Magnolia (1999)

Paul Thomas Anderson's sprawling, intense and multi-layered study of a collection of characters going through varying levels of crisis.

This psychological drama leads you in several different directions, weaving and intersecting various subplots and characters, from a brilliant Tom Cruise (who was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe), as a self-proclaimed pied-piper, to a child forced to go on a TV game show and the pressures he faces from a ruthless father.

Paul Thomas Anderson's highly ambitious third feature is indebted to Robert Altman in its multifaceted approach to storytelling, but would in turn inspire a new wave of multilinear films – sometimes referred to as ‘hyperlink cinema’ – at the beginning of the 2000s.

1999 USA
Directed by
Paul Thomas Anderson
Produced by
Joanne Sellar
Written by
Paul Thomas Anderson
Featuring
Jeremy Blackman, Tom Cruise, Melinda Dillon
Running time
188 minutes

Ranked in The Greatest Films of All Time poll

Sight and Sound