P.T. Anderson had a critical success with his 70s fictitious porn industry flim about a young guy named Dirk Diggler. "Boogie Nights" wasn't a huge commercial success but people in Hollywood were impressed. He could do anything for his next film, something a director might get one shot at his entire career if at all. In much the same way Zack Snyder followed "300" with the guts to go after "Watchmen", P.T. Anderson went bold and made "Magnolia", a symphony of characters all connected in the San Vernando Valley. Coincidence? Fate? A trophy wife addicted to prescription drugs. A home nurse trying to reunite a dying man with his estranged son who has grown up selling search and destroy seduction techniques. A policeman looking for love. At its least, it's what "Crash" was knocking off, at its most, it was dangerous daring filmmaking, all with everyone singing an Aimee Mann song. While the film does have its flaws, it showed us Tom Cruise can get an Oscar nomination, a preview of what we would get from Phillip Seymour Hoffman and John C. Reilly among other things. "Magnolia" proves it's worth it to sometimes risk going too far to see how far you can go.
While P.T. Anderson was given a budget, a great cast and Tom Cruise, another Anderson was about to resurrect a star we had forgotten how good they were.
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