Paul Thomas Anderson’s “Magnolia” is (not only) for FILMSTARTS editor Daniel the best Tom Cruise film ever. If you haven’t seen the masterpiece yet, you still have a few days to catch up on Amazon Prime Video.
Tom Cruise is known for great cinema, ranging from classic Oscar dramas like “Rain Man” to action spectacles à la “Mission: Impossible”. But almost all his films are nothing compared to “Magnolia” – which, at least for the author of this article, is not only Tom Cruise’s best film, but also that of master director Paul Thomas Anderson. Yes, one of the best films of all time!
The film was awarded the Golden Bear in 1999, Cruise received a Golden Globe for his performance and three Oscar nominations to boot – but the critically acclaimed 3-hour epic still flopped at the box office. If you didn’t go to the cinema at the time and have never caught up with the film since, you should definitely take the opportunity to watch “Magnolia” now on Amazon Prime Video. Because the masterpiece is only available on the platform until 13 March 2023:
The stream is worthwhile above all because the film is virtually unavailable on DVD and Blu-ray. Various editions are still available on the secondary market (e.g. on Amazon*), but for the HD version of “Magnolia” in particular you quickly have to pay 30 euros or more.
“MAGNOLIA”: PURE LIFE
Love and sex, hope and despair, success and failure, fear and loss, suffering and pain, birth and death. Yes, “Magnolia” already touches on numerous topics in the first ten to 15 minutes that probably occupy every person in their lives – and already gives its audience food for thought in its introduction that will keep you occupied for hours after the credits roll.
“Magnolia” is great cinema in its purest form – and not only because of its running time of 188 minutes. Master director Paul Thomas Anderson (“There Will Be Blood”, “Licorice Pizza”) dispenses with a classic narrative structure in his ode to life and instead devotes himself to a wide variety of people who all try in their own unique way to come to terms with the challenges of life – and to give new meaning to the cycle of life, death and everything in between.
