"Magnolia"

Film Review # 57886

"Magnolia"

How mise-en-scene, lighting, and editing come together to highlight the ending of the film, "Magnolia," by Paul Thomas Anderson.

2,200 words () | 0 sources | MLA | 2003 United States

Paper Summary:

This paper examines how the cinematography, lighting, and editing highlight the general themes of loneliness, humanity, etc., in the movie, "Magnolia," and how the all come together in the end to show the reality of the world and what it takes to shake people out of their mundane routines.

From the Paper:

"Magnolia, directed by Paul Thomas Anderson, is a weaving of stories each reflecting a common theme throughout American life. It helps to show that anyone's best-laid plans can be utterly disrupted at any moment by things we could never have imagined. Some of the themes include dieing fathers, child abuse, and the loss of one's childhood. Earl Partridge is a man on his deathbed searching for his son he abandoned so very long ago, and his nurse, Phil, locates his son, Frank T.J. Makey. Frank is the creator of "Seduce and Destroy", which is a guide for men on how to get any woman they want. The other dieing father, Jimmy Gator, a Game show host, has just learned that he is dieing of cancer, and has to face the fact that he has cheated on his wife, and abused his daughter, Claudia Gator. Claudia is getting involved with a police officer, Jim Kurring, who is divorced and she is having trouble with committing to him. Stanley Spector, who is one of the kids on Jimmy Gator's Game show, has to deal with his over bearing father, and Donnie Smith is a middle aged, former quiz kids, who has to deal with his loss of fame. The excerpt of the film that I am analyzing is at a point when all these people are confronting their problems towards the very end of the film. It takes an act of God, frogs falling from the sky, to make them realize what they really need to do or not do."