component of his film.

And of course, there are the frogs. I suspect many viewers of Magnolia, if not turned off by the overly-coincidental interwoven story lines, were turned off by the deluge of frogs. Or at least perplexed. The first time I saw those frogs fall from the sky I was in love with this film. To this day, Magnolia remains one of my favorite movies of all time. For me, the frogs are also crucial to understanding the film.

The First Frog Drops

The frogs of Magnolia certainly will mean different things to different people. And there is no singular way to look at the frogs in order to appreciate and enjoy the film. In fact, my own interpretation has evolved over the years. But the immense talents of Paul Thomas Anderson surely necessitate a more thorough examination.

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July 6th – July 12th

Audience of One – Wow. Just wow. What a thoroughly enjoyable documentary. Equal parts religious fanaticism and filmmaking fanaticism equals documentary gold. Bravo!

Pastor Richard Gazowsky sets out with his church to make the greatest movie ever made–”Star Wars meets The Ten Commandments.” And, he’s convinced that God has told him that the $100 million dollar German investment money will be coming in any day now. Yep, any day now. Uhmm, yeah. It’s a shame that God didn’t instead tell him to spend more time in pre-production. Bad God. Shame on you.

Lest anyone think this is a documentary attacking Christianity, director Michael Jacobs most fairly captures his subjects. When laughs come at the expense of Gazowsky and his followers, they arise from filmmaking ineptitude and not religious mockery. In fact, the director may have been too kind. Jacobs never really confronts Gazowsky over what practically amounts to extortion (getting people to give money and volunteer labor based solely on a message received from God). Then again, that happens every Sunday (and daily on certain TV channels), doesn’t it? In the end, Gazowsky needs little help showing us how delusional he really is (as both a pastor and filmmaker).

Crips & Bloods: Made in America – Decent enough documentary by Stacy Peralta. Not sure what it has to do with skateboarding though.

The Ice Storm – Ahhh, the movie that introduced us to key parties and Katie Holmes. Thank you Ang Lee for that gift you have given me. I shall never forget it.

John Adams (TV miniseries) – After recent discussions surrounding favorite Founding Fathers, I was compelled to finally make it through the HBO miniseries about our 2nd President. Now I want a 7-part miniseries each for Jefferson, Abigail, Washington, Franklin, Hamilton, etc. It is truly fascinating and amazing history. I only wish there were more hours in the day that would allow me to read more biographies and histories of our founding. It’s unfortunate that some–Sally Kern for one–distort the legacy of these men (and women) by suggesting that they were founding a Christian nation.

Waltz With Bashir – More proof that 2008 was a great year for documentaries. I still prefer Man on Wire, but this was also a special documentary film that is deserving of all its accolades. The animation was perfectly utilized to show someone coming to grips with shrouded memories and the difficult history of war.

Stranded: The Andes Plane Crash Survivors – I must admit that the story of the Uruguayan rugby team crash has always fascinated me. I quite liked Alive, the 1993 film starring Ethan Hawke that dramatized the events. I’d probably seen it on VHS 10 or more times. I think it is the very human determination to survive that fascinates me. And Hawke, of course. This documentary, though, revisited the tragedy from the voices of its survivors–a respectful tribute to those who perished in the mountains and a celebration of the lives the survivors were granted.

Magnolia – I’ve got some more detailed thoughts on this one–a personal favorite–that I’ll post sometime later this week.

June 1st – June 7th

Martyrs – I am troubled by this one. I didn’t enjoy it, but I think I quite liked it. Thankfully, I watched it first without seeing the director’s introduction where he basically apologizes to the viewer in advance for what they are about to see. In many ways, it seemed a messier take on violence/voyeurism in the manner of Haneke’s Funny Games.

The movie, like Funny Games, sort of hinges on whether or not the viewer is willing to play along to the end. The first 45-minutes are high-thrill horror. But then the film shifts into a test of endurance. This either works for you or it doesn’t. I thought it worked, but I could certainly understand the contrary. It is surely divisive. Whether you know it or not, whether you like it or not, film is manipulative. And there’s not a damn thing you can do about it…aside from never pressing play (and life’s too short for that).

Paris, Je T’Aime – A nice set of short films with the city of Paris at its center. In high-def on Blu Ray, the city looks absolutely gorgeous (I especially like the films by the Coens, Cuaron, Tykwer, and Payne). Unfortunately, I neither speak nor understand French so I had to rely on the English subtitles. But for some idiotic reason, First Look Studios did not include proper subtitles on the disc. Instead, they included the English SDH subtitles (for the deaf and hard-of-hearing). The SDH subtitles were too large, obstructive, and what I could only assume to be poorly translated (or at least translated for someone at a 5th grade reading level). In the first segment, the subtitles indicate the main character calling a passerby a “buttface.” Really? The subtitles also included non-dialog audio and character identification, which is annoying at best and absolutely horrendous when mimes end up subtitled.

Magnolia – I still love this one SO much. Inspired by some new friends who also love it, I (finally) revisited it over the weekend. In the very near future, I plan on writing up a longer piece analyzing the movie (especially concerning the frogs) from my perspective.

Up – Pixar didn’t top Wall-E with this one for me. I really, really liked it though. The Carl and Ellie segment was as about as good as it gets (it got a little dusty in there). And the translating dog collars were genius (not quite as awesome as Pullman’s daemons when it comes to anthropomorphizing animals…but pretty close). Pixar’s up may very well have inspired me to renew my own spirit of adventure. And, I guess I should get around to actually seeing Finding Nemo, Monsters Inc., and Toy Story at some point (now that I’ve been given ample evidence that Pixar isn’t just making mindless kid flicks).